06 Nov2019
By Clay Smith
Collaborative. Encouraging. Communicative. Supportive. Empowering. These are characteristics that contemporary educator preparation programs are committed to building within their traditional teacher candidates. For co-teaching teams, however, these traits are more than preferred; they are essential to success.
Co-teaching is an innovative pedagogical model adopted to maximize instructional impact and engagement amongst preservice and in-service teachers. Thanks to the support of the AACTE, the “Co-Teaching in Clinical Practice” Topical Action Group (TAG) is able to advocate for co-teaching and support co-teachers in schools throughout the nation.
06 Nov2019
By Jerrica Thurman
You may now access online the lineup of more than 300 sessions at the 2020 Annual Meeting through the AACTE Event Planner. Take advantage of this all-in-one tool to help plan your conference experience with a few easy clicks!
To start selecting sessions to attend, visit planner.aacte.org. Once you have logged in, sort through the hundreds of sessions by searching titles, descriptions, presenter names, locations, and other fields. You can also filter sessions by the four conference strands as well.
06 Nov2019
By Hannah Astin
This article originally appeared in The Carolinian and is reprinted with permission.
With a new multi-million-dollar grant, UNC-Greensboro’s (UNCG) School of Education will create a new teaching program focused on bringing high-tech thinking to two rural North Carolina counties.
The 5-year, $6.1 million grant comes from the Teacher Quality Partnership grant program under the United States Department of Education.
UNCG School of Education will use the grant money to establish the Piedmont Teacher Residency Partnership. The Partnership will train new teachers in new technology and problem solving, and the teachers will be placed in some public schools in Rockingham and Surry counties.
06 Nov2019
By Jerrica Thurman
AACTE is excited to announce the release of its new video series on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in educator preparation. The videos address a wide variety of topics ranging from promising practices for recruiting and retaining teachers of color, to the importance of culturally relevant teaching for growing the special education teacher pipeline, and also promoting equal access to quality teachers, just to name a few.
The video series exemplifies the Association’s new strategic priority to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. AACTE and its members value the diversity of students, their families, and educators; equity in access to high quality instructional environments; and the inclusion of all students, defined as access and opportunity in PK-20 classrooms.
05 Nov2019
By John Kuykendall
Our nation and the entire world are changing rapidly. With the rise of threats to our children’s safety like depression, lack of mental health resources, familial disruptions, and school violence and shootings, it is imperative that we equip teachers and school personnel with the tools they need to recognize and respond to all students, in all classrooms.
In today’s schools, students are suffering from a variety of issues; one that arises too often is mental health. Unfortunately, it is not always apparent what these students are experiencing. Depression is rampant. Emotional stress stems from a variety of external factors including depression, divorce, social media anxiety, lost friendships, bullying or simply feeling out of touch with others. It is imperative, now more than ever, that our teachers are prepared to notice when students are experiencing these types of trauma. Trauma informed practices allow teachers to be trained well beyond the obvious clues and prepares them to be aware of early, less apparent warning signs, so they can successfully and swiftly intervene to help a student in need.
04 Nov2019
By Diana Lambert
This article and photo originally appeared in EdSource and are reprinted with permission.
Jennifer Garza, a 7th grade English teacher at Green Acres Middle School in Visalia, was teaching on an intern credential in 2015.
Two federal grants totaling over $9.4 million will help California recruit teachers and mental health professionals to rural schools.
The U.S. Department of Education awarded the five-year grants to the California Center on Teaching Careers, an organization started in 2016 to help solve the persistent teacher shortage. The center is run by the Tulare County Office of Education, in partnership with California State University Bakersfield.
04 Nov2019
By Jacqueline E. King, Ph.D.
The 2019 election for the AACTE Board of Directors is now underway through November 29. Four seats will be decided via online voting:
- Two at-large seats
- One representing the Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher Education (AILACTE)
- One representing the Council of Academic Deans from Research Education Institutions (CADREI)
01 Nov2019
By Jacqueline Rodriguez
AACTE President and CEO Lynn Gangone and I had the privilege of demonstrating the Association’s commitment to Inquiry and Innovation during a recent visit to New Orleans.
AACTE collaborated with member institution, the University of Central Florida, to present the TeachLivE™ Lab (TLE Lab) to members of Grantmakers for Education during their recent conference in Louisiana. Grantmakers for Education is the nation’s largest and most diverse network of education grantmakers dedicated to improving educational outcomes and increasing opportunities for all learners.
01 Nov2019
By Jane E. West
This blog post is written by AACTE consultant Jane West and is intended to provide update information. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
It’s been quite a week in DC. The most impressive news is having our home team—the Nationals—win the World Series, despite their substantial underdog status. Other than that, the House voted to proceed officially with the impeachment process on a totally partisan basis—and that promises to suck the oxygen out of any sort of Congressional agenda for months.
Are we Headed to a Government Shutdown … Again?
While the Senate made progress on funding bills this week, big hurdles remain. The Senate passed a package of four appropriations bill with a bipartisan vote of 84-9, the first funding bills to pass the Senate. However, Senate Democrats blocked movement on the package of two large spending bills: Defense and Labor/HHS/Education. They are not happy that President Trump is insisting on funding for his border wall and that the Labor/HHS/Education bill’s spending level is so low.
01 Nov2019
By Preston Thorne
This op-ed article originally appeared in The State and is reprinted with permission.
I was wasting time on Twitter when I came across a post that stopped me mid-scroll. The original post posed a question: How many black male educators did you have in kindergarten through 12th grade.
One of my former students chimed in with a shocking number: 1…Coach Thorne.
That’s me; that’s who I was. I taught social studies at Blythewood High School for 11 years and was an assistant football coach.
At first glance, the number 1 seems to be an indictment and a referendum on what we in education circles have known forever—we need more black men in the classroom. But upon further inspection, with a little critical analysis, I believe there is power in one.
Statistics tell us that having just one African American teacher in elementary school reduces drop-out rates among black boys by nearly 40% and increases their recognition as gifted students.
But stats don’t tell the story.
