Redesigning the Stakeholders

• In Event: Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Building Capacity for All Future Teachers to Work Effectively With Special Needs and Language Learners

Abstract

This study proposes to share the early outcomes of the attempt by a large university undergraduate teacher education program to redesign the initial student teaching experience of a dual certification elementary education program. All the stakeholders – students, instructional faculty, cooperating teachers – contributed to creating a new field-based internship. Two cohorts of students were followed for two years, with the initial focus on the junior year when faculty teach courses and supervise the same students in the field. Qualitative and quantitative tools surveyed students, instructors and cooperating teachers. Both cohorts not only demonstrate greater awareness of and appreciation for the connections between courses and the field than prior students, but a greater effectiveness in applying methodologies in the classroom experience.

Authors

• Francesco G. Pignatosi, New York University

• Harriet Yvonne Pitts, New York University