Promoting a Culture of Collaboration: Possibilities and Problems of Alternative Approaches to Traditional Student Teaching

• In Event: Advancing the Study of Student Teaching: New Literature Reviews, Coteaching Methodology, and Science Education

Abstract

Preservice teachers have long acknowledged the influence fieldwork has on their practice and thinking about teaching. However, since its inception, student teaching has more reproduced the status quo than promoted the aspirations of many reform-oriented teacher education programs. Proponents of alternative student teaching models point to the isolating effects of traditional student teaching experiences and the dominance of mentor teachers in the training process as evidence for field experiences that promote cultures of collaboration and professional growth. This paper analyzes four alternative approaches to traditional preservice preparation that have emerged: professional development schools, co-teaching, peer coaching, and paired student teaching; and examines the individual purposes, strengths and weaknesses of each model.

Author

• Brandon M. Butler, Old Dominion University