Summer ‘Learning Lab’ educates both teachers and students

Summer learning reached a new level at Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 this summer when both children and teachers became students in the classroom.

SFUSD Pathway to Teaching launched a “Learning Lab” for the first time to prepare Multiple Subject and Bilingual Spanish teacher candidates, where they received high-quality modeling, practice teaching, and real-time coaching from experienced SFUSD teacher leaders.

Teacher candidates and teacher educators spent every afternoon rehearsing for instruction, receiving feedback to strengthen their practice, and planning strategies to best meet students’ needs.

“This new model is a huge step forward in the preparation of Pathway teachers consistent with research on high-quality teacher preparation,” said Pathway to Teaching Supervisor Kristin Alvarez.

The Learning Lab model also helps mitigate summer learning loss for K-5 SFUSD students in the program, and provides a career growth opportunity for expert SFUSD teacher leaders.