Teaching and Public Perception: How Do We Advocate For Our Profession?

As an educator I know teaching is hard, but rewarding work.  Teachers are not only responsible for helping children learn, they play a pivotal role in creating a space that is safe for children’s emotional and physical well-being.  From school shootings to weather related disasters, the courageous actions of teachers in the midst of chaos and terror has been in the media multiple times over the past few months.  The selflessness of their actions, the compassion and protection that they offer to their students has been lauded publicly.  There is no doubt in our minds: they are heroes. 

This is a welcome contrast to the portraits that were painted not that long ago of teachers as overpaid, under-qualified drains on the economies of many states.  Who hasn’t heard these comments, “teachers get summers off, they are done working at 3 pm, they don’t work as hard as everyone else” and are members of unions that protect the “bad teachers”?

This extreme dichotomy of opinion on the status and worth of teachers is difficult to digest.   Yet, these attitudes seem to surface in the media repeatedly. 

We need to be proactive and market teaching for what it is: hero’s work.  Teachers may not all be saving children physically, but they are providing students with the tools to reach their potential, catching them when they fall, and serving as strong role models.      

I leave you with a few questions to get you thinking about how we all might become activists for teachers and the profession:

  How do we support our teacher candidates, new teachers, and colleagues to be prepared for, and    

  personally manage shifting public opinion of their profession? 

  As School Districts, Colleges, and Universities, how do we advocate for our profession and shift 

  public perception?  How can we utilize our various strengths and leverage our P-16 partnerships to 

  promote teaching and build support within our shared communities?

  What role do teacher preparation programs play in providing our future teachers with all of the tools 

  needed for supporting student learning, and also being a leader and positive role model in their 

  communities? 

Co-Teaching, Building on Success

St. Cloud State University is known for it’s nationally recognized Co-Teaching approach to student teaching.  This model was developed by a team from SCSU led by Director Nancy Bacharach as part of a Teacher Quality Enhancement grant.  Nancy and Teresa Heck are continuing the work out of the Academy for Co-Teaching and Collaboration at SCSU. You can learn more about their work at www.stcloudstate.edu/soe/coteaching.

This model has been supported by data that indicates P-12 students have greater reading and math achievement in classes where they are co-taught by a teacher candidate and cooperating teacher, than by a teacher candidate or classroom teacher alone. 

At TPI, we are working to expand this co-teaching model in several ways based on recommendations from our Co-Teaching Task Force.  Specifically, we want to foster a culture of Co-Teaching at SCSU and in our six partner districts.

• We are supporting train-the-trainer workshops this summer for teachers in our partner districts to enhance their co-teaching infrastructure for hosting teacher candidates as well as promoting co-teaching infrastructure for hosting teacher candidates as well as promoting co-teaching between two licensed teachers and in induction programs.
• Faculty will also be invited to participate in these workshops to build our internal capacity for co-teaching.
• We want to provide multiple opportunities for students to experience co-teaching before student  teaching, and will be working with faculty across the institution to not only incorporate co- teaching into their curriculum, but also support the modeling of co-teaching between two faculty from different departments, as well as faculty and P-12 teachers co-teaching content and methods courses.  

All of our NExT partners (www.nextprogram.org) have adopted our Co-Teaching model for student teaching, and we look forward to continuing to innovate in the application of our model.

How could you use Co-Teaching to support student learning in your classroom?  

Celebrating Our Wins!

At TPI we are furiously preparing for our Spring Celebration event next Monday.  We will be reflecting on what we have accomplished these past few years, as well as celebrating the contributions of our P-12 and SCSU faculty, staff and administration who are the heart and soul of this work. 

Sometimes when you are in the midst of change, you can lose sight of the progress that has been made and the foundation that has been created to support that work.  We are looking forward to shining a light on our current initiatives and celebrating our wins.

Did you know?

• TPI had an ad in Seventeen magazine last Spring
• Over 200 P-12 participants are involved in TPI Collaboration Structures and Induction
• 56% of Faculty in the Teacher Education Unit at SCSU have been/are currently involved in TPI work
• TPI engaged with three P-12 districts around induction for first and second year teachers this year

Attend our Spring Celebration on Monday, April 22 from 4:00-6:00 for more information about TPI! 

