Video feedback on practicum: Demonstrating effective pedagogy and making children's progress explicit

This chapter highlights how the use of video feedback can support preservice teachers’ understanding of how to improve the ways in which they scaffold and monitor students’ literacy learning, gather formative assessment data in relation to set goals and make connections between educational theory and practice. It examines the contemporary shift towards democratic pedagogies in the context of learning in social constructivist environments and the need for preservice teachers to be aware of the impact of the teacher/student dialogues they create on the quality of pedagogy and students’ learning. Preservice teachers’ analysis of their pedagogical dialogue not only raises their awareness of the quality of dialogic turn-taking and questioning strategies but makes their associated ‘cognitive moves’ explicit for their critical reflection, along with their use of the underpinning metalanguage. The chapter acknowledges the importance of preservice teachers’ compilation of rich pedagogical data during practicums and shows how this contributes to deepening their learning. Similarly, it argues that emergent data are central to creating a dialogic community of inquiry where all practicum stakeholders are drawn into a process of learning and knowledge building.