The National Commission on Teaching and America's Future is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing every child with competent, caring, qualified teachers in schools organized for success.
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Create strong learning communities in schools.
Close the gap between teacher preparation and practice.
Support professionally rewarding teaching careers.
Develop authentic teaching standards and learning assesments.
Social Networking: It's Not Just for the Students!
Everyone’s doing it. Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Twitter, LinkedIn. Social networking has consumed our society. And while many of us think of social networking as a way to share photos or tell all of our 585902 friends what we ate for lunch, for the education community, it’s becoming so much more than that.
Online teacher networks are becoming increasingly popular. Education Week’s recent article on TLINC (Teachers Learning in Network Communities) highlights just one way NCTAF is trying to promote a culture of collaboration in education. With sites in Denver, Memphis and Seattle, TLINC is providing future teachers and their peers with ways to connect at anytime – much like they do it their personal lives with texting, emailing and social networking. In states like Colorado where wilderness is vast and your colleagues may be miles away, it provides the instant support that so many teachers wish they had. But a teacher in an urban Seattle school may be just as isolated in her own classroom and an online community provides a chance to connect when she might not have the opportunity in her own school.
Programs like TLINC represent a major systemic change from the standard practice of preparing teachers in isolation from the schools where they will serve, and then placing them as stand-alone teachers in self-contained classrooms. TLINC provides a professional learning community that expands and enhances face-to-face mentoring. The online community capitalizes on the expertise of people with a variety of skill levels: pre-service teachers can collaborate with their university faculty as well offer insight to their peers. Providing teachers and teacher candidates with the support they need, whether it be in problem-solving, classroom management or curriculum design, is one of the keys to moving our education system into the 21st century.
How are you using social networking as a tool for educators, and how can we embrace this online culture of collaboration rather than hide behind a firewall?
This is a kind of peer pressure that is good to feel. So come on, get online. Everyone’s doing it.
Listen to Cindy Gutierrez, the director of initial professional teacher education at the Univeristy of Colorado at Denver, discuss TLINC!
In Sunday’s New York Times, the article “At School, Technology Starts to Turn a Corner,” highlights the use of technology as a tool for teaching and learning in the classroom. The article goes on to feature Decatur School of IDEAS in Indiana as a school that has embraced the role that technology can play in education. Yet, what is really so extraordinary about Decatur is the shift from the stand-and-deliver teacher model, to project-based learning. The project-based approach encourages active learning, promotes collaboration among students and encourages communication both online and in person.
“Unless you change how you teach and kids work, new technology is not really going to make a difference,” said Bob Perlman, the director of strategic planning for the New Technology Foundation, a nonprofit organization that has developed the model for project-based learning. Forty-two schools in nine states are implementing New Tech’s model. The shift to project-based learning helps ease some of the concerns that public schools are falling short in preparing students for the challenges of a 21st century global economy.
At the 2008 NCTAF Symposium, Pearlman along with Tom Wachnicki, principal of Decatur High and two high school students spoke about the challenges of preparing students for today’s world. The panel underscored the importance of improving schools to encompass not just mastery of core academic subjects, but also of 21st century skills and content. Today’s graduates need to be critical thinkers, problem solvers and effective communicators. The students shared their experiences with attendees and were enthusiastic about being engaged with their peers and using analytical and 21st century skills to solve problems. No longer are they stuck behind a desk simply reading page after page from a textbook.
The New Tech model is just one way educators are addressing the need to prepare students to compete in a global economy. How else can we move our education system out of a factory-era model and into the 21st century?
Watch Bob Pearlman, and hear his thoughts on building a 21st century education system!
While American athletes may outperform those from countries such as Finland, South Korea, and Japan in the Beijing Olympics, students from these nations consistently rank near or at the top of international rankings such as the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). In the latest PISA results, our students ranked 15th in reading, 21st in science and an abysmal 25th in mathematics. So, how can we improve the achievement of students so they are at the top of their game in the classroom? One place to start is in the preparation of our teachers.
In Finland, teacher prep programs strongly emphasize collaborative learning. Teachers regularly plan and observe together. They also take leadership roles in curriculum development and researching and implementing promising practices. These ideas are embedded in teacher preparation programs and lead to a stronger, more cohesive teacher workforce.
Programs with similar emphases are emerging across the U.S. as well. In Indiana State University (ISU)’s Project PRE, faculty work with pre-service teachers to research and explore best practices. Future teachers are immersed in a clinical experience that emphasizes the strength of collaboration and learning communities. ISU’s pilot program, TOTAL (Teachers of Tomorrow Advancing Learning) Semester, gives future teachers an additional semester in the classroom with a master teacher prior to student teaching. The program allows future teachers to take on more responsibility, culminating in a teaching experience that prepares them for classroom challenges.
