The Internationalization of Teacher Education:
The Case of the GATE Fellows Program
James D. Greenberg
Rebecca Oxford
Jennifer Turner
College of Education
University of Maryland
U.S.A.
The 29th Annual Seminar of the International Society for Teacher Education
June, 2009
Introduction
The preparation of teachers in the U.S. has traditionally focused almost
exclusively on developing understandings, skills, and attitudes appropriate for teaching in
local schools. While the tremendous influence of globalization, the interconnectedness of
economies, and the importance of intercultural communication have been clear for some
time, little attention has been given to the question of how to make curriculum more
reflective of international dimensions and – concomitantly – how to insure that we have
more internationally competent teachers. Teacher education is responsible for preparing
teachers to be effective. If they are to be effective in teaching children to be more aware
of, and knowledgeable about, the rest of the world -- as well as more sensitive to global
perspectives -- teachers must themselves possess appropriate knowledge and skills. To
this end, teacher education needs to change.
At the University of Maryland, we have been engaged in a faculty development
program designed to enhance the international dimensions of various components of our
teacher education programs and to transform courses in order to facilitate change and
improvement in reaching the internationalization goals of our work. The GATE (Global
Awareness in Teacher Education) Fellows program, developed with the support of a
grant from the Longview Foundation, has helped to develop a core of faculty leaders in
the effort to enhance internationalization and to transform a variety of courses to help
provide our teacher education students with greater global competence. This paper
details the nature and specifics of the program, and it provides details of the program’s
outcomes and results to date.
Background
The literature related to internationalization of education, and specifically of
teacher education, is growing. A number of individual educators, as well as
organizations, have published articles, monographs, and books emphasizing the need to
change programs and the kinds of changes that would help enhance the global
dimensions of those programs. Just a few examples of relatively recent work illustrate the
kinds of recommendations which appear to be common exhortations across the pieces
1
that have been published. Teacher Preparation for the Global Age: The Imperative for
Change was published by the Longview Foundation in 2008. Its extensive review of
model teacher education efforts toward internationalization in the U.S. illuminates the
steps they recommend for development in this area. These include:
 Engage Leadership and faculty and develop a plan
 Create a Globally Oriented General Education Program
 Recruit students with International Interests and Experiences into Teaching
 Faculty Development for Global Teaching and Learning
o Recruiting and Rewarding Internationally Minded Teacher Educators
o Globally Focused Faculty Professional Development
o International Experiences for Faculty
o Visiting International Faculty
 Internationalize Professional Education Courses
 Offer International Experiences at Home, Abroad, and Online1
Ann Imlah Schneider has done extensive research to determine both the existing
international content and program practices for teacher education and the perceived needs
for improvement. Among the 24 universities and colleges she studied, including 19
public univerisites and 5 private liberal arts and comprehensive colleges, she found that
teacher education programs were generally very weak on international dimensions but
clearly aware of the specific needs for improvement they needed to explore. Her
summary findings included the following:
consider a wide range of strategies for increasing international exposure for preservice teachers, among them –

review and assess the full range of campus resources for international
exposure, and their accessibility, particularly for students in teacher
education programs;

add formal international components to student advisory services, beginning
in the pre-application phase, to assure the feasibility of maximum
international exposure within the normal time-to-degree constraints;

provide training on international needs and students’ options for both
faculty and professional advisors;
1 Longview Foundation (2008). Teacher Preparation for the Global Age: An Imperative for Change. Silver Spring, MD.,
p. 8-16.
2

foster development of internationally oriented curriculum, through
individual faculty grants, through workshops for both Arts and Sciences and
Education faculty (together), and through the hiring of internationallytrained faculty;

strengthen requirements for foreign language training to a minimum of two
full college years for all undergraduates, with a goal of attaining at least
conversational proficiency in a second language; and

review policy and practice for the integration of study abroad in the
curriculum, with respect to both general education and major field
requirements;2
The American Council on Education has done a great deal of work on
international issues in higher education and on the internationalization of campuses and
their programs, including professional education programs. ACE has adopted a
definition of internationalization. In their terms it is “the process of integrating an
international/intercultural dimension into the teaching, research, and service functions of
the institution.”3
Christa Olsen has summarized recommendations from the range of studies and
programs ACE has conducted. Among, others she cites:

