As a teacher educator, the author believes that he must prepare teachers to go forth into schools with a deep understanding of the subjects they will teach, an appreciation for how students learn, and a repertoire of instructional strategies that will help them make learning come alive for their students. As they develop these skills, they must simultaneously work on resolving four inescapable challenges: First, they have to figure out what it means to be a novice. Second, although teaching is intellectually challenging, it is also chock full of emotional drama. How students negotiate the emotional terrain of teaching is a critical element of their experience. Third, the author thinks about how a primary challenge for teachers is to secure the genuine attention of students. Fourth, the author considers what it means for young teachers to take care of their health and spirit amid the stress that marks the 1st year of teaching.
In this article we explore the challenges faced by teacher educators who struggle with the emotional and intellectual distance between their work in the university setting and the K-12 classroom. We consider the benefits of having teacher educators find ways to teach children and youth in K-12 contexts as part of their role as teacher educators--how living and working across both contexts can help revitalize a teacher educator's identity as well as improve the quality of his or her practice with preservice teachers. Finally, we suggest several models that provide teacher educators with the opportunity to work in both contexts.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.