It was a Tuesday afternoon in my Early Literacy Methods course. My students—preservice teachers in their final year before student teaching—were running through a microteaching exercise. The task was simple: model how to help a second grader tackle an unfamiliar word in a decodable text. One candidate, Emily, froze mid-lesson. She looked at her “student” […]
Teacher Preparation
Posted inTeacher Preparation
Classroom to Classroom Pipeline: Recruiting teachers post Covid
Imagine the student who always said they wanted to be a teacher. Now imagine this same student was not only encouraged from an early age but also provided opportunities to cultivate the skills necessary to become a teacher. Then, take it a step further and actually imagine putting our money where our mouth was as […]
Posted inTeacher Preparation
Why Teacher Prep Programs MUST tap into the MAGIC that is Abbott Elementary
Abbott Elementary is the gift that keeps on giving to teacher prep programs because it highlights and emphasizes the intangibles that far transcend coursework around content, pedagogy, or lesson planning. Instead, the television series introduces the challenges, the cultivation, the productive struggle, and, most importantly, the JOY found on ‘Abbott Elementary campuses across the country. […]