High Leverage Practices

Making content explicit is essential to providing all students with access to fundamental ideas and practices in a given subject. Effective efforts to do this attend both to the integrity of the subject and to students' likely interpretations of it. They include strategically choosing and using representations and examples to build understanding and remediate misconceptions, using language carefully, highlighting core ideas while sidelining potentially distracting ones, and making one's own thinking visible while modeling and demonstrating.

After beginning to work on explaining in their literacy methods course in the first semester, in the second semester of the program, interns learn to give mathematical explanations of foundational fractions concepts such as naming shaded parts of area in Children as Sense-makers #2. Interns are introduced to four features of good explanations and use these features to plan, give, and evaluate their own explanations and to evaluate the explanations of their peers. They both rehearse explanations with their peers and provide explanations to students. In the third semester, interns continue to work on explaining core mathematics and science content. In their mathematics methods course, interns continue to develop their skill with a focus on computational algorithms. Interns learn to make explicit parts of the algorithm that are often implicit and they learn to model in response to a student error. In their science methods course, interns learn and practice specific ways of supporting students in constructing scientific explanations, using evidence to support claims. Constructing scientific explanations is a key scientific practice emphasized in the Next Generation Science Standards. Interns continue to work on explaining core content across subject areas during the student teaching semester with support from their mentor teacher and field instructor.

Teachers pose questions about content. To effectively pose questions, a teacher considers the core ideas related to the content at hand, and carefully phrases questions that elicit, probe, and advance students' thinking about the content.

In the first literacy methods course, interns learn to pose questions to students in the context of conducting one-to-one reading and writing conferences. In the second semester of the program, interns have continued opportunities to learn to pose questions. In Facilitating Classroom Discussions, focused on social studies content, interns learn to pose questions to engage students and elicit, probe, and advance their thinking. Specifically, interns learn to develop a series of questions that helps students' thinking develop, ask questions to take up students' ideas and guide their thinking, ask questions to model one's own curiosity and engage students' curiosity, and ask open-ended questions that give students space to consider the content. Interns develop and enact two lessons that include a series of questions. In the subsequent social studies methods course, interns develop and teach a Visual Inquiry Lesson, which includes a series of leveled questions (moving from more concrete to more abstract) to guide students' analysis of contrasting images. In the third semester of the program, work on posing questions is embedded within larger practices. For example, in the mathematics methods course, interns work on posing questions when leading mathematics discussions.

Teachers strategically choose and use representations and examples to build understanding and remediate misconceptions. To choose representations and examples effectively, a teacher must consider core ideas of the discipline, likely patterns of student thinking, and the experiences that students are bringing to the classroom. To use them effectively, a teacher uses language carefully, highlights core ideas while sidelining potentially distracting ones, and makes their own thinking visible while modeling and demonstrating.

In their social studies methods course in the second semester, interns create representations of content by selecting contrasting visual and written texts and pairing them with a complementary central question to investigate for two lessons that they teach in their field placement. In the third semester, interns continue to develop their skill with choosing and using representations, examples and models of content. In Teaching with Digital Technologies, interns participate in a modeling project called Claymation (focused on learning literacy concepts). Interns develop a model project and participate in the same learning process that their K-8 students would use in learning the literacy concepts. In their mathematics methods course, interns learn to model the standard algorithms for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. In their modeling, interns learn to carefully model with manipulatives and to show the correspondences between the work with the manipulatives and the standard written algorithm in order to unpack the implicit meanings in the algorithm. Throughout there is attention to common patterns of student thinking, ways to model that address these patterns, and strategically picking a representation for modeling. In their science methods course, interns engage in peer teaching using science lesson plans typical of elementary classrooms. One aspect of their work in planning and teaching these lessons is very careful work with the representations and models of the content, such as small-scale ecosystems or diagrammatic models of and multiple experiences with evaporation and condensation.

In a whole-class discussion, the teacher and all of the students work on specific content together, using one another's ideas as resources. The purposes of a discussion are to build collective knowledge and capability in relation to specific instructional goals and to allow students to practice listening, speaking, and interpreting. In instructionally productive discussions, the teacher and a wide range of students contribute orally, listen actively, and respond to and learn from others' contributions.

