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The French film "Entre Les Murs" ("The Class") is a somewhat unusual film in its portrayal of a Parisian working class school and its protagonist, Mr. Marin, who attempts to teach an unruly class of young and very diverse teenagers. This article explores the ways the author used the film "The Class" as a culminating class project for her largely White, primarily Christian, rural/suburban teacher candidates. It describes how the film offers provocative and compelling examples of pedagogical and curricular struggles and classroom and school cultures for examination, discussion, and critique--examples that can illustrate how a classroom does not need a hero teacher to be a good place for students to be. The author also offers a few reflections from students' final papers, which highlight some of their insights and reflect the potential value of this experience.

Are there teachable "transferable skills" (TS) that might mitigate the limitations of a rural location--or indeed, the limitations any program might encounter in regard to diversity expectations? Following a study conducted in 2010 of how rural schools, colleges, and departments of education (SCDEs) attempted to meet the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education's (NCATE) diversity standard, the same researchers wondered if teacher educators using a TS orientation could help bring clarity to this unexplored pedagogical focus, informing the discussion around preparing future teachers for "other people's children" (Delpit, 1995). The second study focused on answering the following questions: (1) How is a TS orientation defined, especially as opposed to a single group focus (SGF) orientation?; (2) What are examples of transferable skills teacher educators seek to foster, and what are examples of ways teacher educators use a SGF focus?; and (3) Why would either a TS or a SGF orientation be effective for teachers in working with diverse students? This article discusses the conclusions drawn from data in the study, which suggest that regardless of whether teacher educators endorse a TS or a SGF perspective, they basically agree on the skills they consider critical for successful teaching, and recognize the need for cultural competence as a critical foundation for developing these skills. The researchers in this study argue that the knowledge and skills identified in this study are too critical to devalue, and a "toolbox" of both culturally contextualized learning and transferable skills, however rudimentary, is a formidable resource.

This paper describes the struggles of a teacher educator to acknowledge and honor her own liberal bias along with her students' more conservative perspectives as these emerge in an education law class for preservice teachers. It illustrates the author's ongoing transition from rationalization to reflection, as she considers both her students' responses to class assignments on speech and expression rights and end-of-course evaluations, and reflects on the possibility that generational and experiential differences, rather than "resistance," may be behind students' reactions. The author concludes that transparency on the part of the teacher educator is critical to allow (re)consideration of our beliefs in more reflective ways.

Social foundations courses, and in particular any course that has to do with multiculturalism or diversity, can be land mines for teacher educators seeking to provide experiences that may be "partisan" but also "educative". This article explores the tensions of teaching multiculturalism classes to undergraduate teacher education students and is based on experiences at a public rural Midwestern university over the last few years. Interviews with department colleagues who teach the multiculturalism course, student journals and course evaluations, and reflection provide the data for this reflective essay.

This pilot study explored how undergraduate students are perceived by higher education faculty regarding their initiative and abilities. Faculty tended to agree that students are engaged in class, but more specific skills and attitudes needed to perform successfully in college are not as apparent to them. Around half of faculty respondents with at least 10 years experience in higher education agreed these skills and abilities are declining. Emergent themes from comments suggest faculty believe students' skills and work ethic have declined while their sense of entitlement (e.g., to high grades) has increased. Comments also suggest faculty believe the decline is a result of a lack of preparation in basic skills from secondary school, the overall culture and politics of secondary education, students' unrealistic perceptions of the expectations in higher education, and students' active lifestyles outside of classes. (Contains 3 footnotes and 3 tables.)

The dynamics of the teacher-researcher relationship-whether embodied in a real time school inquiry or in a writer-reader connection through a piece of literature--are complex and have a significant impact on the meaningful transmission of knowledge between researchers and practitioners. Studies and anecdotal evidence suggest that teachers have a belief system that can be resistant to thinking differently; however, researchers contribute to underlying tensions when they do not pay sufficient attention to the needs of the schools and teachers they study, speak and write in researcher language, or leave the work of professional development to education bureaucrats. This article gives voice to novice and veteran teachers as they talk about the effects of research and researchers on their practice and the obstacles that prevent stronger connections. Teachers' expectations for a mutually respectful professional learning short relationship figure prominently in the reflections they offer about what works and what does not in closing the research-practice gap.