Combination of well-crafted and supported faculty development options

Faculty ownership, choice and support

Faculty activities integrated with other internationalization strategies

Strong sustained leadership combined with a constantly widening circle of
engaged faculty

Workshops on methods for infusing international content into the
curriculum4
While there are many other sources that could be cited, this paper’s purpose is not
to rehash a literature review on the subject. Rather, we want to describe a particular
program that follows some of the universally recommended steps to enhance the
international dimensions of a teacher education program and to present some of the
specifics of both operation and results. The examples noted here represent
recommendations repeated in several other reviews, studies, and handbooks. They tell us
that strong institutional leadership and expectations, faculty buy-in and development, and
2 Schneider, A. I. (2003). Internationalizing teacher education: What can be done?
Washington, DC: United States Department of Education.
3 Olsen, Christa (2008). An Integrated Approach for Advancing Campus Internationalization. Presentation to GATE
Fellows, College Park, MD, April, 2008.
4 Olsen (2008)
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curriculum transformation are key ingredients of any effort to internationalize the teacher
education program and any other component of a campus’ comprehensive offerings.
The GATE Fellows Program
The Global Awareness in Teacher Education (GATE) initiative was conceived as
a creative but practical vehicle to help accomplish some of the central goals of a
comprehensive internationalization effort. The program goal was supported by some key
organizational/structural factors that are cited in almost all reports of successful change
and internationalization development. In our case they were as follows:

A new university-wide leadership that made global connections and international
work a top priority for the whole campus. The priority manifested itself in a new
campus strategic plan directing all units to increase the international dimensions
of research, curriculum, student experiences, etc.;

A new College of Education leadership team that not only supported enhancement
of international work but mirrored the campus plan by making internationalization
a central plank in the COE strategic plan;

The creation of a new College-wide Office of International Initiatives, with a
dedicated budget, whose purpose was to facilitate, coordinate, and expand
existing international initiatives (e.g. faculty international research and
collaborations, study abroad, and support for visiting scholars and international
students) as well as create new initiatives.
The idea for the GATE Fellows program was motivated by two or three of the
constant recommendations cited in the literature. First, it is clear that a buy-in and
commitment by the faculty are essential. How do you get that? Faculty development is a
component of a comprehensive change -- and commitment to change -- strategy. Second - and it follows from the first point -- we wanted to support the development of a core of
faculty leaders who would be both advocates and models for the kind of
internationalization commitment and change we sought. Third, we wanted to support
curriculum transformation, i.e., modification of existing courses in teacher education
program and/or creation of new courses – all aimed at enhancing the knowledge and
skills of future and current teachers in enhancing the international domains of their
teaching areas.
Design of the program was influenced by successful models which were created for
other purposes on our campus. The Lilly-CTE Teaching Fellows program is a longstanding model of cross-disciplinary professional community devoted to mutual learning
and sharing related to common interests and problems in teaching and learning. In
addition to an ongoing seminar in which Fellows consider central issues and problems in
college teaching, each cohort devises and implements a project to help enhance the
teaching and learning climate on campus. A second program is the Curriculum
Transformation program, another long-standing model of cross-disciplinary faculty
development. In this case, selected faculty members learn about current scholarship on
gender and race equity and the impact of this scholarship on curriculum in various
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disciplines. Each member of the program commits to modifying his or her course(s) to
include more aspects reflective of gender and race diversity.
Many innovations depend on external funding for the “seed” capital to initiate new
ideas. In our case, the proposal to establish a faculty development and curriculum
transformation program devoted to internationalization of teacher education was
supported by the Longview Foundation. Longview has supported a variety of programs
designed to promote international education at the K-12 level and in teacher education
and professional development. The Foundation recognizes, as we in teacher education
recognize, that children cannot learn to appreciate and understand the global dimensions
of life today if their teachers don’t know and appreciate these dimensions. The model we
proposed included the following elements:
1. Create a new initiative designed to enhance the internationalization goals of
our several teacher education programs in the College of Education. The
initiative would focus on the key element of any program, i.e., the faculty who
run it and teach it. Specific objectives would focus on developing a core of
faculty leaders who would be advocates for internationalization and models of
faculty whose teaching and courses reflected a global consciousness and
international content.
2. Faculty would be invited to submit applications to become part of a new
faculty Fellowship, the GATE Fellows, and they would have to make two
commitments:
a. Participate in a bi-weekly seminar, as part of this special professional
community, focused on international education and the
internationalization of curriculum;
b. Complete an individual project in which they would modify an
existing course they taught in the teacher education program and/or
create a new course reflecting international dimensions and content.
c. Help to organize a culminating statewide colloquium in which Fellows
would showcase their work for colleagues in our own university, other
colleges and universities, and in partner school systems and state
agencies.
3. Recognizing that faculty do not normally engage in major new commitments
as volunteer work, we would offer a monetary stipend and the prestige of
being part of a valued new select group promoting a major goal of the College
and University.
The grant was awarded and the process of recruitment, selection, and program
implementation began in November of 2007. There was good response to the initiative
and applications were received from several teacher education programs. Faculty
selected represented a variety of specializations:

