teacher moves – A teacher credentialing professor described adapting a “hospital practice” into her instruction, then having student teachers huddle to identify the strategies used. A veteran educator says the approach became a must-do in her own decades of supervising studen
Education Week published an article by a professor in a teacher credentialing program titled “I Adapted a Hospital Practice for Teacher Prep. It Was Transformative.”
In the piece, the professor explains that she models instructional strategies while teaching her credentialing classes, and then sets aside time for her students to “huddle” and identify which strategies she used.
The idea, as presented, sounds straightforward to some readers—but it lands with particular weight in how it is practiced. A veteran educator. writing after reading the article. argues that there are many other ways to strengthen teacher credentialing programs. including “getting active K-12 educators to teach them” and ensuring “university professors actually spend time in K-12 classrooms teaching.”.
Still, she describes the professor’s “must use” strategy as one she believes is hard to beat when working directly with student teachers in real classrooms.
For twenty years, she says she used the same approach with all her student teachers. During the first months with each student teacher. she asked them every day to note what she called “teacher moves” she used during class. At the end of the lesson. she required them to share what they had seen—how she grouped students. how she handled a student conflict. and other concrete teaching decisions.
After those observations were shared, she reviewed them quickly and added strategies the student teacher had missed. She also describes how the student teachers—she had “at least fifteen” during her career—told her the process was invaluable.
The educator now says she is adding that practice to “The Best Advice For Student Teachers & Their Collaborating Teachers.”
For credentialing programs, the debate is bigger than a single method. But in one corner of the conversation, the method itself is the story: model the move, make trainees name it, and use that huddle to turn observation into teaching skill.
teacher credentialing student teachers instructional strategies teacher moves classroom observation teacher education professional learning
So basically they’re copying what hospitals do? Sounds like corporate education, but whatever works I guess.
I don’t get why they need “huddles” to figure out what a teacher did. They can just watch and take notes like normal.
This sounds like that “teacher moves” thing where they just overanalyze everything. Like if you don’t say the strategy out loud then it doesn’t count? Also I’ve seen plenty of university professors who never set foot in K-12 classrooms so I’m glad they mentioned it, but I’m still skeptical.
Not gonna lie, when they say the must-do is having student teachers identify moves… that kinda reminds me of those training videos where they make you pause and pick the correct answer. Maybe it’s good, but I wonder if it just turns teaching into a checklist. Teachers already have enough to deal with.