How can you prepare surgeons without an OR in the facility? Dream on. . .
The chasm between schools of education and schools where the work gets done is a fatal flaw, nearly ensuring professors only dimly remember what they are talking and talking and talking about. . .
Subject knowledge would be a good start. I hope I'm not being too contentious.
Secondly, dispensing with the notion that teaching is the primary skill and subject knowledge a long way second.
It seems to me that Zig Englemann had training expert teachers down as early at the 60's.
From Chapter 2 of his book.
http://www.zigsite.com/PDFs/FOLL...GH/FT-
Chap2.pdf
For each task that was practiced, the trainer would use a format similar to the one teachers would later use with children—model, lead, and test. The trainer first modeled how to present a particular task. For one of the early reading tasks, the trainer printed the letter m on the board and showed participants the procedure for pointing to the letter (with their finger below the letter and not obscuring the children’s view of the letter). The trainer next said, “Get ready”, paused about one second and touched just below the bottom of the letter, as the participants responded by saying the letter sound,
“Mmmm.”
Next, the trainer led the participants by responding with them. All wrote an m on a sheet of paper and held it up so the trainer could see it. The trainer then signaled them to point and say “Get ready,” and touch under the letter. The trainer would first provide the cadence and lead them with proper
wording, “Point, one, two, get ready, one, two, touch … again from the beginning, point, one, two …”
After participants seemed firm on this “lead step,” the trainer
presented the test step, directing teachers to work in groups of three or four, with teachers taking turns at presenting as other members of the group responded as children who made no mistakes and tried to follow the teacher’s timing as closely as possible.
Most of the remaining time would be spent on task practice, including
procedures for correcting mistakes the children made (from producing no response to responding late, early, or producing the wrong response.) The
session also addressed recording data on the performance of every student.
As I understand it, the training methods have improved even more since then.
I'll second Rory's recommendation. See in particular pp. 36-45 and 68-76. Even though the passage is specific to one instructional program, it shows that effective training deals with teachers on the nuts and bolts level of instruction, not on the typical vague, global, non-specific nonsense that usually characterizes teacher training.
"Finally, I am amazed at the raw [teacher] talent that exists in failed schools. Often, four or five teachers in an ordinary failed school located in an unattractive neighborhood will emerge as unqualified superstars. These teachers were there all the time. They were ineffective, but they ... had the capacity to become highly competent performers when they were taught effectively, through a program that started where they were and systematically worked on what they needed to know to achieve a remarkable metamorphosis."
I'm thrilled you asked me how to better prepare new teachers for the classroom (and I'm also thrilled you're in Michigan and read my blog immediately - amazing). Spending my first month of teaching in shock, I want to do anything I can to help better prepare future teachers. Before managing a classroom of my own I should have been more prepared with a behavior management plan and should have planned out my answers to the following questions: How will I motivate my children to behave, share and respect each other? What are my limits (as in, what determines whether a child is warned or put in, say, a time out)? What are my basic classroom rules (rules for going to the bathroom, getting a drink, blowing your nose, etc)? I can list more, but the thing is, until you're in the classroom, until you meet your children, you'll never truly be able to prepare for those questions (especially if you've moved from Ann Arbor to Brooklyn!). Putting more thought into those types of questions is one thing and of course that would have helped me immensely, but the shock that most teachers receive that first month of teaching is inevitable (unless the children are complete angels - unlikely). I'm still trying to think about good advice to give . . . I'll keep thinking.
Interested in reading more about my first year and the challenges? Please take a look at my blog: http://no-sleep-till-brooklyn.bl...n.blogspot.com/
My school of ed advisor from last year recommended I reflect about my year, and I've been writing about my days in my wild kindergarten classroom - very therapeutic, of coruse.
I'd love to keep talking with you, and please, if you have specific questions, just ask.
HOW can we design a structure that will prepare new teachers to enter the classroom as competent practitioners, and also provide the foundation so they can ultimately become expert teachers?
As previously noted, classroom managagement dominates initially. Perhaps there's opportunity for video and roll-play within preservice.
For achieving expertise, reflective practice is important. For this, new teachers need exposure to turning curriculum standards into a course of study and ultimately lesson plans. They need models of exemplary instruction (e.g. DI, Singapore math, bona fide inquiry) and continuous improvement (e.g. lesson study). Implicated in all this is high literacy (the verbal and quantitative literacy needed to detect snake oil salesmen), and "21st century skills" (e.g. teamwork/motivation, data-driven decision-making, and understanding systems). We might be making a systematic error in asking teachers to facilitate inquiry before they develop the skills and mechanics required for reflection.
As for the original question of developing expertise, an example (appropriate for school administrators) of developing evaluation expertise can be found here, including the Quality Reference Archive and Virtual Examiner Handbook.
I suppose this is being naive, but I'm also just going back to simple so that I can uncover some assumptions here.
