Academic
Exchange Quarterly Spring 2010
ISSN 1096-1453 Volume 14, Issue 1
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Studying
lessons: Preservice education partners
Rebecca Schneider,
Rebecca Schneider, Ph.D. is Associate
Professor of Science Education
Abstract
Powerful
teacher education will depend on building authentic collaborative partnerships
between schools and universities. Collaborative teacher education, however, is
not a trivial undertaking and success is not guaranteed. In this paper, an
innovative graduate level course designed for classroom teachers hosting a preservice teacher candidate is described. Inspired by
lesson study, this course is designed to support teachers as learners, mentors,
and partners in teacher education.
Introduction
Learning
to teach in ways recommended as powerful for supporting student understanding
is a complex and long term endeavor. Teachers need support in learning about
teaching in ways that match their learning needs at each stage of their
professional career. To ensure teacher quality, reformers are looking to
collaborative partnerships to improve teacher education (Clark, et al., 1996; Sechrist, et al., 2002). Partnerships between
K-12 schools and colleges of teacher education are encouraged in order to
provide current and future teachers with the support they need to develop as
experts in teaching. Collaborative teacher education, however, is not a trivial
undertaking and success is not guaranteed (Achinstein,
2002; Schneider, 2006). A better understanding of
how partners with different backgrounds interact and what types of
instructional changes can be expected from initial attempts will facilitate
this potentially powerful approach to teacher education.
To support
classroom teachers as partners in teacher education, a graduate level course
was developed to guide practicing teachers as they support their candidates’
learning in their classrooms. Inspired by lesson study [1], this course for
practicing teachers is designed to be a concurrent experience with preservice courses so that each group can work together to
plan, teach, and reflect on teaching in relationship to recommended practices. The
purpose of this paper is to examine this experience from the perspective of the
practicing teachers. How the course goals, tasks, and support structures are
intended to encourage productive relationships between mentoring teachers,
pre-service candidates, and university faculty are described. To further
develop classroom-based educational experiences, what was learned about
constructing explicit roles for teachers as mentors, learners, and partners in
teacher education is reported.
Collaboration for teacher learning
Preparing
quality teachers is fundamental to ensuring students’ success (Darling-Hammond, 1999; National Commission on
Teaching and America's Future, 1996). Too often these experiences are
disjointed and disconnected from classroom practice (Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman, & Yoon, 2001; Goodlad, 1990).
In addition, teachers need guidance to develop as professionals so they can
take on roles of leaders and mentors in their classrooms and in partnerships
with universities. University programs can play an important role in promoting
teaching excellence and professionalism. Yet, there are few examples of
research-based university programs designed specifically to support teacher
learning before and after graduation. Facilitating teachers’ collaboration with
other teachers and university faculty can empower teachers to become active
participants in the teacher education community (Bullough,
2005; Wenger, 1998).
Collaboration
is recommended to enhance learning, support curriculum development, and
facilitate research (Clark, et al., 1996;
Eisenhart & Borko, 1991). In each of these situations partners are
brought together by shared interest but diverse backgrounds. The idea is that
partners will be able to combine their individual expertise in ways that will
create higher quality products and experiences. By working together each can
contribute to and benefit from the relationship. Collaborative work, however,
relies on communication and joint ownership; all partners should learn and
benefit from collaboration (Clark, et al., 1996).
Communication means developing a shared understanding. Learning is supported
when partners share, justify, and refine their ideas with others (NRC, 2000). When partners have different
professional backgrounds, however, real communication cannot be assumed.
Differences in interests, professional language, and professional culture must
necessarily be bridged to share ideas and build joint understanding. Thus,
collaborative relationships can be difficult to establish and may require
effort to maintain.
Lesson
study is one approach to bring teachers together in thoughtful collaboration to
learn about teaching. This approach is highlighted in reports from the Third
International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) describing teachers’
professional work in
Linking teachers’ and candidates’ study of
lessons
Spending
time in area classrooms to observe students and teaching is a component of
nearly all preservice teacher education programs (Darling-Hammond, 2006). The assumption is that
candidates will learn about teaching by observing an expert teacher, watching
students engaged in learning, and practicing teaching while guided by the
experienced teacher. Although this arrangement does provide candidates with
classroom experiences, the link between ideas presented at the university and the
practice in the classroom is relatively weak
(Hinds, 2002). Classroom teachers may not have experience with reform
practices or learning technologies and thus cannot model teaching as described in
university courses. Also, there is no assurance the plans as discussed at the
university will be enacted in the classroom. Conversely, teachers have no
assurance that candidates will develop quality lesson plans or be able to guide
students in learning.
