Curriculum Rooted in Understanding of Learners and Learning
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A teacher preparation curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development is vital to ensure that teacher candidates have the knowledge and skills to teach and support all children well. Understanding how developmental processes unfold over time and interact both in and with different contexts contributes to more supportive designs for learning. A key aspect of this knowledge is an appreciation for students’ and families’ cultural resources and funds of knowledge that teachers can draw upon in developing curriculum and learning experiences. SoLD-aligned educator preparation offers multiple and integrated opportunities to understand the learning process as it unfolds in sociocultural contexts; brain and child and adolescent development; knowledge of learners; and pedagogical content knowledge.
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Explicitly Teaching Routines in an Elementary Literacy Methods Course 
A teacher educator engages an elementary literacy methods course, focusing on the importance of explicitly teaching routines “one day at a time; one day one center” so that centers are not “busywork” but are explicitly introduced to students. In introducing a multimedia example, the teacher educator emphasizes the importance of teachers being intentional about the HOW of their teaching in addition to the WHAT of their teaching. She has selected a video of accomplished teaching to exemplify and model the strategy of teaching students the expectations and routines of center work, and the discussion among candidates is positive and engaged. The teacher educator discusses how over the course of a year, teachers might move from teacher-initiated and teacher-structured centers to those initiated by young learners, aligned to child development.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
Getting to Know Students Through Rituals and Routines in an Elementary Literacy Methods Course
In this video, an elementary literacy educator asks how two experienced teachers come to know their students through classroom rituals and routines. The teacher educator engages teacher candidates in a group task to identify clips from the experienced teachers' practice that would exemplify how they gain knowledge of their students. The goal is for teacher candidates to connect this strategy to their own work in classrooms. The teacher candidates demonstrate ownership of their group’s perspective and describe in detail how the identified moments from the experienced teacher videos exemplify those teachers’ deep understanding of their learners.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
Strategies for Understanding Learners in an Elementary Literacy Course
In an Elementary Literacy Methods class, the teacher educator uses her teacher candidates’ explorations of videos of experienced teaching practice to identify strategies that they might try out in their own field placements or future classrooms. The teacher candidates name and discuss specific moments in which the experienced teachers’ strategies enable them to deepen their understanding of their learners. The teacher candidates build on each other’s thinking and ideas. The teacher educator’s design of this task exemplifies that the course expects that teacher candidates will come to deeply understand their students through their intentional use of specific strategies. These activities scaffold teacher candidates’ learning by offering models from experienced teachers’ practice and having them work collaboratively to notice the nuances of the experienced teachers’ pedagogical strategies.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
Debriefing What’s Needed to Plan and Facilitate a Discussion in a Secondary English Methods Course
In this secondary English methods course, the teacher educator is leading teacher candidates in a debrief after a small group discussion of an assigned passage. The teacher candidates were tasked with collaboratively preparing for and facilitating a short discussion among their classmates using specific facilitation strategies. In the debrief, the teacher educator asks candidates to think about their growth in using the specific facilitation strategies they’ve been learning, pressing them to notice the knowledges—content knowledge, knowledges of learners and learning, pedagogical knowledge—they needed in order to prepare for and facilitate a successful discussion.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
A Cycle of Planning, Enacting, and Reflecting in an Elementary Literacy Course
In this video, a teacher educator supports teachers to plan for, enact, and analyze one of their first quick image lessons with elementary students. The teachers are specifically working on the practice of orienting students to one another. This video includes teachers reflecting and analyzing teaching followed by planning for subsequent lessons based on their reflections. The teacher educator focuses attention on the strategies used to represent students’ ideas and position students competently. See https://tedd.org/repeated-teaching/ for materials that support teacher educators to introduce, prepare for, enact, and analyze repeated teaching and https://tedd.org/designs-for-practice-based-te/ for materials to support designs for practice-based teacher education.
