Using Video for Teacher Education: Lessons from the Pandemic for Moving Forward

By Timothy Boerst and Meghan Shaughnessy

Timothy Boerst and Meghan Shaughnessy

Working in teacher education programs at the University of Michigan and Boston University, we are well-versed with practice-based teacher education, including the usage and importance of video to connect the university classroom and K-12 schools. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, video has been crucial in engaging with our teacher candidates in practice-based work.

At the AACTE 2021 Annual Meeting in February earlier this year, we shared how we used video in our work as teacher educators over the 2020-21 academic year. Our presentation, “Using Video to Learn to Do the Work of Teaching When Schools are Closed,” highlighted the ways in which we used video at the University of Michigan to support practice-based work when methods courses were conducted online. While we have robustly used video in our programs for over a decade, the last year forced us to explore new possibilities.

Summer Homework: Check Out these New AACTE Member Resources

By Meghan Grenda

We may be in the dog days of summer, but why not beat the heat by accessing these new AACTE resources?

ARP Funding Toolkit – Learn how members can collaborate with their local district partners to allocate ESSER funds toward strengthening the educator workforce.

Consortium for Research-Based and Equitable Assessments (CREA) – Discover how AACTE, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is evaluating cut scores and how they can be refined to attract, rather than exclude, potential candidates.

AACTE Webinars – Explore the latest in the AACTE Webinar library.  In July, AACTE is featuring three webinars: “Discover How to Make the Most of AACTE Connect360,” “Growing and Sustaining White Racial Justice Allyship in Education,” and “Combating Racism in Educator Prep: Justice and Joy for BIPOC Individuals.”  Did you miss a webinar?  No problem! You may also explore our on-demand webinar library for any discussion you may have missed.

Discover How to Make the Most of AACTE Connect360

By Jerrica Thurman

• How to setup your community profile
• How to join a community and post a discussion
• How to connect with colleagues
• How to use the community libraries and explore shared resources and documents from community members
• How to engage in rich discussions with peers
• And more!

Pilot the PlanWise™ Tool That Delivers Formative Assessment Strategies

By Jacqueline Rodriguez

Don’t miss your opportunity to pilot test PlanWise™ tool, a Chrome Extension developed by ETS and focused on delivering formative assessment practices and strategies.

AACTE, in collaboration with ETS, is excited to provide all of its members with this exciting opportunity. The PlanWise™ tool meets teachers where they are in a number of ways, such as providing suggestions for formative assessment strategies to teachers and teacher candidates while they are lesson planning in Google Docs. After an initial pilot with K-12 teachers, novice teachers noted the value and the utility of the tool in identifying a variety of new formative assessment strategies and indicated that the strategies increased their use of formative assessment with students.

Diversity in the Classroom: Why Representation Matters

By Jacqueline Rodriguez

This article originally appeared in Diverse Issues in Higher Education and is reprinted with permission.

Teacher diversity is invaluable for all students. Having a teacher of color at the helm of a classroom benefits all learners, both academically and through deep and enriching social emotional connections. However, according to The White House’s fact sheet for The American Families Plan, while teachers of color can have a particularly strong impact on students of color, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that only one in five teachers are people of color, compared to more than half of K-12 public school students. That is why President Biden is calling on Congress to invest $9 billion in American teachers, addressing shortages, improving training and supports for teachers, and boosting teacher diversity.

Why teacher diversity matters

Representation in the classroom matters. Having a diverse teacher workforce connects cultures, sets high expectations, and reduces implicit bias. Far too often, students of color feel isolated, underrepresented or mistreated, which leads to lower graduation and higher dropout rates. Decades of research has demonstrated that teachers of color can help close access and opportunity gaps for students of color while being vital to the well-being of students of all races. With a teacher of color leading a classroom, students of color see themselves represented and identify with them as role models. A diverse teacher workforce not only supports a student’s academic and social and emotional outcomes, it can lead classroom students to consider becoming educators themselves.

AACTE Combating Racism Webinar Focuses on Authentic, Action-Oriented Allyship

By Nicole Dunn

A panel of experts who have dedicated their careers to the pursuit of equity in education will present AACTE’s first webinar produced for a “White Racial Justice” informal affinity group as part of AACTE’s in Combating Racism in Educator Preparation series. Join your like-minded peers and attend the webinar, “Combating Racism in Education Prep: An Introduction to Authentic, Action-Oriented Allyship as Educators” on July 14 at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Through the panelists’ diverse background and experiences, the presenters will introduce language, frameworks, resources, and strategies for the audience to use in their learning and reflection to be anti-racist educators and learn discussion and advocacy techniques to use in their professional and personal lives.

This is an opportunity for anyone who is an educator or education advocate to learn more about and/or re-energize and re-frame the conversation on creating equitable educator preparation programs that prepare teachers to enter the country’s schools armed with not just an understanding of how we got here, but also with strategies to be advocates for themselves and their students who may have less institutional agency. 

