The School of Education’s LessonSketch online platform and TeachingWorks organization have been invited to join 100Kin10, a multisector network responding to the national imperative to train 100,000 science, technology, engineering and math teachers by 2021.
“We are honored to be invited to partner with 100Kin10 and work with them to bring excellence into STEM learning environments,” said Deborah Loewenberg Ball, dean of the School of Education and director of TeachingWorks. “It’s going to take innovation, creativity and hard work to respond to this national challenge. Together, LessonSketch and TeachingWorks bring a lot to the table as we continue to make a difference in training excellent teachers.”
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LessonSketch is an online platform designed for the study of teaching practice using rich media, designed and developed by Patricio Herbst, professor of education and mathematics; Vu Minh Chieu, website designer at the School of Education; and professor Daniel Chazan of the University of Maryland.
“LessonSketch is an integral partner in this critical initiative,” Ball said. “It’s a testament to the great commitment Professor Herbst and his team have made to support mathematics teacher educators by creating a multifaceted tool that enhances the work of pre-service and in-service teacher education.”
Teacher developers can use LessonSketch resources and tools to create classroom scenarios in the form of storyboards, to annotate records of instruction, and to create and deliver instructional modules and assessments to teacher candidates or practitioners. LessonSketch has been developed with the support of grants from the National Science Foundation.
The New York Times editorial board called 100Kin10 “the most important effort” in STEM teacher preparation, and President Obama said in his 2013 inaugural address, “No single person can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future. … Now, more than ever, we must do these things together.”
LessonSketch and TeachingWorks are two of nearly 200 100Kin10 partners unified by a single, ambitious goal: to prepare all students with the high-quality STEM knowledge and skills to equip them for success in college and the workplace.
Organizations are accepted as 100Kin10 partners following a rigorous vetting process conducted by a team of partner reviewers and the University of Chicago. Reviewers are looking for organizations that bring innovation, boldness and a proven track-record to their commitment toward expanding, improving and retaining the best of the nation’s STEM teaching force, or building the 100Kin10 movement.
As partners fulfill their commitments and work together to spark innovation, they have access to exclusive opportunities — including competitive research opportunities, solution labs, collaboration grants, a growing research and learning platform, and a funding marketplace. Each of these is designed to foster collaborative problem-solving and support partners in fulfilling their ambitious commitments.
“Combining the resources offered by 100Kin10 with LessonSketch and TeachingWorks’ commitment to supporting responsible teaching practice will go a long way toward meeting the imperative of training 100,000 excellent STEM educators by 2021,” Ball said. “We are honored to be joining such an elite group of organizations who, like us, have all made bold and strong commitments to improving STEM teaching and learning for our nation’s schools.”
