Collaboration is key in teacher leadership.
Two experts in the Professional and Graduate Education program at Mount Holyoke College argue for collaboration between teachers and colleges of education.
Knowing exactly what the needs of public schools are is the best way for colleges of education to support public school teachers, argues Megan Allen, who develops and directs the Programs for Teacher Leadership in the office of Professional and Graduate Education (PaGE) at Mount Holyoke College.
In a recent feature in Education Week, Allen and Michael Flynn, the director of Mathematics Leadership Programs for PaGE, argue it is important to create synergy between public school teachers and college educators.
“As two players on the same team, working for the same goal, we must do a better job being in sync. (This includes) knowing each other's needs, with eyes on the prize—our students,” Allen and Flynn explained.
They further proposed establishing “educators-in-residence,” a hybrid role in which teachers from public schools spend time working inside colleges of education and teachers from colleges spend time working in public school classrooms. Or, as Allen and Flynn refer to public school classrooms, “the classrooms of our master educators.”
Allen and Flynn, who are married, reflected on a respective experiences as the educators-in-residence at the University of Central Florida and Westfield State University in Massachusetts. There, they both worked with faculty from public schools and colleges to better connect their experiences and increase interconnection to prepare new teachers.
Read the full story here.
