What Millennial Preservice Teachers Want to Learn in Their Training

As teacher educators, we implore teacher candidates to understand the cultures and experiences of their students to engage them in learning. Yet, preservice teachers are seldom asked what they hope to learn in their training to become teachers of young children. In this study, we examined the interests, resources, and expectations of millennial preservice teachers born between 1980 and 2001. We found that millennial preservice teachers saw themselves as accepting of differences, hesitant to learn about assessment, very impressed with their teaching abilities, but not highly skilled in their ability to provide critique and feedback. Suggestions for enhancing the teacher training experience for millennials are discussed, as are the possible implications of training teachers of young children.