8.9 Teacher Preparation

Shannon and Mary welcome Dr. Ellen Ballock and Julia D'Onofrio from Gordon College to talk about teacher preparation programs. Discover how they design and implement teacher prep programs focused on literacy instruction, the science of reading, and practical teaching methods. Our guests shed light on the importance of comprehensive training, common misconceptions in literacy education, and the roles of explicit instruction and evidence-based practices. They also delve into how their curriculum bridges gaps in teacher knowledge, ensuring future educators are well-equipped to foster student success. This episode will likely remind you of your own teacher training and inspire you, making you feel hopeful about the future of our field and for new teacher candidates. 01:16 Meet Today’s Guests 05:10 Teacher Prep Shifts Nationwide 10:54 Data Language and Decision Making 14:36 Unlearning Balanced Literacy 18:06 Teaching Phonemic Awareness to Adults 22:06 Modeling Explicit Instruction 25:39 Morphology and Word Study 29:49 Curriculum Partnerships and Fidelity 32:01 Adapting Curriculum with Scaffolds 35:50 Redesigning for Comprehension 38:13 Gateway Checks for Think Alouds 40:39 Coaching Struggling Candidates 43:53 Writing Methods and Sentence Work 48:22 Sentence Composing Mentor Models 52:11 Practicum Pathway and Feedback 01:03:04 Doctoral Program for Change Agents 01:07:19 Closing Thanks and Takeaways RECOMMENDED RESOURCES RELEVANT TO THE EPISODE: Gordon College Sentence Composing (Don Killgallon) Grammar for Middle School: A Sentence Composing Approach by Don and Jenny Killgallon *Amazon affiliate link NCTQ Early literacy observation tool (Massachusetts) Moat's Survey of Teacher Knowledge How Spelling Supports Reading article by Louisa Moats Gordon College's Science of Learning Doctoral Program Support the show Get Literacy Support through our Patreon Bonus Episodes access through your podcast app Bonus episodes access through Patreon Buy us a coffee Get a FREE Green Chef box using our link