Lesson for First Day of Methods Class: Supporting Preservice Teachers’ Understanding of Expertise Development

Abstract

This lesson is designed for use on the first day of a middle or secondary-level science methods course. Beyond getting to know our new students, our goals are to address two challenges: 1) preservice teachers’ unrealistic expectations of being expert teachers upon graduation, and 2) science teacher retention. In this lesson preservice teachers are asked to share their expertise in an area of their personal lives (e.g., hobby or sport). Our students have shared their expertise in a wide range of areas from photography to cheerleading to fishing. As each student shares his or her expertise, students come to realize that developing expertise in any area takes a great deal of stamina, passion, tenacity, and mentoring. We draw upon insights learned by students during their expertise conversations and help students to understand how to align those insights to developing their own expertise in teaching. We share two different implementation versions of this lesson and how we continue to draw upon this first day discussion throughout the semester. Student interview data revealed that the lesson resulted in new insights about classmates and a better understanding of the lengthy process of developing teacher expertise.