Scaffolding with Children and Teacher Candidates
We argue that preservice teachers should be taught and assessed in ways that echo DAP. This upholds the principle of advancing equity so vital to DAP( NAEYC 2019, 2020a) and encourages preservice teachers to teach in developmentally appropriate ways in the future. Our goal is to widen this view to include mentor teachers and their interactions with preservice teachers.
Following are practices that mentor teachers can implement with preservice teachers. These practices enhance mentor teachers’ capacity for developing candidates’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions for DAP and support positive mentor-mentee relationships. Mentor teachers can adjust these activities for their settings: Just as tailoring instruction to the unique needs of each child and their individual contexts is an essential component of DAP( NAEYC 2020a), so is tailoring these activities to the unique needs of preservice and mentor teachers.( See“ Scaffolding with Children and Teacher Candidates” on this page.)
We created and reflected on these activities through the lens of DAP. The DAP position statement works in concert with NAEYC’ s other core statements, including advancing equity and professional standards and competencies( NAEYC 2019, 2020b). More specifically, the activities align with the expectations that
› Educators draw upon“ a broad repertoire of developmentally appropriate and culturally and linguistically relevant, anti-bias” skills and strategies( NAEYC 2020b, 10).
› Educators“ participate in reflective and supportive supervision, both as supervisors and as recipients of supervision”( 2020b, 25). Our recommendations require deep reflection on behalf of the mentor and mentee and a spirit of support and collaboration.
Scaffolding with Children and Teacher Candidates
It would be unfair to expect a young child to perform a task beyond their current level of knowledge or skill( Berk 2022) without offering assistance and scaffolding. So too should mentor teachers acknowledge and build on teacher candidates’ strengths and capabilities, which will vary between and call for different supports for individual candidates( NAEYC 2020a). With appropriate scaffolding, mentor teachers can support the growth and development of each preservice teacher to develop their knowledge, skills, and dispositions related to DAP. Scaffolding inherently promotes equity, a key component of DAP( NAEYC 2019, 2020a), by starting with an individual’ s assets and prior experiences and intentionally supporting them toward new knowledge and skills.
If, for example, a preservice teacher has never worked with kindergartners before, they can start with one-on-one interactions and receive feedback from their mentor. Then, they can plan, teach, and reflect on a series of small-group lessons with their mentor teacher. Eventually, they can create and lead a series of whole-group activities, with the mentor observing and offering feedback before and afterward. If a preservice teacher has observed and taught individual and small groups of kindergartners before, then their starting point and the scaffolding would differ. In this way, a mentor teacher’ s scaffolding should be based on individual strengths and needs rather than a standardized approach applied to all preservice teachers.
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