Category Archives: Teacher education

Education in Two Worlds: David Berliner Tells Arne Duncan How to Do Teacher Education Right (by David Berliner)

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I (Clare) found an amazing site National Education Policy Center. They collect blogs on a range of topics: http://nepc.colorado.edu/blog

Here is a fabulous posting about teacher education by David Berliner and Gene Glass. I think you will find their analysis and insights interesting. http://nepc.colorado.edu/blog/david-berliner-tells-arne-duncan

Improving Teacher Education

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and the Obama administration want to improve teacher education. Me too. I always have. So I went to the president of the university I was then working at and showed him university data that I had collected. I informed him that a) we were running the cheapest program on campus, even cheaper to run than the English Literature and the History programs; and b) that some of our most expensive programs to run, computer science and various engineering programs, produced well-trained graduates that left the state. But teachers stayed in the state. I told my president he was wasting the states resources and investing unwisely.

I told him that with the same amount of money as we spend on the students that leave the state I could design one year clinical programs so every teacher does clinical rotations in the classrooms of schools with different kinds of students, rotations modeled on medical education.

I said more money was needed to pay the teachers recognized as expert, say Board certified teachers, so I could place teachers in training to observe the regions’ best teachers. I said that more money would also allow me to design video labs for viewing great teaching and for doing micro-teaching so that future teachers could experience, in safe environments, how to teach. In such micro-teaching classroom they would receive feedback on how they taught from the students they just taught and from supervisory teachers who work in the laboratory. I modeled my proposal for a lab on the then newly outfitted kinesiology laboratory of which the university was quite proud.

I said that more money would allow me to buy a five bedroom house in the lowest income community and have teachers who volunteered to spend two weeks there under the tutelage of the communities leaders — their priests and ministers, their concerned parents, the social workers there. The teachers would be the guests of the community and we would pay the community leaders to feed the teachers, to take them on tours around the neighborhoods so they can learn about the strengths of these communities, not their deficits.

I said more money would allow me to provide a one-year support system for all new teachers placed in our region. The support would be provided by clinical professors of practice that visited each new teacher from our university about every ten days. Their job would be to help the new teachers emotionally (teaching requires a great deal of emotional labor), to help them schedule time (teaching requires enormous time commitments) and to provide instructional support. I estimated that would cut the rate of teachers leaving the profession by half. A savings of significant amounts of state and local monies.

The president listened to my proposal and when I was through, he politely threw me out of his office! Charles Baron policy director for Democrats for Education Reform, quoted in the New York Times said it well: “I think you need to wake up the university presidents to the fact that schools of education can’t be A.T.M.s for the rest of the college or university.” Although so much is wrong with the policy recommendations of Democrats for Education Reform, in this case they sure have it right!

 

Guest Blog: Monica McGlynn-Stewart

classroom teachers, literacy, Teacher education, teacher educators, teaching, , , , ,

Hungry Caterpillar

Dual Language Texts

In my (Monica) preservice ECE class this week I had the most amazing experience. The Monica McGlynn-Stewartclass had been given the task of finding a dual language picture book for young children that was inviting and enticing and would support the language and literacy learning of children whose home language was not English. My students were encouraged to choose books that represented their own home languages. We have a wonderfully diverse class and they took up the challenge with enthusiasm. If they couldn’t find a dual language picture book in their home language, they translated a text and added it alongside the English text. For those (like me!) who only speak English, they were encouraged to choose a text that represented the language of children in their placement. They needed to develop six pedagogical strategies that they would employ when using the book with young children. I gave them a fabulous article by Gillanders and Castro (2011) the journal Young Children entitled “Storybook Reading for Young Dual Language Learners” as inspiration.

http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/201101/GillandersR_Online0111.pdf

On Tuesday, they came with their picture books and their strategies, eager to begin. In small groups they took turns sharing their books, props they had made, teaching each other words in other languages, and practicing their strategies such as doing a “picture walk” through the text and pre-teaching key words or phrases that the children could chime in with during the reading. I had never seen the class so alive and so engaged. There were a dozen languages in the air. My students who were English Language Learners themselves, who were generally quiet and shy, were confidently sharing their expertise in their home languages. What I learned was the use of dual language texts can benefit not only young learners, but can also be an opportunity for dual language preservice students to value their home languages as a rich resource that they bring to their teaching.

