Journal of Education & Social Policy

Pay It Forward: Student Teachers Blogging with the Purpose of Learning from One Another
Dr. Tammy A. Feil, Dr. Cynthia A. Ferraro

Abstract
This article examines the feedback of weekly gated blogs by thirty-three student teachers from a university in Pennsylvania over a period of fourteen weeks. As an extension of the gated blog assignment, six student teachers presented their insights regarding the gated blogs at a national student-teaching conference in Pennsylvania in 2015. All of the student teachers had welcomed the idea of weekly gated blogs as a means of sharing studentteaching experiences to help alleviate fears and concerns. These blogs provide an online forum where student teachers and their professors can share strategies, offer advice, ask questions, share memorable experiences, and collaborate. Additionally, blogging facilitates a practical understanding of how to align student-teaching dispositions to the required Interstate New Teacher Assessment Support Consortium (InTASC) standards. Findings suggest that student teachers value the weekly gated blogs as a protected social media environment to help ease the stresses associated with the student-teaching experience.

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