Cooperating Teachers' Perspectives of Student Teaching Skills and Activities

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which cooperating teachers deem required student teaching skills and activities relevant to the agricultural education student teaching experience. The population for this descriptive study consisted of individuals who served as cooperating teachers in Iowa and South Dakota during the last 5 years (N = 70). The study focused on activities in eight constructs: evaluation of student performance, teaching, FFA, planning instruction, Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE), teaching profession, school-community relations, and adult education. Cooperating teachers surveyed in this study believed that seven of the eight constructs were very relevant to the student teaching experience. They thought the eighth construct, adult education, was irrelevant. This study serves as a feedback loop to university agricultural education student teaching coordinators. Since cooperating teachers exert a powerful influence on practices adopted by student teachers, it is critical that training for cooperating teachers emphasizes the importance of skills and activities required during the capstone student teaching experience. Agricultural education programs nationwide can use these results as guidelines when reviewing expectations for student teaching and cooperating teachers.

Identifying Challenges Pre-service Teachers Encountered When Teaching Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education (CASE) Coursework during Student Teaching

“…Student teaching is the capstone portion of the agricultural teacher preparation process and should consequently be used as a tool for enriching abilities and self-efficacies for developing into professional educators (Edgar et al, 2011). As the day-to-day leaders and facilitators for student teachers, cooperating teachers serve to help guide them as they transition into these new professional identities (Smalley et al, 2015b). Good, positive experiences are effective for teaching and learning, as expressed by Dewey (1938), and can serve to ensure student teachers are being exposed to ideas and concepts which will positively shape their own practices as future in-service teachers.…”

“…Student teaching is a capstone experience for pre-service teachers (Edgar et al, 2011) and is thus the application of the entirety of the agricultural teacher preparation process within the confines of a school-based placement site (Whittington, 2005). Cooperating teachers work with student teachers to facilitate practical knowledge and skill development in actual SBAE settings (Smalley et al, 2015b). The ever-increasing complexities and diversities associated with teaching and learning necessitate that future in-service teachers will face no shortage of issues related to technical and academic knowledge and skill development (Thoron et al, 2016).…”

Decision to Enter the Classroom as an Agriculture Teacher: An Exploratory Qualitative Investigation

“…Another technique that aligns with bracketing is engaging with fellow researchers and outside sources to bring perspective to the data and potential patterns or bias (Rolls & Relf, 2006). Saldana (2013) noted that, particularly in early rounds of analysis where doctoral students may be solo-coding, the idea of casual "shop talk" (p. 206) can be particularly helpful for the researchers to gain insight into what the data may represent. Additional steps were taken to maintain subjectivity in the form of crosschecks, member checks, and triangulation of data (Tufford & Newman, 2010).…”

“…Student teaching is often viewed as the culminating or capstone experience in the formal education process of training teachers (Borko & Mayfield, 1995;Edgar, Roberts, & Murphy, 2009;Smalley, Retallick, & Paulsen, 2015). This practicum experience has been described as the place where students have the opportunity to learn in a high-impact setting based on real-world experiences (Smith & Rayfield, 2017).…”

Team-based learning in an undergraduate capstone course: Examining the effectiveness of a learner-centered instructional method for farm management and operation students

“…Easing students' transition from academic experiences to further academic study or their entry into the workforce is an important purpose of a capstone course . Conceptualizations of a capstone course experience within Agricultural Education can include the student teaching experience or an internship (Andreasen & Trede, 1998;Edgar, Roberts, & Murphy, 2011;Smalley, Retallick, & Paulsen, 2015).…”