Suggestions for Academic Success of Preservice Teachers

When asked to reflect on her experiences as a pre-service teacher in the elementary education program at the University of South Carolina, Elizabeth shared her thought in the following words: I feel like we were able to grow before a lot of people figure out the things we figured out [our] junior and senior year during their first year of teaching. I think about some of the things I see other people struggling with, I’m like, I felt so prepared with certain things because we were constantly in schools and working with teachers, not just watching them, working with them. The elementary education program at the University of South Carolina has developed a successful program, which is built upon the relationships that we have establish between pre-service teachers and children. Becoming a teacher is a social endeavor (Bransford, Derry, Berliner, & Hammerness, 2005) and teaching involves these critical related components: children and adults, texts and policies, and issues and ideologies. Learning to teach is complicated and primarily defined through work with people. This means that it involves adults and children who bring complex collections of experiences, knowledges, and social and cultural alliances. Therefore, teaching can never be fully mastered, as new situations, unique students, and societal changes continuously disrupt notions of mastery and complicate continuously emerging instructional theories. In short, teacher education requires instructional practices that are both responsive to children and continuously emerging. All of these factors complicate defining academic success for pre- service teachers.