It was a true delight to travel to West Virginia this week to participate in the State Department of Education Meeting held October 19-20, 2017. The title of the event was “Collaborating to Strengthen Clinical Partnerships to Ensure That All Our Children Are Well.” Louisiana Tech’s Clinical Residency Center was invited to share the story of the TEAM (Teacher Educators and Mentors) Model and the transition from traditional student teaching to full-year clinical residencies across all teacher preparation programs. Additional invited programs included the National Center for Teacher Residencies, The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, The Ohio Department of Education’s Resident Educator Program, and the University of South Dakota’s Teacher Residency (USDTR) Program.

It was also an honor to participate in a Zoom presentation from Dr. Linda Darling-Hammon’s Learning Policy Institute to learn more about national trends in teacher preparation programs. The institute provides a variety of data on their site including this interesting article on teacher residencies:
https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/teacher-residency

At the heart of our TEAM Model are the voices of the residents, mentors, school leaders, district leaders, university leaders, and state department leaders. Westat Senior Project Director, Wesley Williams, said it best in his opening to the meeting, a traditional greeting of the Maasai people in Africa “…and how are the children?"

If we all keep our eyes on what matters most, the children, great things will come from our collaborations. The audience of this meeting embodied what is critical to change…an entire team! It was a delight to meet with university faculty, state department leaders, school principals, and teachers to discuss the challenges and rewards of rethinking teacher preparation programs through the design of a quality residency program.

I look forward to following West Virginia’s story of change for the future of their children! Best wishes!  

A huge thank you to Sallie Humble Mentors (Lauren Voorhees and Shannon Embanato) and A.E. Phillips Laboratory School Mentors (Haley Hay and Stephanie Witten) for sharing their expertise on behavioral and classroom management with TEAM Model Clinical Residents this week! We've provided a few links below for everyone!

One of the most enjoyable Monday afternoons at work took place this week! The Clinical Residency Center staff joined TEAM clinical residents, Coach Gary Stanley, and Louisiana Tech's Men's and Women's Cross Country Teams to make a difference in the lives of EVERY SINGLE STUDENT at Choudrant Elementary! The willingness of the runners to share the love of reading and building quality character traits was motivating! Head Coach Gary Stanley even took on the entire 6th grade and shared his personal story of his love for reading from young age growing up in Africa. See below:

There is always a first time, and this week was it! We received a note from a Tech athlete ready to return to Choudrant soon! We look forward to joining these dogs again very soon!