2022-2023

Dr. Rachelle Rogers

President Roger's Final Message

20 Mar 2023 10:35 PM

Dear Friends,

As I pack my bags getting ready to travel to the 2023 ATE annual meeting, I cannot help but reflect on this past year. When I took the presidential gavel, a little over a year ago, our profession faced many challenges: teacher burnout, low pay, declining enrollment in preparation programs, and a public where more than half didn’t want their children entering the teaching profession. A year later, more than half the states have passed or are considering laws restricting what educators can teach in their classrooms. I found myself asking “How can we continue our professional journeys and grow the profession in this climate?”

During my presidency, I learned about the four emotions that can fuel us to act: anger, pain, fear, and joy. I chose to focus on joy. The power of joy is the enlightenment that comes from an experience that transcends the moment and gets extended over time. I’m talking about the kind of joy that has fueled the self-sacrifice of educators for decades because they wanted to help children. There is great joy in seeing our students develop their potential.

Could there be equal joy in seeing our nation develop its full potential? You might be asking how we do that. I think we start by adjusting our professional self-image. Some nations have a higher regard for teachers; these countries see teachers as critical to their global competitiveness. In these countries, teachers are considered “nation builders.” I think conceptually that is what Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Horace Mann, and many others had in mind when they linked the ballot box to the schoolhouse.

A year ago, I invited ATE members to join me on a journey and asked you to think about the first steps of your journey. After a year as ATE president, I am here to ask you to take a more bold step. I am asking you to lead. Lead the way to find new more equitable paths for the work we do. Lead the profession so there is no need for legislative mandates. Lead with the dual purpose of educating teachers who can teach their children to build our nation. Are you that kind of leader? Can you be that kind of leader? Can you help prepare that kind of teacher?

Over and over again, during my presidency, I have said, “I don’t know all the answers to the questions we face.” What I do know is we cannot afford to lose those who might teach. We cannot afford to let good teachers leave the profession because they no longer have the freedom to do their jobs. The profession needs not just our voices, but our actions—our leadership.

For the past year, I have used a compass as the primary image for my presidential theme: Our Professional Journeys: Navigating Roles, Research, Relationships, and Responsibilities. I have come to realize that a compass is only part of the answer, a tool to be used, to identify a direction. So, a year later, my question to you is “Will you be a compass or a cartographer?” Will you sit or stand where you are and point, saying, “We need to go there” like a compass? Or will you blaze the trail, and create the map for others to follow? Will you be a cartographer? Our children need cartographers. Our country needs cartographers. Will you be one?

Serving as president of ATE has been my greatest professional honor. Thank you for your support throughout this journey. I look forward to seeing you in Jacksonville as we engage in critical conversation and action to lead our profession.

All aboard,

Rachelle Rogers, ATE President 2022-2023

P

President Roger's Final Message

21 Feb 2022 1:28 PM

Dear Friends,

It was wonderful to see so many of you at the 2022 Annual Meeting in Chicago. John Hicks (Past-President), I thank you for your leadership and service to ATE and for hosting a successful meeting. For those who were unable to join us, you were missed, and we look forward to seeing you in Nashville, TN at the 2022 summer conference, July 29^th-August 2^nd. I would like to share my Presidential Theme and alert you to watch for the call for summer proposals coming soon. Following the call for summer proposals, you will also receive an invitation to participate in the first Inquiry Initiative also occurring at the ATE Nashville 2022 Summer Conference. The Inquiry Initiative reflects ATE’s historical summer conferences where ATE members gathered in workgroups to address the critical questions or problems facing the profession at the time. Inquiry Initiative participants will once again engage in posing questions and embarking on study group endeavors focused on closing opportunity gaps. Watch for more information about the ATE Inquiry Initiative coming soon. I would also like to take this opportunity to share with you my presidential theme. 

Rogers’ Theme for the Year!

 Our Professional Journeys: Navigating Roles, Research, Relationships, and Responsibilities

 

According to the Chinese proverb attributed to Lao Tzu, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” The Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) took that first step just over one hundred years ago, and now has a long and rich history of activities dedicated to the preparation of teachers; we celebrated that journey in Atlantic City in February 2020. Now, as the Association engages in strategic planning to chart its future course, the first steps of the next 100-year journey, we would do well to consider a destination that lies just beyond the horizon—a destination so compelling, it calls us through the inevitable storms along our path; a destination so vivid, it sustains us through the shadowed valley; a destination so powerful, it draws others to join our pilgrimage. 

To reach this destination beyond the horizon will require that we let go of some things in our past to take hold of some new things in our future. Likewise, we may let go of some things in our present, to reclaim an aspect of our past. These sacrifices and changes most certainly will not be easy, but the most significant journeys rarely are easy. Like those who sailed uncharted waters or who sought paths across unmapped wilderness, we invite you to join us on “a road less traveled” to a destination beyond the horizon that for now we can only imagine. 

We might ask “What energized these courageous ventures? What inspired these individuals to take such great risks, for an unknown destination?” Perhaps, for them, and us, our journeys are not just a physical destination--a place. The adventurers’ journeys, our journeys, are really the external manifestations of inward journeys--our passion to close the gaps between what we believe and what we do. You can’t sail to the edge of the world, you can’t traverse the wilderness, you can’t go to the moon unless you believe that you can close all of the gaps between the vision of what can be and the present reality. We must be motivated to begin, we must be fortified to sustain, we must be challenged to overcome the gaps between the roles we adopt and the work to be done, the gaps between our research questions and our evidence for what works, the gaps between our relationships with other individuals and other organizations, and the gaps between our responsibilities and our actions.

As we set our sights beyond the horizon, driven by our internal vision of an educational system void of gaps, we must expand the vision of who we are. At our core, we believe that learning is at the heart of human development—learning is the foundation upon which opportunity is built. Many individuals, across every conceivable context, have responsibility for helping others learn, yet they would not identify themselves as educators. Even our most essential partners fail to adopt the label of “teacher educator.” We must draw our circle of inclusion ever wider. 

As ATE advances into the next 100 years, our work should be shaped by a reconceptualization of a community dedicated to “the professional educator.” This community of professional educators includes individuals who have roles typically labeled as “classroom teacher” and “teacher educator,” with employment by schools and higher education. If we expand our circle of inclusion, then this community of professional educators encompasses teachers, administrators, counselors, professors, clinical coaches, and community members who have some responsibility for facilitating the learning of others (students, teacher candidates, in-service professionals and paraprofessionals, university faculty, etc.) regardless of the educational context. Part of the destination beyond the horizon is an inclusive vocabulary.

In a community of professional educators, our destination beyond the horizon, the concept of preparation must also be expanded. We can no longer limit our dialogue to the recruitment, the programmed experiences leading to certification, the induction, and the retention of new teachers. We must enlarge our conversations to include professional learning for all individuals within the community over the course of their professional careers. 

We all need help along the way, along our professional journeys, as we navigate roles, research, relationships, and responsibilities.

Roles-Our community members need professional learning for their designated roles across their professional experiences, but they also need professional learning for transitioning into different roles, or for managing multiple roles within their contexts. In addition, our community members need professional learning for creating new roles and for challenging the status quo of existing roles. 

Research-At the center of a professional community is a dedication to understanding and studying their shared professional practice. Professional learning communities encourage members to examine their practice and establish, expand, and refine their shared body of knowledge through the widest array of research methodologies. A robust focus on research moves the community through the cycle of inquiry, implementation, and evaluation. 

Relationships-The professional roles of our community members don’t exist in a vacuum; they have contexts (schools, colleges/universities, communities) - each role shares a relationship with the other roles in that context; and the institutions, organizations, and communities within a context have relationships. Community members need professional learning for supporting individuals, groups, and organizations as they establish and maintain healthy and dynamic relationships. Among the most challenging aspects of professional relationships is that they are embodied by people. Each person brings to one’s assigned roles and their relationships a host of individual attributes (social, emotional, physical, intellectual, cultural, spiritual, etc.). 

