THE INTERACTIONS MATRIX: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR EXPANDING
INTERACTIONS AND DEVELOPING AUTONOMY IN FIELD EXPERIENCES
The Interactions Matrix was developed through collaborative conversations between PreK-12 mentor teachers from Cedar Falls and Waterloo
and UNI faculty and graduate students who are involved in the Professional Development School project. It represents a framework or map for
how field experience students can expand their interactions and develop their autonomy though field experiences in the teacher education
program. It also communicates a full range of opportunities to both mentor teachers and preservice teachers that can enhance the experience in
mutually beneficial ways.
Understanding the Matrix
The horizontal axis describes an expanding interactions circle of impact. While many students experience a general progression from indirect
interactions to relationship building to individual interactions to small-group interactions to whole-class interactions, others do not. The
interactions are not intended to have any required linear sequence but rather should occur in ways that best meet the needs of the student and the
teacher/classroom.
The vertical axis describes the level of student autonomy and amount of teacher support. While many students in early field experiences need a
great deal of teacher support and direction in very early field experiences and in the beginning phase of many other experiences, the aim of the
program is to facilitate increased autonomy to better prepare field experience students for the independent reflection and decision making
required in student teaching and beyond.
Other Variables
In practice, the opportunities described in the Interactions Matrix are affected by many other variables:
Student Readiness: Field experience students vary greatly in their prior experiences, knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Thus, their paths
through the opportunities in the Matrix will also vary. In all cases, however, students should expand their interaction experiences and develop
some new autonomy to the degree possible and appropriate, in each of their field experiences.
Constraints of Curriculum and Content: The curriculum and/ot content of the field experience classroom may drive the need for more or less
of the various interactions opportunities available at any particular time, which will impact the degree to which the field experience student can
explore these opportunities.
Teacher Preference: Teachers sometimes have clear preferences about the roles a field experience student can and should play in their
classrooms. While the university desires a wide variety of available interactions, it is ultimately the teacher who will decide what is appropriate
for their classroom and for each field experience student.
More examples of content-area-specific and grade-level-specific matrices can be found at: http://www.uni.edu/coe/pds/interactions_matrix.shtml
The Interactions Matrix: A framework for expanding interactions and developing autonomy in field experiences
HIGH
AUTONOMY
Low mentor support
•planning by preservice
teacher •interaction is
novel, non-routine, need for
autonomous decisionmaking •task is complex,
unpredictable •reflection is
initiated and internalized by
preservice teacher
MEDIUM
AUTONOMY
D
E
G
R
E
E
O
F
A
U
T
O
N
O
M
Y
Medium mentor support
•planning shared
•interaction partially
modeled, scripted
•task somewhat complex
•reflection requires some
prompting, directing,
modeling by mentor
LOW
AUTONOMY
High mentor support
•planning by teacher
•interaction modeled or
completely scripted by
teacher
•task is predictable and
simple
•ªreflection is prompted,
directed, and modeled by
mentor teacher
•creating new learning
center for the classroom
•creating a survey or
interview to collect
information about students’
habits, interests,
understandings. •reading
and evaluating students’
essays or projects •action
research projects •creating
new activities using current
technology
•sharing information about a
hobby or interest in a mini
lesson for the class
•making phone calls on
teacher’s behalf
•collecting materials for
learning center, creating
with teacher •collecting
observation data using
structured form (ontask/off-task
•converting teacher-created
materials to new
technology
•taking attendance
•filing materials •correcting
papers with clear rightwrong answers •collecting
homework •entering grades
into records
•ordering supplies •keeping
score during a game
•writing notes on board as
teacher instructs
•setting up a learning center
from given materials
•tallying student
participation or the number
of blurts
•greeting students at the door
as mentor teacher has done and
initiating conversations to learn
more about each student.
•inviting PreK-12 students to
ask questions about the
preservice teacher and his or
her background and interests.
•participating with students in
team-building challenges
INDIRECT
INTERACTIONS
•designing a get-to-know-you
icebreaker
•leading a reflective discussion
in advisory.