In the first semester literacy class, interns learn to plan and enact interactive read alouds (IRAs) of picture books. The IRAs are interactive in that interns engage the elementary students in thoughtful discussions before, during and after the reading. The interns plan the initial questions and follow-up questions to provide opportunities for the students to focus on building collaborative meaning from the text and to use the text as evidence of their thinking. In Teaching with Digital Technologies, interns learn how to lead a whole group discussion in a blended or virtual learning environment. The course uses a blended format and each intern develops and enacts a whole class lesson (webinar) on the core content of web2.0 and web3.0 resources for K-8 social studies teaching for their peers. There is a focus on learning to establish norms of discourse and management.

In the second semester, interns continue to learn to lead whole class discussions. In the second literacy methods course, interns plan and enact a whole class Interactive Read Aloud (IRA) of a social studies related picture book. They analyze the text for social studies content and for the comprehension strategies that students would use to access the content. They plan questions for before, during and after reading that provide students with opportunities to focus on the text and the author's purposes to build meaning collaboratively. In Facilitating Classroom Discussion, interns lead three discussions with one or two middle school students. The course focuses on uptake moves and responsiveness to students' thinking, as well as supporting students' learning of the social studies content. In the social studies methods course, interns plan and enact a Visual Inquiry Lesson, which includes a whole class discussion of historical images. The course builds on the Facilitating Classroom Discussions focus on "accountable talk" and "uptake."

In the third semester in the mathematics methods course, interns plan and enact four problem-based discussions with decreased scaffolding as the course progresses. Interns develop skill with discussion-enabling practices (selecting a discussion-worthy mathematics problem, setting up a mathematics problem, monitoring students while they work independently) and discussion-practices (launching a discussion; orchestrating a discussion; concluding a discussion).

Early in the student teaching semester, interns plan and enact a series of math lessons called Instructional Cycle One and Instructional Cycle Two. These math lessons are designed to have interns look at student assessment data, plan a lesson using that information, enact the lesson, and complete the cycle with the collection of new assessment information. These whole class math lessons include a discussion as a central part of the enactment. Interns plan and teach the discussion using tools and strategies developed in their mathematics methods course.

Teachers pose questions or tasks that provoke or allow students to share their thinking about specific academic content in order to evaluate student understanding, guide instructional decisions, and surface ideas that will benefit other students. To do this effectively, a teacher draws out a student's thinking through carefully-chosen questions and tasks and considers and checks alternative interpretations of the student's ideas and methods.

Interns begin working on eliciting student thinking starting in the first week of the program. In Managing to Teach #1, interns learn to elicit student thinking in order to have a short relationship-building conversation with a child. In Children as Sense-makers #1, interns work on eliciting student thinking about science (day and night) through a series of highly-scaffolded interactions in which interns elicit a student's thinking in several modalities, use a reading to support the student's understanding, and assess the student's learning. In their first literacy methods course, interns conduct interactive read alouds with groups of K-2 students and learn to develop questions to elicit understanding of key ideas in the readings.

In the second semester of the program, interns begin work on eliciting student thinking with older students and with different subject matter. In Facilitating Classroom Discussions, interns are introduced to frameworks for making thinking visible and accountable talk and they work with small groups of middle school students and elicit students' thinking around social student content. This work leads into the social studies methods course, during which interns conduct think alouds with upper elementary school students to elicit their thinking about historical texts. In Children as Sense-makers #2, interns learn to elicit and probe students' mathematical thinking related fractions through a series of different activities in which interns interview students based on their written work and design and enact follow up instruction with an individual student. Scaffolding is provided through unpacking the focal mathematics and by providing question shells, types of questions that can be applied to a wide range of mathematics content. In the second literacy methods course, interns plan and enact book club discussions with small groups of upper elementary and/or middle school students and work on eliciting student thinking in the context of these discussions. At the end of the first year of the program, interns are assessed on their skill at eliciting and probing student thinking through participation in a simulation in which each intern elicits the mathematical thinking of a standardized student. In the third semester of the program, work on eliciting and student thinking is embedded within larger practices. In their mathematics methods course, interns work on eliciting and probing student thinking in the context of leading a mathematics discussion. They do similar work in their science method course, with focused attention on eliciting students' initial ideas about a scientific phenomenon and then their explanatory ideas after experiencing an investigation.

Teachers use small group work when instructional goals call for in-depth interaction among students and in order to teach students to work collaboratively. To use groups effectively, teachers choose tasks that require and foster collaborative work, issue clear directions that permit groups to work semi-independently, and implement mechanisms for holding students accountable for both collective and individual learning. They use their own time strategically, deliberately choosing which groups to work with, when, and on what.