Hosting
teachers also may be unsure as to how support preservice
teachers in their initial attempts (Bullough,
2005). Based on experience observing classrooms and feedback from preservice candidates in our programs, host teachers frequently
either “help” too much by encouraging candidates to used their existing plans
and worksheets as is or they “help” too little by using a hands-off approach
letting the candidates “sink or swim.” In addition, candidates are required to
complete specific assignments as part of accreditation processes for colleges
of education (e.g., NCATE, 2008). This
has added an essential component of accountability; however, this also has
added complexity and anxiety for preservice teachers.
Because in many cases host teachers have not had opportunities to learn about
reform practices and are unfamiliar with the types of assignments candidates
are given they may be unable to guide or give supportive feedback.
To address
these issues, a graduate level course was designed to engage teachers as
partners in teacher education and ensure educational classroom experiences for
candidates. Inspired by lesson study, this course was designed to focus on
classroom practice including teacher-candidate shared planning, observation,
and reflection with a clear focus on teaching rather than on the teacher for
both the candidate and practicing teacher. This lesson study approach is
valuable in that it defines a role for practicing teachers in guiding their
candidate’s planning, teaching, and reflecting. Unlike other reports of lesson
study type professional development, this experience explicitly partners
practicing teachers with novices. The idea is to develop capacity in the
schools to offer rich learning experiences for preservice
teachers and to strengthen the link between the university and schools.
Supporting teachers as partners
The course,
Mentoring a Preservice
Teacher[2], is designed to focus on aspects of mentoring in classrooms that
will engage teachers as teacher educators. Course activities are focused on:
developing productive mentor-mentee relationships; guiding novices in planning inquiry-oriented
lessons to promote and assess student learning; supporting and evaluating
initial practice teaching and interactions with students; providing useful
feedback; and assessing novice teachers’ ideas and learning. Assignments are
designed to engage teachers in thinking about reform-oriented teaching and
teacher learning by explicitly structuring their participation in support of preservice teachers’ assignments. The idea is to enable
teachers to partner with preservice teachers to study
teaching and with university faculty to support candidate learning.
Building
from the idea of studying lessons together, teachers and candidates are given
complimentary tasks and shared goals during planning, teaching, and reflection.
For instance, while candidates are observing students to understand their
thinking about content in order to identify learning goals to meet their needs,
teachers are observing candidates to understand their thinking about students
in order to identify learning goals for their candidate. In both cases, goals
are mapped to national and local standards, for students and new teachers
respectively. In this way, both mentors and candidates are tasked with
carefully selecting learning goals for their respective audiences.
To engage
teachers in studying lessons with their candidate, teachers are guided in
identifying content goals – specifically factual, conceptual, and procedural
knowledge for students – which candidates will use to plan their units.
Teachers then further engage in candidates’ planning by developing a short pre/post
assessment for their candidate’s inquiry unit. In this way, teachers and
candidates each have interconnected assignments around planning for learning.
Together, they are asked to make explicit links from learning goals to
planning, and then, to reflect on enactments in light of the learning
illustrated by the assessment. In addition, teachers are assigned to write a critique
of their candidate’s inquiry unit plan based on how the plan instantiates
inquiry with suggestions for how the inquiry unit could be enhanced. Candidates
are asked to emphasize student inquiry, dialogue, and technology use in their
plans and enactments while teachers are asked to assess and give feedback
regarding these features. Thus, teachers are encouraged to be more involved in
the unit design and to really consider what features make a unit an inquiry
unit.
Leveraging
from teachers’ guided interactions with candidates, tasks are also designed to
engage teachers in discussions about what mentors can do or say and how to talk
with candidates, and what mentors should expect candidates to do. One example
is teacher authored case stories about a dilemma or issue for teachers
mentoring a preservice teacher. Based on their
experiences, teachers describe a case and pose questions for their peers.
