Photo of Arizona teachers striking in April — AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin
iTeachELLs is working to prepare all teachers to support and meet the needs of English Language Learners (ELLs) in their classrooms. The team believes that by supporting and developing specific language skills through project-based learning, every student's classroom experience has the potential to be enhanced.
Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College Dean Carole Basile spoke with Bruce St. James and Pamela Hughes of KTAR for their podcast series, “The changing face of the Arizona teacher.” Basile told them that, while the headlines are full of the challenges facing teachers in Arizona and nationwide, education majors are realistic about them and come to MLFTC ready to take on those challenges and improve education.
Approximately 18 months ago, a couple of generous donors approached ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination (CSI), with an interest in creating a comic book for young people around sustainability and systems thinking. That idea became the science-based comic book, “Drawn Futures: Arizona 2045,” for fifth through eighth-grade students.
Jeff Hall (MEd '10) says education has to change because the way kids are learning is changing. “This is not a popular thing to say, but there are a lot of educators who were great 10 years ago, but have a hard time connecting with kids today.” Hall is referencing technology. “Technology is second nature to kids,” he says. “Teachers were taught a certain way to teach and have been doing it that way, but now kids can go to YouTube and find a video of what was being taught in 45 minutes and learn it in three minutes. We have to reimagine the profession.”
The National Center for Education Statistics released results for its National Assessment of Educational Progress in April. Commonly referred to as “the nation’s report card,” NAEP is the largest continuing assessment of what America's students know and how they perform in various subject areas. Arizona’s most recent results for reading and math in grades 4 and 8 were virtually unchanged from the last NAEP in 2015.
A thoroughly modern building sits on the very far corner of Arizona State University’s West campus in Glendale, Arizona. Its lush gardens provide an organic, welcoming feel and exist quite gracefully alongside the contemporary sharp angles that suggest innovation is thriving inside its walls.
Last month, ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College held the iTeachELLs STEM summer camp. The five-day program took place at the Hyatt Regency Phoenix and was bolstered with some noteworthy guests. On day three, we met up with keynote speaker Mawi Asgedom.
Asgedom is a refugee turned Harvard graduate. He has written eight books and inspired teenagers and educators all over the world with his motivational speeches and online leadership classes, which he offers through Mawi Learning, a business he founded nearly 20 years ago.
Gladys Styles Johnston, former dean of ASU’s College of Education (now known as Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College) passed away on June 20 in Scottsdale, Arizona. She was 79 years old. Johnson was dean from 1986 to 1991.
Last month, ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College held the iTeachELLs STEM summer camp. The five-day program took place at the Hyatt Regency Phoenix and was bolstered with some noteworthy guests.