In Teaching with Digital Technologies, interns learn to conduct small group discussions in an online or blended learning environment. In conjunction with the second literacy methods course, interns engage middle school students in a Science Fiction Book Club Social Networking Project. Interns learn how to use social networking software (Edmodo) to elicit small group Book Club discourse including learning the norms and moves of discourse online to elicit engagement and enhance the discussion. In Teaching Children with Exceptionalities in Inclusive Classrooms, interns learn that homogeneous grouping must be flexible and dependent upon student instructional needs, which positions interns to be more careful observers of the grouping that occurs in their field placements and to think about grouping students in more sophisticated ways as they gradually take on teaching responsibilities. Interns continue to work on setting up and managing small-group work across subject areas during the student teaching semester with support from their mentor teacher and field instructor.

Teachers implement routine ways of carrying out classroom tasks in order to maximize the time available for learning and minimize disruptions and distractions. They organize time, space, materials, and students strategically and deliberately teach students how to complete tasks such as lining up at the door, passing out papers, and asking to participate in class discussion. This can include demonstrating and rehearsing routines and maintaining them consistently.

In the first semester, interns work on giving clear directions for simple tasks such as playing a game in the first Managing to Teach course. Interns learn about, rehearse and enact specific features of giving directions such as properly articulating their speech, positioning themselves effectively in the room in relation to children, modeling procedures, and checking for student comprehension. This work is continued in the second Managing to Teach course in the second semester in which interns work on and practice —through rehearsals and interactions with students— routines including giving directions, distributing materials for a science class, and calling on students using a variety of strategies. Throughout this work, they explore equity implications of different approaches. At the end of the first year, interns complete a field-based assessment that involves submitting video records of enacted practice. Interns are assessed on their skills with engaging students in an organizational or managerial routine. In the third semester, in the Beginning the School Year course, interns observe mentor teachers as they follow a specific process, interactive modeling, for teaching classroom routines during the first 6 weeks of the school year. Interns learn that interactive modeling includes naming and modeling the behavior; using clear, sequential, and specific oral language; asking students to say aloud what they have observed; having several students model the behavior; and then having the group practice. Interns rehearse this process during class sessions and then identify an opportunity to teach a routine through interactive modeling in their field placement classroom.

Each discipline has norms and routines that reflect the ways in which people in the field construct and share knowledge. These norms and routines vary across subjects but often include establishing hypotheses, providing evidence for claims, and showing one's thinking in detail. Teaching students what they are, why they are important, and how to use them is crucial to building understanding and capability in a given subject. Teachers may use explicit explanation, modeling, and repeated practice to do this.

In the first semester, interns begin work on establishing norms and routines for classroom discourse and work that are central to the content at hand in their first Managing to Teach class. Interns observe teachers enacting different norms and routines for classroom participation that encourage student engagement with particular content. These norms and routines include one-on-one conferencing about students' writing, turn-and-talks between students to discuss problem solving strategies in math, or small group work during a science experiment. These observations are debriefed and unpacked with particular attention to identifying norms and routines, considering equity implications of those norms and routines, and the affordances/trade-offs of observed norms and routines. In the second semester, in their second Managing to Teach class, interns work on and observe for teachers' use of academic language appropriate to the different subject areas. They generate a list of examples of such academic language, so they are better positioned to see and hear it when it is used by teachers and by students. In the third semester of the program in the Beginning the School Year course, interns learn brief, direct, and clear language that assists students to learn to regulate their own behaviors to be fully involved in the academic and social learning in school. Interns learn and practice language for reminding students about appropriate behaviors, reinforcing and describing positive behaviors that promote full engagement, and redirecting students when they are off-task.

Although there are important individual and cultural differences among students, there are also common patterns in the ways in which students think about and develop understanding and skill in relation to particular topics and problems. Teachers who are familiar with common patterns of student thinking and development and who are fluent in anticipating or identifying them are able to work more effectively and efficiently as they plan and implement instruction and evaluate student learning.

