Teacher Education

Transforming Teacher Education 

Eduflack higher ed, Teacher Education, teachers, Woodrow Wilson

When we talk about the future of education, it can often be challenging for many of us to truly understand what the “tomorrow” actually looks like. We just can’t stop seeing things through the lens of the now, and thus can’t conceive what true reinvention or reimagining might look like. 

For the past three years, I’ve been fortunate to work with the Woodrow Wilson Foundation on its efforts to transform teacher education. We are doing little things, like collaborating with MIT, replacing credit hours with content mastery, using assisted reality to enhance the clinical experience, and actually build a new graduate school for prospective educators unlike any before it. 

These meager undertakings can often be hard to digest. So to aid the process, I helped produce a short video outlining our work. Give it a watch. Let me know what you think. And if you want to be involved in the process, let me know that too. 

You can find the video here — https://youtu.be/pqt58H8EY4A. 
Happy viewing!

The Quest for More Engaging History Instruction

Eduflack Students, Teacher Education, teachers, technology, Woodrow Wilson

Ultimately, fostering each student’s curiosity and sense of agency leads to habits of mind that support lifelong learning and civic engagement—and it is never a bad outcome when mastering required curriculum is exciting and fun. Teachers are also happily about the ease with which games can be tied into curriculum and standards and used to enliven content delivery and assessments while maintaining academic rigor. They are also committed to taking the lesson back to their colleagues—teachers teaching teachers, to make learning more dynamic throughout their schools.

– The Woodrow Wilson Foundation’s Stephanie J. Hull, writing about the importance of gaming in social studies instruction in The “Great Game” of Teaching History for GettingSmart.

Revisiting Four Key EduConcerns for a New Presidential Administration

Eduflack accountability, assessment, higher ed, Presidential campaign, reform, Teacher Education

Back in January, Eduflack wrote for Education Post on the four key education concerns the few dozen folks seeking the presidency need to consider. More than 10 months later, these four issues were barely touched in the 2016 campaign at almost every level. But they remain essential, particularly as President-elect Trump begins to shape his education policy and chooses a leader to head his U.S. Department of Education.

The four areas I continue to hope we focus on include:

  1. The proper federal/state role when it comes to education policy;
  2. 21st century education and real 21st century learning;
  3. Accountability, and how to effectively hold education institutions, particularly colleges and universities, accountable; and
  4. The future of teacher education.

In each of these areas, I pose a number of questions that we must consider. Each question was relevant at the start of the calendar year. Each is relevant today. And each will be even more relevant at the start of a new administration and a new Congress.

I just hope someone (or someones) is starting to explore answers and responses.

 

 

Improving #TeacherEd for Today … and Tomorrow

Eduflack 21CS, accountability, Teacher Education, teachers, Woodrow Wilson

Imagine if teacher preparation programs were focused on the doing, instead of just on time served. Educators already know the best learning happens when it is rooted in real-world problems and real-world engagements. So why aren’t prospective teachers learning in programs that are designed in the form of such challenges and that mirror the real work of real teachers?

Imagine if teacher preparation programs embraced individualized instruction. Educators already know that their young students arrive at the classroom with different levels of knowledge, different experiences and different preferred learning styles. Prospective teachers are no different than those they will one day teach. So why aren’t more teacher education programs focused on the learner, with programs based on the needs and preferences of that adult learner?

From my latest at US News & World Report, looking at how competency-based learning may be the future in teacher preparation

Let’s Mess with Texas Teacher Ed

Eduflack Teacher Education, teachers, Woodrow Wilson

Over at the Houston Chronicle, yours truly has a new commentary on the challenges of teacher retention both across the United States and specifically in Texas and what the Lone Star State can do to improve the teacher pipeline.

As I write:

When it comes to many of the major factors driving teacher shortages, Texas is no different than most states. The politics surrounding teaching and the demands on teachers aren’t too different in Texas than they are in other states, particularly since Texas isn’t part of the day-to-day, vitriolic churn of Common Core. Yet retention problems seem far more significant than in other states.

One reason is teacher preparation. Texas currently has a higher percentage of inexperienced teachers than other states. And with high turnover rates, that percentage of new teachers continues to climb. In its zeal to address teacher shortages, the state has opened its doors to a range of low-quality, new, and alternative teacher preparation efforts, resulting in vast discrepancies as to the rigor of teacher prep here.

I also highlight three things that Texas can do to boost teacher education and teacher retention, including creating a clear set of performance measures for pre-service teachers, better root teacher education in clinical practice, and invest in strong mentoring for new teachers.

Give it a read. I promise it’ll be worth your time. You can find it here.

 

Cultivating #STEM Teachers in Michigan

Eduflack PD, STEM, Teacher Education, teachers, Woodrow Wilson

It is only because of the commitment of states like Michigan that there is now a critical mass of educators experienced enough to mentor others. Collectively, Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellows demonstrate the potential and power of the opportunity for teachers to learn from peers, one example of the way in which teachers at various points in their career path can and should enjoy incentives to collaborate and lead. When teachers collaborate with each other, they leverage the investment of time and preparation each teacher has made into a return for thousands of students beyond their own classrooms.

Woodrow Wilson Foundation EVP and COO Stephanie J. Hull in the Detroit News

Who Are We To Argue with #TeacherEd Magic Eight Ball?

Eduflack higher ed, Teacher Education, teachers, Woodrow Wilson

Is the future of teacher education a competency-based model focused on ensuring prospective teachers are able to do and apply everything they have learned? Over at Inside Philanthropy, Tracey DeFrancesco looks at that question, highlighting some of the work currently being done by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and its Woodrow Wilson Academy of Teaching and Learning.

