Exploring the structures of teacher education programs: Constructing models that serve as frameworks
for classroom teaching
Section I: Content
Statement of the Issue: Preparing teachers often necessitates providing lived-through experiences that
alter these candidates’ perceptions of the process of teaching and learning. Presently, classroom
teachers are expected to use integrated instruction as a means to foster students’ understanding of
content material and develop literacy processes. Classroom teachers also support the concept of
engaging students in activities that are structured similarly across content areas as a means to support
children’s learning of content material. Providing opportunities for children to repeat the processes they
use to learn different types of material, they can become more proficient in using specific learning
strategies, make them more automatic, and focus on understanding different content. However, the linear
sequencing of courses used in teacher education programs prevents teacher candidates from
participating in and understanding these types of instruction which they will eventually use in their own
classrooms. Furthermore, as a result of the existing structure, these candidates think and work in ways
that isolate discrete pieces of information rather than see connections between and among them.
Another issue to be addressed in preparing pre-service teachers is how to help them navigate the
curricular paths that are being created in schools as a result of state standards and standardized tests.
As external requirements like these become more stringent and the expectation for student achievement
is weighed more heavily, teachers are becoming more restrained in the types of instruction used in
classrooms. Classroom teachers are feeling forced to pull-apart curricular areas in efforts to teach to the
test. If pre-service teachers have not had experiences in examining ways in which course content and
learning strategies can be integrated, they will not be able to envision other possibilities of planning
classroom instruction. As a result, they will never be able to provide a model of integrated learning in
their own classrooms.
Consequently, we need to look at the ways in which teacher education programs can be modified to
provide teacher candidates with models they can adapt for their own teaching. Candidates also need to
experience the positive results of different curricular models so that they will be empowered to create
change in their own classrooms. We need to look at teacher preparation programs as not only the means
by which we provide content knowledge, but serve as models for the types of learning environments we
hope that these students will create in their own classrooms.
Literature Review: Planning instruction for elementary school classrooms in order to achieve student
success requires teachers to focus on integrated instruction, to provide learning activities that target
different learning strengths, and to offer opportunities to engage in learning activities that repeat either the
content or the process or both. The notion of integration reflects integrated curriculum; the content, and
integrated experience; the processes by which students learn content. School-based learning
environments also experiment with spiraling curriculum and looping as two different constructs for
maximizing student learning. Teacher education programs, however, engage teacher candidates in a
linear processing of content whereby course content is presented often times, in a hierarchical order.
When students’ learning is segmented, not only do they learn information in pieces, they are less able to
construct relationships between and among concepts. However, when learners are actively engaged in
the processes they will use, they will be able to take risks, and eventually develop greater proficiency in
applying them in different settings. In order to effectively prepare individuals to utilize specific
instructional strategies and create supportive learning environments, they need to have experience
working within the very structures that they will eventually use in their own classrooms and schools.
Contribution to Conference Strand I: Engaging pre-service teachers in different types of instructional
plans will enable them to see alternate ways in which to support children’s learning and achievement.
Broadening teacher candidates’ perceptions of instructional possibilities helps them see alternate ways of
developing meaningful instructional activities. Engaging teacher candidates in different types of activities
and having them reflect on their experiences enables them to see the ways in which these activities can
impact learners. They are affected in the way they see themselves as learners, they see new possibilities
for their future students, and they come to regard the very content they have to teach in creative and
meaningful ways. Restructuring teacher education programs in a way that helps teacher candidates
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Convention