“Forming Meaningful Relationships with Each Child”: Examining the Impact of the Two-by-Ten Guidance Strategy on Preservice Interns

Abstract

Early Childhood and Elementary preservice teachers are ill equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to successfully teach the children in their classrooms. Preservice interns do not feel confident in the guidance and classroom management strategies they have been taught in preservice programs upon graduation. Relationship building is a type of positive, proactive guidance strategy to reduce conflict in the classroom. Research and preservice intern programs support and encourage relationship building; however, preservice interns do not get much experience with these types of strategies prior to graduation. The Two-by-Ten guidance strategy is used to help teachers and interns building relationships with the students in their classroom and reduce the amount of conflict. The current study aims to examine the outcomes and changes in level of closeness and conflict between PSI and student after the implementation of the Two-by-Ten guidance strategy. The researcher first reviews the literature regarding guidance strategies and preservice interns’ preparedness to handle classroom conflict. Next, the researcher uses the Student Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) to examine the change in measure of closeness and conflict between PSI and student before the Two-by-Ten strategy was implemented to after the strategy was implemented. The researcher used a grounded theory lens to identify emergent themes from the preservice interns’ reflections of the project. Lastly, the researcher identifies strengths and weakness of the current study and discusses implications and proposes future directions in the field.