Evidence of Innovation and Stories of Growth: Setting the Context of the Partnership and Program

• In Event: 52.072 - Professional Development School Teacher Residents: Storied Journeys With Implications for Partnerships and Teacher Recruitment, Development, and Retention

Abstract

Our university’s third generation PDS grant, exists in partnership with surrounding metro districts and other colleges and rural districts across our state to support teacher recruitment, development, and retention, specifically in high needs teaching areas such as STEM, Special Education, and ESOL. A key component is supporting teacher residents, teacher candidates in our programs who show both promise and commitment to supporting learners and learning in our community. Through year-long residency programs in one school working with one teacher- concurrent with their coursework in their certification programs- residents develop their pedagogical content area expertise and live out that learning in their day-to-day practice and collaborations with learners and teachers in their schools. Support structures, both in the partner schools and districts, and through the university team are targeted to meet the emerging needs and growing edges of the residents.

While the residency program focuses on recruitment, development, and retention, another focus of the grant is on teacher recruitment and community involvement through our summer program for high school students- the Academy for Future Teachers (AFT). AFT has been an exciting and successful initiative for well over a decade and has been supported by several grants across time. This cadet program offers a three-week university-based experience for students who are interested in teaching (and learning more about teaching) in STEM, Special Education, ESOL, and in other high need areas. It is the hope of the coordinators, university, and P-12 school-based faculty who lead AFT that the participants will have successful and empowering experiences working alongside of and teaching lessons to the early childhood and middle school leaners who join with them for part of their time. These experiences may lead them to seriously consider the possibility of teaching as a future vocation.

An exciting development this year was the first year of intentional integration of the teacher- residents into the learning and teaching experiences of high school students during AFT. Six teacher residents joined AFT this summer as GRAs, observing and collaborating with master teachers (from both the university and public schools), noting and promoting active student engagement, and watching the facilitation of inquiry and discovery-based learning, specifically in math and science. They participated in student field trips, making connections between content and real-world applications, student projects and experiments, noting the hands on and active nature of learning, and had a chance to reflect daily and weekly on the lessons about learning and teaching they were discovering through this experience.

Authors

• Gwendolyn T. Benson, Georgia State University

• Susan L. Ogletree, Georgia State University