Back-to-Back Teaching: A Practice-Based Approach for Preparing Early Childhood Teacher Candidates

ABSTRACT In response to the need for explicitly linking field-based experiences with theoretical knowledge of pedagogy to effectively prepare teacher candidates, teacher educators are increasingly rethinking the opportunities they provide in their teacher education programs. In this action research article, we describe our efforts as teacher educators to connect pedagogical theories and strategies with practical experiences through a back-to-back integrated teaching approach. We explore how this experience provided early childhood teacher candidates with opportunities to engage with culturally appropriate practices in an authentic classroom setting. During this experience, teacher candidates were responsible for planning, teaching, and assessing children over a series of consecutive days. Using community of practice theory rooted in sociocultural perspectives, we provide a discussion of the themes that emerged as 13 early childhood teacher candidates navigated the organizational structures of this assignment. We focus on lessons we learned as well as teacher candidates’ strengths that developed because of this assignment. The findings reveal the importance of providing teacher candidates with opportunities to learn how to build relationships with their students, preparing them to become culturally and linguistically responsive teachers, and providing opportunities for teacher candidates to learn about various assessments. Finally, we share the assignment protocol, reflection questions, and outcomes.