Teachers-In-Residence

Vanderbilt Program Builds Bridges
to the Future with Today's Teachers

For 20 years Susan Clendenen has taught science in Nashville's public schools. Yet she'd never been trained in scientific content and knew little about the reasons behind the scientific facts and theories she has been teaching until a few years ago, when she met Melvin Joesten, a Vanderbilt University professor of chemistry and education and co-founder of Vanderbilt Student Volunteers for Science.

Joesten became Clendenen's mentor, and last year when Peabody College started a pilot program using established teachers as a link between educational research and classroom practice, Joesten suggested Clendenen apply for one of the seven positions.

"We were both very interested in science reform and we'd worked together on it," Clendenen said. "I was never trained in scientific content so when he (Joesten) learned of the Teacher-in-Residence program, he let me know about this opportunity. "

It's been a good deal for both. As a part-time Teacher-in-Residence last year and a full-time participant this year, Clendenen - who teaches gifted students in the third-grade through sixth-grade - has been able to sit in on Joesten's lectures, soaking up the theory and reasoning she hadn't learned before. In return, she's worked with Joesten's student volunteers, evaluating their teaching methods, overhauling old lesson plans and writing new ones. At her suggestion, VSVS coordinators increased the number of volunteers they send into each classroom.

"It was just the right time to get an intense assessment and objective evaluation of the effectiveness of the program," said Joesten, who co-founded VSVS in 1994. "Also, she is helping look at how we might build better relationships with teachers."




As part of the Teacher-in-Residence program Nashville public schoolteacher Susan Clendenen, above, is working with Professor Melvin Joesten, next page, to sharpen her science teaching skills.



"It's an excellent way of recognizing the professionalism of teachers and developing stronger partnerships with the schools," he said.

Designed as a bridge between Vanderbilt's educational research and program development and K­p;12 practice, the Teacher-in-Residence program brings classroom teachers to the Vanderbilt campus to study real-life instructional problems and apply university research to their development of strategies for improving educational practice.

The program "grew out of a number of conversations," said Marcy Singer Gabella, Vanderbilt's assistant provost for initiatives in education and an assistant professor of education.
"A couple of years ago Chancellor (Joe B.) Wyatt asked Associate Provost Elizabeth Goldman to think about how we could work with teachers to tighten the link between university research and school practice. About that time he decided to create a full-time position to support this and similar efforts.

"We see the program that emerged from these conversations as a real opportunity for exchange," said Gabella.

Founded on the belief that school and university educators must work together to enhance the learning of all students, the Teacher-in-Residence program is designed to overcome barriers to professional development such as insufficient time, inadequate access to knowledge and research, limited financial support and insufficient infrastructure to support sustained teacher learning.
Co-directors Gabella and Cynthia Gause Vega put together a program giving teachers one year off from the classroom. Vanderbilt pays one-half of the teachers' salaries and benefits, with their school district paying the other half. During their residence, teachers collaborate with university faculty in research, teaching or program development; collaborate with school-based colleagues to enhance teacher and student learning; and strengthen their leadership skills.

The program is based on three core assumptions: first, that the chance to share reflections and questions with each other about what they are learning is critical for the Teachers-in-Residence to translate what they have learned into strategies for helping their school-based colleagues and students learn. To that end, the teachers meet in weekly seminars focusing on leadership and collaborative inquiry for change. The second assumption is that perhaps the most powerful opportunity for linking K­p;12 and higher education practice will occur when the resident teachers return to their schools while still having ties to the university through projects initiated during their residence. The third assumption is that the projects and study groups begun with the teachers will help form a network of university faculty, graduate students, and K­p;12 teachers and administrators.
This year there are seven Teachers-in-Residence, all from Middle Tennessee except Myrna Cooney, who is from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and is a part-time resident. The other teachers are Clendenen; Jill Ashworth; Judith Degraphenreed Williams; Carol Schnaars; Gail Zika; and Tonya Mayer. In addition to Clendenen's work, the six university projects they are working on include: · Providing comprehensive guidance to teacher mentors and school sites participating in Peabody's student teaching programs.

· Establishing Future Educators of America Clubs in Nashville schools to foster the development of minority educators.

· Developing and implementing an undergraduate course and practicum in education for teachers of the hearing impaired.


· Designing and implementing professional development and classroom support for teachers involved with the Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) and Schools for Thought (SFT) programs. In addition to their university-based projects, the teachers work with teams of colleagues from their home school district on problems or projects such as inclusion, science standards, grade-level curriculum and instructional redesign and support of minority youth.

The program is designed to affect a broad range of people involved in improving student learning, Gabella said, so it is critical that the teachers maintain their relationships with their school-based colleagues. "They need to develop a project that is owned by their colleagues and administrator. What we've said to them is 'if it affects only them the program is a failure.' We are committed to the ripple effect both out to the schools and within the university."

Research by the program's coordinators show that, together, the seven current Teachers-in-Residence directly and indirectly affect more than 12,000 students and more than 700 teachers and principals.

Because the teachers are expected to play a continuous leadership role and make significant contributions to reforming teacher education, only teachers committed to remaining in the classroom are accepted into the program, Gabella said. Those who are accepted must show strong initiative "because we rely on their expertise," she said.

"We are trying to improve the ways in which teacher education occurs and who participates in the process," Gabella said. "We see a continuum from regular faculty members who are involved in teaching courses, to these outstanding teachers who will serve as mentors, to people who have taught and are returning for advanced study at Peabody College."

The program isn't just for local teachers. "We think it's very important to bring teachers in from outside of the local region," Gabella said. "They bring different perspectives; they have different ways of doing things and challenge many of the assumptions of the local group."

Labor intensive and expensive, resident teacher programs like Vanderbilt's can effectively support up to 12 teachers, Gabella said. To expand the program's influence, the Teachers-in-Residence developers hope to identify other universities that might be willing to participate in a model similar to Vanderbilt's. "There are programs across the country that have different pieces of it, for example, outreach collaborations where university faculty work with teachers on some kind of research project while the teachers remain in the classroom or teacher leadership development after school."
For her part, Clendenen believes that when she returns to the classroom next year, she'll be a better science teacher for her year in residence. "I think I've learned more content-oriented things that will help me understand the basis for what I'm teaching," she said. "I think I'll look more to the big picture and not worry so much about the little stuff."

What's more, she'll be supporting other teachers.