Misericordia’s TED Faculty and Students Present at State Conference
Faculty and students from Misericordia University's Teacher Education Department recently presented at the Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators 49th Annual Teacher Educators Assembly. This year's conference, PAC-TE 2020: Sharpening the Focus of Teacher Preparation, was attended by 277 education professionals engaged in preparing and developing professional educators in Pennsylvania.
"International Collaboration in Teacher Preparation: Lessons Learned" was co-presented by Dr. Colleen Duffy, Assistant Professor of Education, and Dr. Jodi Loughlin, Associate Professor of Education. The session shared the Teacher Education Department's experience as an international community of practice through MySchoolsNetwork.com. Since the 2019-20 academic year, Misericordia Teacher Education students have participated in an online course, Sharing Workplace Dilemmas, with pre-service teachers from NHL Stenden: University of Applied Science in the Netherlands; Middle East Technical University, Turkey; Tampere University of Applied Science, Finland; and an international cohort of Teacher Education students participating in the Erasmus Programme.
Through peer consultation or "intervision ", they engage in professional discourse centered on shared experiences and dispositions and make evidence-based recommendations with the goal of knowledge co-creation and empowerment. Duffy and Loughlin discussed the program and how it can support pre-service teachers' development of digital literacy, global citizenship, and authentic language learning while increasing students' opportunities to engage in diverse and cross-cultural experiences.
Dr. Jodi Loughlin, Associate Professor of Education, co-presented with senior Early Childhood and Special Education students Amanda Curcio of Larksville, PA and Marena Horan of Dunmore, PA. Their presentation "What a Novel Idea!: Teaching Language Arts Methods Using Newbery Novels" highlighted Newbery novels' use to teach the six components of language arts: listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, and thinking- through the creation of student-developed literature guides. Loughlin explained how the student-centered learning experience enabled the pre-service teachers to apply their knowledge of language arts to create effective instructional strategies that they will use in their future classrooms. The pre-service teachers, Amanda Curcio and Marena Horan, shared the learning resources they developed and explained how the materials could be modified and accommodated for gifted learners, below-level, on-level, and English learners.
Dr. Stephen Broskoske, Associate Professor of Education, presented a session entitled "Using Games to Create a More Active and Engaged Classroom." While the use of play for learning purposes is not new, the growth of digital games among youth prompts the question of how teachers can take advantage of games for educational purposes. The session showed teachers how to utilize games and game-based learning in the classroom to improve education and students' motivation to learn.
PAC-TE is dedicated to providing strong advocacy for professional educator preparation within the commonwealth and acts as the voice for professional educator preparation in Pennsylvania. The professional organization's goal is to promote quality professional educator preparation programs and provide an opportunity for individual professional growth for all Pennsylvania persons engaged in professional educator preparation.
Visit https://www.misericordia.edu/education for more information on the Teacher Education Program.