Hello all and welcome to our presentation! 

I am Lynn Hodge from the University of Tennessee, and I am the PI on the project, VolsTeach for Appalachia. Our project is in its first year, and we are looking forward to the work to come. We are now finalizing plans for the Summer STEM teaching internships that will take place this June. We have selected our cohort of diverse and committed interns and designed innovative STEM challenges. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and questions as this showcase begins! All the best,

Lynn

Hi Lynn,

Seems like a great project, how do you monitor the success/progress the new teachers are having and reinforce those programs that are working well, versus those that aren't connecting?

Bill Swift

Lynn, 

Love the video and looks like a great project. What are some thing that you learned from doing this work that can be beneficial to other projects?

Hi Bill, we are in our first year so the scholars are not teaching in classrooms yet. However, based on our learning and our plans, we will monitor progress based on classroom observations using a framework that focuses on inquiry in math classrooms. In addition, we will have available to us data from the middle school and high school students who are in preservice teachers' classrooms. Finally, we will collect data from mentor teachers and the preservice teachers themselves. We will be looking at the preservice teachers' identities across the project, but this data will also inform adjustments. Thanks for your question!

Hi Teruni, we are in the early days of this project, but based on projects that build the foundation for this one, one key aspect of our learning is about the importance of building a community with our school and higher ed partners. We learned about some concrete practices in supporting research-practice partnerships particularly in rural communities of East TN. Thanks!

This looks like an exciting project! I'm curious what your experiences have been thus far recruiting for your program? I was just seeing a comment from another video about a preservice teacher preparation program where the contributor said recruitment was their biggest challenge due to low local interest in becoming a STEM educator.

I'm also wondering about two things related to sustaining the work. First, as the PSTs commit to four years of teaching in a high needs school, are there supports available to them during that time? Second, and this may be too early to ask, but I'm wondering to what extent you think your model might one day be implemented/adapted elsewhere? 

Thank you for sharing this video about your project! I was wondering about your mentor teachers. Have you been able to recruit enough mentor teachers for all the interested students? I know being a mentor can mean a lto of additional work. Are there particular support mechanisms for your mentor teachers that you have found helpful? 

I enjoyed learning about your project!  It seems to have strong potential for supporting the development of high quality math and science teachers for East Tennessee!  I was wondering if you could say more about some of the major components of your project?  You referred to an innovative recruitment plan, summer internships, enhanced coursework, academic supports, and out-of-classroom field experiences.  Could you say a little bit more about which of these components you think is the most innovative or unique, and why you felt it was important to include for supporting STEM teachers in Tennessee?  Thanks!