It is with a heavy heart that that I write my last President's Message.  For two years, I have had the honor to serve as the Founding President of the California Teacher Corps, an organization focused on ensuring that every child has a talented and caring teacher in the classroom.   For two years, I have worked closely with a committed group of Board Members to establish, launch and nurture the Teacher Corps, and I couldn't be more proud of all of us.  I truly believe powerful things happen when like-minded people join their efforts together towards a single mission.  With that in mind, I send you a very big thank you. Together we are truly making a difference.

I would love to take the opportunity now to quickly summarize how far we have come as an organization over the last two years.   There have been nearly 200 news articles highlighting the Teacher Corps' efforts and the wonderful teachers that have come through our programs. We launched the first annual California Teacher Corps Conference and honored the first recipient of the Michael McKibbin Outstanding Educator of the Year Award. Members of the Board met with Arne Duncan's Senior Advisor, Jo Anderson, to discuss how California's alternative certification field is a model for the nation.  Additionally, we hope you have taken advantage of our informative website, as well as read the member newsletter and the widely distributed Quarterly Report. 

All of this is as a result of the good work of the California Teacher Corps, the Board of Directors and our membership.  Through the stories of our teachers, the stories you have shared with us, we have been able to garner the attention of policymakers and successfully eliminate "underprepared" as a descriptor for interns.  We know that our teachers are most likely to serve the children that need them the most.  They must continue to be recognized as the talented, committed professionals that they are.

I want to also send a thank you to the California Teacher Corps's Board of Directors. The Teacher Corps has been steered by a Board that has remained true to the organization's mission - that the right teacher makes all the difference.   We always welcome new Board Members and I hope that you will consider one day serving on the Board.  

Lastly, I am thrilled to hand off the leadership of this organization to Tania Schalburg-Dykes.  Tania is an amazing leader.  Her vision, organization and commitment have helped form the Teacher Corps from its inception.  A true test of any organization is its ability to grow beyond its roots.  I look forward to seeing us grow under her guidance and I am excited to find out where we are going next.   

Catherine

California Teacher Corps in the News

Preparing for Tomorrow's Education Challenges 

In May, the California Teacher Corps announced that it is strengthening its partnerships with California's paraprofessional programs to recruit more than 2,000 talented paraeducators into Teacher Corps programs. This effort is part of the Teacher Corps' mission to ready California for the impending teacher shortage it will experience in the coming years.

Teacher Corps programs will work closely with the Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program and the Transition to Teaching Program to recruit individuals showing exceptional talent and skill for teaching into a Teacher Corps program, putting them on the pathway to teaching.

Read more about our efforts here.

Read  Bilingual Weekly's piece on the Teacher Corps' efforts to create a seamless pathway for paraeducators. 

This initiative came on the heels of an op-ed by Teacher Corps President Catherine Kearney discussing the need to rebuild California's thinning teacher workforce. Read Catherine's Op-Ed in the Sacramento Bee: Viewpoints: California Needs to Recruit and Retain Talented Teachers.  

Please send any information you may have about outstanding paraeducators in your program to info@cateachercorps.org.

Our Teachers

Technical Assistance  

Our teachers face many of the same challenges that other new teachers face, but they have the added benefit of the support of their Intern Program.  Each program tailors that support to the individual needs of the teachers in their program.  Intern teachers are often transitioning from one career to another. For instance, an individual who has had a successful career in the aerospace industry may be transitioning to become a physics teacher, or an actuarial accountant may be transitioning to teaching math.  Bringing their real world experience and knowledge to the classroom can motivate and inspire students.

Yet as anyone who has been a classroom teacher knows, effective teaching requires a unique set of skills, including time management.  Teachers must include time to plan, assess student work and learning and analyze how that learning will inform their teaching.  This, of course, is in addition to the other roles that they perform at their school sites and in their personal life.  For our teachers, they must also balance their academic responsibilities as they work toward their credential.  Balancing these roles and being productive in a new work environment can be stressful, to say the least.

While Intern teachers are selected in part on their record of prior success and self directedness, the opportunity to work with a "Life Coach" has been a boon to the UC Irvine Intern Program.

In addition to subject matter and pedagogical mentorship, our teachers have been fortunate to have the added support of "Life Coach" Joan Stavale.  Stavale is a former teacher and school administrator, a student teacher supervisor and also has her own coaching business, Breakout, Life Coaching.  She recently won the Woman of the Year Award presented by the nonprofit organization Woman Sage, for her work with Life Transitions.

When Intern candidates identified Classroom Management, Motivating and Engaging Students and Lesson Mastery as areas for professional growth and development, Joan coached the candidates to efficacy and self-empowerment.  As their confidence increased, so did their classroom management skills and their ability to engage students.  They began to shift their rationale for success or failure in the classroom, moving from external sources to themselves. They also recognized their ability to reflect on student learning and analyze how their lessons could impact student outcomes.  Making time to be introspective and reflective was as important a life skill as managing grading, grocery shopping, family life and lesson planning.

With efficacy and empowerment also came the confidence to take risks in trying new strategies in the classroom.  As one teacher reported, "Sessions with Joan gave me a chance to step back from the day-to-day teaching experience and honestly reflect on my performance.  She does a great job of eliciting thoughtful introspective reflections about my teaching practice, from lesson planning to classroom management.  The coaching sessions also reinforced the idea that I should have small weekly goals to keep in mind with regard to professional development, relationships with students, interactions with peers and so forth.  I found each session to be reinvigorating and reassuring." 

The Intern teachers reported being moved to be "forward thinking and goal oriented" in their teaching, ultimately resulting in higher student achievement. They credited life coach, Joan Stavale for this movement.    

Submitted by Karol Gottfredson, University of California, Irvine and California Teacher Corps Board Member.