The Model

The UTE model is a novel early field experience for preservice teachers (PTs) that was developed at Michigan State University beginning in 2012 and has since been adopted at both Penn State University and the University of Delaware. While enrolled in a secondary mathematics teaching methods course, the PTs plan and teach lessons (in pairs) in a collegiate developmental mathematics class using an inquiry-oriented, task-based curriculum, providing PTs with an opportunity to experience an approximation of teaching practice in an authentic learning setting. Other peer PTs enrolled in the methods course observe as lead pair of PTs teach, sitting among the mathematics students, facilitating group work and tracking students' mathematical thinking and reasoning. 

Throughout the planning and implementation of these lessons, the PTs receive mentoring from experienced mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) including their methods instructor, the instructor of record for the developmental mathematics class, and graduate teaching assistants with secondary mathematics teaching background. These mentors offer feedback on lesson plans, structure opportunities to rehearse lessons, and if, needed, provide in-the-moment coaching during the teaching episodes. After each developmental math class session, MTEs orchestrate a debrief discussion with the lead PTs for each class and their peer PTs who observed the lesson to discuss the development of mathematics students’ thinking and react to the decision making of the lead PTs. In addition, the debrief discussion offers an opportunity for peer PTs preparing to teach subsequent lessons to rehearse the beginning, or task set-up, phase of the lesson prior to actual enactment in the developmental mathematics course. 

The UTE model is novel not only in its approach to field experiences in teacher preparation, but also in its reform of developmental mathematics courses. Several peer tutoring or peer assistant models have been designed and tested that support developmental mathematics students’ learning. Although an affordance of these approaches compared to the UTE model is that peer assistants or tutors can work in a one-to-many configuration, a key difference between these approaches and the UTE model is that the PT instructors in the UTE assume responsibility for teaching in the course. This necessitates that they understand the scope and sequence of the curriculum, and the added responsibility encourages PTs to take ownership of the developmental mathematics students’ learning.