In the first semester of the program, interns work on recognizing and identifying common patterns of student thinking in science and language arts. In Children as Sense-makers #1, interns learn the many ways in which young children make sense of one scientific phenomenon, day and night. They begin to develop an orientation towards children as sense-makers and work on developing skill at interpreting the patterns of sense-making. In the first literacy methods course, interns learn to conduct running records of reading. As a student reads a text aloud, interns learn to make a visually notated record of the oral reading. Interns learn to analyze the running record for the student's use of meaning, visual, and grammatical cues as they decode unfamiliar words and also note the reader's self-monitoring and use of self-corrections and fix-up strategies. Interns compare this record of strengths and needs with developmental checklists.

In the second semester of the program, in the second literacy methods course, interns plan and conduct a think aloud assessment using a grade-level common text with two students. The interns identify five stopping places in the text and ask the student: "What were you thinking as you read that?" Interns analyze their students' use of comprehension strategies and in collaboration with other interns look for common patterns of thinking and use of strategies. In Children as Sense-makers #2, interns continue to learn to view children as sense-makers through a variety of experiences including analyzing students' verbal and written responses to mathematics tasks that are focused on foundational fractions concepts. Through this work, they develop a sense that "incorrect" answers are often correct answers to a different question and the common patterns of student thinking around foundational fraction concepts.

In the third semester in their mathematics methods course, interns analyze students' work with place-value related tasks including the use of computational algorithms to identify common patterns of student thinking around these mathematical topics and they develop skill with identifying those patterns in student work.

Effective summative assessments provide teachers with rich information about what students have learned and where they are struggling in relation to specific learning goals. In composing and selecting assessments, teachers consider validity, fairness, and efficiency. Effective summative assessments provide both students and teachers with useful information and help teachers evaluate and design further instruction. Teachers analyze the results of assessments carefully, looking for patterns that will guide efforts to assist specific students and inform future instruction.

Throughout the program, interns have multiples opportunities to work on developing skills and knowledge that position them to be able to compose, select, and adapt, quizzes, tests, and other methods of assessing student learning of a chunk of instruction. In the first semester, in the Teaching with Curriculum Materials course, interns are introduced to an Instruction Planning Considerations Framework, and one consideration focuses on assessment. In this course, interns analyze assessments in curriculum materials to see if assessments align with learning goals and provide opportunities for all students to show that they know, understand, and/or are able to do. In the social studies methods course in the second semester, interns compose assessments that will give them evidence of students' progress toward the learning goals of the lessons in the context of a Visual Inquiry Lesson and a Document-Based Lesson Sequence. The main focus is on including assessments that align with the learning goals and focus of the lesson as well as making sure that they give students opportunities to learn what will be assessed. For the Visual Inquiry Lesson, interns administer the assessment and analyze students' responses to determine what they have learned. For the Document-Based Lesson Sequence, interns interview two students with the materials, have them complete the assessment (argumentative writing), and then analyze students' understanding. In Teaching Children with Exceptionalities in Inclusive Classrooms, interns learn how to develop or select alternative modes of assessment that increase the fairness and accuracy of data for students with exceptionalities or those without identified disabilities who nonetheless may be struggling relative to their classmates. During the student teaching semester, interns plan and enact a Unit Teaching Experience, which includes a summative assessment at the end of the unit. Interns modify an existing assessment and/or design their own assessment and analyze the results of students' learning. Throughout this semester, interns are working on the use of summative assessment with support from their mentor teacher and field instructor.

Teachers use a variety of informal but deliberate methods to assess what students are learning during and between lessons. These frequent checks provide information about students' current level of competence and help the teacher adjust instruction during a single lesson or from one lesson to the next. They may include, for example, simple questioning, short performance tasks, or journal or notebook entries.

In the first semester, interns begin to use specific methods to assess students' learning on an ongoing basis. In their first literacy methods course, interns learn how to conduct and enact one-to-one reading and writing conferences with students, which provide on-going information about the progress students are making in their use of decoding and comprehension strategies for reading and developmental progression in writing. Interns learn to keep records of these conferences to show students' progress over time. In their Teaching Children with Exceptionalities in Inclusive Classrooms course, interns learn to elicit whole-group unison responses in order to do brief comprehension checks and how to follow up group responses with individual questions. In the third semester, in their mathematics methods course, interns learn to use an end-of-discussion check as a way to assess students' understanding at the end of an instructional segment. Through a series of scaffolded experiences, interns learn to: (a) write mathematics tasks that can be used to assess learning of the content at the end of an instructional segment, (b) give directions for students to work on task(s), (c) monitor students' work as they work on the task(s), (d) analyze responses and record these analyses using performance records, and (e) make evidence-based inferences about individuals' and the class. During student teaching semester, interns plan and enact a focused unit of instruction called the Unit Teaching Experience. As interns teach the unit, they gather information about student learning during each lesson using several strategies such as informal monitoring of students at work, end of class checks, discussion, and analyzing written work. They use this information to inform their lesson plan for the next day.