Once expert domain and teaching knowledge is in place, why couldn't the "structure that will prepare new teachers to enter the classroom as competent practitioners" simply be:
Step 1: Graduate.
Step 2: Apply for a teaching position.
??
Step 1: Graduate; Step 2: Apply for a teaching position
We've constructed the prompt differently. I took my mental red felt tip pen and struck "design a structure that will" from JennyD's original prompt:
HOW can we design a structure that will prepare new teachers to enter the classroom as competent practitioners, and also provide the foundation so they can ultimately become expert teachers?
I'd be keen to see new teachers equipped with the civic competence to participate knowledgeably in union governance. It would be heartwarming to see professional development prioritized over union political and litigation strategies. Especially when these misplaced priorities are pursued on behalf of the educators charged with inculcating the virtues of citizenship in our future voters.
"What works?" is an empirical question which only a competitive market in education services can answer.
It's always possible to ask another question behimd the last question, but just take one step back from "How do we train teachers?": how do we create an environment which assesses various answers to "How do we train teachers?". I suggest that the answer to --that-- (higher-level) question is "create a subsidized competitive market in K-12 education, with participating schools required to administer commercially available standardized tests of reading comprehension (any language) and Math, and with no teacher credential requirements imposed on independent/parochial schools."
My immediate answer to "How do we train teachers?" would be "through apprenticeship": allow Principals to hire any college grad with a BA in the relevant discipline (or close enough) as department gofers, test graders, teachers' aides, and in-house department substitutes for a couple of years.
I'd be keen to see new teachers equipped with the civic competence to participate knowledgeably in union governance.
They have this already. It doesn't take a particular skill set to participate in the union; it only takes the will to speak up.
And I think your use of the word "knowledgeably" is telling. It suggests that those who participate now do so without a knowledge base, and that's not accurate.
doesn't take a particular skill set to participate in the union
How about high school civics? Or understanding the role of associationism in political architecture? Or the literacy required to digest a district performance audit or evaluator's feedback? Or should educators trust union leadership when told "we've read those reports so you don't have to?" (Not to be unnecessarily provocative...)
Doubtless, some union locals are better governed than their districts; vice versa in other cases. My comment relates more to state and national union governance. Some examples:
Which states ensure teacher education candidates attain high levels of literacy and civic competence as part of undergraduate general education requirements? Wouldn't appropriately trained educators be embarrassed by NEA's cheap attacks on former Ed Sec Paige? (cf. Stop , Stop Hurting America.
In which states have unions worked to ensure HOUSSE (High, Objective, Uniform State Standard of Evaluation) requirements meet the NAACP's desire for highly qualified teachers in every classroom?
How many union members have weighed the possibility of value-added assessment and peer review to improve teacher quality? Which state unions have facilitated this discussion among their membership? What is the likely cost-savings to states? Are these discussions suppressed to avoid an admission against interest in Pontiac v. Spellings? (Potential annual cost to state of Ohio: $1B)
What was the Return on Educational Investment from NEA member's contribution to Communities for Quality Education? What is the relationship of Communities for Quality Education to NEA's quality policy? Is that consistent with other stakeholders (NAACP, parents, taxpayers) expectations for school quality?
How has WEA helped align professional development and K12 curriculum to ensure students meet desired levels of achievement, e.g. in math?
Dover PA district loses $1M lawsuit after teachers, with support of PA Ed Assoc, refuse to read evolution disclaimer. Q: Why did these same teachers fail to note the newly adopted biology text inadequately treats "nature of science," which the First Amendment Center suggests is the proper mechanism to avoid provoking religious minorities?
I actually went through an excellent training program for teachers, and I was fortunate to have a small part of it done at a different college that believed in putting future teachers into the classroom to learn.
I took a class in Reading instruction at LSU. Besides 6 hours a week classroom instruction we were also required to spend 6 hours a week at an elementary school teaching reading under the tutelage of experienced teachers.
When I moved to Florida I began taking classes at the now defunct U. of South Florida at Ft. Myers. They had a 3 tier internship program that gave me hundreds of hours in actual classrooms learning under experienced teacher.
MLU, plenty of ed schools have on site schools and classrooms, they are called lab schools. LSU has one, and if I remember correctly the University of North Alabama has one.
I was awful as a student teacher. I don't think I could have made it if I hadn't subbed for a year.
Thank you, Jenny, for an insightful blog. I'm coming late to this discussion, but there's one practice I'd love to have implemented for all teachers, and it's based on what the doctors at John Hopkins do: once a week, get together with colleagues for an hour or two with the sole purpose of presenting and evaluating situations that were troublesome *or* successful. IIRC, the doctors at JHU use this time specifically for peer feedback. Job status is not an issue.
Scheduled, consistent time to reflect with and observe colleagues is what I'm thirsty for.
It doesn't happen in schools of education.
A lot of it is OJT (On the Job Training), independent reading, attending lectures, workshops, and conferences, developing areas of particular skill within one's discipline, effective mentoring, and PASSION.
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