Responsibilities-Our community of professional educators must also share common responsibilities including advocacy for the profession and all those engaged in the work of teacher education. But on a grander stage, in the concentric circles of the communities where we serve, in the contexts where our roles, research, and relationships exist, we have a shared responsibility to speak into the socio-political, -economic, -cultural environment in which we live. Our professional learning must be shaped by our most noble values: diversity, equity, and justice.

Addressing the theme of Our Professional Journeys: Navigating Roles, Research, Relationships, and Responsibilities presents frames of inquiry for research, professional reflection, knowledge sharing, and dialogue. I hope you all join us in this year’s journey! I look forward to seeing you at the ATE Nashville 2022 Summer Conference.

All Aboard,

Rachelle Rogers, ATE President 2022-2023

2021-2022

Dr. John K. Hicks

The Lindy Effect

16 Jul 2021

Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s book Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder (2012) has inspired my thinking about teaching for the past nine years and it informs the theme for the 2021 Summer ATE Conference and for the Annual Meeting in 2022. 

Taleb’s work ultimately deals with "decision making under uncertainty.” As teachers, we know that research confirms that we constantly make decisions during our interactions with our students during our time with them. This richly complex process is well known to us all, but was definitely intensified for us during the pandemic, which threw us all into an arena of uncertainty. However, in listening to everyone’s stories, I can confirm that last year’s volatility was met with creativity and confidence. Whereas fragile things are harmed by shocks, and robust things are resilient, the “antifragile” benefits from shocks. I have seen this phenomena for myself as I see the great ways teacher educators met the challenges posed to us. We have not only survived—we have grown in our ability to meet the needs of all of our students. 

A related concept in Taleb’s work is what he terms the “Lindy Effect.” Something “Lindy” is likely to survive for a great length of time because it has already survived a long time. Named after a Manhattan restaurant where actors observed this phenomena in Broadway show runs, the effect is interesting to trace in our field of education. ATE just celebrated its 100-year anniversary should therefore be more likely to stay in existence for another 100 years. We should be confident in this and appreciate the wisdom of those in ATE who came before us. They began construction of the rich inheritance that has been passed down to us all. It is our duty to keep it alive, and to enrich it. We rest on the shoulders of giants who made ATE “Lindy.” 

One of the many repositories of ATE’s wisdom are the association’s Standards for Teacher Educators. The nine standards are elegant in their clarity, their specificity, and their concision. As we all move into the unknown terrain of a perhaps post-pandemic school year, I encourage you to look to the standards, which will present you with time tested truths and applications built to handle any teaching situation. Our standards are definitely “Lindy!”

Educator Preparation for an Uncertain Future: Preparing Antifragile Teachers

11 Mar 2021 1:04 PM

What makes for an uncertain future? Recent years have presented insight into how we address this question. One answer is the global pandemic of COVID-19 that has fostered uncertainty in our world, our social and educational systems, and in our day-to-day life. The shock effect of the pandemic has presented society and its members with a level of uncertainty and unpreparedness. Increased political and cultural unrest have shifted us away from a sense of stability. Teachers and students forced to teach and learn remotely from home have challenged what was the perceived “normal” in education and the lives of teachers and students as well as parents and communities. Citizens and society have become cognizant of what it means to be “fragile” in what was otherwise perceived as moderately safe and secure. We are confronted with the need for and importance of evolving an “antifragile” state of mind and systemic response to a world that will not return to the perceived old “normal”. How we learn, as members of communities and society will require adaptation to the persistent uncertain times that we live in today and will face in the foreseeable future.

Schools in communities and cities across the US and in our global society will not return to the old “normal” nor should they. The “fragile” nature of our world will need to take direction from how systems change and adjust over time in response to what challenges us. For teacher educators this is perhaps the most significant and unfamiliar challenge we face today in a profession that has been guided largely by policies, standards, competency-based learning, and a way of education life that can no longer survive in stark contrast to the conditions we face now. Life in the next decade and beyond will likely be influenced by dramatic changes foreseeably more radical than the COVID-19 pandemic.

Educator preparation programs and the teacher educators that prepare each future generation of teachers must rethink the nature of preparation to ensure that each teacher is characterized by “antifragility” as a necessity for meeting the needs of an otherwise “fragile” educational system and world. As teacher educators, we shoulder a major responsibility for preparing “antifragile” teachers who are equipped to enter the challenging and uncertain nature of classrooms to teach students to become strong learners and “antifragile” members of a larger society.

In this sense, teacher education becomes a poetic for addressing the “fragility” we face. Michael Robbins, in his book Equipment for Living (2017), contends that poetry was in fact designed for living in a world often unfamiliar and filled with perplexities. He quotes Kenneth Burke, Poetry is produced . . . as part of the consolatio philosophiae. It is undertaken as equipment for living, as a ritualistic way of arming us to confront perplexities and risks. Teacher education as a poetic for preparing future “antifragile” teachers understands, as Burke explained, that we are preparing teachers for a world filled with perplexities and risks. (1941, p.61)

As teacher educators, we should arm future teachers, as philosopher Nassim Nicholas Taleb advises in his book Antifragile, with knowledge and understanding that offers the potential to make them shockproof. Taleb writes:

Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure, risk, and uncertainty. (p.3)

The “antifragile” teacher entering schools and classrooms that are disrupted from events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant political and cultural unrest will need to be equipped for living in an uncertain world. As Taleb explains, “antifragility” is beyond resilience or robustness; it anticipates the persistent uncertain nature of a pandemic or other challenges that present dramatic changes in our way of life. As teacher educators our challenge, in part, is to prepare “antifragile” teachers who will grow stronger as a result of disorder and threats to what is perceived as “normal”. This will require an understanding of how to prepare future teachers who understand that cultural, societal, and ideological norms are constantly changing. “Antifragile” teachers must be prepared for the volatility, uncertainty, and randomness of the unpredictable, natural, complex nature of the world wherein they live and teach.

2020-2021

Dr. Judy Beck

Beck Blog #3

15 Sep 2020 3:55 PM

It has been a busy yet impactful summer at ATE. Time has zoomed  by since my last blog. Sorry...I could not resist! I need to laugh about all of the Zoom/Teams/Webex meetings I have been in over the last few months or I might cry! I’m sure a good number of you can empathize. I hope that each of you are doing well and taking care of yourself and each other.

Our summer conference planning committee did an amazing job of pivoting to an online conference that was just as engaging and enlightening as you come to expect from an ATE conference. Kudos to the team! In response to unrest across the country, ATE released a position statement on racial equity. You can find that statement on the landing page of the ATE website. This was followed by a culminating session at the summer conference in August led by Charlene Johnson and Carrie Robinson titled Institutional Racism in Education: Truth, Trust, Courage and Empowerment Needed to Promote Social Justice and Equitable Educational Practice. This engaging session was the perfect kick off to our planned dialogue centered on the social justice and educational equity. Stay tuned for more to come on this series.

ATE collaborated with NAPDS on two webinars “Clinical Practice during Covid-19”. These webinars filled quickly showing an incredible need for educators to talk about what is going on in their clinical practice and garner ideas from others’ experiences. Attendees shared ideas and strategies on everything from alternative field placements to online teaching professional development for both faculty and teacher candidates.

It also brought to bear the immense need for advocacy in the realm of Educator preparation. We need to be regularly working with our state agencies so that when we need to work together on an issue like this, the relationship has a stable foundation on which to build.

Our Strategic Planning process continues into the fall with workgroups developing goals and action steps complimented by the information garnered through focus groups and surveys this spring and summer. The hope is that this work will finish before the end of the year so that our plan can be showcased at ATE’s 2021 Annual Meeting.

ATE 2021 Annual Meeting
February 13-17, 2021
Call for Proposals

Take care, be safe. All my best!

