Faculty Publications

Preparing Preservice Teachers to Make Instructional Decisions through Coursework; Observational Field Experiences; and Teaching Experiences

Comments

ERIC Document - EJ833595 found in the ERIC Database

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Preservice Teacher Education; Student Teachers; Field Experience Programs; Decision Making; Decision Making Skills; Teaching Skills; Learning Processes; Education Courses; Student Teaching; Iowa;

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Teacher Education and Practice

Volume

v20

Issue

n4

First Page

409

Last Page

425

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe how preservice teachers are prepared to make on-the-spot instructional decisions at the University of Northern Iowa. On-the-spot instructional decision making, also known as "improvisational" or "interactive teaching", occurs in three distinct episodes: an initial assessment of student learning, an instructional modification, and a follow-up assessment. In this article, we discuss how our instruction addresses each element through a succession of coursework, observational field experiences, and teaching experiences. We demonstrate how we use the teacher work sample to assess the instructional decision-making capabilities of our student teachers, and we share our findings from an analysis of their performance. We conclude with a discussion of the challenges associated with teaching instructional decision making in a teacher education program. (Contains 1 table.)

Department

Department of Educational Psychology and Foundations

Original Publication Date

2007

Object Description

1 PDF file (17 pages)

Repository

UNI ScholarWorks, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa

Copyright

©2007 John E. Henning, Frank W. Kohler

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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