February 7, 2023 — The Residency Design Academy (RDA) Team partnered with the University of St. Thomas (UST) and its team of residencies (Minneapolis Special Education Teacher Residency [MSTR], Saint Paul Urban Teacher Residency [SUTR], and Charter Teacher Residency [CHTR]) for a site visit in Minneapolis, Minn., to highlight their Residency Year Experience and Mentor Teacher training. Not only were our friends in the north incredible, generous hosts, but we were privileged to see their exemplary teacher education in practice. Most importantly, our colleagues who are building residencies across the country (Washington Education Association, Texas Christian University, Educate Me [Indianapolis], Winston Salem State University, Texas A&M International University, and East Carolina University) were able to see what it looks like to do this important work purposefully, reflectively, and equitably.
During our time in the Twin Cities, we heard from residency directors and course instructors, attended SUTR’s mentor professional development, learned from a panel of teacher residents and graduates, and visited schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul. During a panel discussion, Lakeseny (a SUTR grad) spoke about her favorite memory as a teacher resident. She had an observation from her St. Thomas supervisor which, in her words, ended in a debate and strong discussion about her lesson choices. She went on to say that the supervisor gave her permission to take risks and now she does everything with a little bit of risk. She told us that she learned her mistakes are beautiful — a lesson for all of us in this work. A huge thanks to everyone at MSTR, SUTR, CHTR, and UST for not only building such incredible teacher residencies but for also being so generous in sharing them with their future colleagues from across the country.