I had to ask myself today, "What is good teacher education?" It just so happens that a sped major from my institution is in our classroom for her practicum. What if I were really supervising her? Wouldn't that be good teacher education? Would I give her different feedback from the teacher? to me, this would be great teacher education. A professor out in the classroom so s/he knows the teacher and students. An observation that's more than a one-shot deal by someone who knows neither the teacher, the content, nor the students. Plus, she's doing some work with a general ed major. The two of them seemed pretty tight. Surely this is also good teacher education, and I'm hoping some good conversations are occurring in transit. More can get done this way, if done correctly, than anything else. The informal connections are so important, but they have to be structured.
Another thing that we all need more of is time. What if we all sat down together -- the university professor, me, the teacher, and the student. I know it would be intimidating for the student, so it would have to be set up in such a way that did not seem like an inquisition. This would be an amazing opportunity to discuss the teacher candidates' possibilities in in-depth ways and use the different perspectives to advantage. I'll have to ask my students about this one, how this could be accomplished without being a terrible experience intimidation-wise. Meanwhile, this is exactly what works in teacher ed: a teacher candidate having a hands-on experience and having the opportunity to debrief and learn from the situation with the guidance of more experienced professionals. I'd argue it's one of the only things that we actually KNOW works in teacher ed.
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