 

Teacher educators living in difficult times

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Many of our regular readers of this blog are teacher educators. I (Clare) want to bring to your attention a disturbing development in teacher education in the U.S. Lin Goodwin, Vice-President, Division K of AERA sent the following email. These proposed initiatives could have dire consequences for university-based teacher education. This direction of “inspecting” and assessing teacher ed programs is very similar to what is happening in England. The effects on programs, faculty, and student teachers are profound. I do not think this spread of punitive measures is confined to just a few countries. Below is a summary of the proposed initiatives and a link to the full report. Imagine if the $ spent on assessing teacher ed programs was spent on PD for cooperating/associate teachers and teacher educators or used to create induction programs for new teacher educators or allotted to schools so that cooperating/associate teachers and their student teachers have time to meet during the day. Teacher ed would be greatly enhanced. We teacher educators are living in very difficult times! Teacher educators please speak up.

Dear Division K Colleagues,

I am sure many, if not most, of you have reviewed the Teacher Preparation Regulations proposed by the federal government. They promise to have a detrimental impact on all of us–faculty and students alike– given our work and programs in preservice teacher education. So, I encourage you to submit a comment, submit several comments, comment often and loudly by February 2nd. Please note the advice below–individual, authentic comments are best, versus collective or structured responses.

lin

– –

BOULDER, CO (January 12, 2015) – Recently proposed federal regulations that would impose new mandates on teacher education programs are likely to harm, rather than help, efforts to improve educational outcomes, according to a new review published today.

The draft regulations were reviewed for the Think Twice think tank review project by Kevin K. Kumashiro, dean of the School of Education at the University of San Francisco. The review is published by the National Education Policy Center, housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education.

Kumashiro examined the proposed new Teacher Preparation Regulations, issued under Title II of the Higher Education Act, that the U.S. Department of Education released in the Federal Register on December 3, 2014. The education department has set a deadline of Feb. 2, 2015, for public comments on the regulations.

The draft proposal, Kumashiro explains in his review, enumerates a series of regulations that would be mandated by the federal government but would be enforced by the individual states. The regulations would require states to assess all teacher preparation programs annually and to rate them as “exceptional,” “effective,” “at-risk,” or “low-performing,” based in large part on a test-based accountability approach that would attribute gains in student test scores to teachers and then attribute those teachers’ “scores” to the teacher education programs they attended.

The regulations also would require states to provide technical assistance to programs rated “low-performing,” and those programs would risk losing state approval, state funding, and federal financial aid for their students.

In his review, Kumashiro points to a series of “vital policy concerns” raised by the proposed regulations. They include:

  •  They underestimate the cost and burden of implementing them, which Kumashiro says would be not only “quite high,” but also “unnecessary.”

 

  • With no foundation in evidence, they blame individual teachers – rather than root systemic causes – for the gap separating educational outcomes of affluent and white students from those of economically disadvantaged students and those belonging to racial minority groups.

 

  • They rely on an “improperly narrow” definition of what it means for teachers to be ready to teach.

 

  • They bank on test-based accountability and value-added measurement of teachers in analyzing data about teacher performance – even though those measures and tools have been “scientifically discredited.”

 

  • They are premised on inaccurate explanations for the causes of student achievement and underachievement, and as a consequence will discourage teachers from working in high-needs schools.

 

  • They will likely limit access to the teaching profession, especially for prospective teachers of color and from lower-income backgrounds, by choking off federal financial aid.

Finally, Kumashiro warns, the proposed regulations are rooted in “an unwarranted, narrow, and harmful view of the very purposes of education.”

Find Kevin K. Kumashiro’s review on the NEPC website at: http://nepc.colorado.edu/thinktank/review-proposed-teacher-preparation.

The Think Twice think tank review project (http://thinktankreview.org) of the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) provides the public, policymakers, and the press with timely, academically sound reviews of selected publications. NEPC is housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education. The Think Twice think tank review project is made possible in part by support provided by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice.

—

Sent by Chester Tadeja, Division K Web Developer on behalf of A. Lin Goodwin, Division K Vice President

Creating an Audit Trail

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During one of my final practicum visits, I (Cathy) was excited to see one of my student teachers had created an audit trail.   When I mentioned this to her, she replied, “I thought  it was just a bulletin board.” But it was far more than ‘just a bulletin board’.   The student work Melissa had beautifully displayed represented an entire science unit of learning from pre-diagnosis to final summaries.