Judy Beck

ATE President 2020-2021

Beck Blog #2

29 May 2020 3:39 PM

Let me start by saying I hope each of you are safe and well. In the last few weeks, there has been a lot of behind the scenes work happening at ATE. After delicate contract negotiations by John McIntyre (Meetings Coordinator) and Alisa Chapman (ATE Executive Director), we are now able to say that our Summer 2020 conference will be ONLINE! We are excited to offer our conference in this format and look forward to seeing you there! As we move along in the process, be sure to visit our conference webpage to stay up to date.

The link for submitting proposals is here:

ATE 2020 ONLINE Summer Conference

Call for Proposals

Deadline: June 15th

The need for all voices to be heard is never more important than at election time. I urge you to vote in the ATE election. Determine the next group of leaders in YOUR organization.

VOTE NOW!!

Presidential Points to Ponder

I am sharing some statements that have resonated with me during this pandemic. I will post these on our social media sites so that you can share your thoughts, ideas, and ponderings. Join in the conversation!

  ATE Facebook page

 @AssocTeacherEd @deanjudybeck

 

• Teachers work hard and they are finally getting a small measure of the recognition they deserve.
• Amidst an already grave teacher shortage, 20% of teachers may not return to their classrooms if schools reopen in the fall.
• The digital divide has become glaringly apparent and we can no longer hide from the disparity it causes in the academic achievement of our children.

There is no more important time for us to be welcoming those under the big umbrella.

If you’re not sure what this refers to, check out my powerpoint presentation from Atlantic City!! 

Take care, be safe. All my best!

Judy Beck

ATE President 2020-2021

Beck Blog #1

30 Mar 2020 10:36 AM

Wow. It is hard to believe only a month has passed since our festive gathering for the annual meeting in Atlantic City. It certainly feels like a longer period of time given how much things have changed. First, let me start by saying I hope all of you are safe and well. Just as many of you are, I am spending the majority of my time at home communicating via email, meeting via zoom, making sure pieces are in place for our student teachers to graduate, and developing a Plan B for fall if needed. Please know that the ATE leadership is closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation and are considering possible alternatives for our summer conference (i.e. possibly hybrid or online formats). More news to come on that front. Please do not let the uncertainty deter you from submitting a proposal. The link for submitting proposals is here:

ATE 2020 Summer Conference

Call for Proposals

Capitol Hilton Hotel

Washington, DC

August 7-11th, 2020

ATE is joining forces with ISTE and a diverse group of organizations to provide resources for educators and a help desk with experts from across the country to provide real-time support to educators during #COVID19. That page is:

https://www.iste.org/explore/iste-convenes-sectorwide-response-support-educators-responding-covid-19.

There is no greater time for us to be welcoming those under the big, red umbrella. If you’re not sure what this refers to, check out my powerpoint presentation from Atlantic City!!

Best Wishes!

Judy Beck

ATE President

2019-2020

Dr. Christie McIntyre

No blogs written during the 2019-20 year.

2018-2019

Dr. Patricia Sari Tate

Blog Post #8 – BLESSINGS OF THE NEW YEAR!

15 Jan 2019 11:12 PM

Dear ATE Colleagues,

I do love the New Year!  I come back to what I value and take the opportunity to pause and reflect on the past year.  The New Year poses the opportunity to make new resolutions:  a) giving appreciation for all that was good; b) making plans to continue on or choose to set a new course, and c) planting new seeds for what is to come so that I give intention and attention to what needs to be changed.  I prefer an organic type of resolution making process that has a more flexible timeline; a process that allows a practical approach to accomplishing something; and a process that acknowledges the natural flow of things.  For me, it is also a process of reflection and taking stock of what I am happy about with regard to my life and my many blessings.  So in this Blog I am doing just that!

As I write my last Blog as ATE President, I thank all who have contributed to the governance of ATE; all who have collaborated in bringing to our members the special programs that support their development and scholarship; and I thank all who have taken leadership of our conference planning initiatives and special programs.  There are many individuals that I count my blessings for during my year as President: our conference Chairs – Linda Austin and Cecilia Hernandez (Summer Conference Co-chairs for Albuquerque) and Christie McIntyre (Annual Conference Chair for Atlanta; David Ritchey (Executive Director), and ATE staff – Robin Hollyfield and Michael Vetere; our Association Development Specialist and Board of Directors; our special program leaders and Standing Committee Chairs. 

I have great appreciation for the stellar work of our Board of Directors as well as the contributions of the Strategic Planning Group for their insight into what ATE is and should be for its members and the type of future leadership needed to get us there.   From the conversations we engaged in at this retreat, I can say the ATE Leadership Group has taken stock of the special programs we currently offer our members, which provide a seamless pathway for developing and supporting future leaders in teacher education.  This pathway is characterized by program offering designed for preservice teacher candidates, school- and university-based teacher mentors/supervisors, emerging scholars and new professors in teacher education, Clinical Practice Fellows, and future leaders of ATE who are nominated for our Leadership Academy.

I continually remind myself and others who ask about ATE – “What is unique about ATE as an educational organization?”  I answer: “It is that ATE is focused on the needs of the teacher educator; and that it has existed as an all-volunteer organization characterized by shared leadership since 1920.”   I have come to realize during my Presidency how ATE is an exemplary model of shared leadership and that it functions as its own community of practice on a large scale.  By the way of shared leadership a substantial core of ATE members assume various leadership roles, whether it is in leading:  a governance group or committee, a task force or commission, a special program, workshop or panel.  As a community of practice, ATE members are actively involved in doing the work of teacher education and in sharing their scholarship and wisdom of practice.  Teacher educators bridge and connect theory to practice with regard to teaching and learning within the school context or what is termed the “clinical practice” aspects of teacher preparation and development.  We are the ones who open up new conceptualizations and windows of understanding for all participants to “see” their practices within theoretical frameworks and research-based knowledge about teaching and learning.  For example, teacher educators deal with the special problems associated with supervision and mentoring of teacher candidates, such as when there is not a good fit between the student teacher/intern, cooperating teacher, and supervisor.  These situations require attention to maintaining respect for all participants involved.  As my conference theme has emphasized teacher educators occupy a complicated space - a distinct, what some call, “third space”, as they perform their roles with an orientation different from academe and different from school systems. Teacher educators are the glue that connects knowledge with practice and are the models for our developing teachers who, by their example, illuminate the relational pedagogies of teaching based on ethics of care and respect for differences.  Teacher educators are the professionals who develop and sustain positive relationships across school/university contexts.  My hope in creating this year’s theme is that it builds upon Past-President’s initiatives and contributes to a greater visibility of the essential roles our members play in bridging and connecting between school and university participants to provide clinically rich teacher preparation/teacher development experiences. 

Now I am looking toward the future with visions of the leadership to come within ATE; or, as I have conceptualized it, “Leadership inside the ATE box”.  Our upcoming annual conference in Atlanta February 17-20, 2019 celebrates the many professionals within ATE who are leading special initiatives and the governance work of the organization.   And our keynoters and featured session presenters will bring their expertise, wisdom, and scholarship together for us to better “see” and understand our roles within frameworks for exemplary practice. Please do not miss out on the many opportunities for professional development.  Many choices are offered including workshops, inspirational keynotes, featured and special sessions, and thematic sessions.  Go to www.ate1.org to register and review the conference program offerings.

In closing I reflect back on my visions for ATE that were shared when I started my term as ATE President to ascertain the ways in which I see this vision moving toward realization:

#1 – ATE members will be active practitioner-scholars in bridging and bringing together a new synthesis of key theoretical constructs and ethical practices essential for effective clinical practice in the development of teachers.  I appointed two key groups to work on this vision:  The Commission on Teacher Educator Development – Chaired by Brandon Butler and the Task Force on Addressing the Needs of the School-Based Mentor/Cooperating Teacher – Co-Chaired by Philip Bernhardt, Thomas Conway, and Greer Richardson.

