Rich, Experiential Learning Opportunities
Click upper right-hand corner to view the full playlist
Programs should help teacher candidates deeply examine student learning across different contexts and its relationship to instruction. Teachers should be prepared to plan curriculum with students’ learning goals in mind; use strategies that build on learner’s funds of knowledge; build tasks that are motivating and well-scaffolded; and build understanding by enabling discussion, application, practice, feedback, and opportunities to revise. Programs should model these skills and a vision of learning, giving instructors, supervisors, and cooperating teachers opportunities to enact and unpack approaches they expect teacher candidates to use. Pedagogical activities should promote inquiry and cycles of reflection and support intentional learning and problem-solving, developed through purposeful analysis of complex practice situations. Candidate learning experiences should be authentic and varied, including case methods, action research, and practitioner inquiry tied to clinical experiences. As candidates grow in skill and understanding, this increases their motivation, efficacy, sense of purpose, and capacity for self-direction.
indicates the video opens in a new window
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.
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.