Learning-to-Notice Students' Contributions: Field Experiences as Opportunities for Novice Teacher Learning

• In Event: 34.043 - Developing Cultural Responsiveness Through Field Experiences

Abstract

This study examines the affordances and limitations of learning opportunities in field experiences for developing pre-service teachers’ (PSTs’) responsive science teaching. After following two cohorts of PSTs into full-time student teaching field experiences, we found 3 families of social relationships that matter for opening up or closing down opportunities for PSTs to engage in responsive science teaching: 1) PSTs’ interaction with students during whole-class vs. small-group discussions created differential opportunities for responsiveness; 2) PSTs’ relationships with mentor teachers created starkly different opportunities for responsive teaching; and 3) PSTs working in teams with a CT afforded many more opportunities for responsive teaching than solo placements. This study has implications for learning-to-teach across the two worlds of teacher preparation and field experiences.

Authors

• Melissa Braaten, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Leema G. Berland, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Rosemary Russ, University of Wisconsin - Madison