Science education
5

Special education

Early childhood education

Reading and language arts

Foreign language and ESL

International Education Policy
Results
The program has been a great success. Faculty members involved have
developed a true professional community – something that is rare and precious in a large
research university – and have been effective voices and examples for the
internationalization process. The first cohort completed their individual projects and are
continuing to develop the international dimensions of their work as well as the larger
programs of which they are a part. They have integrated in their courses a number of
interesting elements reflecting international content and the awareness of world
implications of teaching and learning. For full details of the projects and individuals
involved, see: http://www.education.umd.edu/international/CurrentInitiatives/GATE.html
In November of 2008, the first statewide colloquium was held to present results of
the GATE Fellows’ work and to engage representatives from other institutions and state
agencies in discussions of how to best promote more international understanding and
attention in our teacher education programs. Representatives of a number of other
colleges and universities, the state department of education, school system partners, and a
large number of UMD colleagues participated. Keynote addresses, panel presentations,
and group discussion sessions all generated a tremendous level of enthusiasm; and the
desire to formulate a continuing network for promoting this kind of work statewide was
expressed by many of the participants.5
Based on the strong impact within our College of Education, and the success of
the program as well as the culminating statewide colloquium, we submitted a proposal for
a second year of funding to build on the foundation created by the first cohort of Fellows
and to institutionalize this effort within our College. We added a component that
supported the idea of the first cohort of Fellows serving as “mentors” for the new Fellows
as well as maintaining a formal continuing connection in this core leadership group.
The new GATE Fellows cohort was selected in an extremely competitive process
and is in the midst of its work. The same professional community connection has
developed and some good connections have been made between Fellows in the first and
second cohorts. The new group contains faculty in:

Mathematics education (secondary and elementary)

Reading and language arts
5 This initiative is now in progress, and formulation of a statewide network is underway.
6