#2 –ATE will be the “outreach” organization for school- and university- based teacher educators through specialized programs that support their development.  The Clinical Fellows Practice Program (CPF) continues into its fourth year collaborating with inclusion of the National Association of Professional Development Schools (NAPDS) members in the Clinical Fellows program designed for practitioner scholars.  Pilot programs are being planned to provide venues for state units to utilize selected protocols that have been impactful in providing professional development for practitioner-scholars both school- and university-based.

#3 –ATE leaders will build on and carry forward essential coalitions with our sister organizations to be united in one voice to advocate for the teaching profession and those who prepare teachers – THE TEACHER EDUCATOR. The National Coalition of Educators Group (i.e. NCE Group – ATE, NEA, AACTE, NAME,KDP, NTHF, and CAEP) continued to expand in 2018 to include three new member organizations: National Collaborative for Digital Equity (NCDE), American Association for Employment in Education (AAEE), and National Association of Community Colleges Teacher Education Programs (NACCTEP).  Within the National Coalition of Educators (NCE) group we are working closely with AACTE to participate in the State Leaders Institute for joint ATE/AACTE units and Day on the Hill Program. And we continue the Clinical Practice Fellows Program (CPF) with our collaborations with NAPDS and the intent to roll out CPFs at the state level with inclusion of joint state units between ATE and AACTE.  We are beginning to plant seeds for initiatives in raising the profile of the teaching profession as well as share the special knowledge and resources that each of our organizations offer to our members.  

#4.  – ATE will create and develop new venues to provide spaces and places for both virtual and face-to-face professional development opportunities for our members aimed to support them in their teacher educator roles.  The fourth vision ties the above visions together.  As ATE leaders create and build upon the special programs underway, what is developed is shared.  For example, several Commissions and Task Forces are doing this work – the ATE NAPDS Coalition Task Force is working on bringing Clinical Practice Fellows program protocol to the state level; and the Task Force on Addressing the Needs of the School-Based Mentor Cooperating Teacher will be offering a workshop for school- and university-based supervisors/mentors at the annual conference.  There will also be special sessions addressing the themes of each vision that address the following:  1) communicating across PK-20 classroom boundaries,  2) providing research based knowledge on impact of PDSs and residency teacher preparation models on teacher development , 3) initiating new concepts for developmental models that support beginning education professionals,  and 4) addressing supervision as a field of practice. 

In sum, the keynotes, special programs, workshops, commissions, task forces, and thematic presentations planned for the Atlanta conference provide the seeds for moving forward with the above visions for ATE.  I only wish I could attend all of them! 

The future is bright!  ATE is embracing change and is leading the work in teacher educator development. 

Come join us in Atlanta!  

Sincerely,

Patricia Sari Tate

ATE President, 2018-2019

Blog Post #7 – GRATEFULNESS "ONE DAY AT A TIME"

20 Nov 2018 4:44 PM

Thanksgiving is one of the best times in our society for family and friends to come together to appreciate what is good; to share good food, friendship, and love for one another.  I am reminded that I have much to be grateful for when I consider the families who have recently experienced the devastating fires in California.  Our hearts and prayers go out to those who have endured this historical tragedy!

What can one do or say to others who are “sitting in” grief and sorrow?  We can show we care by doing one little thing to help them or comfort them.  And beyond this holiday time of giving thanks we can continue to show our appreciation for the life we have by giving back.  We can volunteer and serve where we see there is a need.  We can comfort others who need comfort within our personal and professional relationships.  And we can encourage those who may not “see” what they can be grateful for with a message to “Take each day to find one thing that gives comfort and appreciation no matter how small.”   It can be as little as a hot cup of coffee in morning or a day when the sun is shining.  May you find one thing that you are grateful for every day, no matter how small, and encourage others to do the same!

Happy Thanksgiving to All our ATE Members!

Patricia Tate

ATE President

Blog Post #6 – LEADERSHIP "OUTSIDE THE BOX"

5 Nov 2018 4:28 PM

           I had the good fortune to experience leadership “outside the box” when traveling with my cousin.  We were standing at the baggage claim airport exit on a passenger pickup lane that was partially blocked with construction cones making it difficult for passengers to connect with their riders.  A woman was parked in the first row blocking the lane for all the pickup cars behind her.  It was obvious she was waiting for her passengers, who were much further down the line away from her position, to find her. She was creating a traffic jam and blocking everyone from picking up their passengers and exiting. The pickup line was getting longer and people were standing, waiting, and just watching.  My cousin handed me her luggage and said, “Hold on to this”.   She went out to the car and directed the woman to roll down her window and she said to her, “Who are you waiting for?  Who are the people you are waiting for?  What is their name?”  The woman gave the name of the party she was picking up to my cousin who repeated it out loud to the woman several times to be sure she was pronouncing it correctly.   And then my cousin lifted her head up and started walking down the line calling out the name of the party that was to be picked up.  She disappeared for a while and then finally she emerged from the crowd with a little lady holding a little dog and on her arm was an older man walking with a cane.  My cousin guided them over to the car; opened the car door and got them safely in and sent them on their way.  And “ta da” everyone in turn was able to exit the pickup lane safely.   Now, if that isn’t an example of leadership “outside the box”  I don’t know what is!  I was, in a way, “shamed” by the fact that I was standing there with everyone else doing nothing, while, here, under the auspices of my cousin am taught a lesson.  I teach about leadership all the time; but that day I was taught what leadership means when you actually do leadership!  Take action when you observe it is needed! BRAVO cousin!  I am glad I had the opportunity to tell others about what I learned from you that day.  Thank YOU!

Blog Post #5 – Through the looking glass of the Albuquerque conference keynotes

22 Aug 2018 4:28 PM

Dear Colleagues,

This week I have been reflecting on my experiences at the Albuquerque summer conference. I felt my interactions with conference participants were productive and inspiring!  Our conversations about our teacher educator practices within the clinical aspects of our roles were very meaningful for me as I observed validation of the important roles we assume in developing teachers.  I came away from the conference motivated and energized to do more in my role to connect with the school-based teacher educators who host our teacher candidates in their classrooms.  The keynotes were the catalyst for affirmations about the important work ATE is engaged in with regard to our identity as teacher educators and the standards we have set in our discipline of teacher education for high quality clinical preparation of teachers.

How can I capture the essence of what transpired for me in this conference?

Too often I have come back from a conference and failed to savor and capture what I call the “gems” of my experience.  I take this opportunity in this Blog to reflect on the keynotes to crystallize those “little gems” that were meaningful to my practices.  The keynotes, in particular, were pivotal for me in framing the next generation of our work together in educator development.  The summer conference provided four great general keynote sessions:

John McIntyre (Emeritus Professor Southern Illinois University Carbondale):  Saturday Opening General Session Keynote Title:  The Evolution of Clinical Practice in Teacher Education

John revealed his own professional development journey and the key mentors along the way that solidified his identity as a teacher educator.  Each of us should engage in reflecting on our development and identity as a teacher educator.  John had the good fortune during his Master’s degree experience to be mentored by Jim Collins the “father” of Teacher Education Centers, which are now what we call Professional Development Schools.  In this context, John learned clinical supervision practices and later during his doctoral studies was assigned to work in a Teacher Education Center at Southern Illinois University under the leadership of our own icon - Billy Dixon.  John’s scholarship since then has been renown in student teaching and field experiences.  He has co-authored many book chapters and co-edited many versions of the Handbook on Teacher Education which represent a longstanding legacy of teacher education research since the first edition (see reference - Guyton & McIntyre, 1990).

I did not know many of the historical points that John shared about the history of what was labeled back then as “teacher training”.  The first school devoted to “training” teachers was started in 1823 by Sam Hall in Concord Vermont. Since then we have seen the gradual evolution toward what we now term “teacher preparation” which encompasses more than just “training” someone to copy a specific protocol.  John shared many “gems” from key reports that were the precursor to the standards we embrace today such as the publication titled: School and Community Laboratory Experiences in Teacher Education (aka) the Flowers Report (1948) that presented a research-based set of standards for teacher education programs (i.e. to learn more about the history of ATE Standards for Teacher Educators and the seminal “Flowers Report see ATE publication: A Brief History of Standards in Teacher Education).

