The Fabric of Teacher Candidate Dispositions: What Case Studies Reveal about Teacher Thinking

Although case-based methods are not new to teacher education, research that explores how cases develop teacher candidate dispositions is uncharted. This study used three disposition domains—intellectual, cultural, moral—as a heuristic to examine how 30 teacher candidates were inclined to think through a teaching situation presented in a case study. Three candidates are presented who exemplified patterns for calling on the domains. Teacher candidates readily identified aspects of difference between the teacher in the case and her students and thus suggested strategies to facilitate instruction and develop the teacher-student relationship. Few recognized assumptions related to their worldviews and values. For these candidates, an inverse relationship existed between awareness and assumptions. Furthermore, the match or mismatch between the background of the candidate and that of the teacher or students in the case seemed to influence the candidate's awareness and thus provide avenues for future research.