Early childhood education

Special education

Minority and urban education
The success of the program and its impact on our College and on our teacher
education (undergraduate and graduate) programs has been notable. Because of this
success and the value to our faculty as well as our students, the College has decided to
continue the program with internal funding. The institutionalization result represents
achievement of the original goals and an appreciation for the quality of impact this kind
of initiative is able to achieve.
In the next sections, two members of the first cohort of GATE Fellows describe their
reflections and the results of their involvement and their work. One focuses on
programmatic change and impact; the second on personal impact and the professional
community component of the GATE Fellows’ multiple goals.
Learning about Global Diversity through Multicultural Literature
in a Graduate Reading Course
Dr. Jennifer Turner, Associate Professor in Reading Education, EDCI
As a reading teacher educator at the University of Maryland, I have learned how
important it is for K-12 teacher education programs to include global/international
dimensions. We must strive to integrate global diversity within our teacher education
programs because our elementary and secondary teachers must effectively teach a wide
range of literacy learners in schools. More than ever before, K-12 teachers, particularly in
the Washington DC Metro Area, are encountering students from various countries, and
they must be prepared to work with these students in ways that build upon their cultural
and linguistic strengths and scaffold their learning of English literacy and language.
However, as a teacher educator, I have noticed that many teachers seem to hold deficit
views of culturally and/or linguistically diverse learners. Some teachers have had very
limited contact with people from diverse cultures, thus they may see their differences as
disadvantages within the classroom context. For example, teachers in my class have
commented that some African American students are “not motivated to learn, “ or that
their “parents don’t care about education.” Others have presumed that students who were
learning English were “not as smart as the other kids,” primarily because these children
were silent in class, and/or had parents who could not communicate in English.
I decided to join the GATE Fellows, because I wanted to develop teacher
education course content (e.g., topics, readings, assignments) and practices (e.g.,
activities, events) that disrupted and dismantled teachers’ deficit perspectives by (1)
enhancing their awareness of and sensitivity towards local (e.g., primarily within the US)
and global cultures, and (2) emphasizing instructional strategies that build upon the
strengths of culturally and linguistically diverse students. To that end, I integrated
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global/international issues into a literacy teacher education course as the centerpiece of
my work as a GATE Fellow.
GATE Project: Overview
In Spring 2008, I taught a new course titled Multicultural Materials and Instruction
for Children and Young Adults. This course was offered to graduate students in the
reading specialist program (M.Ed in Reading Education) and classroom reading teachers,
and was the first type of diversity-related course to be offered within this program. I
developed this course as a way to help K-12 reading teachers and reading specialists to
work more effectively with the children from culturally and linguistically diverse
backgrounds by implementing materials and instructional activities that are authentic,
meaningful, and responsive. Equally important, I conceptualized the course to emphasize
a notion of multicultural literature which was defined locally (e.g., “American” diversity
such as African Americans, Latino/as, etc. and the immigration experience) and globally
(e.g., world literature, international literature).
While some new courses struggle to attract students, the course I designed as part
of the GATE Fellowship attracted 15 students at the master’s and doctoral levels in
several units within the Department of Curriculum and Instruction (e.g., Reading,
Minority & Urban Education) and in Departments across the College of Education (e.g.,
Education Policy & Leadership; Special Education). Importantly, many of the master’s
level students were teachers working in local-area schools in MD (e.g., Montgomery
County, Prince George’s County).
Pedagogical Content of the Course
The course emphasized three major components for teaching and learning: multicultural
literature, guest speakers, and multimedia materials.
A. Multicultural Literature
A range of high-quality, multicultural literature was read, critiqued, and evaluated by the
students in the course (see Appendix A). Multicultural literature represented both local
and global/international cultures and communities. Importantly, the literature was
appropriate for elementary and secondary learners in schools, so it could be integrated
into the current curricula within MD schools.
B. Guest speakers
A range of guest speakers were invited to class to talk about their own
experiences as culturally and/or linguistically diverse learners, or to talk more about
global issues in children’s and young adult literature. These speakers included: Dr.
Jeanine Staples, GATE Fellow, linguistic violence; Kathleen Sayers, Center for Young
Children, critical literacy in a kindergarten classroom; Michele Stolz, high-quality
multicultural literature for young adults;
International Readers, graduate students
who served as “cultural informants” and shared with us the literacy practices and texts
from their countries (Hyejin Huhn, Korea; Rashi Jain, India; Janet Awokoya, Nigeria;
David Cortez, Argentina).
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C. Multimedia Materials
In addition to print (e.g., texts) materials, a variety of multimedia materials and texts were
used as well to help broaden students’ understanding of the word “text.” Many K-12
students are now “digital natives” and they are interested in consuming and
comprehending texts in diverse formats. Thus, the course emphasized numerous
multimedia texts, including:

International Children’s Digital Library

Video on the history of Korean education

Clips of popular television shows

Clips of popular movies and music videos (e.g., jazz, hip hop)

