The great teachers I know are not interested in being recognized for excellence. They derive their worth from the success of their students. They self-reflect to determine excellence in performance. They invite thier peers to critically analyze plans, teaching, and materials. Great teachers challenge students with intentional learning activities that are aligned to specific student learning outcomes. Great teachers value the unique perspectives students bring to the classroom and build experiences that celebrate and include diverse perspectives. Great teachers model critical inquiry practices, problem solving, self-regulation, resiliency, and a growth mindset. Great teachers recognize the power of formal and informal assessment. Great teachers seek out evidence-based practices and strategies to support course goals and ultimately learning goals. Great teachers value great teaching and that is not always appreciated by those being taught...until later. Great teachers are not afraid to be real teachers. I think most of my students will tell you that above all else, I am real. Of course I want to teach them the content and pedagogy and technology tools that they need for success, but more importantly I want to teach them that teachers are human and the students they work with are also unique beings. Treating self and others with dignity, kindness, respect, and grace is a much better measure of one's character and worth in the classroom.

I would argue that I am a teacher who works hard to approach excellence as often as possible. I began training to be an effective teacher in 1982. I have been practicing to be a great teacher since 1988. Since 2002 when I joined the Maryville College faculty, I have taught over 90 courses and 2,700 classes. I'm going to guess that maybe 900 or 33% of those classes were GREAT classes. Of those 900 classes, 300 or 11% might have been excellent. Am I an excellent teacher? Sure, sometimes. Is that the question we should really be asking our teaching faculty? I don't think so.

The better question is: What am I / what are we doing at Maryville College to become excellent teacher(s)?

Allow me to take a shot at that question...

• I co-plan lessons, courses, and curriculum with my EPP colleagues. There is a shared vision among the EPP faculty that our coursework should integrate specific, common skills, knowledge, and dispositions. Working collaboratively with colleagues (in and out of my program) benefits my own pedagogical growth.

• I was selected to serve on the Faculty Consultants Online Learning Task Force in May. The collaborative nature of the group as we experimented with and identified potential tools to enhance remote teaching practices has positively impacted my teaching performance.

• I highly value relationships with my students. I spend time getting to know who they are as people to establish a basic level of trust. With trust established, I am able to ask them to take risks in the classroom. The ed tech course is a perfect example of a course that requires trust, risk, and action. Without student trust, there is no student action.

• I firmly believe that my role in educator prep is one of the most important roles on campus. The work done in the EPP to prepare PK-12 classroom teachers is critical...in so many ways. Our candidates must have mentors/teachers who are willing to be vulnerable, real, and authentic. They need models who teach them how to manage challenges that all of us will face in our lifetimes.

• I am planning every course that I teach as if it were a new course every semester. There are no filing cabinets or Google folders with tried and true, decades-old materials that I recycle each semester. I have resources that I consult, but I do not recycle course materials semester to semester.

Identified Strengths

• enthusiasm, passion for people and teaching, fearless tech user

• reflective, intentional practitioner

• flexible, available, and responsive to student needs

• innovative, creative teaching practices

Identified Challenges

• unique organizational style

• frustration with unrealistic expectations re: course load in light of increasing TN DOE roles

• curriculum development for courses in which I feel under-prepared (EDU 325 Social Studies Methods)

Future Goals

• further define and develop the new Social Studies Methods course

• seek out partnership activities that will enhance student learning experiences

• intentionally incorporate diverse authors/materials in current courses with specific learning outcomes

• use knowledge of remote teaching tools to position our program for virtual experiences

• explore opportunities for expanding global competencies in EPP course work

In addition to the traditional ways we think about teaching, I would like to share a few alternative examples of important teaching activities that I have assumed over the years...some chosen and some assigned and some required by virture of the program. To remain a state-approved educator preparation program in TN, there are protocols and policies that must be observed. While the roles of Assessment Coordinator, or edTPA Coordinator, or Data Coordinator, or Director of Accreditation were critical to the survival of the program, those responsibilities were assumed and absorbed into the work that Dr. Orren and I slowly acquired over time.

Chosen / Non-Profit Work--working with and for the LGBTQ community has been and will always be a priority for me. I recognize that there is crossover between "teaching" and "professional growth" and "service to the community" as it relates to the work I do in this area. Since 2010, I have been training, mentoring, supporting, and challenging our local and regional community. I'm extremely proud of this work and of the impact I've made. At MC, I've worked with Admissions staff, Res Life, Bonners, my own pre-service teacher candidates, faculty, our PRIDE group, and athletics. A colleague once commented that if I were to have a legacy at MC, it would definitely be the work I have done to promote LGBTQ equality and inclusion. This work has been advanced through various efforts: PFLAG Maryville, GLSEN East TN/TN, East TN Diversity Prom, East TN GSA, MC PRIDE Group, TN Equality Project, and Foothills LGBT Center. Ultimately, this is a purely selfless teaching effort focused on educating and informing others about the marginalization and oppression of an incredible community.

• Teaching presentations

Assigned / Candidate Evaluation, EPP Screening, Social Media--these are examples of teaching tasks that had to be completed to maintain a viable Educator Preparation Program. The link below shows sample documents that were created and designed after hours of EPP faculty discussion with our LEA partners. TN BOE policy determines specific guidelines for evaluation protocols and screening procedures that the EPP must follow. The EPP is then tasked with developing and implementing the system. In a small EPP of three faculty the planning is collaborative, but the actual task of creating, maintaining, and updating the forms could fall on a single person...as it does in our program. In 2013, I proposed to my colleagues that we move away from the all paper protocols in place to a system that relied on free tools available from Google (ask me about the dangers and challenges and frustrations of that move).

• *Significant Contribution: Essential EPP Work

Required / TN DOE/BOE policies must be addressed by the EPP--after the 2011 state visit, there were rapid changes coming from TN DOE/BOE in how our program was expected to function. During that period of time, it became very clear that a faculty of three was not adequate for what was being asked of us. The areas listed here are areas that traditionally had been managed within the EPP. That was not possible after 2011. The TN DOE/BOE changes required that our MC colleagues be encouraged to assume greater ownership of the licensure programs in their areas. This became an added teaching task for Dr. Alesia Orren and me. Again, the challenges in finding time and willing/invested learners were sometimes discouraging.

• • • Working with MC Special Area Program (SAP) partners to share program accountability

    • Advising Paradigms / Course requirements

    • Candidate Recruitment

    • TNCR Review / InTASC Standards / TN Academic Standards

    • Candidate Evaluation

    • Annual Report / TN EPP Report Card

    • PRAXIS / edTPA info

    • SAP Review work

    • SAP Liaisons