Examples of the principles the Flowers report recommended were that:

•        field experiences needed to integrated with coursework;
•        candidates should be supervised through a 5^th/induction year; 
•        supervisor assignments should be practical given time required to adequately supervise an intern and limited to coverage of no more than 18 interns;
•        student teacher’s progress should be assessed on a continuous basis;
•        cooperating teachers should be prepared with skills needed to mentor a developing teacher;
•        universities and schools should be working collaboratively in delivery of the program; and
•        clinical work should be recognized and included in faculty load. 

How about that for what was considered standards for clinical practices in 1948 – 70 years ago!  The historical background that Dr. McIntyre shared reminded me of ATE’s initiatives in development of standards for teacher educators and field experiences.  He noted how today the ATE standards have undergone revisions but also confirmed they have “stood the test of time”.  Our ATE standards present to members a robust set of research-based practices that set the bar for exemplary clinical practice.  A key “gem” for me was John’s charge to us to be models in our supervision and mentoring practices in actualizing our standards (see Teacher Educator Standards and Field Experience Standards)

And to bring us into the present Dr. McIntyre highlighted the following key areas of emphasis that are emerging from new reform reports and research about quality clinical preparation for teacher candidates:

1.  Emphasis on providing the best school environments for placements of our students.  John noted that we cannot place students anywhere. Teacher candidates must be in schools that are welcoming and reach out to developing teachers.

2.  Emphasis on the student teaching triad to be working together to address P-12 learning.  This is the area where John noted that the triad needs to be working together to focus on providing opportunities for teacher candidates to engage with their supervisors and mentors in addressing learning needs of the pupils.

3.  Emphasis on providing the resources needed to administer the clinical portions of a teacher preparation program (i.e. teacher educator development in mentoring and supervision practices and provision of the needed staffing; and integrated curriculum in tandem with the clinical experiences delivered at the school sites).

John reminded us of the scholarship we have engaged in over the years with regard to clinical practice.  And we must acknowledge that ATE recently published empirical research as a result of the ATE Commission on Clinically Based Teacher Preparation [i.e. see The Power of Clinical Preparation in Teacher Education -2018).  And of note was our coalition partner – AACTE’s 2017 Commission report – A Pivot toward Clinical Practice that lays out a set of proclamations that frame clinical practice as the center of teacher preparation program design.  Both publications integrate clinical practice in educator development as the essential element for preparation program design and implementation.

In sum, John helped us understand the evolution of ATE scholarship and the complementary work with AACTE as efforts to articulate the next generation reforms espoused by the Blue Ribbon Panel (2010).  John was able to crystalize the following key recommendations of this seminal report that set the bar for high quality teacher preparation:  

a) teacher candidate learning needs to take place in professional learning communities; b) clinical experiences designed for teacher candidates should be focused on pupil learning; c) clinical faculty should be rigorously selected and prepared.  This process should be the norm for both school and university based teacher educators; d) teacher candidates should be prepared to teacher diverse students in culturally relevant ways; and e) teacher preparation should be delivered through strong partnerships with schools that include opportunities to engage in research and inquiry.  

Dr. McIntyre’s charge to us was to go back to our campuses and reflect on our clinical practice program designs to measure them against ATE Standards for Teacher Educators and Standards for Field Experiences. I am reminded there is much in our past that we need to take into account in quality program practices and designs.

Muffet Trout:  Sunday General Session Keynote Title: Bridging Boundaries Through Care and Reflective Practice

Dr. Trout has engaged in self-study research using Nel Nodding’s ethical care theory as the framework for studying her own practices as a teacher educator.  The dimensions she explored with us in her keynote were part of her study of enactments of culturally relevant pedagogy with her students. Muffet prodded us to consider our responsibility as teacher educators to study our own practices.   Thus, she advocated that we do more with regard to self-study as a “systematic approach to understanding our practices as teacher educators” (i.e. citing Todd Dinkelman’s (2003) definition).

Muffet’s presentation gave me new insights into my own supervisory practices that carried through Dr. McIntyre’s charge to be good models through enacting “care” practices in supporting the development of the novice teacher.  I connect these ideas to Sharon Feiman-Nemser’s work that claims “how teachers learn, shapes what they learn.”  (Feiman-Nemser, 2011).  Muffet further instilled the notion that by preparing our novice teachers through a framework of care they in turn will enact these same practices in the relationships they build with their students. I would add to this that the way teacher candidates are mentored and supervised will also influence how they engage and interact with future colleagues and developing teachers.

Dr. Trout’s message to us was that the clinical practice work we engage in is all about building relationships through caring.  She explained that,  “Caring is part of what Aristotle termed phronesis – acting for goodness by moving attention away from ourselves to focus on the needs of the other”.  However, she made a distinction that caring is not just about “being nice”; care pedagogy requires that we be honest and hold to high expectations for the progress of our students.  And she taught us new dimensions of caring that are deeper attributes of this construct such as:  caring habits – help us when caring is hard – addressing issues from a stance of what we know to be best for the individual’s growth and progress; caring knowledge – that which is held in the body yet visible to others in our interactions (i.e. anger, love, sadness, joy); and caring imagination that which allows us to overcome through our actions and words(i.e. Martin Luther King – I have dream speech; Maya Angelou – And Still I Rise). These are my own connections to her talk.

Thus, Dr. Trout emphasized that to build trusting relationships requires ways to understand the other and for the teacher educator the key practice is “Talk less; Listen More”.  Through real-life examples from her own experiences in teaching teacher candidates, Muffet provided concrete examples of ethical care practices that changed the dynamic of the relationships with her students to one of trust and acceptance. For example, she changed her syllabus to better meet the needs of her students and gave them the opportunity to shape the curriculum and how they learned it; she acknowledged her own lack of understanding about the lives of her students and invited them tell their story and how they were interpreting their world.  Thus, Muffet showed how she analyzed her key practices from a variety of data sets – from interviews with her students, reflective journal notes, artifacts from her course design and lessons.  Her analysis helped her to identify a set of relational pedagogies that are examples of enacting culturally relevant teaching through caring practices. This is clearly a new dimension of clinical practice that I want to explore and learn more about.  I will be following her scholarship to learn and improve my work. 

Trenia Walker, Cheryl Torrez, Majori Krebs, and Rebecca Sanchez – University of New Mexico and Cecilia Hernandez and Blanca Aroja – New Mexico State University:

Monday Luncheon Panel Title: Clinical Practice – Preparing the New Teacher for Today’s Classroom

The luncheon panel gave me insights regarding how in the midst of intense state regulation and alternative pathways to teaching credentials provided in New Mexico, two institutions are holding fast to designs that provide quality teacher preparation.  Representatives from the University of New Mexico (UNM) and New Mexico State University (NMSU) shared exemplary models of clinical preparation program designs.  We learned about the graduate teacher preparation residency program in place at UNM: a partnership between UNM, New Mexico Public Schools and Albuquerque Teachers Federation. This program is supported by a grant from the National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR) as part of its U.S. Department of Education Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) federal grant.  Within this model is an intensive mentoring program that selects high quality master teachers who are paired with a resident.  NMSU integrates Bilingual education and endorsement in TESOL as part of their 24 credit licensure program in which all students complete a language acquisition course and have clinical experience in reservation schools.