Washington Update: Education Spending Bill and Changes to TEACH Grants

By Jane E. West and Kaitlyn Brennan

House Appropriations Committee Set to Move on Education Spending Bill

While many Members of the Senate traveled home this week for a scheduled state work period, Members of the House of Representatives kept things moving on Capitol Hill setting funding levels for the FY2022 appropriations bills.

The House Appropriations Committee voted on allocations for each of the FY2022 appropriations measures which are moving through the House with hopes of meeting the September 30 deadline. Referred to as 302(b) allocations—these numbers reflect how much money is available for each of the 12 appropriations bills. Essentially, this is the House Democrats’ opening offer for proposed funding levels for FY2022. The Senate has not yet taken a position on 302(b) allocations for their versions of the bills and that could delay movement down the road.

Practicing Radical Self-Care to Thrive in Scholarship and Life

By Paul Massy

The pandemic has impacted every dimension of the human spirit. Therefore, the recent session of the Holmes Program Summer Webinar Series was timely. When I signed up for the session titled, “Practicing Radical Self-Care to Thrive in Scholarship and Life,” I wondered what was radical self-care and why was it essential? The presenters’ knowledge, skills and dispositions eventually answered the question resoundingly with their stories and activities.

Kimberly-White Smith, dean of the LaFetra College of Education at the University of La Verne, reminded us of the critical context we are currently experiencing. Many of us are engaged in activities that have us navigating different spaces and experiences, especially doctoral students with a clear goal to graduate. Therefore, in the session, we were exposed to tools that will allow us to monitor our trajectory as we continued our scholarship.

Complete Your Entry for the 2022 Outstanding Dissertation Award

By Linda Minor

The deadline is approaching for the AACTE 2022 Outstanding Dissertation Award. Applications can be submitted through the online submission system now through August 20. This award includes a $1,000 cash prize, as well as special recognition at AACTE’s 74^th Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA, March 4-6, 2022.

The Outstanding Dissertation Award, overseen by AACTE’s Committee on Research and Dissemination, recognizes excellence in research (or its equivalent) that contributes to the knowledge base of educator preparation or of teaching and learning with implications for educator preparation.

New for Members: AACTE Connect360 Guide and Webinar Tutorial

By Jerrica Thurman

AACTE Leads Task Force on Teacher Preparation in Higher Ed

By Michael Rose

Earlier this year, AACTE reconstituted the Higher Education Task Force.  The task force, which was previously led by AACTE, will share information about the policy work underway in the teacher preparation world with our higher education colleagues and inform Congress and other key officials about important developments related to the field.  Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the change of administrations and other factors, the task force was dormant for a short time. But AACTE’s colleagues eagerly accepted our invitation to rejoin.

Task force participants are from the major associations of higher education, whose members are presidents of institutions of higher education. Members include the American Council on Education (ACE), American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), Association of American Universities (AAU), Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU), American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU), Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO), National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) and UNCF. 

AACTE Summer Savings on Office and Classroom Supplies for Members

By Meghan Grenda

As a member of AACTE, you have access to discounted on Office Depot pricing wherever business takes you. Your discount never expires and can be used for personal, school, or business purchases such as ink, toner, paper, and cleaning and classroom supplies!

Find all the essential items you need to keep running as efficiently as possible. With free next-business-day shipping, AACTE make sure you have what you need, when you need it.

Register Early for 2021 Washington Week

By Linda Minor

Registration for AACTE’s 2021 Washington Week is now open. Take advantage of the virtual rates and join AACTE’s efforts to advocate for educator preparation programs in a post-pandemic world. Each session will take place during the month of September. 

Holmes Policy Institute – September 8-9

AACTE Holmes Scholars will learn how to advocate for their profession by participating in interactive policy discussions and briefings.

Holmes Scholar – $25

Holmes Program Advanced Policy Short Course – September 14-15

This short course is intended as an introduction to begin equipping you with the knowledge, desire, and skills to be an effective advocate and resource in the policy making process.

Holmes Scholar – $25

Attend the ETS Webinar on Educating for American Democracy

By Trisha DiZio and Jacqueline Rodriguez

There is wide recognition that history and civics have been neglected disciplines in American K-12 education. Recent events, including the January 6 insurrection of the U.S. Capitol, underscored this point and the need to elevate learning in these essential disciplines.

The Educating for American Democracy (EAD) initiative has garnered broad cross-partisan and stakeholder support as a way to re-imagine and re-prioritize the important civic mission of K-12 public education. AACTE became an EAD organizational Champion in 2021 and is developing professional development that addresses inquiry-based civic instruction in our member educator preparation programs. AACTE is participating in the upcoming webinar, Monitoring Civic Learning Opportunities and Outcomes: State of the Field and Future Directions, on July 13

See the Latest Discussions with AACTE Connect360 Updates

By Jerrica Thurman

 

 

 

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