Teaching Advocacy to Preservice Students More Important Now than Ever
AACTE Responds to COVID-19
Last May on Capitol Hill, a congressman sat in a corner of his office, while nine of my students, his congressional aide, and I sat in a circle around him. My students, all preservice teachers, shared story-after-story from their classrooms, trying to illustrate how tough it is to be a teacher. With grace and conviction, they explained how in the course of their student teaching, they realized there is still more they need to learn in order to be able to do their jobs well. They looked the Congressman in the eyes and told him that without funding for Title II and a federal commitment to developing them as professionals, they were not sure that they would be equipped to stay in the field, much less teach in the congressional representative’s state, since it’s a state that allocates almost nothing for teacher development.