What a wonderful thread began to be drawn across the examples of clinical designs from each institution that were shared:

•        Both institutions are intentional in focusing clinical experiences for teacher candidates in high needs' schools.  Both institutions shared examples of how their teacher candidates are being prepared in the diverse communities in which we need exemplary teachers. 
•        Both institutions are engaged in nurturing close community-school partnerships.
•        Both institutions have been active in securing state and federal funding to provide resources to support the more intensive mentoring and clinical designs. The types of clinical designs that were shared included:  providing intensive mentoring of teacher candidates through careful matching and selection of master teachers and co-teaching models; using grant funds to support embedded faculty assigned to teach, mentor, and supervise candidates in the schools; offering introduction to education courses with field experiences in educational settings to open access for all students to learn about the field of education; and providing equity in supervision and mentoring supports for alternative route candidates even though the program does not require it. 

These are but a few examples of the ways in which our teacher educators are maintaining high standards for their practices regardless of regulatory constraints and pathways to teacher licensure.  They provided examples of how they enact what they know are best for preparation of our future teachers.  And they showed us how, through their program designs that they know what it takes to prepare a teacher for a long-term career and commitment to the teaching profession!  YES – we can do it!

Rebecca Burns – University of South Florida: Tuesday Closing Brunch Title:  Beyond Superficiality:  Fundamental Changes for Actualizing Clinically Based Educator Preparation

Becci’s keynote gave us the WOW and Punch that threaded together the keynote sessions into a holistic understanding of the reality that teacher educators need to embrace in today’s school contexts – that University and School-Based Teacher Educators need to be “together” in the addressing the learning needs of pupils.

Dr. Burns built on the previous keynote sessions calling on us to embrace modeling and enacting a pedagogy of care with our mentor teachers and school leaders.  She cited research by Gimbert and Nolan (2003) that outline pedagogical routines and practices supervisors can do to invite the school-based mentor into a partnership.  Dr. Burns built on the theme of care pedagogy proposing that we apply this same framework in our work with school-based mentor teachers – talk less; listen more to engage them as colleagues.  We need to be, in her view, focused on developing the next generation of teacher educators. 

Dr. Burn’s scholarship embraces her work as a professional development school coordinator and supervisor of teacher candidates within a PDS.  She shared some of her experience as the facilitator and supervisor in a low-performing professional development school that was in danger of a corporate takeover.  Her story proved to be an exemplar of developing the type of trusting relationships needed to transform a low-performing school into a well-performing school.  Becci’s story provided an example of a clinical setting that was more than what she called the “handshake” model of school-university partnerships, but rather an example of a partnership framed by “We are in this together model.”  We learned about clinical practice in a context of a low-performing school in which teacher candidates engaged in problem-solving alongside their mentor teachers to address the learning needs of their pupils.  Becci’s call was for us to work on changes in “mindset” for rethinking our clinical models and roles in teacher preparation.  Dr. Burns gave us a reality check in noting that the current trends are indicating that university-based teacher preparation programs are in danger of becoming extinct.  There are signs of distress on the system and a sense of disengagement by teacher education faculty as universities provide less funding and resources to maintain the robust clinical models that are part of clinically-rich preparation programs.  WOW!  A wake up call here!

As a professional development school university-based teacher educator, Dr. Burns called for a shift in mindset.  She explained that change in mindset represents a fundamental shift from working in schools or just placing students in schools to actually working with schools that need the most resources and supports to address mutual needs and problems.  To begin the transformation, Dr. Burns called for us to begin to enact a “pedagogy of care” with our schools and mentor teachers to align our preparation program with their curriculum and with their pupil’s learning needs.  

Her challenge to us was to rethink our roles and to be involved and willing to be in schools as teachers, mentors, and supervisors who are seen as colleagues providing additional resources to a school.  I was greatly inspired by her message to us to engage in a “pedagogy of care” with our schools and to advocate for what we know is good clinical preparation.  We may not be able to move big mountains, but we can, within our contexts, do smaller acts of care that may prove to be part of a larger transformation for us as teacher educators. 

There is so much more that I intend to unpack from my conference experience which I will continue to reflect on and share in the Blogs to come.  If I could sum up the general feeling that emerged for me from this conference experience it would be “satisfaction and gratitude”.  Satisfaction in the meaningful discourse we engaged in together; gratitude for the participants who contributed their time and expertise to make it all happen. In particular, gratitude to my two conference Co-Chairs – Linda Austin and Cecilia Hernandez!  I hope for those who were able to experience the summer conference that it was an opportunity to validate what you do and confirm the powerful impact you have on developing teachers.  Many new ideas were generated about the new dimensions emerging in our clinical practices.  So my new resolutions are to:

•        Model ATE standards in what I do;
•        Talk less and listen more to my teacher candidates and mentor teachers;
•        Champion collaborative program designs that provide robust clinical experiences
•        Adopt a  pedagogy of care for my teacher interns, supervisors, mentor teachers and schools.

There is much work ahead for teacher educators in advocating for what “WE” know is exemplary teacher preparation. We must hold fast to this territory of practitioner knowledge and research.  I look forward to what unfolds regarding this theme in the annual conference in Atlanta in February!

Respectfully Yours,

Patricia Tate

ATE President

References of Interest to Share: 

Dinkelman, T. (2003). Self-study in teacher education:  A means and ends tool for     promoting reflective teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 54(6), 6-18.

Feiman-Nemser, S. (2011). Teachers as learners. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Guyton, E. & McIntyre, D.J. (1990). Student teaching and school experiences. In W.R. Houston (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Teacher Education, (pp.514-534). New York: Macmillan.

National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. (2010, November). Transforming teacher education through clinical practice: A national strategy to prepare effective teachers. Washington, DC: Blue Ribbon Panel on Clinical Preparation and Partnerships for Improved Student Learning.

Gimbert, B., & Nolan, J.F. (2003). The influence of the professional development school context on supervisory practice: A university supervisor’s and intern’s perspectives. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, 18(4), 353-379.

Blog Post #4 – Summer ATE Conference

17 Jul 2018 

Dear Colleagues,

It is but 15 days away from our summer conference in Albuquerque – August 3-7, 2018 in historic Hotel Albuquerque.  If you have not yet checked out all that this special conference has to offer I want to provide you a snapshot because it is not too late to register!  For those of you who may be new to ATE and our organization’s traditions, our summer conferences started back in 1939 in Pineville Kentucky with a theme of “Major Issues in Teacher Education”.   Since that time the summer meeting has become a special time for our conference participants to take a pause for their own professional development and community building: to travel together, to be in a new place, to learn,  and to acquire new understandings about the culture and educational community of a particular region of the United States.  In essence, we take time to bond on both personal and professional levels with our members and guests.  There is no organization that I know of that has this special summer session feature that makes ATE a unique community of practice! 

By taking time in the summer to experience a new context – geographic location –and culture we further enhance our understanding of the diversity of our nation and of our educational communities.  I myself have learned so much about New Mexico and its values, traditions, and people.  Did you know that New Mexico recognizes nineteen separate Pueblo nations each with their own governance structures, educational programs, culture, art, and administration?  I am grateful to the Indian Cultural Pueblo Center  for connecting us to the various Native American groups that represent New Mexico and its unique culture.  I invite you to check out their website for the free materials available to teachers:  Indigenous Wisdom:  Centuries of Pueblo Impact in New Mexico.

Our conference them is focused on the new dimensions of clinical practice as it relates to teacher preparation and teacher development.  There are many new things happening in the field of teacher education research and practices.  However, each initiative that we undertake is built upon the seminal work of those exemplary teacher educators who have come before us.  We cannot move forward in our understanding of the complexities related to teacher preparation and teacher development without reflecting on ATE’s historical legacy and scholarship.  Dr. John McIntyre will be giving us this kind of historical insight and reflection in his opening dinner keynote session on Saturday – August 4^th.  Our keynote on Sunday by Muffett Trout will further extend connections to care theory in teacher learning – an important “relational pedagogy” that is often invisible in our practices as teacher educators; yet known to be the most essential in impactful development of the novice teacher.  On Monday we will be provided with a balanced sampling of the new dimensions in teacher preparation enacted in major institutions of higher education in Albuquerque – The University of New Mexico and New Mexico State University.