Audit trails were popularized by Dr. Vivian Vasquez, in her ground breaking critical literacy work with 3-5 year olds.  Vasquez says,                                                                                                             An audit trail or learning wall, as my three to five year old students called it, is a public display of artifacts gathered together by a teacher and their students that represents their thinking about different issues and topics.  This strategy is useful for creating spaces for students to re-visit, reread, analyze, and re-imagine various topics or issues. It is also a powerful tool for connecting past projects or areas of study to newer projects or areas of study. Further, it can be used as a tool for building curriculum as it visibly lays out the journey of the group’s thinking and learning over a period of time.

http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/c/f/3/cf355fe54466c4e0/Audit_Trail.pdf?c_id=4270455&expiration=1418946485&hwt=2cc91c9a05310c5ca082ae4a61c9c725

more walldiagnostic molecules

Exploring Literature Circles with Student Teachers

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Yesterday with our pre-service PJ and JI literacy classes we explored the use of literature circles as part of a literacy program. The student teachers had read the novel Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos and in small groups took up the literature circle roles outlined by Harvey Daniels. After the student teachers had completed the literature circle activity the class came together again as a large group to consider and discuss the following questions: what did the student teachers think about the literature circle approach, would they use literature circles in their classroom teaching, what reactions did they have to the novel selected, and would they consider using this particular novel with their students. The student teachers engaged in an insightful and serious discussion of the questions posed. Reaction to the novel was mixed. Many of the student teachers appreciated the authors attempt to narrate the story from the perspective of a child labeled with an exceptionality (ADHD). However, student teachers also voiced their discomfort with various aspects of the novel such as the depiction of the young protagonist Joey’s interactions with various adults in the text, the issues of labeling and medicating children, the portrayal of abuse, alcoholism, and dysfunctional family dynamics in the novel.

Over the past few years Clare and I have intentionally selected this novel for use in the literacy course, in part, because the novel raises a number of serious issues teachers face in a classroom context. Each year student teachers communicate diverse reactions to the reading of this novel. For instance, we have had both student teachers who themselves have been diagnosed with an exceptionality, as well as, student teachers who as the parent of a child with an identified exceptionality tell us that aspects of novel truly resonated with their experience. In contrast, we have also had student teachers communicate their dislike and discomfort with aspects of the novel. At the end of class yesterday Clare and I reflected upon the rich class discussion, and once again asked ourselves if we should continue to use this novel with student teachers in the literacy courses. Our answer was yes. We do understand how and why the topics dealt with in the novel and the author’s portrayal of child-adult interactions are contentious and troubling. Yet, we also recognize the value of asking student teachers, who as educators will be work closely with children and families, to deeply consider the difficult and complex dimensions of a teacher’s role. As Lisa Delpit astutely reminds us “we do not really see through our eyes or hear through our ears, but through our beliefs.” As educators we must continue to challenge our beliefs about what it means to teach and to learn.

 

Resolutions, Reforms, and Incremental Change in Education

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Clive BeckNew Year’s resolutions are notoriously poorly kept. At our local gym, the regulars joke about the “resolutioners,” who sign up for a year but barely make it to the end of January. Sadly, a lot of proposed educational “reforms” are like that.

Clare, Lin Goodwin, and I (Clive) are working on a chapter on teacher education reform for the next Handbook of Research on Teacher Education. In reviewing the literature, we came across a wonderful article by Mary Kennedy called “Against Boldness” (Journal of Teacher Education, 61 (1-2), 16-20). In it, she makes a plea to avoid taking a “bold” approach to teacher education reform. The article has important implications not only for teacher education but for teaching in general and even everyday life (as in trying to keep fit). Kennedy remarks:

[B]old ideas are part of our problem, for by definition they are unrealistic, out of range, over the top. Ultimately, bold ideas fail because they don’t take real circumstances into account or because they expect too much from people. Eventually, each of us runs out of gas, gets tired and disheartened. (p. 17)

In my view Kennedy isn’t a pessimist or anti-idealist: she thinks substantial improvement is possible and should be pursued. But she believes we must pursue it by (a) acknowledging and building on present achievements and (b) proceeding incrementally (like the tortoise that finally won the race). She says:

What we need in education are ideas that develop slowly and that build on what we already have, not ideas that develop excitedly or that deviate markedly from current practice…. [B]old ideas…hinder our progress toward real improvements by distracting educators and making it more difficult to concentrate…. Every helpful idea requires teachers to make adjustments. Every time we help teachers, they have to stop thinking about how to wrap their students’ minds around a concept and instead turn their attention toward accommodating the new innovation…. [T]here is no doubt that we need to find ways to improve teaching and teacher education. But [instead of pursuing bold ideas, we should be] studying our practices closely and deliberately, deepening our understanding of the circumstances in which we work, and finding small and sustainable ways to improve. (p. 19)

As the JTE editors rightly point out, Kennedy’s position is itself bold! Indeed, it is radical in today’s climate. But it is productively bold, offering an alternative to the myriad high-sounding, contradictory, and often damaging measures, frequently promoted for political reasons rather than out of genuine concern for improvement. Let’s be systematic and effective in our renewal work, not “bold.” How’s that for a New Year’s resolution!

