- Year 2024
- NSF Noyce Award # 2050588
- First Name Cherie
- Last Name McCollough
- Institution Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi
- Role/Position Principal Investigator (PI)
- Proposal Type Lightning Talk
- Workshop Category Track 1: Scholarships and Stipends
- Workshop Disciplines Audience Life Sciences
- Target Audience Noyce Master Teachers, Noyce Teaching Fellows, Undergraduate and/or Graduate Noyce Scholars
- Topics Developing Teacher Leaders
- Additional Presenter(s)
Faye Bruun, Carmen Tejeda-Delgado, Gilbert Delgado, Robin Pizzatola
Proposal
Teacher preparation relies primarily on classroom and field experiences including content and pedagogical practices. To comprehensively address areas which impact students’ lives, a broader vision is needed. This means reaching out to community mentors and including them in the educational experience of the student and making them an integral and specific part that experience. All stakeholders met twice a year at Noyce Inspires catered dinners with Noyce PIs. The stakeholders of Community Scholars were predominately comprised of school district teachers, civic leaders, school board members, administrators, employees in various WOISD community industry and athletics, and are predominately African American. Their perspectives and contributions to our efforts in developing the social justice and community immersion piece in this proposal have been extraordinary. The conversations that ensued were rich in depth, breadth and relevance. Noyce PIs asked the stakeholders in the community, what was needed? What can we, as outsiders, do to help? These conversations truly impacted the conversations regarding social justice and developing life-long agents of social change. Community-engaged teacher preparation is the catalyst and essence of social justice. Real, genuine, and binding relationships continue to be built through these conversations. Everyone felt comfortable, welcomed and most importantly, an integral part of the planning process for future community communications as well.
