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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.

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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.

Mentoring Activity: Huddling

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.

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 Collaboration While Teaching

The video shows teachers looking at a set of student mathematics work. Both educators talk about how collaboration provides someone to "think with, talk with, and do our best work." They select student examples to show to the group. They discuss the differences between two students' mathematics approaches. The teacher educator praises the idea of collaborating in the classroom while the students are still there, so as not to lose the moment. This video shows how huddling can help teachers determine which student strategies to highlight for the whole group. The teacher educator notes that though teachers make a really good plan, in the moment kids are different, and it's important to be responsive to how they are learning: "Being able to huddle is recreating that plan. Now that we have more information from our students, what do we want to focus this conversation on?"

This video demonstrates the SoLD educator principles of supportive developmental relationships in communities of practice; and rich, experiential learning opportunities.

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.

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: Using a Curriculum Study to Develop Multiple Content Area Skills and Knowledge

This clip (start–3:00) demonstrates how a teacher introduces and guides children in using a graphic organizer (tree map). The video shows how teachers connect to prior knowledge, introduce tools, and support student use of those tools through asking questions to probe their thinking and offering help as they fill in their tree maps. This clip is a resource for preservice teachers as they learn how to engage students in center time and extended inquiries based on children's interests and questions. It also can be used to demonstrate how literacy learning can be supported by engaging in inquiries of interest; by mapping and charting children's growing knowledge; and by the teacher's questions and facilitation.

This video demonstrates the SoLD educator principle of rich, experiential learning opportunities.

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.

Ordering Similar Objects

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.

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