Teacher training, hands-on learning

NEA Today, Feb 2001

Innovator: Sylvia Seidel

Job: NEA staffer in Washington, D.C., working on teacher preparation issues

Bright Idea: What's NEA doing to support innovation in teacher preparation? Just look at the work of Sylvia Seidel and the fall 2000 issue of Teaching and Change, the NEA journal that's a forum for teachers, at all levels, to explore change and innovation.

The fall issue is devoted to NEA's Teacher Education Initiative and its five-year, researchbased study of professional development schools.

These schools, modeled after the medical profession's teaching hospitals, bring the university into the classroom, allowing the wisdom of actual practitioners to improve the university program.

The Teacher Education Initiative sites also bring a unique element to the school-university partnership concept.

"Our requirement that the NEA local affiliate be one of the institutional partners in the professional development school sets these sites apart from other collaboratives," says Seidel, who coordinates the project for NEA's Teaching and Learning unit. "It's key to surmounting boundaries and creating learning opportunities for all professionals."

The Teacher Education Initiative experience has also provided insights into:

* what makes an effective clinical/field experience for preprofessionals

* why effective teacher training needs to focus on student learning

* how professional development schools enhance leadership skills.

For More: For a free excerpt from this issue of Teaching and Change (vol. 8, issue 1), go to www.nea.org/technology/thompson.pdf. To subscribe to Teaching and Change, contact Corwin Press, 805/375-1700, E-mail info@corwin.sagepub.com.