As DeFrancesco writes about the WW Academy:

So can this dual academy/lab track break new ground in training methods to have a lasting impact on American education? Considering the backing from funders, a partnership with MIT, and buy-in from school districts, a shake of the Magic Eightball says, “Signs point to yes.” The main premise, here, is to prepare the STEM teachers that our schools so desperately need by reimagining training models that were developed in a different paradigm. Times have changed, and we’re hoping a fresh take will get results.

The full article, including an interview with yours truly, is worth the read. The future of teacher education may very well be now.

 

 

“A New Compact for Teaching and Learning”

Eduflack higher ed, Teacher Education, teachers, Woodrow Wilson

There is little question that the edu-world is experiencing a time of transition. Whether one is talking about testing and assessment, socio-economic issues, instructional expectations, teacher preparation, design of the school or the school day, or virtually any other issue that touches today’s students, one thing is clear. The schools, teaching, and learning of the future will likely bear little resemblance to those we experienced when we were young learners.

Earlier this week, NCTAF released What Matters Now: A New Compact for Teaching and Learning. In its call to action, NCTAF issued a call to action focused on six key reccs designed to help shift the field toward “more engaging and relevant teaching and learning for all.” These recommendations include:

  1. Policymakers should establish and broadly communicate a new compact with teachers
  2. Every state should establish a Commission on teaching, learning, and the State’s Future
  3. States and districts should codify and track whether all schools are “organized for success”
  4. Teacher preparation should be more relevant and clinically-based
  5. States should support all new teachers with multi-year induction and high-quality mentoring
  6. Education leaders should evaluate all professional learning for responsiveness and effectiveness

The full report is well worth the read. In a era of relative doom and gloom, NCTAF provides a positive view of both what is possible and what is necessary. All of the areas provided above are of importance to the future of both teaching and learning. But dear ol’ Eduflack wants to throw a spotlight on NCTAF’s specific thinking with regard to buckets four and five — teacher and ed and teacher mentoring.

Specifically, when it comes to teacher prep, the report offers :

To stem chronic shortages and turnover and to improve teachers’ experience and efficacy, it is particularly important that pre-service teachers gain significant experience with real classrooms. Therefore,

  • Teacher preparation should include a year of clinical experience
  • Coursework should include social-emotional as well as academic learning, and experience in culturally knowledgeable and responsive practices
  • Performance assessments, proven to be a reliable way to ensure that beginning teachers are competent to lead a classroom, should be used as a strong indicator of teacher readiness
  • Teacher preparation programs and school districts need to invest in and strengthen their partnerships to improve teacher candidates’ effectiveness and retention

And when it comes to supporting those new to the teaching profession, NCTAF provides the following ideas:

New teacher induction and mentoring leads to improved teacher retention, satisfaction, and efficacy. Yet currently only a few states provide this critical foundation for their teachers. States should:

  • • Require a multi-year induction program as a licensure requirement
    • Provide sustained program funding
    • Require multi-year mentoring, with carefully selected and trained mentors
    • Consider additional release time for new teachers as is done in other countries
    • Consider pilot programs that provide differentiated induction for teachers from different pathways

From a strong clinical experience to multi-year mentoring, these are important pieces that must be factored into the future of teacher preparation and educator development. They are items that many of the organizations I work with, from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation to TeachStrong, are focusing on. And they are issues we need to spend more time not only talking about, but actually doing.

(Full disclosure, Eduflack previously worked for NCTAF, but it was many, many ages ago.)

Vote Now: Teaching CAN Be a Game!

Eduflack higher ed, Teacher Education, teachers, Woodrow Wilson

It’s that time of year again, when the good folks at SXSWedu open up the online polling places and let all of us cast our ballots for those sessions we think would make for an interesting, compelling, and valuable SXSWedu.

Yes, the #SXSW2017 Panel Picker is now open. And dear ol’ Eduflack respectfully requests that you cast your ballot (and you can vote for as many sessions as you want, so no need to make choice while denying another) for: Think Preparing Teachers Is a Game? It Can Be.

In this session, my friends from MIT, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, and the WW Academy of Teaching and Learning will discuss how gaming — including role plays, virtual reality, and other scenarios — can be used to better engage prospective teachers and improve teacher education programs. You’ll even hear how 21st century gaming doesn’t just mean online and digital. Old school gaming with cards and boards and dice can be just as effective.

And if one wants to play edubuzzword bingo, they will also explore how gaming can create a next generation of career teachers prepared to lead classrooms focused on personalized learning and cognitive science.

You have the Eduflack guarantee it will be a worthwhile session. And it should also prove the perfect venue to see, first hand, some of the teacher-focused games MIT and the WW Academy are currently developing.

Vote early, vote often. And please vote for this session. All you need to do is click here and then click on the thumbs up. Easy, peasy.

 

 

The Values of #TeachStrong, Seen in Places Like Indiana

Eduflack Achievement gap, Teacher Education, teachers, Woodrow Wilson

Improvement, however, must not breed complacency. How do we ensure that all of Indiana’s schools — particularly those in high-need communities — have the teacher pipeline to meet the needs of the 21st century? How do we make sure that every child in the Hoosier state has strong teachers leading their classrooms, from the earliest learning days up through high school graduation.

– Eduflack writing on TeachStrong and the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship, in the South Bend (Indiana) Tribune