IN-PERSON New Schools of Thought

Abstract

As time and society change, teacher education changes and must adapt to those changes. One consistency that has remained and will remain is the educational advancement of students of all ages and backgrounds, and in order for this to continue, teacher educators are tasked with reinventing, restructuring, reorganizing, recreating, and rethinking their instructional and methodological approaches in their teaching. Educational research constantly reveals missing gaps in teacher education, and the findings point back to the whole student. It is important to consider all aspects of student well being in teaching strategies. This includes physical, emotional, psychological, and mental health. Additionally, this must all benefit another important part of education, which is the cognitive development of students, in which they develop critical thinking, reasoning, and problem solving skills, which will allow them to process information concerning their academic and personal lives. They key to doing this effectively is to find ways for students to identify with their learning content and develop an intrinsic motivation to succeed in it. This presentation embodies a critical reflection of a university instructor’s teaching approach, that includes inclusive pedagogical practices, such as flipped classroom, students as instructional collaborators, and active learning to foster inclusive teaching and learning for preservice teachers that are connected to the whole student, while modeling teaching practices that they in turn can use in their future teaching.