Revolutionizing Education

Flexibility while negotiating complex needs of students and schools is paramount in contributing to the nimbleness educators need to be equipped for complexities of a teaching profession. A critical question repeatedly surfaces: how do we design authentic field experiences that equip students with evidence-based skills to support a sustainable career? In this episode, Tara Mathien from the University of Florida shares how the adaptations that her teacher prep program made throughout this past year, while it may have felt disruptive at the moment, has led to lasting change that will continue to be implemented in the future.

One of the largest Hispanic-Serving Institutions in the nation, UTRGV, has embarked on a transformation of its teacher preparation program centered on the college mission, vision, and three priorities: quality, culture of inquiry, and positionality. In this episode, Sandra Musanti and Alma Rodriguez from University of Texas Rio Grande Valley share what they’ve identified to be the three areas of emphasis to guide the transformation work: a practice-based teacher education model, culturally and linguistically sustaining pedagogies, and technology for the 21st century.

Educator preparation programs face multiple challenges in preparing teacher candidates for the classroom. School districts face their own pressures impacted by teacher shortages, poor teacher performance, high burnout, and issues with retention. In this episode, we will hear from Jeff Bill and Ashley Smith from Pitt County Schools and Christina Tschida from Appalachian State University as they share three case stories featuring the use of co-teaching and demonstrating a partnership between university and schools that builds capacity, efficacy, and resilience in teachers at various levels of preparation.

In this episode, we will learn about the efforts of Slippery Rock University of PA to diversify the teacher workforce by recruiting underrepresented minority high school students to the field of teaching, providing financial assistance and mentoring support through the RockTEACH Program. AACTE members Monique Alexander, Jeremy Lynch, Christine Walsh, and Linda Zane from Slippery Rock University of PA share the story, the situation, and the results of the program. Through these insights, listeners will gain insight into a burgeoning and multifaceted program to support a diverse teacher pipeline and develop an understanding of the critical elements and challenges of our story.

In this episode, Eva Zygmunt from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana details the creative efforts of a mid-sized midwestern community collaborative to reclaim its school district from a state-takeover, resulting in the legislated granting of authority over the local district to the state university. Eva shares how community voice has been privileged in school reform through a concerted advocacy effort on the part of faculty and community activists. This is an inspiring story that showcases how community and educational partnerships can make a huge impact in a community’s educational system.

in this episode we'll hear from AACTE members Kyle Harrison, Kelly Hayek, and Irene Ann Resenly from the University of Wisconsin on the role of joy in teacher education.

They share the process of noticing, understanding, and replicating joy as critical work in teacher education, using autoethnography as a methodological tool. Through sharing their findings, we hope listeners will leave with a renewed capacity for noticing moments of joy and a protocol that will provide a baseline for naming, claiming, and considering how to leverage joy in teaching.