TEI Updates: Archives
Fall 2007 Update
The fall 2007 semester was a productive one for the Teacher Education Initiative, and one marked by increasing visibility for the Initiative in the School of Education. We welcomed Donald Freeman and Tim Boerst as new members of the TEI Steering Group, made significant progress on “mapping” the work of teaching, launched an “RFP” (Request for Proposals) process, and held our first-ever all-School meeting about the Initiative.
We are particularly excited about the progress we made this past fall to develop our new curriculum for learning teaching. During the 2006-2007 academic year, several faculty members and graduate students drafted a “map” of the work of teaching that we hope will ultimately serve as the foundation of our redesigned teacher education program. This past November, we invited a group of nine practicing teachers and professional developers from around the United States to attend a two-day working meeting in the School of Education to help us elaborate and refine that map. During the meeting, we sought input from participants about the structure and content of the map, and solicited both proposals for alternative “maps” and additions to the existing document. Our participants grasped these tasks quickly and were extremely engaged in the work; they endorsed the structure of our document and provided many pages of detailed additions to our description of the work of teaching. This winter, members of our own faculty will continue to work on this map, and use it to begin to redesign our curriculum. Articulating the content of our teacher education curriculum and designing a program around it is the heart of the Teacher Education Initiative, and we are extremely excited about the progress we are making in this area of the work. Please contact Deborah Ball ( dball@umich.edu) or Francesca Forzani ( fforzani@umich.edu) for more information about our work on curriculum.
Members of the School of Education community had an opportunity to discuss our work on curriculum and on other areas of the TEI during the all-School meeting about the Initiative that we held on December 13, 2007. This was an exciting moment for the TEI, as it marked the first time we have engaged the entire School of Education community in extensive discussion about the Initiative and our goals for redesigning our teacher education program. The meeting was extremely well-attended, and provided opportunities for both whole- and small-group discussions about the overall strategy of the TEI and several specific projects. Please click here to access more information about the meeting, including the PowerPoint slides that we used.
A highlight of the December 13th meeting was the launch of the RFP process. This new mechanism for soliciting and supporting involvement in the TEI is generously supported by funds from a donor to the School, and we hope that many members of the School of Education community will consider submitting a proposal. There is a tremendous amount of work to be done to move the Teacher Education Initiative forward, and we are eager to support projects of all sizes that will contribute to our collective efforts.
HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED IN THE INITIATIVE?
If you have a question about or would like to get involved with a particular aspect of work on the TEI, please contact the coordinator for the area of work that interests you:
Curriculum: Deborah Ball ( dball@umich.edu) or Francesca Forzani ( fforzani@umich.edu)
Activities and Settings: Timothy Boerst ( tboerst@umich.edu)
Assessment: Pamela Moss ( pamoss@umich.edu)
General TEI Infrastructure (communications, budgeting, marketing, etc.):
Deborah Ball ( dball@umich.eduu) or Francesca Forzani ( fforzani@umich.edu).
