"We're All in This Together": Doctoral Students' Experience in a Seminar for Novice Teacher Educators

• In Event: 61.069 - MTCC Roundtable Session 24
  In Roundtable Session: 61.069-3 - No Longer Silenced: Voices of Early Career Teacher Educators

Abstract

Although Colleges of Education frequently assign doctoral students to teach courses for preservice teachers, they rarely provide sufficient support or preparation for these roles. In the spring of 2018, the authors, doctoral students at a Mid-Atlantic university, developed a teacher education seminar designed as a community of practice in which doctoral students could discuss research-based practices in teacher education and address specific problems of practice. This paper reports our findings from the pilot semester of the seminar; we found that as a new community of practice, the seminar helped break the isolation that novice teacher educators often experienced by providing an emotionally supportive space where they could see into other’s practice and work with others to co-construct new knowledge.

Authors

• Colleen Gannon, University of Maryland - College Park

• South Holden, University of Maryland - College Park