Journal Club & Streaming Seminar Series

Addressing the rapidly expanding focus on education research

TeachingWorks Journal Club is a quarterly meeting, held in September, November, February, and April, that brings faculty, staff, and students at the U-M School of Education together with TeachingWorks leadership to review and examine the latest teaching and teacher education research published in peer-reviewed journals.

During each gathering, a different member of the School of Education community serves as leader, selecting two recently published pieces from a list of topics on teaching and teacher education. Together, the group summarizes and discusses each article, with particular emphasis on applications for teaching practice.

“The TeachingWorks Journal Club is both flexible and fertile—a place where everyone at the U-M School of Education can join together to learn about the expanding roles of educators.” Simona Goldin, Director of Instructional Design for Seminars and Special Programs, TeachingWorks

Topics are based upon the needs of the school’s community-at- large, coupled with the expertise of TeachingWorks leadership. Since its creation, the casual, brown bag meetings have become a platform for bridging the gap between the school’s faculty, students, and staff, helping those vested in education research remain up to date on the latest scholarly investigations.

Advancing teacher education focused on teaching practice

The TeachingWorks Streaming Seminar Series brings education practitioners and scholars together to investigate, design, and better understand solutions for teacher education focused on teaching practice.

Hosted at the University of Michigan School of Education, the year-long series features lectures from a diverse range of scholars spanning the country. Now in its 12th year, the livestreamed seminar series has drawn more than 2,000 attendees and viewers.

Each year, the series is organized around a central theme or topic critical to teaching and teacher education. In 2017–2018, the theme was “Outrage to Action: Disrupting Inequity Through Teacher Education,” featuring Sonia Nieto, Valerie Kinloch, Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, Christine Sleeter, and Ernest Morell. Each presenter investigated one TeachingWorks high- leverage practice, focusing explicitly on the nuanced ways in which issues of equity and inclusion are integral to teaching practice.

“The seminar series provides an opportunity for members of the U-M School of Education community and beyond to think critically about some of the most pressing challenges in education,” says Simona Goldin, director of instructional design for seminars and special programs at TeachingWorks. We see the seminar series as a curriculum for our own learning. The lesson plans, instructional materials, and speakers have shown how they use innovative approaches to overcome the unique challenges they face, and have helped us to reflect on ways to improve on our own practices as educators.”

In addition to being livestreamed, each series lecture is recorded and archived on the TeachingWorks website. teachingworks.org