Curriculum & Instruction: New Educator Support Team NEST

See Schedule of Course for specific titles.

Online asynchronous, some synchronous times TBD. Instructor permission required; Open to Degree and PACE students

It is no secret that teaching is a challenging endeavor, especially in the first few years. This course was designed to support UVM teacher education alumni throughout their first year as full-time educators. Through facilitated discussion and reflective exercises, participants will engage with a supportive community to navigate the challenges of this first year and gain strategies for continued growth.

Through participation in this course, student will: Build a community of fellow educators that serve as thought partners in their first year of teaching and beyond. Build a repertoire of effective strategies for teaching and developing class culture. Share and gain strategies for identifying and overcoming classroom challenges, including how best to serve students, families, and communities in equitable and just ways. Develop a long-term strategy for self-reflection and personal improvement. This course will meet virtually on Teams on every other Wednesday from 5:30-6:45 pm, unless noted in the course calendar. In addition to the scheduled class times, each student is eligible for 1-1 sessions with a course instructor. Each online class will follow a similar structure: Welcome & Check-In Topic of the Day Current Classroom Challenges The topic of the day will be responsive to your needs and requests as ner educators.

Your final grade in this course will be based on the extent to which you demonstrate proficiency in the course objectives over the course of the semester. While you do not need to show proficiency in all the learning objectives in order to pass the course, you will need to show proficiency in the majority of them, and not have any at the beginning level.