This video demonstrates the SoLD principles of a curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; rich, experiential learning opportunities; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
Mentoring Activity: Repeated Teaching in Elementary Math
In this video, the mentor teacher first models for the teacher candidate, along with offering commentary on her thinking and decision-making, as she teaches a small group of elementary-age children in making sense of a story problem before attempting to solve it. The teacher candidate then leads a second small group directly after watching the mentor teacher with the first small group. This activity structure provides a rich, experiential learning opportunity for the teacher candidate, as she can immediately apply a model from an experienced educator. There is explicit modeling and the development of the teacher candidate’s skill in running a small group in mathematics instruction. See https://tedd.org/repeated-teaching/ for materials that support teacher educators to introduce, prepare for, enact, and analyze repeated teaching.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator preparation design principles of rich, experiential learning opportunities; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
Mentoring Activity: Repeated Teaching in Special Education Supporting Pretend Play
This video focuses on individualized strategies for supporting a student in a special needs preschool setting. The video shows a mentor teacher explicitly modeling for the teacher candidate an approach to engage and support a learner in play before the teacher candidate tries out the same activity with the learner. There is also an opportunity for the teacher candidate to observe as the mentor teacher responds to a peer. The setting offers opportunities for apprenticeship and reflection between colleagues as the mentor teacher models, coaches, and supports the teacher candidate in debriefing those interactions. See https://tedd.org/repeated-teaching/ for materials that support teacher educators to introduce, prepare for, enact, and analyze repeated teaching.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator preparation design principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; rich, experiential learning opportunities; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
In this third-grade classroom, the mentor teacher is modeling for the teacher candidate how she circulates among students to hear their solution strategies in preparation for leading a strategy sharing session. The mentor teacher shares her thinking and decision-making with the teacher candidate to offer insight into when, how, and why she engages with specific students as she circulates and debriefs these student interactions with the teacher candidate to offer her thinking. The teacher candidate has the opportunity to practice after observing. The mentor and the teacher candidate are closely aligned, collaborating in working with individual students during mathematics work time. They are focused on effective questioning to help the students identify an efficient strategy for solving a multiplication problem. The mentor models it while the teacher candidate watches, then the teacher candidate selects a different student to try the mentor’s approach. See https://tedd.org/huddling for materials that support teacher educators to introduce, prepare for, enact, and analyze huddling.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator design principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; and rich, experiential learning opportunities.
Mentoring Activity: Huddling During a Word Study Lesson
In this video, a classroom teacher is sharing her strategy for engaging learners as they work to sort a set of words in a word study lesson to inform her instruction. She models and debriefs her thinking and decision making after an interaction with one student. The candidate then practices the same process with another student and debriefs with the classroom teacher afterward. In each debrief, the classroom teacher shares her pedagogical thinking and decision making based on what she learns from each student interaction. These moments offer insight into the WHY behind the teacher’s actions allowing the teacher candidate to develop skills, habits, and mindsets for working equitably with children. There is a supportive relationship between the mentor and candidate, in which the teacher candidate can ask questions, observe, and immediately try out the practice with students. See https://tedd.org/huddling for materials that support teacher educators to introduce prepare for, enact, and analyze huddling.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator design principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; rich, experiential learning opportunities; and development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator.
Mentoring Activity: Charting: 3rd-Grade Special Education
In this video, a mentor teacher models using behavior-specific praise, asking the teacher candidate to closely note the moments in her interactions with students to support emotion regulation. At the end of the modeling, the teachers debrief what the teacher candidate saw and next steps to support learners. This kind of activity allows a teacher candidate to focus on one aspect of teaching practice, see a model, and then engage in conversation with an accomplished teacher to gain insight into their thinking and decision making. The entire cycle of activity from observing to debriefing allows a teacher candidate access to the skills, habits, and mindsets of a teacher offering a rich, experiential learning opportunity. The positive, egalitarian dynamic among the teachers allows for a community of practice in which to support learning. See https://tedd.org/charting for materials that support teacher educators to introduce, prepare for, enact, and analyze charting.
This video demonstrates the SoLD design principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; rich, experiential learning opportunities; and development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator.
Mentoring Activity: Charting Preschool Snack Time
In this video, the mentor teacher observes and confers with the teacher candidate on his practices to develop children’s language and social skills during snack time in a preschool classroom. During snack and story time, the mentor teacher tracks the teacher candidate’s positive comments, questions, and directions to students. Afterward, the mentor teacher debriefs the interaction with the teacher candidate, and the teacher candidate notices his tendency to focus on students who were closer to him while reading. The mentor teacher then draws the teacher candidate’s attention to the number of questions the teacher candidate asked, and suggests offering process time for the children, and then following up with a positive statement after the child has responded. The debrief offers an opportunity for awareness on the part of the teacher candidate and for the mentor teacher to offer feedback and suggestions for improvement. See https://tedd.org/charting for materials that support teacher educators to introduce, prepare for, enact, and analyze charting.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator preparation principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; rich, experiential learning opportunities; and development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator.
Teaching Example: Celebrating Family and Cultural Assets in Early Childhood
This video clip (2:50–4:40) shows a kindergarten class meeting in which the teacher outlines the day’s center time choices—a family study that is part of a schoolwide Black Lives Matter study.