At the 2008 NCTAF Symposium, Ronni Mann, regional director at the New Teacher Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz, shared with attendees the value of a mentor-based model. At NTC, teacher candidates are engaged in a systematic, mentor-based teacher induction model that helps novices to survive their early years and emerge as confident, skilled professionals.
Initiatives like these will go a long way towards developing teachers who will be ready to teach, learn and prepare students to participate in a global-economy. Wouldn’t it be great to celebrate the United States’ strength on both the Olympic stage and in our nation’s classrooms? What’s being done to provide world-class educators for every child?
What innovative teacher preparation programs are underway in your state? How do you think we can improve teacher preparation programs to impact student learning and achievement? Is PISA a good measuring stick for student achievement?
As the world watches the Olympic Games in Beijing, evidence of the power of teamwork is everywhere. Most athletes, no matter if they are involved in an individual or team sport, point to a support system that is the source of their strength and a boon to their confidence. Likewise, to ensure that children in the United State are competitive in a global economy, we must support them with teams of teachers focused on increasing student achievement.
At the 2008 Symposium, NCTAF and Pearson Achievement Solutions honored exemplary “Learning Teams” from three districts across the country (Newark (NJ) Public Schools, the Wake County (NC) Public School System, and Woodland (GA) Middle School). To continue to seed the development of more learning teams, NCTAF and the Pearson Foundation invited a group of 18 “Learning Teams Fellows” from D.C., Maryland, and Virginia to learn from the awardees and other Symposium participants. At a working dinner, awardees were able to provide support, guidance and information to Fellows wishing to learn more about learning teams. Award winners emphasized that teamwork allows both teachers and students to feel empowered and supported. They noted that by creating a culture of collaboration, education becomes a team sport where no one is left alone to fend for themselves on the bench. Fellows left the Symposium feeling empowered, and eager to begin work on implementing these teams in their respective schools. Awardees left feeling excited to return to the classroom this fall!
So, as Michael Phelps continues to make history in his quest for eight gold medals, perhaps his most memorable moment of this Olympic Games will be the relay event – the event in which he relied on his team members to come from behind to clench the gold medal.
When teachers work together, just as Phelps and his teammates did, they too deserve gold medals. To see more examples of great teamwork in schools, click here.
Last week Congress approved the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. What exactly does that mean for teacher preparation programs and new teachers? How can the combined grant programs improve teacher quality? One Education Week article suggests:
“It could be used to develop teacher residency programs, which would allow students pursuing master’s degrees in education to work alongside mentor teachers…teacher education programs could also use the grants to bolster field experiences for undergraduates and provide support to new teachers during their first years in the classroom, including helping them develop relationships with mentor-educators.”
NCTAF supports teacher residency programs and new teacher induction as a way to prepare, retain, and support effective teachers and keep the best and brightest in the classroom. While new teachers cite many reasons for leaving the profession, the top of that list continues to be school culture and professional working conditions. New teachers feel unsupported and isolated. While the rest of the world operates in teamwork-type model, our schools have yet to make that transition.
States like Ohio, Indiana, New Jersey and South Carolina require and finance mentoring for new teachers, while Boston, D.C. and Chicago have developed teaching residency models to better prepare new teachers for classroom challenges.
Do the provisions of HEA provide an effective answer to teacher preparation problems? What kind of teacher prep initiatives are going on in your state? What do you think the key components are to successful residency and mentoring models?
"Take a Deep Breath" - Rethinking 21st Century Teaching & Learning
On July 10th, Congressman George Miller encouraged participants at the NCTAF symposium to “take a deep breath” during this pause between presidential administrations to begin to focus on new directions for our schools to be competitive in the 21st century.
The Congressman noted, “…we have a school system that continues to look like the industrial age…and continues to operate on an agrarian clock.” (Watch a short clip of this speech, see video below.) Most schools still function in a way that is familiar and comfortable for the teachersand not thestudents. 21st century students are more proficient with digital technology than the students before them (and often their teachers too), they develop and construct knowledge differently, they are the most connected group, they are collaborative and resourceful, and their learning needs are not met in schools.
Congressman Miller called for schools and teachers that have the capacity to deliver a true 21st century education. How can schools move beyond the traditional structure to provide students with the skills and knowledge they will need to continue their education, work productively, and succeed in a global environment? What success stories can you share?
