CASE RECORDS AS PERSONAL TEACHING TEXTS FOR STUDY IN PRESERVICE TEACHER-EDUCATION

Drawing on insights from the use of journals and portfolios in teacher education and cases in nursing, the author describes an approach using case records as Personal Teaching Texts to facilitate beginning teacher development. Data are drawn from a study of 20 secondary teacher education students enrolled in a year-long certification program. Results indicate that the students valued the approach and that for the majority it enabled development, particularly of reflectivity, and was a means for providing program coherence. Suggestions are made for designing useful texts, weaknesses in the approach are identified, and suggestions made for improvement.