The teacher exudes energy and excitement about the choices; reminds children of past learning; celebrates the class’s diversity; and engages with the children in active experiences of early childhood. This clip demonstrates several teaching strategies for preservice teachers, including ways to: (1) conduct a pre-center time meeting that supports children’s choice-making; (2) incorporate families' funds of knowledge into the curriculum; and (3) actively engage children with materials.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; rich, experiential learning opportunities; and development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator.
Teaching Example: Math—Learning About Patterns in Early Childhood
This video clip (6:10–7:50) shows a PreK teacher facilitating a center time activity that involves patterning of colors. The teacher provides technical support about how to use paint brushes and paint and encourages the children to support each other's learning. This clip demonstrates how to set up an activity or learning centers with children, with explicit directions and feedback. In addition, the clip demonstrates ways teachers can encourage independence and experimentation.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; and rich, experiential learning opportunities.
Teaching Example: Literacy—Taking Dictation in a PreK Class
This video clip (5:11–5:45) shows a PreK teacher taking dictation from a child about her drawing of a guinea pig. The teacher probes the child's description to help the child accurately reference the different parts of the guinea pig's body. In this interaction, the teacher demonstrates the importance of helping children see that their ideas and words have a written form and of nurturing children's growing abilities to observe and describe. This clip shows how the teacher individualized learning during center time.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator principle of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development.
Teaching Example: Reflecting on Center Time Activities and Journal Writing
This clip (6:00–12:58) shows how a teacher invites children to reflect with her on varied activities during the hour-long center time and prepare to journal. The clip exemplifies how a teacher can use knowledge of children's developing abilities to reflect on their learning and apply it to writing development. The clip highlights how the teacher models reflection and giving positive feedback, supports writing development, and differentiates instruction to support emergent writers. In particular, the teacher supports an emergent writer by making lines for the words in the short sentence that they will write, by helping them sound out the words they are writing, and by assisting them in finding the words they need in the classroom's environmental print. This clip can be used to support teacher candidates' knowledge of how to set up environments for active learning, how to support literacy and writing development, and how to create classroom community by equally honoring and supporting children who are at different stages of development.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; and development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator.
Video Analysis of Preschool Number Sense Activity
This video from Erikson Institute shows a teacher educator working with a group of teachers to analyze a video of classroom practice. The children in the video are using different materials to develop understandings of number sense. The video demonstrates how observing what children do and say and then asking probing questions can reveal their understandings and lead to new ones.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator principle of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development.
Analyzing a Video in a Grade-Level Meeting
This video from Erikson Institute shows teachers in a professional development session analyzing video of two children who are asked to make equal groups from a set of cookies. In the first round, the teachers describe what they see the children do and what that reveals about children's thinking and understanding. In the second round, the teachers share questions about the work.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator principle of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development.
Additional video resources from The Learning Classroom Series
How People Learn: Introduction to Learning Theory
In the first episode of "The Learning Classroom," educators share their experiences and insights on effective teaching strategies, focusing on how people learn, how to create productive learning environments, and how to motivate students. Several shared examples demonstrate that effective teaching integrates various learning theories and strategies, adapts to the complexities of human learning and the diverse needs of students, and creates a dynamic and supportive educational environment.
This episode highlights the SoLD educator preparation principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; rich, experiential learning opportunities; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
Learning As We Grow: Development and Learning
The second episode of "The Learning Classroom" examines the concept of readiness for learning and illustrates how developmental pathways—including physical, cognitive, and linguistic—all play a part in students' learning. This episode includes a 1st-grade teacher, a 7th- and 8th-grade science teacher, and a 12th-grade physics teacher, along with expert commentary from University of California at Santa Cruz Professor Roland Tharp and Yale University Professor James P. Comer.
This episode highlights the SoLD educator preparation principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; rich, experiential learning opportunities; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
Building on What We Know: Cognitive Processing
The third episode of "The Learning Classroom" covers how prior knowledge, expectations, context, and practice affect processing, using information, and making connections. This episode includes a 1st-grade teacher, a 9th- and 10th-grade mathematics teacher, and a special education teacher, along with expert commentary from Stanford University Professor Roy Pea.
This episode highlights the SoLD educator preparation principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; rich, experiential learning opportunities; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
Different Kinds of Smart: Multiple Intelligences
The fourth episode of "The Learning Classroom" explores Harvard University Professor Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, describing how people have learning skills that differ in significant ways.
