NAPDS National Conference 2017 Washington DC Teacher Candidates Stand Strong and Help Build an Effective Partnership NAPDS National Conference 2017 Washington DC

Introductions Jean Eagle: Partnership Consultant Michelle Cosmah: University Liaison Irene Lang Kleiman: University Liaison Kyle Harris: Early Childhood Education Teacher Candidate Amanda Mickus: Middle Childhood Education Teacher Candidate Collen Young: Adolescent & Young Adult Education Teacher Candidate Kendra Tuttle: Adolescent & Young Adult Education Teacher Candidate Jean

Who We Are Miami HELPS is a learner-centered professional community that focuses on clinical experiences, professionalism, innovation and reflection, and school community to improve K-12 learning. Jean

Core Principles Irene During each semester, team members participate in 2 school-sponsored activities (ex. science fairs, carnivals, parent-teacher nights, etc.) Miami HELPS school ambassadors will share the school activity calendar and provide information about specific needs of the school.

Levels of Commitment Michelle-This gives you the framework of Miami HELPS Now we want the TCs voice to be heard.

What We Do Build partnerships with nearby schools Aid teachers with planning and instruction Help K-12 learners improve their skills Participate in school activities Set and meet professional goals Work with school administrators Write grants for funding Maintain a library of educational resources Attend conferences Kyle

Clinical Experience What are we giving? Time with at-risk students What are we gaining? Working with administrators as well as teachers How are we growing? Professionalism & confidence Clinical Experience Kendra: Please give an example of a Miami HELPS experience you have had. Include what you gave the school/students/partnership, what you got from the experience personally in terms of your clinical (teaching) experience, and how it is helping you grow as a future teacher.

Professionalism Selecting teaching as a profession Strong observation feedback and high standards Experience with school administration Modeling community partnerships led to establishment of student teaching community partnerships Professionalism Amanda: Please give an example of a Miami HELPS experience you have had. Include what you gave the school/students/partnership, what you got from the experience personally in terms of your professionalism, and how it is helping you grow as a future teacher. (Here would be a good spot to talk about the different meetings and partnership forging, and how those helped us grow as not only educators, but professionals.)

Innovation & Reflection Benefits of a living program Learner-centered program development Pragmatism as practice Co-learning between education levels Receptivity to change Innovation & Reflection Collen: Please give an example of a Miami HELPS experience you have had. Include what you gave the school/students/partnership, what you got from the experience personally in terms of your innovation & reflection, and how it is helping you grow as a future teacher. Rough script: Just a warning, I might get incredibly meta, as I&R is mostly about the scholarly and academic pursuits of Miami HELPS. Our goals are primarily “what can we do to better serve our partnership schools for helps?” So what makes HELPS different? In HELPS, our teacher mentors are just that-mentors. While they do work hard to make opportunities available for us (such as NPDS), ultimately, it is all LEARNER-Centered. For example-and I did warn you I would get a bit meta-we, the teacher candidate, were tasked with coming up with this very presentation, holding meetings, and generating our own thoughts, and this is the same thing we ask our teacher candidates to do. I’ve often described teaching as a “Creative Science,” in it requires a combination of objective research with subjective style, which brings us to our next point, Pragmatism as practice. We challenge our teacher candidates, pose difficult situations, make them beneficially uncomfortable in by asking them to form these school relationships, hold these meetings, fix these flaws in the program. *Pause* By allowing our partnership model to live and change and grow, we create a learning experience for all parts-the K-12 students we teach receieve additional help of course, but the undergraduate students in the program grow as scholars and professionals, learning what it means to be a living program,sometimes even learning how to fail, and to recover from that. Finally, of course, the practicing teachers and professors (you all) grow as a result of not DEVELOPING partnerships yourselves,, but instead meta-teaching undergraduates how to develop partnerships and curriculum on their own. By inspiring innovation, all levels of academia experience a mutual growth.

School Community Breakfast with Santa What I gave: 3 hours on a Saturday morning What I got: Growth as an educator: Diverse age groups Language exposure Preparation and thinking on my feet Community investment School Community Kyle: Please give an example of a Miami HELPS experience you have had. Include what you gave the school/students/partnership, what you got from the experience personally in terms of your clinical (teaching) experience, and how it is helping you grow as a future teacher.

5 steps for teacher candidates to help build YOUR partnership Ask your teacher candidates what they need Provide a structure of support Model leadership practices Let go of responsibility Be reflective and adjust along the way Michelle & Irene

Questions?