•being introduced to the class
and hearing each student to tell
their name and information
about themselves.
•facilitating name games (e.g.,
“I’m Becky and I like books,
she’s Lori and she likes to
limbo”; bean bag toss to
rehearse names, etc.
•observing during class
meeting or advisory time
RELATIONSHIPBUILDING
INTERACTIONS
•creating a differentiated
lesson/activity/assessment for a
student who needs either
additional support or additional
challenge.
•reteaching a concept in a new
way for individual student who
does not understand.
•providing vocabulary support
for ELL student during another
assignment.
•circulating during independent
work time to answer student
questions and provide
remediation, support,
redirection.
•sharing behavior observation
data with student, discussing it,
creating behavior contract
using template
•sitting near a student to
deliver predetermined behavior
support plan •helping student
who was absent to learn what
the mentor teacher
taught/modeled previous day.
•reading aloud/with a student
or conducing reading fluency
probes
•partnering with struggling
student, participating as a
fellow student. •doing
flashcard reviews. •providing
support for one student as class
learns to use new technology
INTERACTION
WITH INDIVIDUAL
STUDENT
•creating a mini lesson for
group of writer’s workshop
students who need to work on a
particular aspect of writing
•creating and teaching
lesson(s) for class based on
contextual factors and
assessment data.
•leading a small group
discussion to foster deep
analysis, textual justification of
thematic extensions, and
connections to other texts and
genres.
•creating discussion starter
questions and facilitating
whole-class discussion to build
a shared understanding
•leading small group
discussion in literature circle
with given discussion starters
•reteaching material for small
group of students who need
additional practice to master a
concept.
•doing a KWL chart with a
small group to introduce the
next book their literacy group
will read together.
•co-teaching a lesson with
mentor teacher
•teaching a lesson the mentor
teacher has planned
•supervising several student
groups during their work time,
providing assistance when
needed.
•presenting mini lesson and
discussion to high school class
on “10 tips for surviving
college” or other topics related
to personal experience.
•taking over routine part of
class instruction such as
calendar time, warm up skills
activity, vocabulary review,
checking/collecting homework.
•checking checks vocabulary
definitions and sentences for a
literacy group.
•introducing 1-minute writing
prompt, writing with the
students.
•participating in group activity
in PE class as a fellow group
member.
•reading aloud a story or
passage to the class, asking
clarifying or comprehension
questions.
•giving spelling pretest to class
INTERACTION
WITH SMALL
GROUP OF
STUDENTS
INTERACTION
WITH WHOLE
CLASS OF
STUDENTS
EXTENT OF INTERACTION
More examples of content-area-specific and grade-level-specific matrices can be found at: http://www.uni.edu/coe/pds/interactions_matrix.shtml
The Interactions Matrix: A tool for documenting the expansion of interactions and development of autonomy in field experiences
HIGH
AUTONOMY
Low mentor support
•planning by preservice
teacher •interaction is
novel, non-routine, need for
autonomous decisionmaking •task is complex,
unpredictable •reflection is
initiated and internalized by
preservice teacher
MEDIUM
AUTONOMY
D
E
G
R
E
E
O
F
A
U
T
O
N
O
M
Y
Medium mentor support
•planning shared
•interaction partially
modeled, scripted
•task somewhat complex
•reflection requires some
prompting, directing,
modeling by mentor
LOW
AUTONOMY
.
High mentor support
•planning by teacher
•interaction modeled or
completely scripted by
teacher
•task is predictable and
simple
•ªreflection is prompted,
directed, and modeled by
mentor teacher
INDIRECT
INTERACTIONS
RELATIONSHIPBUILDING
INTERACTIONS
EXTENT OF INTERACTION
INTERACTION
WITH INDIVIDUAL
STUDENT
INTERACTION
WITH SMALL
GROUP OF
STUDENTS
INTERACTION
WITH WHOLE
CLASS OF
STUDENTS