Scaffolding Text Selection

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I came across the graphic below on Twitter entitled Helping Students Find the Right Book. It reminded me of our pre-service P/J and J/I literacy courses yesterday in which we discussed the place of the novel study in the classroom and the importance of engaging students in the reading of a variety of genres.

FindBook

Supporting Teacher Educators for Better Learning Outcomes

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The European Commission on Teacher Education has done some amazing work looking at teacher educators. “The European Commission’s Thematic Working Group on ‘Teacher Professional Development’ brings together national experts from 26 countries. It is recognised that Peer Learning activities between Member States can provide opportunities to share knowledge about current policy and to exchange best practice.” In 2013 they produced the document Supporting Teacher Educators for Better Learning Outcomes. I (Clare) found the document quite systematic and informative because in considers a number of issues and provides examples from various countries. Here is a link to the entire document. European Commision on Tchr Ed

Here are some findings you might find interesting.

Member States increasingly acknowledge the need to define clearly what those who teach teachers should be expected to know, and be able to do; they acknowledge that great care needs to be taken in recruiting and selecting

teacher educators, and in facilitating their career-long professional development. By stimulating and supporting the development of explicit frameworks and policies, national and regional education authorities can assist teacher educators to be as effective as possible.

Given the influence that teacher educators have on the learning of (student)teachers, ensuring that their work is of high quality is extremely important (Snoek et al. 2011). Raising teacher educators’ quality and formal qualification requirements can lead to wider improvements in education (Buchberger et al.2000, European Commission 2012b). In European countries, however, there seems to be little explicit policy, either to define what quality means in teacher education, or to define the formal education and professional development required of teacher educators.

Professional ownership seems to be promoted also by Dutch teacher educator standards (Koster and Dengerink 2008); on the other hand, teacher educators can see standards linked with assessment systems (such as in England) mainly as external quality assurance tools, and therefore perceive them as constraints on professional autonomy (Morley 2003). Policies in European countries which show growing interest in these aspects can provide examples for reflection. In some countries, teacher educator competences are already defined by the government and specified in law (e.g. in Portugal), or they are being developed (e.g. in Austria and Germany).

In the Netherlands, a set of professional standards for teacher educators is in place, developed by the relevant professional body through dialogue with stakeholders.

In Belgium (Flanders), a developmental profile for teacher educators was devised by one regional teacher education network, in consultation with other networks; it is now disseminated on a national scale by the professional association of teacher educators. The definition of minimal levels of competence in this professional profile is considered as important; the Ministry can have a facilitating and supporting role.

The Netherlands have had a complete set of teacher educator standards for more than ten years now; it has been revised to include school-based teacher educators, and currently, competence levels. This is complemented by a specific knowledge base that describes the key elements of being a teacher educator, undertaken jointly by the professional association VELON and the VU University Amsterdam (in place since 2011).

In Luxembourg, following up recent educational policy for teaching and learning improvement in schools, a university working group has the task of defining competences for teacher educators in primary education, facilitating collaboration between university faculty and school mentors. A university research project has also been launched to develop a handbook for secondary school teacher educators, who all receive specific training.

In Estonia, guidelines about competences of teacher educators (mentors) in induction are used for their selection in schools: they underline the importance of first and second order competences, but also of professional attitudes –commitment, responsibility, willingness to support and supervise. There are also interesting initiatives in academic institutions. The categorisation of teacher educators aims to develop professional career models in teaching practice schools, where teacher educators can express multiple identities and competences – teaching, supervising and carrying out action research

In Germany, national standards for teacher education offer guidelines for teachers’ and teacher educators’ quality, defining specific knowledge requirements for teacher educators. Those working in University Colleges of teacher education (Ausbilder) are generally expected to have the competences mapped above – including intercultural, collaborative, supervision and pedagogical competences. In most Länder there are special regular offers of CPD for teacher educators, within regional partnerships and cooperation structures with teacher educators from Universities.

