Interacting, learning, juggling : a study of the preservice teacher internship

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the teaching internship was experienced by interns and by their mentors, supervisors and university faculty members (FSMs). Phenomenological interviews were conducted with 12 interns and nine FSMs and Boyaztis's approach was used to derive themes from descriptions provided by participants. Themes from the intern interviews were Interacting with Others, Learning Instructional Strategies, and Juggling Competing Demands. Themes from the interviews ofFSMs included Interacting with Others, Learning Instructional Strategies, Differing Perspectives, and Stress. The theme Interacting with Others describes how interns and perceived and responded to various people in the internship situation. The theme Learning Instructional Strategies describes interns' efforts to create or find approaches to the tasks of teaching that fit themselves and the situation. Juggling Competing Demands describes the interns' experiences of trying to prioritize and choose among demands on their time and effort. Differing Perspectives describes perceptions concerning conflicting views among faculty, supervisors and mentoring teachers about significant aspects of the internship experience. Stress refers to perceptions of the degree to which interns' experiences were difficult or problematic.