Workshop Spotlights Award Winners, New Opportunities in Global Teacher Prep
The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
On February 28, AACTE hosted a daylong preconference workshop titled “A Global Lens to Educator Preparation: Shared Knowledge and Advocacy for Diverse and Multicultural Perspectives,” organized by the AACTE Committee on Global Diversity (GDC). The event, held just prior to the 70th AACTE Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, was attended by higher education faculty and administrators interested in exploring opportunities for a global focus in educator preparation. Participants discussed innovative experiences and partnerships that prepare mindful teacher candidates who will advocate for diverse global perspectives in curricula, policy, and practice.
The morning featured panel sessions moderated by Shane Martin, dean of education at Loyola Marymount University (CA), which received the 2016 AACTE Best Practice Award in Support of Multicultural Education and Diversity. The first panels highlighted the member institutions selected by the GDC to receive AACTE Best Practice Awards in 2017. Lisa Battaglino, dean of the college of education at Bridgewater State University (MA), provided an overview of the GLOBE program including the rubric used to assess teacher candidate global awareness.
Following her presentation, Patricia Clark and Eva Zygmunt of Ball State University (IN) highlighted their winning program, Schools Within the Context of Community. The 2017 recipients also discussed the how-to of innovation within the context of accreditation policy and standards.
The second segment highlighted the 2018 Best Practice Award recipients, who were to be recognized the following day during the opening session of the AACTE Annual Meeting. Mary Curran, director of local-global partnerships at Rutgers University (NJ), described The Conversation Tree, a program developed to build relationships through authentic interactions between Rutgers teacher candidates and immigrant community members focused on multilingualism and intercultural competencies, social justice, and leadership.
The compelling conversations spurred by this presentation continued with Barbara Seidl, associate dean of teacher education at the University of Colorado, Denver, as she highlighted the university’s multiple pathways used to recruit teacher education students from diverse backgrounds. Seidl shared approaches for creating recruitment pipelines along with retention strategies and a curricular approach that includes a strong focus on identity, structural oppression, and social justice. Throughout the morning, preconference participants collected inspiring possibilities for inclusion in their programs, districts, and home communities.
The lunch keynote led by Reyes Quezada, University of San Diego (CA), and James O’Meara, representing the International Council on Education for Teaching (ICET), highlighted the new knowledge exchange and partnership between AACTE and ICET.
During afternoon panels moderated by Socorro Herrera, Kansas State University, the AACTE Internationalization Topical Action Group provided an internationalization framework using a global lens integrated within the InTASC standards and assessment strategies. The final panel included three administrators describing their role in guiding multicultural education within legislated standards, noting that school district partnerships play a significant role.
Preconference participants provided positive feedback on the workshop, including “very rich presentations and conversations with like-minded people,” “session quality was very high,” “I got several ideas for new initiatives,” “and “inspiring ideas and exemplary work.”
The GDC is grateful to AACTE leadership for their support of the preconference and the high-quality work led by AACTE member institutions in the area of global and multicultural diversity outcomes.
Janine Allen, associate provost of global engagement at Corban University (OR), was 2017-2018 chair of the AACTE Committee on Global Diversity.
