Student teachers are most often provided opportunities for observing, then engaging directly in teaching during the student-teaching phase of their program. The ability to "notice" nuanced communication techniques, and identify interrelated methods and simultaneous skills occurring during teaching coincides with the development of the identity, or agency, of a teacher. In order to "notice", student teachers must be able to articulate a language of practice and analyze structure and construction in the composition of teaching. However, quite often opportunities for peripheral observations are delayed, teacher preparation courses in methodology are frontloaded with the theory and application of concepts at the end of the program, under guidance of an experienced teacher. In addition, it can be challenging for pre-service teachers to articulate how theory is enacted in methods. In this study, the "Chronologically Oriented Representations of Discourse and Tool-Related Activity" (CORDTRA) was used as a methodological tool for analyzing and deconstructing practice with student teachers, prior to their entrance in the classroom. Pre-service teachers first received text-based content on educational theory and their related methods, then viewed a video snapshot of a local public school teacher in a local and culturally relevant context. Student teachers then coded targeted topics and specific competencies as they reviewed the video and identified pedagogical patterns, complex topics and competencies according to their own levels of teaching. As a representation of practice, the student-coded CORDTRA provided opportunities for micro and macro level overview of the labor process of teaching.