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Methods course documentation
Clarifying expectations for field experiences (D6.1)
Logistics and scheduling information -- Student teaching requirements
(by Raffaella Borasi)
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Key choices made in terms of field experience requirements and expectations
-- elementary pre-service teachers
In the elementary teacher preparation program I have been working with,
the math methods course instructor is not in charge of student teaching.
Therefore, I had no field experience requirements for the elementary pre-service
teachers enrolled in my methods course. However, since these pre-service
teachers were expected to plan and implement an "innovative unit"
as part of their student teaching, I encouraged them to include a math component
in this experience, and identified the report of this instructional experience
as one option for carrying out the final project for the methods course.
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Key choices made in terms of field experience requirements and expectations
-- secondary math pre-service teachers
In the secondary math teacher preparation program I have been working
with, the math methods course instructor is also in charge of structuring
and supervising two student teaching experiences as well as a weekly forum
for discussion on these field experiences. More specifically, these components
of the teacher preparation program include (as described in more detail
in the narrative of a pre-service implementation of our framework reported
in Section C2):
- A first student teaching experience involving a practicum of about
100 hours in an assigned school, focusing on participant observation and
action-research. This experience is scheduled to take place concurrently
with the methods course.
- A second, more traditional, student teaching experience involving a
full-time apprenticeship lasting10 weeks. This experience is scheduled
in the semester following the methods course.
- A weekly meeting of about an hour or so, concurrent to both these student
teaching experiences, mainly intended to provide a forum for sharing and
discussing these field experiences.
To date, the field experiences identified above have provided a context
for including the following activities suggested by the proposed framework
in (although not all of them in the same implementation of the program):
- Participant observation of an entire inquiry unit (possibly one of
the illustrative units), with the additional role of documenting and evaluating
this experience in a final written report (as discussed in more detailed
in Section D4.3). This experience has been scheduled as one of the main
requirements of the first student teaching experience.
- (occasionally) Creating a written plan for one of the illustrative
units, using the "Supporting materials for teachers" available
for that unit as a resource. Note, however, that participants were warned
up front that this task should be approached as an academic exercise, since
it was not likely that they would be able to actually implement such as
unit during their student teaching experience. This task was assigned over
the Winter break, after the conclusion of the Methods course and prior
to the beginning of the second student teaching experience. (A variation
on the activity suggested in Section D6.4)
- Participants were expected to plan, implement and document at least
one "innovative unit" as part of their second student teaching
experience. In almost all cases, this unit turned out to be one of the
participant's own design (since it was difficult for student teachers to
have the opportunity to implement one of the illustrative units within
the constraints of their student teaching experience). However, participants
were supported in this "experience as teachers" with many of
the activities identified in this section, including:
- Providing multiple opportunities to meet with the instructor to discuss
and refine preliminary plans for the innovative unit (Section D6.4).
- Providing classroom support during the implementation of this innovative
unit within the context of the required "university supervision visits"
-- although this required a redefinition of the traditional role of such
visits (Section D6.5).
- Providing opportunities to share with classmates on the planning and
implementation of this innovative unit (Section D6.6).
- Expecting each student to document and evaluate the implementation
of their innovative unit, producing a final written report on this instructional
experience (Section D6.7).
- More generally, the weekly forum as well as the continued practice
of weekly shared journals provided multiple opportunities to share and
reflect on the on-going participants' field experiences (as suggested in
Section D6.6) throughout both of the student teaching experiences.
Note that, since the experiences identified above did not relate to the
teaching of one of our illustrative units, with a few exceptions we have
chosen not to document them in detail in the "additional materials"
included in Section D6. We will, however, provide more detail on these "variations"
in each of the "Logistics and scheduing information" section
for each of the remaining subsections of Section D6.
To give a better sense of the sum total of the field experiences our
secondary math pre-service teachers engaged in, however, in the remaining
parts of this document we have reported the full description of each of
their student teaching experiences.
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Description of expectations for the first student teaching experience
for secondary math pre-service teachers (100 hours practicum) (from
the course description)
Learning about teaching mathematics through apprenticeship with
an expert:
This will involve becoming a participant observer in ONE class throughout
most of the semester (this class will be referred to as your "target"
class hereafter) with the role of:
- observing and examining teacher's instructional decisions over a
long term,
- becoming familiar with the course curriculum and expectations,
- occasionally discussing with the teacher her planning and/or decisions,
- observing and/or assisting individual students as they engage in
some individual work in class,
- participating as an observer and/or facilitator in a group when
students are doing group work,
- occasionally reviewing and/or grading students' homework and tests,
- occasionally participating with the teacher in the design of some
important test or projects,
- assisting the teacher during the lesson in other appropriate ways,
- teaching a few (part of, or complete) lessons -- either planned
by, or in collaboration with, the cooperating teacher.
