Simulating Caregiver Conversations With Teacher Candidates

• In Event: Homes and Schools: Building Positive Relationships

Abstract

Despite the empirical benefits of strong home-school connections, many teachers feel unprepared to build relationships with caregivers. Prior evidence suggests simulations are promising spaces for teacher candidates’ development, but we know little about if and how simulations might build candidates’ facility for interacting with caregivers. Using mixed methods, we analyze the effect of coaching versus self-reflection on alternative route teacher candidates’ simulated caregiver conversations. We leverage quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze the particular ways coaching influenced candidates’ approaches. We find coaching makes simulated practice more useful, perhaps because it helps candidates shift their mindset about the purpose of caregiver conversations. We conclude with implications for teacher preparation research and practice.

Authors

• Kristyn Wilson, University of Virginia

• Hallie Parten, University of Virginia

• Qing Poppy Liu, University of Virginia

• Julie Jackson Cohen, University of Virginia

• Emily Robertson Bosch, University of Virginia