Abstract:
When discussing decision-making and formative assessment/evaluation practices used within lesson implementation, preservice teachers in an academic service learning partnership have often alluded to inherent knowledge with phrases such as “You could usually tell….” These teacher candidates are demonstrating evidence of evaluative thinking through multiple forms of reflection currently being used to study the partnership program, including focus groups, written reflections, and lesson planning. Although these teacher candidates’ pedagogy and ability to make implicit knowledge explicit may be relatively nascent due to their being novices to the profession, their ability to explain decision-making implies that preservice teachers have raw skills that can be developed by teacher preparation programs and captured by educational evaluators. Through encouraging preservice teachers to be reflective practitioners, evaluators and teacher preparation faculty alike can gain insight into their evaluative thinking, which can ultimately lead to development of highly effective educators and positive outcomes for future K-12 students.