Cooperating Teachers’ Perspectives of Student TeachingSkills and Activities

摘要

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 teachingexperience. The population for this descriptive study consisted of individuals who served ascooperating teachers in Iowa and South Dakota during the last 5 years (N = 70). The study focusedon activities in eight constructs: evaluation of student performance, teaching, FFA, planninginstruction, Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE), teaching profession, school–communityrelations, and adult education. Cooperating teachers surveyed in this study believed that seven ofthe eight constructs were very relevant to the student teaching experience. They thought the eighthconstruct, adult education, was irrelevant. This study serves as a feedback loop to universityagricultural education student teaching coordinators. Since cooperating teachers exert a powerfulinfluence on practices adopted by student teachers, it is critical that training for cooperatingteachers emphasizes the importance of skills and activities required during the capstone studentteaching experience. Agricultural education programs nationwide can use these results asguidelines when reviewing expectations for student teaching and cooperating teachers.