Newsletter v. 4(1) – November 2011
Dear Friends and Supporters of the Mills Teacher Scholars,
It has taken us a little longer to get our fall newsletter out this year because of all of the exciting work we have going on, as you will see when you read our news below. To highlight a couple of pieces of news as a start: We're working with over 90 teachers this year–about two times as large as we have supported in years prior. Thanks to a new partnership with Oakland Unified we've been able to concentrate new effort in the district, which we're excited about. In addition we have a new school-wide group of teachers at Rosa Parks in Berkeley.
Since this is the season for thanks, it seems appropriate here to express my deep thanks to the wonderful teachers who are taking the time and effort to engage in the Mills Teacher Scholars work (watch video) so that they can better meet the needs of the students they serve. Thanks are in order as well for all of those reading this newsletter. Your interest and support contribute a great deal to our continuing to move this important work forward.
Anna
Mills Teacher Scholars featured in EdWeek blog!
Mills Teacher Scholars Faculty Director, Dr.Anna Richert, recently received national attention in Anthony Cody’s EdWeek blog, which focused on teacher research. The blog features Richert’s thoughts on teacher inquiry, highlighting her expertise in the area of teacher action research and describing its fundamental components. Read more…
Mills Teacher Scholar Leaders Network
A new initiative of the Mills Teacher Scholars Program, the Mills Teacher Scholar Leaders Network, brings together teacher scholar leaders from both our Scholars Group teams and from our School-site Scholars. At the first Network meeting in October, 16 teachers from seven school sites met at Mills College to co-construct an understanding of “teacher leadership” and to collaborate on how to support the teacher inquiry work at their site. Read more…
Spring Roundtable Presentations Highlights
Last May participants from the Mills Teacher Scholars, Scholars Group presented their inquiry findings to an audience of fellow teachers, school and district leaders, and Mills School of Education Faculty. Scholars shared posters detailing their work and then presented in them thus sharing their new understandings. The event attracted upwards of 120 people. Read more…
Teacher Scholar Leaders Spotlight: Joanna Davis
Joanna Davis joined the New Highland Academy Mills Teacher Scholars last year. This year she is one of the teacher leaders supporting the work at her school site. We asked Joanna to share her thoughts about the work.
What highlight about Mills Teacher Scholars might you tell someone who is thinking of becoming a Mills Teacher Scholar?
I love it because it gives me a framework to focus on one thing deeply. Teaching is so complex and there are so many things to explore that it can feel overwhelming. I like Mills Teacher Scholars because it gives me parameters to research at least one of the questions swimming around in my head. Also, I’m pretty sure that I’m not learning anything about my teaching in general that is not already written in an education text somewhere, but the way I’m learning it for myself makes me incorporate it into my practice in a way that no PD would.I also really benefited from the dialogue with my school colleagues. Since several of us across grade levels were exploring reading comprehension we moved each others’ thinking along. Our school now has system for teaching comprehension strategies across grade levels that grew in large part out of the fourth grade teachers’ Scholars work. Read more…
School-site Partnerships in Oakland, Berkeley, and San Leandro
Oakland Unified School District Partnership
Mills Teacher Scholars is thrilled to establish partnerships to support teacher inquiry at 4 new sites in OUSD. Teacher teams from Korematsu Discovery Academy (KDA), Melrose Leadership Academy, RISE, and Urban Promise Academy (UPA) are participating in the Mills Teacher Scholars program. This growing partnership is an important part of the 5-year vision of Mills Teacher Scholars program work, as we have a goal to have 50% of our teacher scholars from OUSD schools.Read more…
A Warm Welcome from Berkeley
Mills Teacher Scholars began its first school site partnership in Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) at Rosa Parks Elementary. In October, BUSD School Board recognized teacher scholars who completed their year-long inquiries with the Scholars Group in 2010-2011. In October, the Rosa Parks/Mills Teacher Scholars partnership was featured in BUSD’s district newsletter, A+. Read more…
Year Three in San Leandro Unified at Roosevelt Elementary
Mills Teacher Scholars is in its third year of the inaugural School-site Scholars partnership at Roosevelt Elementary in San Leandro Unified (SLUSD). We are delighted to be part of Roosevelt’s school-wide plan and are working with teacher scholar leaders, Wendy Papciak and Cynthia Epps as well as with Principal, Victoria Forrester to learn how to support the work to continue beyond the 3-year intensive partnership.Read more…
Exciting Additions to the Mills Teacher Scholars Team
Mills Teacher Scholars is thrilled to bring Aija Simmons and Daniela Mantilla on to our team as Program Associates. We are excited to draw on the expertise of experienced Mills Teacher Scholars to help us develop and lead a program of support that builds on the ideas of teachers who are in classrooms doing the day to day work. Aija Simmons is a Teacher Scholar Leader and fifth grade teacher at New Highland Academy in OUSD. Daniela Mantilla is a Title I coach at Washington Elementary in San Leandro. Additionally, Pernian Faheem, a senior at Mills College majoring in Economics, is supporting Mills Teacher Scholars in the area of communications and outreach. We are fortunate to have such a dedicated team!