Internet resources (e.g., websites of US and international children’s
authors)
Action Research Methodology
I employed an action research (Valli, 1993) methodology as a way to systemically
study my own teacher education course. Three research questions guided my inquiry:
1. What kinds of curricular content and pedagogical activities foster students’ global
awareness?
2. How do students define their own criteria for selecting and evaluating
multicultural and global literature for K-12 classrooms?
3. What do students, and the instructor, learn about global diversity & literature from
the course?
In this action research study, data were collected from several sources, including (a)
course assignments that students completed; (b) Results on an anonymous survey about
global literacy and teacher education; (c) Instructional materials such as handouts, power
point presentations; and (d) research journal and analytic memos. These data were
analyzed using qualitative content analysis (Patton, xxx) and after several iterative rounds
of open coding, a coding system was developed and used to derive themes.
Preliminary Findings
9
My analysis yielded a number of preliminary findings, including:
•
•
•
•
Students in the course successfully created criteria for selecting and evaluating
multicultural and globally-conscious literature
Students in the course identified and addressed challenges to using multicultural
and global literature in K-12 schools
While only 15% of students in the course had previously taught with
multicultural/global literature, 100% reported that they planned to use it in their
classrooms
At least 4 students in the course who taught in local area schools implemented
books assigned within the course to their own K-12 students during the semester.
For example, one teacher, believed that Christopher Paul Curtis’ (1995) The
Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963 would be an engaging book for her students.
Watsons is about an African American family who travels from Michigan to
Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, and it is important to note that this teacher taught
in Prince George’s County , which has a high percentage of African American
students in its schools, and is one of the most affluent communities for African
American students in the country. After reading the book in my course, this
teacher went to her principal and lobbied for the book to be used as part of the
fifth grade language arts curriculum. The principal read the book and consented
that the book could be part of the curriculum, and this teacher led the professional
development efforts in her school related to this book.
Outcomes
There were several significant outcomes from my GATE project. First, the course that I
designed was adopted by the reading education faculty as a new core course for the
reading specialist program. The course has continued to attract fine students from across
the College. In fact, the Chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction requested
that the enrollment size be increased from 15 (full class) to 20 to accommodate other
students who may want to take the class this spring, and I agreed. When I taught this
course in Spring 2009, 19 students enrolled.
Second, I have been making improvements to my instruction within this course based on
my action research inquiry. When I initially taught the course, I noticed that my students
were “locked” into thinking about particular cultural groups because I had organized the
readings and multicultural literature selections in this way on the syllabus. However, this
year, I revamped some of the content so that the literature was organized by broad social
and cultural themes (e.g., beauty and identity; immigration experiences; childhood and
adolescence; discrimination and oppression) rather than by particular ethnic and cultural
groups (e.g., African, African American, Latino, etc.). This helped the students think
about how these issues and ideas transcended particular ethnic/cultural communities
both locally (e.g., in the US) and globally.
There are also two types of outcomes that go beyond the structure of the course that are
important and should be mentioned.
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Pedagogical Outcomes
I have been invited to share my global-infused course content in a variety of ways that
move beyond this particular EDCI course:
•
The course materials (e.g., literature selections) served as the basis of my summer
reading list, entitled “Let’s Go Global.” This summer reading list was featured on
the University of Maryland College Park homepage (Summer 2008), and received
over 400 hits.