Education Policy: What Legislators Should Know and Be Able to Do

As we focus on making changes to our teacher education program, we can’t ignore the reality of the laws, mandates and policies that come from our legislature, often without the resources needed for implementation.  When I read the blog post below, it seemed to capture the essence of the conversations we have been having both in TPI, as well as across all of the NExT partners. 

This blog was written by Nancy Flanagan, and is from Education Week Teacher. 

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teacher_in_a_strange_land/2013/03/ten_things_legislators_should_know_and_do_when_making_education_policy.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-FB

What would you add to the list?

Yours, Mine, Ours - Breaking New Ground Through Partnership

One of the most exciting aspects of TPI is our Partnership with six local school districts: Holdingford, Monticello, ROCORI, Sartell-St. Stephen, Sauk Rapids-Rice, and St. Cloud Area.  When our partnership began with these districts, it was not solely focused on preparing more effective teachers, but also changing the way in which P-12 teachers and administrators were engaged in all aspects of that preparation.  In other words, in addition to gathering their ideas, we agreed to muddle through this together recognizing that it was imperative to recruit, prepare and support new teachers collaboratively. 

Over the past three years, our partnership has:

• Engaged over 50 P-12 teachers, staff and administrators in the work of TPI Collaboration           Structures, along with as many SCSU faculty and staff
• Developed a 3-year plan for supporting new teachers in our partner districts
• Created a vision for, and are currently designing a Partnership Center that will focus on P-16 professional development, collaboration and research
• Created opportunities for sharing resources across districts around induction
• Put forth over 10 proposals regarding improvements to Teacher Education both at SCSU and in P-12, including the development of Future Educator’s Clubs and New Teacher Workshops

As we look to the future, we will be continuing to bring forth recommendations regarding co-teaching, enhanced field experiences, a common professional development day, and expanding our partnership beyond these six school districts.  We will also be identifying ways to engage our local legislators and the state in our groundbreaking work.  

How do you envision P-12 and Higher Education working together to prepare and support effective teachers?

  

Wave Your Magic Wand!

In the summer of 2009, I was asked to co-lead the Teacher Preparation Initiative at St. Cloud State University.  Back then, it was not yet TPI, but an idea, a vision, an opportunity to identify how we could improve teacher education at SCSU.  At that point, it was our job to figure out what faculty and P-12 partners thought we should do to prepare more effective teachers.  We needed to write a proposal to get funding, and so we set out to gather ideas from stakeholders about what needed to be done.

We knew folks had big, radical, game-changing ideas for teacher education.  Yet, when we asked them to identify what we should be doing in terms of recruiting, preparing, placing and supporting our teacher candidates, they kept getting stuck. 

“We don’t have the people, the money, the resources”.

“It would be too hard.”

“We have always done it this way, the administration would never let us do it that way”.

 It seemed that it was easier to identify why we couldn’t change.  The other co-director, in a moment of brilliance, said to the group

“We want you to wave your magic wand.  Pretend we have all the money and resources in the world.  No one is going to tell us no.  What would you change about teacher preparation?”

 At first, they looked at us like we were a little nuts.  They were probably right…we had to be a little nuts to be willing to take on a project like this.  Yet, someone spoke up, and started describing their ideas for supporting our teacher candidates through induction.  When another person started to explain why it wouldn’t work, someone said “Hey, this is my magic wand.”  The energy in the room immediately exploded and we could barely capture all of the amazing, well-conceived, and truly radical ideas that people had obviously been thinking about for a long time.  

We used this “magic-wand” approach with over 450 stakeholders, and used the ideas to write the grant, create the vision for TPI, develop the charges for our collaboration structures, and ultimately, make recommendations for changing, improving, and adding to our teacher education program at SCSU.

I will use this blog to keep you updated on the processes, recommendations, successes and challenges of TPI.  As we bring forth ideas and approaches that push the envelope and challenge all of us to think differently about how we do our work at all levels, I hope that you are willing to listen, and consider how these recommendations might not only better prepare our teacher candidates, but ultimately provide a more effective and supportive learning environment for our P-12 students. 

If you could wave your magic wand, what would you to do to improve teacher education?