The Comprehensive Guide to Working With Student Teachers

This is a must-have resource for clinical and field experience coordinators and all educators who find themselves in the position of guiding teacher candidates. The authors provide a comprehensive toolkit for the complex work of field instruction, including mentoring approaches; conversation stems; conferencing techniques; lesson debriefing questions; understandings of programmatic goals; observation, assessment, and feedback methods; and more. They also demonstrate how to use video viewing and conferencing to adapt support for candidate growth in digital environments. The book clearly defines what field instruction entails and shows how to move from a pre-prescribed technical approach toward one that fosters candidates’ abilities to embody the roles of empowered, self-directed, and agentic teachers. With the help of this text, new and seasoned teacher educators will guide candidates to not only learn how to meaningfully reflect on practice, but to also internalize these competencies for their own future professional development and continuous self-improvement. Chapters are accessibly written and filled with concrete examples, tips, worksheets, and activities.

Book Features:

• Clear directions, tools, templates, and protocols for how to do the job of field instruction.
• A “Voices From the Field” chapter with practical advice from field instructors across multiple programs.
• Annotated sample conversations with candidates.

Elizabeth Soslau is associate professor of education at the University of Delaware. Monique Alexander is assistant professor of elementary and early childhood education at Slippery Rock University.

“This book encapsulates the major issues encountered by those working with teacher candidates. It is not only interesting and insightful, but also provides a comprehensive resource for teacher educators to better understand and develop their knowledge, skills, and abilities to support teacher learning in the field. A valuable, timely, and much-needed addition to contemporary teacher education research and practice.”
—Amanda K. Berry, professor of education, Monash University

“It is not uncommon for candidates to complete a practicum experience or student teaching sequence without maximizing the reflection and meaning-making that is essential to their growth as future educators. This guidebook of practical tools fills a distinct need and addresses the all-too-common practice of completing accountability and accreditation rubrics without authentically engaging candidates in the self-work that can positively change their practice. There is a common misperception that field instruction is intuitive. This guidebook effectively challenges that notion and will be a gift to anyone doing this important work, and to the candidates and their future students who will be the beneficiaries of their improved practice.”
—Eva M. Zygmunt, Helen Gant Elmore Distinguished Professor, Ball State University