Five Perspectives on Teaching: Mapping a Plurality of the Good, 2nd Ed.

Section I provides an overview to the framework which guided the original research, and the basic structure of five perspectives on teaching that emerged from the research. Chapter 1 introduces a general model of teaching, with five elements and three relationships. This model formed the backbone of the observations and interviews from which the five perspectives emerged. It is the conceptual framework through which teaching was examined and from which perspectives emerged. Chapter 2 looks at indicators of commitment that helped define perspectives on teaching: beliefs, intentions and actions (including assessment and teaching strategies). Chapter 3 introduces each perspective as a complex lens through which teachers view the elements and relationships within the general model of teaching. Each of the five chapters in Section II is a personal elaboration of one perspective, as if the authors were asked, "What does it mean, to teach from this perspective; and what characterizes effective teaching from that perspective?" Thus, each chapter in this Section represents a 'mirro' for readers to look into and see if they find an image of themselves. Of course, as mentioned before, readers may see reflections of their beliefs and commitments in more than one perspective, as did the authors who wrote these chapters. In Section III, Dan Pratt and Dave Smulders return to present an analysis of the perspectives, provide a means for profiling your own teaching, and address the difficult matter of evaluating teaching while respecting the plurality of the good. This Section will explore deeper, often hidden, aspects of those same perspectives.