CTTE Doctoral Student Comments
Wondering what the CTTE program is really like? Listen to the voices of past and present CTTE doctoral students!
Philip Poekert, 2nd year doctoral student
From the moment I started my PhD program here at UF, I began working closely with my academic advisor on the Bright Futures Mentoring Program, an early field experience that pairs undergraduate teacher education students with a child from a local public housing neighborhood. The experience has given me an in-depth look at how to forge and sustain the relationships necessary to continue the important work of university-community partnerships and moreover, how to put theory into practice. It's the essence of the engaged scholarship focus promoted by the College of Education. I've been able to center all my coursework and research here at UF around preparing teachers to handle the challenges they will face in schools working with high poverty, culturally diverse students, and I plan to continue it as my life's work.
Angela Gregory, 3rd year doctoral student
My engagement in school-university partnership work has proven to be a true learning experience. I have had the opportunity to be deeply involved from the ground level in the development, coordination, teaching, and sustained work in a local elementary school partnership initiative. I have presented several papers at national conferences as a result, and I am excited that my own dissertation research will be conducted within the school site that I have come to know so well. With all of the struggles and celebrations that have occurred over the years through our partnership work, each learning opportunity has presented a new venue for improvement. I can't think of any other way that would have better prepared me for a future career that allows me to engage as an active participant (and researcher) in school based teacher education that emphasizes learning for both pre-service and practicing teachers.
Vicki Vescio, 3rd year doctoral student
Being a doctoral student in the Curriculum, Teaching, and Teacher Education Program has afforded me the valuable opportunity of simultaneously being a learner and a teacher. Engaging in taking courses along with working in local schools has given me a unique perspective on the significance of balancing theory with practice and the importance of continually pushing both to work toward improving education. As important as this experience has been though, it would not have been possible without the mentoring I have received from dedicated professors who are committed to both the work they are doing and the experiences we are getting as doctoral students. There is an inherent understanding that we are working together for a purpose that is greater than any one of us might be able to achieve alone. Having both the theoretical and practical experience has been tremendously important to my own development but the value of the mentoring relationships with my professors is what I will remember as I take this experience into my own work as a teacher educator.
Dr. Diane Marks—Dec. 2005 graduate
Assistant Professor, Appalachian State University
It has been almost a year since I graduated from the PhD. Program in Curriculum and Instruction and Teacher Education at UF. I am now an assistant professor at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. The rigorous and dynamic course work I had at UF prepared me well. The theories I learned laid a wonderful foundation for the research and school partnership work that became the heart of my doctoral program. Faculty members invited me to collaborate on a variety of professionally enriching projects over the four years I was in the program. For example, working with the faculty in the Lastinger fellows program increased my ability to support teachers in poverty schools serving diverse student populations. It also provided me with a place to combine research with pedagogy. I was so enthralled with this school partnership project that I selected my dissertation topic from the experience.