Becoming familiar with the process of planning, implementing and
evaluating "innovative math units":
Each student is expected to document and analyze an "innovative
experience" that his/her cooperating teacher is engaging in during
the Fall semester (Note: we expect this experience to develop over 2-4 weeks;
this experience does not need to occur in your target class, but it is probably
going to be more efficient if this is the case); this will involve:
- observing the whole experience taking field notes, collecting copies
of all the handouts and other instructional materials used, and collecting
copies of all students' work;
- organizing these materials at the end of each day in a brief narrative
account of the lesson accompanied by the relevant artifacts (so as to have
an organized account of how the experience developed in the end);
- asking questions to the teacher about his/her instructional goals
and the rationale of key instructional decisions as needed;
- looking back at these materials at the end of the experience, asking
questions to the teacher as needed, so as to (a) identify the instructional
goals of the experience and (b) prepare an "overview/outline"
of the experience;
- looking back at the students' worked collected, in light of the
instructional goals identified, so as to determine what the students learned
as a result of this experience (this should include an in-depth look at
a few students, including a closer analysis of their progress in the unit,
interviews with the students and the teacher);
- in light of all the above, write a brief commentary on the experience
-- i.e., what worked and what didn't, what the writer learned about teaching
and learning mathematics, implications for the writer's future teaching,
etc.
Experiencing what it takes to plan and teach innovative learning
experiences:
In order to get a sense of what it takes to plan and teach innovative
learning experiences, we expect each student to develop a self-contained
"activity" (spanning over at least 2 class periods and including
homework and some assessment) around a topic of their choice, and to implement
such activity possibly with a regular class, or with a group of students
outside of class, as deemed more appropriate by the cooperating teacher;
to fully benefit from this experience, you will be expected to:
- prepare a written plan for the activity, to be shared and discussed
with the instructor and the cooperating teacher (and possibly other students
in the course) prior to teaching it;
- collect all the artifacts produced during the implementation of
this activity, and prepare a narrative report of what happened in this
implementation that includes these documents;
- write a written reflection about the experience and what you learned
from it.
Getting to know students -- what they think, how they learn math,
how they solve problems, etc.:
Although all of the tasks described above will contribute to a better
understanding of students as well, we would also like you to get a closer
look at some students in 1-1 or small groups situations, by:
- tutoring some students and using these occasions as opportunities
to uncover the students' knowledge and conceptions about specific math
content, problem solving processes, beliefs about math and learning, etc.
(on an on- going basis throughout the semester).
- finding occasions to talk with students about their feelings about
school math, conceptions about specific math content, approaches to specific
math tasks, mathematical and pedagogical beliefs, school lives, lives outside
of school, etc.
Developing a repertoire of successful teaching practices, especially
with respect to management and discipline:
Suggested tasks:
- Visit occasionally other classrooms (in the same school, and possibly
even in other schools representing different instructional contexts --
such as urban, rural, private, ``special", schools), with the goals
of observing and contrasting different teaching styles, pedagogical approaches,
assessment tools, classroom management styles
- interview various teachers on their teaching approaches and management
styles, rules they have established for their classrooms and their rationales,
ways to enforce them, etc.
Getting to know how your school works (beyond your classroom):
Since this may take on different forms in different schools, what
follows are just to be taken as suggestions of possible tasks -- consult
your cooperating teacher for alternative and/or additional ideas:
- "shadow" a student (i.e., follow a specific student throughout
his/her school day, to get a sense of what a school day looks like from
the students' perspective -- make sure that arrangements are made with
cooperating teacher for this)
- interview teachers about the school structure and expectations
- interview some professional educators other than math teachers --
i.e., administrators, counselors, special education teachers, etc. (about
their roles in the school, support they could provide to your students
outside of the mathematics class, school structure and expectations --
such as peer-mediation, in-school suspension, resource rooms, homework
policies, school-based planning, role of PTA, etc.).
- participate in department/school meetings, parent/teacher conferences,
team meetings (if available), after school activities, etc.
- visit resource room, counselor office, "detention room",
etc. to learn what functions/services these support structures actually
provide to students
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Decription of expectations for the second student teaching experience
for secondary math pre-service teachers (10 weeks full-time)
In their second student teaching experience, pre-service teachers are
assigned to a cooperating teacher and are expected to gradually take on
all this teacher's responsibilities. Student teachers are expected to spend
about 10 weeks full time in their assigned school, during which time they
are visited a minimum of 3 times by their university supervisor. The one
special requirement is that they plan, implement, document and evaluate
an "innovative" unit (usually lasting 1-2 weeks) so as to demonstrate
their ability to understand and respond to the recommendations for school
mathematics reform put forth by the NCTM Standards and the New York State
Math Science and Technology Learning Standards.
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