“Building a Better Teacher: Preparing Hoosier Teachers for the Future” will be an interactive discussion to take place at the Indianapolis Central Library in Indianapolis.
The event will be co-hosted by the School of Education, Teach Plus Indianapolis and Chalkbeat Indiana, according to an IU news release.
“I’m looking forward to the panel discussion and what I hope will be the beginning of a sustained conversation about ways to ensure we have the best teachers in Hoosier classrooms in the future,” IU School of Education Dean Gerardo Gonzalez said in the release.
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit education news organization that has bureaus in Indianapolis, New York, Colorado and Tennessee, according to the release. Its founder, Elizabeth Green, will introduce next Tuesday’s discussion.
Green will also discuss the findings that make up her new book, “Building a Better Teacher.” Indianapolis’s WFYI television will broadcast a taped portion of the event.
Chalkbeat’s Indiana bureau chief Scott Elliot will moderate a panel discussion. The panelists include Green and Gonzalez as well as new and experienced teachers.
“Current teachers have a valuable perspective ?regarding what works and what doesn’t in teacher preparation programs,” said Caitlin Hannon, executive director of Teach Plus Indianapolis, in the release. “This event will continue our conversation on how to ensure all teachers are ready for the classroom on day one. I’m excited to hear what they have to say.”
The idea for the discussion formed after Gonzalez and Hannon were both invited by Education Week to write commentaries on the future of teacher preparation.
”I’m delighted that the national conversation Caitlin and I started in Ed Week is continuing in Indiana, a state at the forefront of education reform for many years,” Gonzalez said in the release.
Both had similar views on the issue in terms of open dialogues, but their views differed on ideal ways to prepare teachers, according to the ?release.
“As I have emphasized before, we should change the reform rhetoric from school choice, testing and A-F rating of schools to the preparation of highly effective teachers,” he said in the release. “That’s what will make a real difference in student achievement, and it will require having a tough conversation about raising teacher salaries, supporting public education and designing meaningful teacher accountability systems based on valid research. ”
Kathrine Schulze
