Leveraging Clinical Experiences to Prepare Teachers for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students

Clinical experiences may be the ideal vehicle to develop and practice the skills and dispositions needed to work eff ectively with culturally and linguistically diverse students (Darling-Hammond, 2012; Valdes, Bunch, Snow, Lee, & Matos, 2005). According to the National Research Council, a “key element for successful learning is the opportunity to apply what is being learned and [to] refi ne it” within the context of a variety of clinical experiences (Hammerness, Darling-Hammond, Grossman, Rust, & Shulman, 2005, p. 401). Additionally, Darling-Hammond (2012) suggests that strong teacher preparation programs have “a common clear vision of good teaching that permeates all course work and clinical experiences, creating a coherent set of learning experiences,” and they have “extended clinical experiences . . . that are carefully chosen to support the ideas presented in simultaneous, closely interwoven course work” (p. 93). These scholarly recommendations are refl ected regularly in the data collected from exit surveys of graduating preservice teachers in the Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s (IBM) program at the University of Connecticut (UConn). As one respondent commented:The best aspect of my preparation at UConn was my clinical experience. This was a time to see methods put to practice and learn exactly how schools function. My teachers were able to provide me with thorough feedback on my strategies and work with me to improve my teaching methods. It also gave me a time to see the challenges in the fi eld of education and work through some of those challenges.