Teaching and Teacher Education 16 (2000) 681}695 Manner in teaching: a study in observing and interpreting teachers' moral virtues  Catherine Fallona* University of Southern Maine, 500 Baily Hall, Gorham, ME 04038, USA Received 25 January 1999; received in revised form 4 August 1999; accepted 6 October 1999 Abstract This paper shows how manner may be made visible, as a philosophical concept and an object of empirical inquiry. Using Aristotle's ethics as the framework, the philosophical inquiry examines the conceptual nature of teachers' moral conduct, and the empirical inquiry analyzes their moral conduct. This dual conceptual/empirical approach permits inquirers to observe and interpret how teachers express moral virtue. One may draw the conclusion that it is possible to systematically observe and interpret manner in teaching. An implication for teacher education is that encouraging teachers to consider their manner may result in more educative interactions between teachers and students.  2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Teaching; Virtue; Moral education; Teacher education Generations of parents and teachers have read fairy tales to children that end with ` 2 and they lived happily ever aftera. From these stories, chil- dren learn that living `happily ever aftera is an ideal to which to aspire. Aspiring toward happiness is as old as the inception of childhood fairy tales and  This manuscript is a synopsis of the dissertation, Manner in Teaching: A Study in Moral Virtue, University of Arizona, Tuc- son. I would like to thank Professors Gary D. Fenstermacher and Virginia Richardson for their contributions to this work and for their continued support and guidance. I would also like to acknowledge the support of the Manner Project funded by the Spencer Foundation and located at the University of Michigan. * Tel.: #1-207-780-5302 E-mail address: cfallona@coe.uga.edu (C. Fallona). dates back at least to the time of the Ancient Greeks. `Aristotle, like Socrates and Plato before him, and the Stoics after, begins his inquiry with the question, &What is a good and happy life for a hu- man being?' In their terms, &What is eudaimonia (happiness)?'a (Sherman, 1997, p. 5). Like those of us who were raised hearing fairy tales with happy endings, the Ancient Greeks inquired whether hap- piness consists of a life of active public service, of living with family and friends in pursuit of common ends, of pleasure and excitement, of theoretical re#ection, or of prosperity, health, or freedom (Sherman, 1997). Plato and Aristotle concluded that the best human life requires the exercise of virtue. The aretai, the excellences or virtues, are those qualities that make life admirable or excellent. They focus on ideal types of human life, not on universal 0742-051X/00/$ - see front matter  2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 7 4 2 - 0 5 1 X ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 1 9 - 6