Preparing Teachers to Learn from Teaching

Abstract

The authors propose a framework for teacher preparation programs that aims to help prospective teachers learn how to teach from studying teaching. The framework is motivated by their interest in defining a set of competencies that provide a deliberate, systematic path to becoming an effective teacher over time. The framework is composed of four skills, rooted in the daily activity of teaching, that when deployed deliberately and systematically, constitute a process of creating and testing hypotheses about cause-effect relationships between teaching and learning during classroom lessons. In spite of the challenges of acquiring these skills, the authors argue that the framework outlines a more realistic and more promising set of beginning teacher competencies than those of traditional programs designed to produce graduates with expert teaching strategies.

Examination of Prospective Teachers' Perceptions on Mathematical Concepts and Their Potential Teaching Strategies

“…It signifies that there must be fundamental obstacles that inservice teachers encounter.Thus, this issue must be addressed much earlier in the teacher preparation process so that teacher candidates can better understand these situations and get involved in the active reflection process.This study supports the recent research efforts presented in the aforementioned research studies (e.g., Hiebert et al, 2007;Morris &Hiebert, 2009;Timmerman, 2004) in the sense that more effective teacher preparation can be accomplished in realistically supportive contexts.This study encouraged participants to develop their hypothetical learning trajectories to remediate the given examples.Although this study was not able to document the subsequent transformation process participants would have over time, it did provide some guidance for further investigations.…”

“…For example, Timmerman (2004) reported a positive shift in the prospective teachers' beliefs using three interventions (e.g., problem-solving journals, structured interviews, and peer teaching).Knowledge of mathematics, knowledge of children's thinking, and knowledge of teaching practice were identified by these interventions. Hiebert et al (2007) proposed a framework for teacher education programs that intends to better support teacher candidateswith learning how to teach by studying teaching.The framework contains four skills:…”

Established and evolving ways of linking to practice in teacher education: Findings from an international study of the enactment of practice in teacher education

“…Ball and Cohen (1999) noted that "samples of student work could be used to inquire into what students have learned, and whether it was what the teacher intended" (p. 14). Hiebert, Morris, Berk, and Jansen (2007) argued that knowledge about pupils' learning could inform the teacher candidates about the effects of their instructional practices.…”

Student teachers’ perceptions of feedback as an aid to reflection for developing effective practice in the classroom

“…As noted above, an important factor in evaluating the effectiveness of practice is feedback, either explicit, from a mentor, the pupils or peers, or implicit, that is, the student teacher's 'feel' for the effectiveness of a lesson, often based on perceptions of pupil engagement, pupils' active participation, or fulfilment of the success criteria (Hiebert et al, 2007). The study aimed to investigate how student teachers developed their awareness of different kinds of feedback, and how they interpreted them, enabling them to develop a 'feel' for the success or otherwise of the lesson, permitting them to use Brookfield's lenses to answer Smyth's questions more confidently and competently than when they had started.…”