The course materials and assignments are being featured in a series called Seminar for
Teachers (SFT). Seminars for Teachers represents both a new vision of professional
development and a vital collaboration between University of Maryland faculty and public
and private school teachers. Seminars for Teachers (SFT) offers content-based
seminars that provide K-12 teachers the opportunity to engage in scholarly
discussion with university faculty and colleagues. The program offers a number of
seminars each semester in the humanities, arts, and sciences. Together, university
faculty and teachers from both private and public schools in the DC metropolitan area
expand their knowledge, share ideas, and engage in stimulating conversation. The
program is funded through partnering schools and counties as well as through the College
of Arts and Humanities and the Office of the Provost at the University of Maryland (see
Appendix B or http://www.arhu.umd.edu/outreach/sft/seminars.html for more
information).
Dissemination Outcomes
In addition to teaching this course content, I have been invited to participate in broader
discussions about global diversity, literacy, and teacher education within the educational
field.
•
•
•
•
•
Invited to join the EDCI’s International Education Committee, which is working
to develop a strategic plan for bringing greater awareness of international
education initiatives to the EDCI faculty.
Invited to the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign to attend a conference on
globalizing teacher education (October 2-4, 2008)
Invited to present a session for the Pre-Conference Institute on Language
Diversity at the 2009 International Reading Association Annual Meeting in
Phoenix, AZ (February 22, 2009)
Appointed to the Global Education Committee for the Association of American
Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE)
Invited to co-author a chapter on peace in children’s literature with Rebecca
Oxford and colleagues for Oxford and Li’s edited volume
Conclusion
11
I have enjoyed my GATE experience immensely. The GATE Fellowship afforded the
opportunity for me to theorize about my course, and to consider connections between
multicultural and international literatures, to explore global and/or international
literatures with the K-12 teachers, and to discuss research-based strategies which help
teachers to effectively use these literatures in their reading/literacy instruction. The
GATE Fellow meetings that were organized by Jim Greenberg helped us to create such a
warm and supportive community, and we have continued that strong sense of collegiality
in the second cohort of GATE fellows.
Equally important, working with other GATE Fellows provided the opportunity for me to
think more broadly about international/global issues within the larger programmatic
structures for K-12 teacher education at UMCP. I believe that international and global
diversity is an integral part of multiculturalism, and these threads should be woven into
the tapestry of our teacher education curriculum and coursework, rather than relegated to
one particular course and/or class session. As a GATE Fellow, I had the unique
opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations about how international/global issues
should be incorporated into the broader vision of professional education (e.g., for
teachers, administrators, counselors) at UMCP, and to begin to articulate how we might
support current (and new) teacher educators in working towards this vision which
embraces local and global diversity and supports the learning of all students.
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APPENDIX A: SAMPLE COVERS OF MULTICULTURAL LITERATURE READ IN
THE COURSE
13
Appendix B: SEMINAR FOR TEACHERS SCHEDULE FOR 2009-10
Race and Rights in the Modern U.S.
October 6 , 2009
David Freund, Department of History
Women and the Arts: A Museum of Their Own
Wednesday, October 7 and 21, 2009
Evelyn Beck, Department of Women's Studies
Teaching Scientific Thinking
Wednesday, October 14 and 28, 2009
Dan Levin, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
A Cultural History of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
Thursday, October 15 and 29, 2009
Eric Zakim, School of Literatures and Languages
Keepin' It Real: Multicultural Literature for Young Readers
Wednesday, November 4 and 18, 2009
Jen Turner, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
The Graphic Novel: Using Comics in the Classroom
Thursday, November 12 and 19, 2009
Pat Grzanka, Honors Humanities
Winning Negotiation Tips and Tactics
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Joyce Russell, School of Business
Inclusion and Exclusion in Children's Lives
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Melanie Killen, Department of Human Development
The Solar System, the Earth, and Our Future
Date to be announced
Doug Hamilton, Department of Astronomy
Healthy Youth: An Introduction to Public Health in the Classroom
Date to be announced
Jessica Rath, School for Public Health
14
What the GATE Fellow Program Means to Me
Dr. Rebecca Oxford, Professor, TESOL
The GATE Fellows Program provided me with an exceptional opportunity to
meet with others who are deeply concerned about international education issues in
teacher education. My own GATE project was the co-creation of a course entitled East
Meets West, which concerns cross-cultural comparisons at different phases of history. It
is a means of highlighting differences and similarities and of breaking down cultural
barriers that create confusion, cause misunderstandings, and spark wars. Because I am
leaving the university, I will not be able to co-teach the course, and my collaborator on
the course has decided to teach a different, internationally themed course. However, the
process of creating the course has been very interesting, enabling me to go deeply into