Specific instructional strategies are known to be effective in response to particular common patterns of student thinking. Teachers who are familiar with them can choose among them appropriately and use them to support, extend, or begin to change student thinking.

In the first semester of the program, interns begin to learn to identify and implement an instructional strategy or intervention in response to common patterns of student thinking. In Children as Sense-makers #1, interns learn to use an interactive read aloud with modeling to address common patterns of student thinking around what causes day and night. In their first literacy methods course, interns learn to teach readers and writers using instructional supports such as modeling and thinking aloud of their own processes, using texts to provide examples of strategies, and scaffolding feedback with specific language. Interns select instructional strategies based on their analysis of students' oral reading (running records) and responses/discussion of constructed meaning and their analysis of students' writing over time. In the second semester, in Children as Sense-makers #2, interns identify and implement an instructional strategy in the context of targeted instruction work in mathematics. Interns also continue this work in their Teaching Children with Exceptionalities in Inclusive Classrooms course in the second and third semesters. Interns learn how to systematically fade scaffolding in the context of an explicit lesson format. They learn how to apply systematic fading of supports to a wide range of skills that would be considered foundational for students who have achieved accuracy but not fluency goals.

Teachers appraise and modify curriculum materials to determine their appropriateness for helping particular students work toward specific learning goals. This involves considering students' needs and assessing what questions and ideas particular materials will raise and the ways in which they are likely to challenge students. Teachers choose and modify material accordingly, sometimes deciding to use parts of a text or activity and not others, for example, or to combine material from more than one source.

In the first semester, interns begin work on choosing, appraising, and modifying tasks, texts, and materials for a specific learning goal in the Teaching with Curriculum Materials course. Interns develop of a set of analytical skills that guide their reading of curriculum across content areas and that support their abilities to translate published curriculum into lessons that meet the needs of their students and contexts. Interns are introduced to and use an Instructional Planning Considerations Framework to read and critique many curriculum-based lessons in mathematics, science, and social studies. Interns are introduced to a Instructional Planning Template which they make use of throughout the program and they use this template to create modified lesson plans that improve the curriculum-based lessons and increase the likelihood that every student will achieve the lesson's learning goals. In the first literacy methods course, interns choose, appraise, modify and plan a phonics lesson for students in their field placement classroom.

In the second semester, in the context of the second literacy methods course, interns plan for and conduct an Interactive Read Aloud (IRA) of a social studies related text. The interns locate an appropriate text for the social studies content goals and plan for ways for the text and discussion to strengthen the social studies content learning for the students. They make use of the Instructional Planning Considerations Framework in their planning. In their Teaching Children with Exceptionalities in Inclusive Classrooms course, interns learn how to identify critical content for a given lesson or unit and using that critical content as a foundation, how to develop instructional materials at a range of complexity and how to select supporting texts in the content areas that are at appropriate reading levels for students with a range of comprehension skills. Interns connect the work that they are doing with the Instructional Planning Consideration focused on learners. In Teaching with Digital Technologies, interns participate in a unit on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and develop and teach a lesson using the UDL considerations that integrates technology into their field placement. Interns connect UDL considerations with the Instructional Planning Considerations Framework. At the end of the first year, interns complete an in-person assessment that involves analyzing and modifying a social studies lesson plan. Interns are assessed on their skills with choosing, appraising, and modifying tasks, texts, and materials for a specific learning goal.

In the third semester, in their science methods class, interns apply the Instructional Planning Considerations to lessons they are preparing to teach in their placement classrooms, based on lesson plans from their classroom's science curriculum. They then use the Instructional Planning Template to construct a lesson plan, and then enact and reflect on their lesson.

In the fourth semester, as interns begin planning the Unit Teaching Experience, they work closely with their mentor teacher to choose a content area, identify district-adopted curriculum, and adapt and modify curriculum to fit the learning goals for their particular students, employing the Instructional Planning Considerations. This is a collaborative process with the mentor teacher's input and also informed by assessment data from students, previous experiences using the curriculum and tailoring the lessons to meet the current learning goals.

