UTeach Featured at NBC’s Education Nation September 28, 2012
UTeach was featured in NBC’s Education Nation Summit, September 23-25, 2012. The Summit focused on solutions to educational challenges and chose UTeach as an example of what is working. NBC produced an interactive case study about UTeach, researching the program and conducting extensive interviews with students, instructors and graduates in the field. UTeach was featured on the NBC Nightly News on September 27, 2012.
Education Nation’s Teacher Town Hall, hosted by NBC’s Brian Williams, featured Trevon Jones, a senior UTeach student at the University of Texas at Austin and Deborah Ball, Dean of the School of Education at the University of Michigan. The discussion addressed teacher evaluations, including the role of high-stakes testing and the expectations of new teachers.
UTeach student Jones, who is a double major in Math and Government, said “Every time I teach I’m evaluated.” But he noted that the evaluations are “not in a way that is trying to tell whether I’m good or whether I’m bad. It’s in a way that focuses on what I need to learn.”
The panel, STEM Century: UTeach Prepares the Teachers of the Future, moderated by NBC News’ Kate Snow, featured Jones, Tom Luce, chairman and CEO of the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI), and Dr. Bernard Harris, astronaut, CEO and Managing Partner of Vesalius Ventures, and President of the Harris Foundation.
UTeach emphasizes research-based STEM instruction provided by faculty involved in the research, early field experiences, and support by Master Teachers, former secondary math and sciences teachers hired as clinical faculty in the program. Jones’ first experience teaching at an elementary school during the first UTeach course “didn’t go very well.” However, Jones was quick to note that the Master Teachers were very supportive. “That’s just one instance of how supportive the master teachers are throughout the entire process. They’re there, always.”
When Kate Snow asked Jones why he wanted to become a teacher rather than make a lot of money with his math degree, he said he had a passion for teaching and for the students and “Everyone in UTeach that I’ve spoken with is that way. They want to make that difference.”
The UTeach Institute partners with NMSI and the states of Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, Massachusetts, Florida, Maryland and Arkansas to replicate UTeach at universities across the country.
Education Nation Panel with Bernard Harris and UTeach student Trevon Jones
NBC Education Teacher Town Hall
On Twitter.com (@uteachinstitute)
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Photo gallery focused on Austin area participants at Education Nation