culture, religion, politics, and education in multiple cultural eras. I take this with me as I
go to become a Professor of Cross-Cultural Relations at another institution. My new
position is directly related to the international work I did as a GATE Fellow. I constantly
integrate international themes in all of my teaching and will continue to do so in my new
position.
It seems that my own GATE project was actually less important to me in the long
run than other features of the GATE Fellows Program. An aspect of great salience was
having the opportunity to work with Dr. Jennifer Turner, a friend whose GATE project
involved the internationalizing of a children’s literature course that serves as part of the
reading teacher curriculum in the College of Education. Because I was involved in
editing a language of peace book, and because I decided to include a chapter about the
language of peace in children’s books, I invited Dr. Turner to join me as a co-author of
the chapter – along with two of my best doctoral students. The chapter turned out to be
extremely powerful, and the relationship with Dr. Turner grew stronger. The GATE
Program thus fostered a collegial relationship that will be permanently meaningful and
that will result in later joint works on international children’s literature. These will be of
direct value to reading teachers, content teachers, parents, and many others. It is a
pleasure to note that Dr. Turner is also a contributor to the present paper.
Another very strong relationship was formed with Dr. J. Randy McGinnis from
the area of science education. Being GATE Fellows at the same time allowed us to come
together in ways that are totally unlike our departmental faculty meetings. We developed
a tremendous spirit of camaraderie and sharing and began to look upon each other as
“international friends/colleagues” who were sent to our department to share the light of
our understanding. Dr. McGinnis recently organized a wonderful lunch for first- and
second-year GATE Fellows – an international teacher education support group beyond
the boundaries of the official GATE Program meetings. Once our commitment becomes
deeply personal and enters into mutual mentoring, as I saw occurring during the GATE
Fellows lunch organized by Dr. McGinnis, the entire process takes on a new meaning.
My involvement in the GATE Fellows Program strengthened my involvement in
international education throughout the College of Education. I was an At-Large member
of the College of Education International Advisory Board. In addition, in my own
department of Curriculum and Instruction, I was asked to chair the International
Committee of the department. Together we created a plan of action patterned after the
15
international aspects of the College’s and the University’s Strategic Plans. This included
promoting student involvement in international work, faculty integration of international
themes into multiple courses, increased international partnerships, and many other
activities. I was the lead author of the Departmental International Committee final report,
which included, as background, detailed graphs concerning international undergraduate
and graduate students. It was a good exercise to put our International Committee’s plans
on paper for next year. A departmental-level reorganization of the College of Education
is underway, but I hope that the plan will be used no matter what the departmental
configuration turns out to be.
As part of my GATE Fellows work, I was encouraged to take on additional
international visiting scholars. Since coming here I have hosted three, and two more are
coming soon from China. I made an international education trip to Xi’an, Nanjing, and
Beijing while a GATE Fellow, and my experiences in China were deepened by the fact of
being a GATE Fellow.
An additional, profound experience as a GATE Fellow was meeting a
representative of the American Council on Education (ACE). This official shared in
serious detail the work that ACE is doing to integrate international education into the
university setting. I was astounded to see the wealth of books published by ACE in the
area of international education. It was exciting to find out that ACE leads formal
programs to mentor universities on integrating teacher education and has evaluation tools
for internationalization. I would never have found out this important information if it had
not been for the GATE Program.
Another exceptional event was the full-day, statewide conference on
Internationalizing Teacher Education conducted by the GATE Program in November,
2008. I was amazed to see (thanks to Dr. Greenberg) representatives from universities,
school districts, government agencies, and other groups gathering to discuss this
important topic. As a result, a state network is now forming to pursue this work further.
This showed me the power of a small amount of seed funding to create ongoing,
important movements in the international education arena.
Yet another contribution was the GATE Fellowship support of my trip to
Germany, where I presented papers at the International Association for Applied
Linguistics. I was in a symposium consisting of international language teacher educators
from New Zealand, Taiwan, the U.S., and Canada.
In short, the GATE Fellows Program has been a very important part of my life at
the University of Maryland. Dr. James Greenberg, my unwavering friend and colleague
and the brain behind our GATE Fellows Program, deserves my greatest thanks for
creating such an exceptional program. I imagine that all of the GATE Fellows have very
different stories to tell, but all of us have experienced great professional growth as part of
the program and have contributed what we could to internationalizing teacher education
in the College of Education.
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