Before the conference we have focused workshops for teachers and teacher educators that address:  the accreditation processes for quality educator preparation supported by the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP); a workshop on Addressing Ethical Practices in Teaching and Understanding the Professional Responsibilities of Teachers and Teacher Educators; and a workshop on integrating technology tools in teaching.  And there are featured sessions on:  addressing the needs of the school-based mentors/cooperating teachers; video technology as a mentoring tool; reflective practices in caring, communicating and working with different cultures to address challenges in education today; and new initiatives in study of teacher educator development.  Steve Sroka will return to provide a special session that addresses the key issues in our society that teacher educators must address and prepare their teacher candidates to deal with on Sunday. There will be complementary thematic sessions in between our luncheon keynotes that will capture what our members and aspiring scholars are doing with regard to clinical practice and the new dimensions of their work that deserve greater visibility.

Tuesday’s closing sessions will be a double feature.  First, we will have the opportunity to engage with the New Mexico Teacher of the Year – Ivonne Orozco – a Dreamer who has a unique story to tell regarding her journey into an exemplary teaching career.  As part of our new initiative with the National Association of Professional Development Schools  – Dr. Rebecca Burns – Chair of Policy and External  Relations Committee for NAPDs with take us deep into new dimensions of actualizing clinically based educator preparation. 

Don’t miss the special events that take place in the evenings after our governance meetings and scholarly presentations – Friday – Fractal Night at the Museum of Natural History; and Monday a trip out to Sandia Peak with dinner at a well-known restaurant – El Pinto.  Come Enjoy and Have fun with us! 

And please submit your proposal for our next conference in Atlanta – February 17-20, 2019.  Our first back-to-back meeting with the National Association of Professional Development Schools (NAPDS) will be part of this event.  If you did not get a chance to share your work with us in our Albuquerque conference – please consider presenting in Atlanta.   Our theme remains focused on new dimensions of clinical practice in teacher preparation and development.  We need your voice, your scholarship, your practice-based wisdom and knowledge to move the teacher education enterprise into the limelight as the essential component that needs funding, resources, and recognition for the important role teacher educators assume in teacher recruitment and retention.  Our nation needs the best teachers who will prepare our future citizens to live and thrive in a democracy.  Proposals are due July 20^th! 

Blog Post #3 – VISIONS FOR OUR UNIQUE BRAND AS THE ASSOCIATION OF TEACHER EDUCATORS 

14 May 2018 

Dear Colleagues,

      As part of the theme for my presidency, I am bringing focus to the unique identity and role of the teacher educator – both school- and university-based.  I ask for articulation and inquiry into how teacher educators develop their knowledge and skills to span boundaries associated with school and university contexts; and how teacher educators change in their dispositions toward clinical practices as a result. Without engagement in the field and community teacher educators cannot truly prepare and develop teachers for teaching children and youth in today’s diverse educational contexts.  As such they must operate in essential roles that bridge campus and field or what is termed the “clinical aspects” of teacher preparation and teacher development.

 

     The teacher educators who engage in the clinical aspects of teacher preparation and development assume a unique role that affords them the opportunity to acquire understandings about the realities of teaching in today’s schools.  It is my hope that the presenters at our upcoming conferences in Albuquerque and in Atlanta will spur and spawn engagement in:

• Synthesizing new and existing knowledge about teacher educator professional development and clinical practices;

•  Unpacking of the various sets of theoretical lenses from which to understand the dimensions of teacher educator practices in the clinical realm of teacher preparation;
• Articulating new constructs and language (i.e. lexicon) for describing the clinical work they do and the new hybrid roles they are enacting and/or developing in clinical partnerships between schools and universities; and
• Positioning their scholarship as an evidentiary base for claiming the professional identity and role of the teacher educator as comprising a distinct set of knowledge, skills, and dispositions separate from university lecturer or classroom teacher.

      Those who choose to participate and present at the upcoming conferences are encouraged to make a strong case for their practices and teaching as derived from a robust knowledge base and set of theoretical constructs that guide the roles they assume.  For example, my personal theoretical lens for my own practices as a supervisor is derived from:  adult learning theory; learning-to-teach/learning teaching research; reflective practice theory; transformational learning theory; proximal development and legitimate peripheral participation theory; experiential learning theory; and practitioner research theory). 

     Furthermore, ATE offers more resources that can be built upon in our joint endeavors.   First, ATE has a robust set of standards that articulate well the roles that teacher educators should assume in their practice.  Second, ATE’s newly revised field experience standards provide greater specificity regarding standards for the clinical experience. It is the intent of the conferences to come to further operationalize these standards.  

      In this vein, my conference theme claims clinical practice as the key dimension associated with effective educator development. The strands advocate for: a)  synthesizing our knowledge base and developing guidelines for a repertoire of supervision and mentoring practices;  b) examining essential practitioner roles occurring in today’s new partnerships and models; unpacking the teacher educator’s boundary-spanning roles and practices; and teacher educators learning from others about current research and practices in professional development schools. 

     Our next conferences aim to unpack the “clinical aspects” of “learning teaching” to identify a repertoire of supervisory and mentoring practices that are foundational to our roles and that represent fair-minded practices that are sensitive to the diversity of our teacher candidates. 

     I value and believe strongly in articulating an identity of a teacher educator as an education professional operating in a “third space” as a boundary spanner working in a territory given little attention in the scholarly literature.  WE should be claiming this “in-between school and university space” for ourselves as a distinct entity and context in which we engage others in the professional development and preparation of teachers.  Our place is really not situated in either context but within its own space having its own set of theoretical frameworks that guide the work we do in bridging and spanning the two.  This is the intersection that will be the focus of the conferences.

     The summer 2018 and February 2019 conferences intend to emphasize what teacher educators do that is essential in connecting school-university contexts – from relationship building – to the one-on-one teaching we do with educator candidates and developing educators.  As the theme of this conference implies the new dimensions for clinical preparation and development of educators that we bring into focus will give voice to those who do the work to connect our educator candidates.  Thus, thoughtful inquiry should continue to be central to what we provide in our conferences and should provide openings for constructive dialog among educator preparation program providers that help us find where we have common ground and further our efforts to validate our essential roles and responsibilities in preparation and development of educators. 

     I will end my remarks with a snapshot of my future visions for ATE that will continue the work I have outlined in the conference theme:

#1 – ATE members will be active practitioner-scholars in bridging and bringing together a new synthesis of key theoretical constructs and ethical practices essential for effective clinical practice in the development of teachers.

#2 – ATE will be the “outreach” organization for school- and university- based teacher educators through specialized programs that support their development.

#3 – ATE leaders will build on and carry forward essential coalitions with our sister organizations to be united in one voice to advocate for the teaching profession and those who prepare teachers – THE TEACHER EDUCATOR.

#4.  –ATE will create and develop new venues to provide spaces and places for both virtual and face-to-face professional development opportunities for our members aimed to support them in their teacher educator roles. 

Stay tuned…..more to come! 

Sincerely,

Patricia Sari Tate

Patricia Sari Tate

ATE President (2018-2019)

 

 Note*: As you may know the theme for my presidency is: Educators at the Forefront:  New Dimensions for Clinical Preparation and Development of Educators.  Please visit the Call for Proposals and share your work and scholarship with us! 

Blog Post #2 – Speaking with One Voice

31 Mar 2018 

Dear Colleagues,

Much is happening in our profession that needs action in advocating for what is best for teachers, their pupils, and schools in general.  I have just completed attending three national conferences ATE, AACTE, and NAPDS.  Each conference provided opportunities for new connections and new understanding about teaching and learning, as well as a renewed sense of urgency for all educators to advocate for what they know is best for our profession.  We must get better at attracting quality candidates into the teaching profession and we much get better at developing our novice teachers into future leaders of the profession for the long run.  And we must get better at working together across our groups for the good of the teaching profession.  As the political and societal challenges in today’s context continue to impact the changing nature and culture in which our teachers work and in which our pupils learn, we must initiate opportunities to speak to those in power with one voice.