During a lesson or segment of instruction, the teacher sequences instructional opportunities toward specific learning goals and represents academic content in ways that connect to students' prior knowledge and extends their learning. In a skillfully enacted lesson, the teacher fosters student engagement, provides access to new material and opportunities for student practice, adapts instruction in response to what students do or say, and assesses what students know and can do as a result of instruction.

Throughout the program, interns have multiple opportunities to plan and enact tasks and lessons in the context of working on multiple teaching practices. For example, in the first semester, interns enact Interactive Read Alouds of picture books in the context of their first literacy methods course. In the second semester, interns plan and enact a social studies Visual Inquiry Lesson in their upper elementary field placement. In the third semester, in the context of their science methods course, interns apply the Instructional Planning Considerations to lessons they are preparing to teach in their placement classrooms, based on lesson plans from their classroom's science curriculum. They then use the Instructional Planning Template to construct a lesson plan, and then enact and reflect on their lesson. In their mathematics methods course, interns plan and enact four problem-based mathematics discussions.

Carefully-sequenced lessons help students develop deep understanding of content and sophisticated skills and practices. Teachers design and sequence lessons with an eye toward providing opportunities for student inquiry and discovery and include opportunities for students to practice and master foundational concepts and skills before moving on to more advanced ones. Effectively-sequenced lessons maintain a coherent focus while keeping students engaged; they also help students achieve appreciation of what they have learned.

Interns begin working on planning a sequence of lessons on a topic in the second semester. In the second semester of literacy methods, interns engage middle school students in a Science Fiction Book Club Social Networking Project. Interns plan four discussion sessions with a small group of middle school students in an online or blended learning environment. In their social studies methods course, interns design a 2-3 day lesson sequence on some aspect of the U.S. Constitution. The lesson sequence focuses on: (1) helping students learn relevant background knowledge, (2) explicitly teaching social studies reading strategies and giving practice with those strategies, and (3) explicitly teaching argumentative writing strategies and giving practice with those strategies. The lesson sequence is centered on a central question and at least two primary sources, all of which the interns select and construct. During the student teaching semester, interns design a Unit Teaching Experience that spans over a minimum of two weeks or ten lessons in a particular content area around a core topic. They work with their mentor teacher and field instructor to identify curriculum materials to support their design and modification of a sequence of lessons that meets the needs of the particular classroom they are teaching. In the design of the sequence they make decisions about which lessons are central to their learning goals and which lessons need to be modified or eliminated.

During a sequence of lessons, the teacher sequences instructional opportunities toward specific learning goals and represents academic content in ways that connect to students' prior knowledge and extends their learning. In a skillfully enacted sequence of lessons, the teacher attends to the overarching goals of the sequence of lessons in enacting the lessons, assesses what students are learning within and between lessons and adapts the sequence of lessons as needed in response to assessment data, and assesses what students have learned as a result of the sequence of lessons.

Interns begin working on enacting a sequence of lessons on a topic in the second semester. In the second semester of literacy methods, interns engage middle school students in a Science Fiction Book Club Social Networking Project. Interns plan and enact four discussion sessions with a small group of middle school students in an online or blended learning environment. During the student teacher semester, the Unit Teaching Experience occurs, usually during lead teaching. Interns teach a minimum of ten lessons with some lessons that were planned to be single lessons frequently being adapted to meet the needs of students. Additional time is built into the enactment of the unit so that the sequence can change based on the needs of the students and the assessment that is taking place between lessons.

Regular communication between teachers and parents or guardians supports student learning. Teachers communicate with parents or guardians to provide information about students' academic progress, behavior, or development; to seek information and help; and to request parental involvement in school. Productive meetings and other forms of communication are attentive to considerations of language and culture and designed to support parents and guardians in fostering their child's success in and out of school.

