Thursday 28 August, 2008

 

 

Reflections on the Working Forum for Teacher Educators

Ellen Hall — Boulder Journey School

The Working Forum for Teacher Educators provided an opportunity for teacher educators from contexts spanning the globe to spend three days sharing stories of their experiences. Dialogue was the essential ingredient of our days together. As participants, our ideas and opinions were invited, welcomed and respected for their contributions to a conversation that has only just begun.

Working Forum hosts, Selena Fox, Chip Donohue and Bonnie and Roger Neugebauer organized the initiative, and then in true World Forum fashion transferred the ownership of the forum to us. The charge, as in past World and Working Forums, was to design and shape the experience so that it was meaningful to each of us, to our working teams and to the group as a whole. As in previous forums, we took this charge very seriously.

The conversations during the Working Forum for Teacher Educators were inspired by a series of moderated panels composed of teacher educators, who shared experiences surrounding such topics as teacher education for advocacy and leadership, teacher education in bicultural and multicultural contexts, and the role of technology in program delivery, to name a few. Discussions by working teams, following each of the seven panel presentations were carefully documented, yet another message that our voices were truly valued. Excerpts from our conversations, along with panel presentations will be compiled into an edited publication on early childhood teacher education. Needless to say, the excitement generated by the idea of a publication contributed to the richness and depth of the working teams’ deliberations.

Inspiration and guidance were also woven into renowned teacher educator, Lilian Katz’s opening remarks. Dr. Katz encouraged us to educate teachers as we would like them to teach, to cultivate our own intellects (she emphasized the difference between academic and intellectual goals), and to use our own best instincts, all critical to our work as teacher educators.

I was deeply moved by the cultural experience at the Marae, an evening of community, filled with a true generosity of spirit. This feeling of community was in many ways mirrored in the Working Forum for Teacher Educators, which exceeded my expectations. Having attended all but one of the World Forums and two other Working Forums, I feel fortunate to have been part of this experience and look forward to the conversations that I am certain will continue, both in my individual context and during future World and Working Forums.

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