I'm a teacher educator. When it comes to preparing teachers for the stressors now facing them, it often feels like my hands are tied. Across two states, I've taught hundreds of future teachers enrolled in teacher preparation programs at the college level. My job is centered on preparing them to take charge of their own classrooms, an experience that culminates in state licensure. This process typically requires that they develop expertise in content and current theories and methods for effective teaching.
While much about my work with student-teachers has remained the same over the years, of necessity, a lot has changed. My students, universally, have a love of learning and want to pass that on to younger generations. They feel as though they were born to become teachers. I am able to guide them through the conceptual, practical, intellectual and emotional work embedded in the profession. Our simulations involve classroom read-alouds and Socratic questioning techniques and debates and discussions about themes in novels. We lesson plan and learn to develop meaningful assessments. We deal with racism and bias in education and I walk them through justice-related work while haunted by the knowledge that being forced to teach in this unregulated, gun-obsessed climate is also an educational injustice. The current reality is a dark cloud hanging over our work together.
