Learning to Teach as a Joint Enterprise: Using Instructional Support Liaisons in Teacher Preparation Programs

• In Event: Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Facilitating Effective Collaboration in Partnerships

Abstract

This study explores one particularly effective component of a teacher education design-research project, the instructional support liaisons (ISLs). The ISLs supported prospective teachers (PSTs) and mentor teachers (MTs) in navigating connections between university courses and classroom teaching. This study draws upon Etienne Wenger’s “modes of belonging” to make sense of the various ways ISLs supported MTs’ and PSTs’ participation in the project. The moves made by ISLs to encourage MT and PST engagement, imagination, and alignment in the joint enterprise of learning-to-teach illuminates key aspects of teacher preparation programs that may need more attention in order to reduce the gap between university courses and classroom teaching.

Authors

• Jennifer Kinser-Traut, The University of Arizona

• Marcy B. Wood, The University of Arizona

• Melinda Radon

• Marleen Lyon, The University of Arizona