In this regard, ATE intends to maintain collaborations with many sister organizations as part of the National Coalition of Educators (NCE) created by our ATE Past-President – Shirley LeFever.   ATE is keeping close to its sister organizations in collaborating and framing our work into one voice focused on raising the profile of the teaching profession and in advocating for support of teacher preparation.  In response to an AACTE “Call to Action” - ATE has signed on to a letter of support for funding of the Teacher Quality Partnership Grants for AY2018 which is an amendment to the Educator Preparation Reform Act. 

With regard to the larger context of education reform, ATE voted at their Delegate Assembly in Las Vegas to support the repeal of the Dickey Amendment.  This Amendment was passed by Congress in 1996 preventing the CDC from studying the effects of gun violence on the American Public.  Together with our sister organizations ATE has signed on to a letter to congress calling for action to develop comprehensive initiatives needed to examine and address our society’s major problem with gun violence.   

I found the work of the “Interdisciplinary Group Preventing School and Community Violence” [linked to us through the Curry School of Education – at University of Virginia] to provide the most succinct and comprehensive plan for taking action.  I have provided an excerpt of this well-crafted narrative below. Let us educate ourselves to be articulate about this important issue.  The narrative that follows moves us away from generalizing and into a deeper inquiry that will involve three levels of comprehensive actions.  Let us do what we can within our contexts to support and engage in this agenda.  And whenever we can, use our knowledge to share our views and ideas for advocating for the best actions that we can support at this crucial time.  I leave you with the posting from the “Call to Action, which ATE has signed on to and supports:

Rationale behind our call to action:  School shootings and widespread community gun violence are far greater in the United States than other nations. America cannot be great and realize its promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness if our children are not safe from gun violence.

Although security measures are important, a focus on simply preparing for shootings is insufficient. We need a change in mindset and policy from reaction to prevention. Prevention entails more than security measures and begins long before a gunman comes to school. We need a comprehensive public health approach to gun violence that is informed by scientific evidence and free from partisan politics.

A public health approach to protecting children as well as adults from gun violence involves three levels of prevention: (1) universal approaches promoting safety and well-being for everyone; (2) practices for reducing risk and promoting protective factors for persons experiencing difficulties; and (3) interventions for individuals where violence is present or appears imminent.

On the first level we need:

1.    A national requirement for all schools to assess school climate and maintain physically and emotionally safe conditions and positive school environments that protect all students and adults from bullying, discrimination, harassment, and assault;

2.   A ban on assault-style weapons, high-capacity ammunition clips, and products that modify semi-automatic firearms to enable them to function like automatic firearms.

On the second level we need:

3.   Adequate staffing (such as counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers) of coordinated school- and community-based mental health services for individuals with risk factors for violence, recognizing that violence is not intrinsically a product of mental illness;

4.   Reform of school discipline to reduce exclusionary practices and foster positive social, behavioral, emotional, and academic success for students;

5.   Universal background checks to screen out violent offenders, persons who have been hospitalized for violence towards self or others, and persons on no-fly, terrorist watch lists.

On the third level we need:

6.     A national program to train and maintain school- and community-based threat assessment teams that include mental health and law enforcement partners. Threat assessment programs should include practical channels of communication for persons to report potential threats as well as interventions to resolve conflicts and assist troubled individuals;

7.     Removal of legal barriers to sharing safety-related information among educational, mental health, and law enforcement agencies in cases where a person has threatened violence;

8.     Laws establishing Gun Violence Protection Orders that allow courts to issue time-limited restraining orders requiring that firearms be recovered by law enforcement when there is evidence that an individual is planning to carry out acts against others or against themselves.

Congress and the executive branch must remove barriers to gun violence research and institute a program of scientific research on gun violence that encompasses all levels of prevention. We contend that well-executed laws can reduce gun violence while protecting all Constitutional rights.

It’s time for federal and state authorities to take immediate action to enact these proposals and provide adequate resources for effective implementation. We call on law enforcement, mental health, and educational agencies to begin actions supporting these prevention efforts. We ask all parents and youth to join efforts advocating for these changes, and we urge voters to elect representatives who will take effective action to prevent gun violence in our nation.

[see link:  Call for Action to Prevent Gun Violence in the United States of America ...

https://curry.virginia.edu/prevent-gun-violence]

If we can all speak on this issue with an informed voice we can make a difference for the future of our schools and our children.

Sincerely,

Patricia Sari Tate

Patricia Sari Tate

ATE President (2018-2019)

Welcome to ATE’s Blog Post!

27 Feb 2018 6:17 PM

Welcome to ATE’s Blog Post!

Through our monthly blogs I will be sharing updates of our activities as well as connections to visions for the future of ATE.  We have just finished our annual conference in Las Vegas and it was a whirlwind!  I must recognize our Past-President’s – Karen Embrey-Jenlink’s exemplary leadership in bringing our membership together as public intellectuals supporting our need to give voice and advocacy to the our work in teacher education and in supporting the professionalization of the teaching profession.  Thank you to Karen!  Our new website is also a product of Dr. Jenlink’s exemplary leadership that gives us ways to better connect our organization to our members and future members. 

Highlights from our Las Vegas conference are provided in our events and meeting section of the website.  In case you missed it you can access the profiles of our keynotes:  

• Ted Celeste – National Institute for Civil Discourse;
• David Seidel – Deputy Education Director for Elementary and Secondary Education, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA;
• Rod Lucero – Vice President for Member Engagement and Support – American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education; and
• Nathalia Jaramillo, Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and Deputy Diversity Officer at Kennesaw State University.  

Each speaker modeled for us how to engage in public discourse and as Ted Celeste informed us “break down the walls through discourse to help people with different views find common ground”.  Rod Lucero broke down the walls that separate our discourse with regard to teacher education pedagogy especially with regard to clinical practice calling for our need to embrace a “common lexicon”.   David Seidel reminded us that we are living in a time of culture change negotiating tensions between our “represented democracy” and “true” democracy. “True” democracy is realized when our citizens embrace through their actions and orientations to others respect, acceptance of diversity, finding common ground on diverse viewpoints, and civility in our discourse.  Our education focus has been on testing and assessments of content knowledge.  We have put aside and marginalized citizenship education which focuses teaching the democratic values America was founded on.  We should be teaching our children about what it means to live in a democracy and the rights it affords to all people regardless of their diverse backgrounds and views.  And most importantly we should be modeling in our teaching ways for individuals to engage in civil discourse and debate.  Ted Celeste calls for us to “Revive Civility” – a mutual respect for one another and ability to listen with the purpose of understanding another’s viewpoint.  Let us take this message to teach our teacher candidates and model it for them so they can carry it forward in their own teaching. 

The conversations that took place during our conference were in many respects focused on the news about the latest gun violence that took place in Florida over Valentine’s Day.  In fact, the ATE Delegate Assembly voted on a new resolution calling for repeal of the Dickey Amendment that limits funding of research on school violence.  In his keynote, David Seidel instilled further dialog about the proliferation of school violence in our nation’s schools and the need to make it known how these tragic events change the culture of schools and impact academic performance. His call urges us to respond differently; “not move the educational environment aside” and understand the importance of science education as a way forward in understanding our world, our health, our values and range of beliefs.  Nathalia Jaramillo further pushed us in understanding our important role in “enacting” Democracy and how teachers can negotiate the space to instill democratic values in the classroom that push beyond acceptance of individual and collective rights to a global perspective that examines all the things that are impacting education. She calls for a “shift” from thinking about others to engaging in dialog with them.  She shared her definition of “living well” – through reciprocity – a cultural form of social process that includes all members of the community.  Let ATE be that kind of “living well” community. 

Sincerely,

Patricia Sari Tate

Patricia Sari Tate

ATE President (2018-2019)