Teachers then exchange stories and write responses, encouraging teachers to
think about their role in teacher education
What we have learned
Approximately
50 teachers, grades 6-12, have participated since 2005. Teachers’ lesson and
unit evaluations, assessment justifications, evaluations of candidates’
teaching, written case story of a mentoring experience, and weekly reflections
have been collected and teachers have been interviewed mid-term and as a focus
group at the end of each semester. This data has been examined for indications
of teachers’ ideas about their roles in teacher education.
The
course tasks do support teachers in taking a role in planning, teaching, and
reflecting. Teachers tend to be very focused on their students’ needs and thus
are able to develop excellent ideas for guiding candidates based on their goal
of making the lesson work with their students. They also report trying new
strategies themselves after helping candidates work with their students.
Teachers find assessment to be a particularly important topic; however, they
struggle to reconcile big ideas recommended by national or state standards
versus textbooks with many small ideas. While teachers learn the importance of
having candidates write detailed plans they remain unsure as to how to rate
these plans or candidate’s teaching.
Teachers
also begin to see candidates as learners. Teachers report that they are initially
unfamiliar with candidates’ ideas about teaching or students, candidates’
insecurity interacting with practicing teachers, candidates’ uncertainty when
working with students, or that candidates may not follow their plans. They
learn the importance of feedback for candidates, specifically when to encourage
and when to correct. Timing tasks so that teachers’ assignments (e.g. feedback
on planning) coordinate with candidates’ assignments (e.g. revising plans) and
mentor class discussion topics (e.g. what type of support did your candidate
need) is particularly challenging. Tasks are more authentic and, thus, more
effective when the timing was right.
These
teachers do participate as partners in teacher education by providing improved
and invaluable experience for candidates. These candidates describe their
mentors as more supportive and knowledgeable than candidates with non-mentor teachers.
However, it is hard for teachers to share professional space in the classroom.
They are nervous having a candidate take over teaching. They are unsure in
their interactions with candidates and university faculty. They are unsure when
or how to they should talk to a candidate or faculty. They do not feel they have
the authority to make judgments such as candidate evaluations, – particularly
if the evaluation will impact the candidates’ future – approving candidates’
plans, or to interpret content standards.
Preservice education partners
Findings
indicate that teachers can be supporting in learning about teacher education by
focusing on candidates’ plans and teaching. Teacher learning can be leverage
from teachers’ interest in their own students. However, timing of tasks and
meetings with candidates and fellow mentors is critical. Also, assessment
impresses teachers as difficult but important. Preservice
teachers may not be ready to fully focus on assessment. Practicing teachers
appear to have the classroom experience to make assessment a goal for their own
learning. Conversely, preservice teachers are more
willing to try new strategies while mentors observe students’ responses. Thus,
teachers and candidates each have a valuable role and working together benefits
both.
Findings
also indicate that learning to mentor and becoming a true university partner
can be challenging (Bullough, 2005; Clark, et
al., 1996). Specifically, teachers struggle with how to communicate
effectively with their candidates and how to negotiate the shared professional
space of the classroom. Although from university faculty view point, teachers have
been given an important role and authority in supporting candidates, teachers do
not view their role as an equal partner in the school-university partnership. Preservice programs may need to assign “easy candidates” to
new mentors. In addition, it may be helpful for teachers to have an advocate
and a model for interactions with candidates and university faculty.
Conclusion
This
course uniquely pairs practicing teachers with candidates around the study of
lessons. It also gives explicit support for teachers as teacher education
partners and shows promise for improving classroom experiences for preservice teachers. When teachers’ guidance and evaluations
of candidate learning are consistent with the goals of their preservice programs, teachers are better able to
authentically participate in teacher education and support candidate learning.
This is a step in the right direction. Courses like this one for mentor
teachers, can help to establish the type of partnerships that will include
teachers as full partners in preservice education.
Notes
[1] Lesson
study is a professional development process that Japanese teachers engage in to
systematically examine their practice, with the goal of becoming more effective.
[2] This
course was developed and piloted in 2004 at the
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