Case 3: Onsite Coaching In a Community-Based Field Experience: Guiding a Teacher Candidate to Elicit Student Thinking

Educational reforms in the United States have shifted the ways teacher preparation programs support teacher candidates (TCs) in their clinical experiences (Swars & Hart, 2009). This case study responds to the call to interweave teacher learning, clinical experiences, and university coursework (Hinojosa, 2022a; National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, 2010) to bridge the divide between theory in practice. Further, it aims to support TCs’ understanding of students’ mathematical thinking, and use students’ thinking to adjust instruction (Cochran-Smith & Villegas, 2015). We describe the ways in which targeted and responsive coaching in the context of a targeted field experience supported Karen (pseudonym), a teacher candidate, and her use of questioning to develop students’ mathematical sensemaking through problem-solving activities, and how Karen used students’ learning outcomes to inform future instruction.