NASHVILLE, Tenn.óPre-kindergarten teachers from across Tennessee
will spend June 26-July 1 on the campus of Peabody College at
Vanderbilt University learning the latest techniques to help children
benefit as much as possible from pre-kindergarten.
The Tennessee Pre-K Summer Institute is the first of its kind in
Tennessee and is being funded with a $143,000 grant from the state
Department of Education.
“Governor Bredesen would like to have momentum in the state to say,
‘we‘re going to work together to provide high quality programs for
young children,‘” institute co-director Dale Farran said. Farran is a
professor of education and psychology and a member of the Vanderbilt
Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development. “The governor wants
to create a sense of cohesion and shared mission across the state, and
he‘s to be applauded for that.”
The institute will focus on four different areas: observation and
assessment, early literacy, appropriate classroom practices and guiding
children‘s social and emotional development.
“Each session will be led by national-level researchers and teachers
who will be training teachers in research-based practices that can be
used in the classroom,” institute director and assistant clinical
professor of early childhood education Tisha Bennett said. “The
trainers will also give teachers tools to help meet the Tennessee Early
Learning Standards, which are standards for very young children issued
by the Tennessee Department of Education.”
“The
state Department of Education wanted us to provide immersion in a
particular area for teachers,” Farran said. “Groups of teachers will be
immersed in the equivalent of a graduate course in one area. We hope
the institute will continue in future years, and that teachers will
come back and participate in one of the different areas.”
The institute will begin with keynote speaker David Dickinson, a new
faculty member in the Vanderbilt Department of Teaching and Learning.
Dickinson‘s research includes the development of language and early
literacy skills of children from low-income families, how preschool
classrooms and families support children‘s literacy development, and
approaches to enabling preschool programs to more effectively foster
children‘s early literacy development.
Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Lana Seviers will also participate in the institute.
The institute can accommodate 100 participants altogether and a few
spots remain for teachers who will not require housing. Local teachers
are encouraged to apply.
For more information, contact Tisha Bennett at (615) 343-6149 or tisha.Bennett@vanderbilt.edu.
For more Vanderbilt news, visit http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news.
Media contact: Melanie Catania, (615) 322-NEWS
Melanie.catania@vanderbilt.edu