{"id":15772,"date":"2022-06-13T15:50:10","date_gmt":"2022-06-13T19:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/?p=15772"},"modified":"2022-06-20T16:12:25","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T20:12:25","slug":"the-evolution-of-teacher-preparation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/the-evolution-of-teacher-preparation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Evolution of Teacher Preparation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The recent TV hit Abbott Elementary<\/em> shows just how difficult it is to be a teacher\u2014especially a substitute teacher like the character of Gregory Eddie, who isn\u2019t sure how invested he wants to be when he first enters the classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gregory eventually allows his relationships with his pupils to grow, becoming a leader and a student advocate in the process. And despite his struggles with the day-to-day vicissitudes of classroom management and instruction, he decides to remain a teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Henning, dean of the School of Education, knows how much tougher things are now for both teachers and schools\u2014due to a perfect storm of a global pandemic, a wave of teacher retirements, and employee burnout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why the core of Monmouth\u2019s Teacher Residency Program, which Henning started in 2017, focuses so much on extending the classroom teaching experience beyond what\u2019s seen in traditional teacher preparation programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause I taught for 20 years, I knew that experience was crucial to becoming an effective teacher,\u201d says Henning. \u201cAnd when I became a professor, one thing was sure: If I said something, and then students could see it in their classroom experience, they took what I had to say to heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Monmouth\u2019s Teacher Residency Program, student teacher candidates work in schools as substitutes\u2014and sometimes as paraprofessionals and tutors\u2014as their academic schedules allow. Many candidates even end up substituting every day during University breaks as well as after the academic year is over. They also assume a full-time co-teaching role in their senior year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One aspect of the residency program that Henning is particularly proud of is the yearlong clinical experience that replaces traditional student teaching. Instead of spending just one semester in a classroom, teacher candidates spend at least 10 hours per week in their field placement during the first semester and remain in the same placement while completing their full-time student teaching in the second semester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Henning believes that spending an entire year in a school enables teacher candidates to develop stronger relationships with their students, other faculty, and the administration. It also lets them experience in-service days, parent-teacher conferences, and after-school events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tremendous because teaching changes throughout the year,\u201d says Henning. \u201cEvery day is different depending on where you are in the calendar. Your journey through that academic year is very much influenced by how well you began it and how you started building those relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But while Henning is happy with the way the Teacher Residency Program has prepared his teacher candidates thus far, he\u2019s always looking to evolve the program to meet both current and future challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the perennial challenges for any teacher preparation program is the fact that most teacher candidates around the country work while they\u2019re in college\u2014and most work in food service or other retail jobs not related to teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead, one of the innovations Henning is considering is an apprenticeship format where student teacher candidates have the opportunity to earn a living wage while they\u2019re learning the teaching trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat would it mean for teacher candidates of the future, and for schools, if instead of working for Burger King, they were actually in a school working, adding value to the school because they can be of real assistance for a longer time?\u201d says Henning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the ultimate win-win situation, because at the same time that the schools are benefiting from the unique aspects of Monmouth\u2019s program, the teacher candidates themselves are gaining more extensive experience and becoming more invested as they get more comfortable in the classroom\u2014just like substitute teacher Gregory Eddie on Abbott Elementary<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think this is a more equitable and fair way for people who are willing to come into the profession and make some of the sacrifices that go with it,\u201d says Henning. \u201cWhy not let them get better compensated as they learn how to be better teachers?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monmouth’s Teacher Residency Program provides K-12 schools with real value in an era of teacher shortages across the nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":15775,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"image_focus":"","hide_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-currents"],"thumbnail":"\"\"","catString":"Currents","issue":"Spring\/Summer 2022","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15772"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15781,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15772\/revisions\/15781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}