Throughout the program, interns have multiples opportunities to work on developing skills and knowledge that position them to be able to conduct a meeting with a parent or guardian. In the first semester, interns conduct a mock parent-teacher conference for their focus child as a part of their work in the first literacy methods course. In this conference, the interns share their observations, assessments and instruction provided for the child and hold a discussion with the "parent' to elicit information about the child. In Teaching in a Multicultural Society, interns hear from caregivers who represent a wide range of diverse families about their experiences with schools and methods of communication that they have found to be particularly productive or unproductive. Following this activity, interns complete an assignment where they interact with a caregiver of one child, preferably a child in their field placement. Interns ask this person to complete a paper survey and to have a structured conversation with the caregiver aimed at learning about the child, his/her family and methods and ways that the intern can serve that family's needs. Interns reflect on their learning about the family, the child, and the cultural group(s) to which the family and child belong as well as their learning with regard to the process of building relationships with families and children. In the Teaching Children with Exceptionalities in Inclusive Classrooms course in the first and second semester, interns learn a variety of skills and dispositions pertaining to communicating with families with students who are struggling academically, socially, or behaviorally, or students who are identified with disabilities. During the third semester, in the Working with Families course, interns conduct a community exploration/ethnography and learn strategies through which they can learn from families. During the student teaching semester interns collect a family communications collection to document their work with the people who care for the students in their classroom. The collection encourages the intern to document interactions with families that happen during conferences, hallway conversations and meetings to discuss students.

Teachers routinely communicate with fellow teachers, administrators, other professionals, and parents or guardians in order to plan teaching, discuss student needs, secure special services for students, and manage school policies. Skillful communication is succinct, respectful, and focused on specific professional topics. It uses clear, accessible language, generally in standard English, and is attentive to its specific audience.

In the first year of the program, interns write short email messages to classroom teachers following brief classroom observations as a part of the Managing to Teach courses. In these professional messages, interns acknowledge something that they noticed with regard to classroom norms and routines. In the second semester, as a part of the Children as Sense-makers #2 course, interns write a "student progress memo" about the student with whom they worked for their targeted instruction sequence. The memo reports on the student's mathematical understandings prior to the instruction, the learning goal for the instruction, the enactment of the instruction and how students responded, and possible targets for subsequent instruction. The memo is scaffolded and provides opportunities to practice communicating about students and teaching with colleagues. During the fourth semester, interns develop a family communications collection, which includes several forms of written communication with families, including but not limited to, an introduction letter, a weekly newsletter, information about the unit of instruction they will be teaching and invitations to classroom events. Interns collect these written communications as a way of representing their ability to write professional messages and also as a way of documenting their communication between home and school.

Learning to teach is an ongoing process that requires regular analysis of instruction and its effectiveness. Teachers study their own teaching and that of their colleagues in order to improve their understanding of the complex interactions between teachers, students, and content and of the impact of particular instructional approaches. Analyzing instruction may take place individually or collectively and involves identifying salient features of the instruction and making reasoned hypotheses for how to improve.

In the first semester, in the first literacy methods course, interns analyze their planning and enactment of Interactive Read Alouds (IRAs). Interns review video records of their lesson and identify specific aspects of the lesson for their strengths and as well as aspects that could be improvement. They focus both on how they planned for the IRA and the enactment. In addition, interns meet with field instructors after enacting their IRAs to reflect on the lesson.

In the second semester, in Facilitating Classroom Discussions, interns analyze the video of one of their discussion lessons and reflect on their teaching. The reflection includes attention to students' thinking and understanding, teaching moves, and how the lesson might be improved in the future. Although this assignment is submitted individually, interns often talk with their teaching partner about the lesson before writing their reflection. Interns set two goals for themselves in the future and identify specific strategies for reaching those goals. In the second literacy methods course, interns continue to analyze their planning and enactment of IRAs.

In the third semester, in the Beginning the School Year course, interns observe beginning of the day routines in K - 5 classrooms with a focus on particular managerial routines including particular uses of teacher language. They write a focused e-mail to the teacher they observed commenting on these elements. They move from this to enacting routines in their own classrooms, videoing their work and critiquing their enactment of these routines. In their science method class, interns reflect on two science lessons taught in the field, using reflective questions oriented to (a) the instructional framework introduced for structuring science lessons, (b) the Instructional Planning Considerations, and (c) the equity practices emphasized in the class. They use their video records from the lesson enactments to make their reflection concrete and specific.

During student teaching semester, interns have many cycles of feedback and reflection to support analysis of their developing teaching practice. In the Instructional Cycles One and Two, the Unit Teaching Experience and through informal and formal observations with their mentor teacher, field instructor and other colleagues, interns receive both written feedback and have ongoing dialogue about particular aspects of their planning and teaching. Through the use of technology they also receive feedback on very specific elements of their practice and share their own reflections on their teaching as they move through the program.