Creating a “Third Space” in Student Teaching: Implications for the University Supervisor’s Status as Outsider

Authors

Alexander Cuenca, Saint Louis UniversityFollow
Mardi Schmeichel, University of GeorgiaFollow
Brandon M. Butler, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
Todd Dinkelman, University of GeorgiaFollow
Joseph R. Nichols Jr., Georgia Southwestern State UniversityFollow

ORCID IDs

Mardi Schmeichel

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2011

Citation

Teaching and Teacher Education 27 (2011), pp. 1068–1077.

doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2011.05.003

Comments

Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. Used by permission.

Abstract

The work of teacher education during student teaching typically takes place in two distinct “spaces”: placement sites and college/university settings. The program featured in this article is structured in ways that clearly mark out those two spaces. Yet this configuration led our university supervisors, whose work primarily took place in the field, to feel like “outsiders.” To redress this concern, a third learning space was incorporated into our student teaching seminar. We suggest that “third spaces” in combination with return-to-campus courses not only mitigates the peripherality of university supervisors but also amplifies the influence of a teacher preparation program.