This episode includes expert commentary from Howard Gardner and highlights the SoLD educator preparation principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; rich, experiential learning opportunities; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
Feelings Count: Emotions and Learning
The fifth episode of "The Learning Classroom" introduces ways to create an emotionally safe classroom to foster learning and to deal effectively with emotions and conflicts that can be obstacles to learning.
This episode includes expert commentary from Daniel B. Goleman, author of the book Emotional Intelligence, and Yale University Professor James P. Comer and highlights the SoLD educator preparation principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; rich, experiential learning opportunities; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
The Classroom Mosaic: Culture and Learning
The sixth episode of "The Learning Classroom" discusses how culturally responsive teaching enables students to create connections, access prior knowledge and experience, and develop competence. Kathleen Hayes-Parvin, 6th-grade teacher at Birney Middle School, Southfield, MI, and 9th-grade teachers William Dean and Jeff Gilbert at East Palo Alto High School, Menlo Park, CA, are featured. University of Wisconsin Professor Gloria Ladson-Billings and University of Arizona Professor Luis Moll provide expert commentary.
This episode highlights the SoLD educator preparation principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; rich, experiential learning opportunities; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
Learning From Others: Learning in a Social Context
The seventh episode of "The Learning Classroom'' focuses on Lev Vygotsky's work, exploring how learning relies on communication and interaction with others in communities of learners. It features a 5th-grade teacher and a high school teacher, with expert commentary from Tufts University Professor David Elkind, Yale University Professor James P. Comer, and University of California at Santa Cruz Professor Roland Tharp.
This episode highlights the SoLD educator preparation principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; rich, experiential learning opportunities; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
Watch It, Do It, Know It: Cognitive Apprenticeship
The eighth episode of "The Learning Classroom" demonstrates how teachers help their students develop expertise and accomplish complex tasks using modeling, assisted performance, scaffolding, coaching, and feedback. It features a 5th- and 6th-grade teacher and an 11th- and 12th-grade English and social studies teacher, with expert commentary from University of Michigan Professor Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar.
This episode highlights the SoLD educator preparation principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; rich, experiential learning opportunities; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
Thinking About Thinking: Metacognition
In the ninth episode of "The Learning Classroom," experts describe how thinking about thinking helps students better manage their own learning and learn difficult concepts deeply. The program features a 12th-grade English teacher and a 6th-grade teacher, with expert commentary from University of Michigan Professor Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar and Lee S. Shulman, former President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
This episode highlights the SoLD educator preparation principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; rich, experiential learning opportunities; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
How We Organize Knowledge: The Structure of the Disciplines
The tenth episode of "The Learning Classroom" covers the ways in which the organization of knowledge and understanding can influence learning. It introduces Bruner's and Schwab's ideas about the structure of the disciplines. A 4th-grade teacher, a 10th-grade biology teacher, and a 9th- through 12th-grade teacher are featured, with expert commentary from Lee S. Shulman, former President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
This episode highlights the SoLD educator preparation principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; rich, experiential learning opportunities; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
Lessons for Life: Learning and Transfer
The eleventh episode of "The Learning Classroom" describes what conditions are needed for knowledge and skills learned in one context to be retrieved and applied to a novel situation, and how different teaching strategies can increase the possibilities for transfer. The program features a 4th-grade teacher and a 7th- and 8th-grade teacher, with expert commentary from Lee S. Shulman, former President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
This episode highlights the SoLD educator preparation principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; rich, experiential learning opportunities; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
Expectations for Success: Motivation and Learning
The twelfth episode of "The Learning Classroom" explores how teachers can enhance their students' motivation by encouraging them to be thoughtfully and critically engaged in the learning process, by supporting their drive for mastery and understanding, and by helping them become self-confident. This program takes a second look at classrooms seen previously to show how motivational techniques work in concert with other learning theories. Former Stanford University School of Education Dean Deborah Stipek adds her insight.
This episode highlights the SoLD educator preparation principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; rich, experiential learning opportunities; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
Pulling It All Together: Creating Classrooms and Schools That Support Learning
The thirteenth and final episode of "The Learning Classroom" discusses how schools can organize for powerful learning through a coherent, connected approach to teaching and learning that is reinforced and supported by structural features. This session features the staff and students of two schools: a public school in Michigan serving grades 3 through 8 and a first-year charter school in California.
This episode highlights the SoLD educator preparation principles of curriculum rooted in a deep understanding of learners, learning, and development; supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; rich, experiential learning opportunities; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.