Chapter 10: The Power of Partnering: Mediated Middle Level Field Experiences

In this chapter, the authors describe the development of mediated field-based partnerships for teacher candidates interested in teaching middle school. Mediation involved the active collaboration among teacher candidates, university faculty, and K–12 teachers and administrators throughout the field-based component of the teacher candidates’ study. In this chapter, this is explored at all levels of the Rider University teacher candidates’ academic program, beginning with the introductory courses at the foundations level, then following to the focused study of discipline specific pedagogy at the methods level, and concluding with the immersion in the field-based classroom at the end of the program in the capstone level.