Pedagogical Alignment and Modeling
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Teachers need the opportunity to experience the pedagogical methods they will enact in order to understand them in complex and meaningful ways. For new teachers, learning about pedagogy derived from the science of learning and development also means learning with and through such pedagogy. Those experiences are more effective when experienced through guided reflection. Like other students, teacher candidates learn more deeply when they have the opportunity to inquire into what they don’t yet understand, articulate concepts, use them in a task, see or hear other models of thinking, and get feedback. It is vital that educator preparation helps teachers develop a deep personal understanding of the strategies and models of practice that will align their teaching with the science of learning and development. Developing this understanding requires new teachers to experience the very kinds of teaching strategies they are expected to develop for the pupils they work with.
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Identifying Effective Discussion Strategies in a Secondary English Methods Course 
A teacher educator engages a secondary English methods class in identifying effective discussion strategies. Facilitating equitable discussions is something that educators need to know and be able to do. By engaging the students in examining the practice of veteran teacher Yvonne Divans Hutchinson, the teacher educator leverages her class as a supportive community of practice, develops their skills, and provides pedagogical modeling.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator principles of supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; development of skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
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.
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.
Elementary Literacy Read Aloud Rehearsal with Coaching
In this video, elementary literacy teacher candidates practice reading aloud with teacher educators coaching them on strategies to elicit ideas from students as they read aloud. Several candidates practice their reading-aloud strategies—asking questions about the title, having learners turn and talk, etc. The teacher educator interjects during their practice to suggest possible changes to their practice with explanations. These opportunities to practice and learn from and with peers offer rich experiential learning opportunities that can support the development of a community of practice. In one instance, a male teacher candidate pauses and asks whether a moment was fair/unfair, asking for a thumbs up/thumbs down, and then invites the circle to turn and talk. The teacher educator’s coaching encourages the teacher candidate to invite student participation and offer space for multiple perspectives. In a final debrief, the teacher educator suggests letting students’ comments sit for a moment rather than quickly moving on after a student has responded in order to “get more voices in here.” These reminders are to further develop the skills, habits, and mindsets of an equitable educator.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator principles of 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.
Summer Institute: Preparing for and Enacting an Interactive Read-Aloud
In this video, a teacher educator supports teachers to plan for, rehearse, and enact one of their first interactive read-aloud lessons with elementary students. The teachers are specifically working on the practice of eliciting and responding to students' thinking. In the previous lesson, the teachers began reading "Harvesting Hope" by Kathleen Krull with a small group of students. Now the teachers are planning to facilitate a discussion for their next lesson when they finish reading the text.
This video highlights the SoLD educator preparation principles of 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.
Teacher Reflection: Documenting a Learning Experience: Frogs and Ponds
This video features a teacher reflecting on her class’s study of frogs and ponds and how the children documented their learning. This video demonstrates an inquiry project for young children and how they learn to observe and document their learning, as well as the role of teacher reflection in teacher development. The video demonstrates how the processes of observation, documentation, and reflection are the same learning tools for children as well as adults.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator principles of rich, experiential learning opportunities and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
Planning Conversation for Shoe Graph Lesson
This video from Erikson Institute shows a teacher educator one-on-one with a teacher learner as she plans a lesson on graphing. The teacher educator asks probing questions to help the teacher learner consider the big ideas of the lesson and the smaller steps to realize the lesson's goals. The video exemplifies how teacher educators can model the same kind of probing questions with teacher learners that teachers can use with students to support their learning.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator principles of rich, experiential learning opportunities; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
In this video from Erikson Institute, teacher learners engage directly with materials to order and reorder objects by different measurable attributes. The activity explores the idea that measurement requires us to identify an attribute to measure. By experiencing themselves as learners about this idea, adult learners gain a deeper understanding that should lead to strategies for how to help their students understand.
This video highlights the SoLD educator principles of pedagogical alignment and modeling; and rich, experiential learning opportunities.
Different Uses of Numbers with Anno’s Counting Book
This video from Erikson Institute features adult learners engaged in a rich, experiential learning activity: investigating numbers and how they are used in a children's picture book. As the adults experience this activity, the facilitator charts the learners' responses. These practices of the learners and facilitator model the way teachers can work with students to support their learning.
This video demonstrates the SoLD educator principles of rich, experiential learning opportunities; and pedagogical alignment and modeling.
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.