In Austria, legislation on the duties and responsibilities of teacher educators in University Colleges will provide a point of reference for the description of necessary competences, working in parallel with a Quality Act recommending the competence requirements of teacher educators working in schools and continuing professional development (CPD). The profile of CPD trainers, for instance, focuses on competences about counselling, process management and implementation, communication, and so on.

In some countries of the cited survey, formal qualification requirements for teacher educators have been introduced, focusing on specific groups (e.g. in Sweden, Hungary and Finland). Other countries have approached this issue in the context of the accreditation of institutional providers of teacher education, as in Ireland (Caena 2012).

In Sweden, all teacher educators working at universities are required to have a PhD, with the development of intensive support programmes for those teacher educators that need to achieve a PhD qualification.

In Hungary, formal university education programmes for school-based teacher educators (mentors) are being introduced.

In Finland, the requirements for teacher educators working in teacher education institutions include MA qualifications and advanced Education studies (at least 90 ECTS).

In Ireland, the Teaching Council has developed revised criteria for teacher education providers, which now express requirements for staff responsible for student teachers’ learning. They include:

  • a qualification at a higher level than the one being taught;
  • teaching experience in the relevant sector (primary or post-primary);
  • research activity as for supporting theory-practice integration; and
  • registration with the Teaching Council (it is recognised that all these criteria might not be met by all staff).

The Teaching Council has also begun to identify some of the competences needed by school-based teacher educators, within a pilot model of induction/probation. Such teacher educators should:

  • be fully registered and have at least five years’ experience as such;
  • be good communicators, sensitive to the viewpoints of others;
  • be committed to providing professional as well as personal support and

challenge;

  • be good role models, with a wide repertoire of teaching styles;
  • be committed to high standards of professional practice and conduct;
  • be willing to commit time and effort in the interest of developing newly

qualified teachers as well as their own practice;

  • be open to being observed in their practice by other teachers.

Consideration is being given to developing similar sets for teacher educators

involved in facilitating induction workshops.

Inspiration from Pinterest

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I (Cathy) find one of the most popular social media sites used by my student teachers is Pinterest.  They rave about the interesting and engaging ideas they find on the site for lessons.  I saw evidence of this just recently while visiting a school.   My student teacher, Melissa, had found a writing exercise on the site entitled, If I Was  Trapped in a Snow Globe.  It involved the students creating a snow globe scene inside of a white plastic container and then describing the adventure in writing.   The associate teacher was so excited by the results, she lead me into the hallway to see what  her young students had accomplished.  The associate declared, “This student never writes anything, but look at this!  Two pages!  They loved this writing assignment.”

Often, good writing results by students are the results of a good inspirational ideas. Luckily educators have many more resources to access now, due to social media.  I highly recommend Pinterest for many ideas in variety of subjects.

http://primarypunch.blogspot.ca/2013/01/thank-you-pinterest.html

globesstory

Teaching with a Sense of Humour

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The What is Education?  blog for teachers states that having  a sense of humor is, 

 very useful in creating a classroom climate and the development of learning processes that are more healthy and enjoyable. In fact, Melissa Kelly said that a sense of humor is one of the keys to being a successful teacher. According to Melissa, teachers’ sense of humor can relieve tension in the air and can prevent the onset of disruptive student behavior in the classroom, and can be used as a way to attract the attention of students in the class. And most importantly, with its sense of humor, a teacher would show that he/she is a person who has a personality and mental health, to enjoy life, and be able to live a normal life without the stress of his/her career.

http://what-education.blogspot.ca/2013/06/the-importance-of-teachers-using-humor.html

I (Cathy) was delighted to see one of my student teachers, Carolyn,  using her sense of humor throughout her literacy lesson. Her grade one and two students found her quite amusing and would joke along with her.  Sometimes her humor was self-depricating, and sometimes it was as innocent as, “Who me?  I would never do that!”  It was never sarcastic and always made her students smile.  She even used it as a classroom management technique to keep the students focused and engaged.  When I asked her about  her technique, she said it made teaching and leaning more enjoyable.  Then she described an art lesson she had just taught using candle wax and water colours.  She drew a picture on the white paper using a white candle, so it was not visible.  While introducing the lesson she held up the paper and kept telling the students how proud she was of her picture.  When the students kept insisting there was nothing there, she applied the water colours and, of course, the picture magically appeared.  The humor came to play when she allowed each student to play the same joke on her as they created their pictures.  All of the magic pictures were displayed proudly in the hallway of the school.  Carolyn said the students still refer to it and giggle.

I think having a sense of humor is an asset.   We all definitely need to laugh more, especially in our schools.  Carolyn