addition, many educational researchers,
such as Charlotte Danielson (2007)
have published guidance on how to
maintain effective, productive classroom
environments.
Preservice programs should give
teachers in training multiple exposures
to ways to manage student behavior
to maximize student learning. New
teachers must also have the support
of university preparation and district
induction programs that directly teach
them how to build good relationships in
the classroom.
“We didn’t know how to
plan for instruction.”
Respondents indicated that their
exposure to lesson planning in college
was artificial and minimally useful.
Assignments were often contrived. The
new teachers reported that they were
required to design rubrics for lessons
that they quickly realized would not
work in real situations. They were told
to develop “engaging” lessons, but they
did not know their audiences, never
actually presented lessons, and therefore
never learned whether their designs
were, in fact, engaging.
They also noted that they were never
presented with the “bigger planning
picture,” and they lacked the knowledge
to do long-term planning. They spoke
of the need to observe short-term and
long-term planning in real classrooms,
with real teachers who do it well every
day.
High-quality preservice and induction
programs must give novices opportu-
nities to work side by side with master
teachers on planning for instruction.
University professors and on-site master
teachers should model lesson and unit
planning, delivery, and assessment. Pre-
service preparation in curriculum and
instruction must prepare new teachers
to deeply understand and organize
subject matter, to see the relationships
among concepts, to develop students’
understanding through a variety of
instructional strategies that fit the
subject matter, and to use technology
appropriately to enhance instruction.
“We needed to better understand
student engagement.”
Beginners and mentors both commented that the new teachers had
received insufficient exposure to strategies for motivating students. They were
unprepared to apply differentiated
instruction practices, constructivist
activities, or cooperative-grouping
strategies. Beginners felt especially ill-prepared to motivate reluctant or recalcitrant students.
University preparation can focus on
the rich research base underpinning
student choice, student learning groups,
motivation, and student engagement
practices.
“We needed to learn how
to integrate technology.”
Our focus groups told us that the use
of technology in preservice classrooms
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was limited, and training in how to integrate technology into lesson planning
was virtually nonexistent. There was
little or no instruction using the International Society for Technology in
Education’s (2008) National Education
Technology Standards for Teachers.
Digital citizenship was not a focus in
coursework, even though cyberbullying
and the misuse of technology are
serious concerns in many schools. For
the most part, the new teachers learned
on the job how to use technology for
instruction.
Universities must embed technology
into their coursework in all classes,
not just those taught by tech-savvy
professors. It is especially important
to ensure that preservice teachers have
experiences and develop expertise with
