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Laboratory (lab) schools—designed to provide exceptional education to K-12 students and a learning context for teacher education candidates and research—have a long history in the United States. The first was started by John Dewey in 1896 at the University of Chicago. Today, Mizzou Academy is one of about 100 university-based lab schools in the world.
Lab schools play an important role in studying where education is headed. At Mizzou Academy, we know future teachers must develop competencies in multicultural and inclusive classroom practices and digital literacy.
This semester, the future teachers in Executive Director Kathryn Fishman-Weaver’s honors inquiry class led a unique project that helped them grow in these important areas. The students engaged in an action research project on how best to support students’ diverse needs. This led them down a multilayered path that included survey research, writing and illustrating a children’s book, creating a research-based teaching guide, leading a service project, and presenting at our college conference.
Their project sought to name specific ways teachers show up for a variety of students, including multilingual students, students with disabilities such as dyslexia, students with anxiety, and students whose families are navigating poverty, food insecurity, or loss. The students presented their research and children’s book at the Teacher Education Conference and Celebration. Our school counselor, Amelia Howser, and elementary coordinator, Lisa DeCastro advised on this project.
Elementary School Visit
Shortly after the conference, Charlotte Watson, a student from Fishman-Weaver’s class, worked with DeCastro to arrange a read-aloud for one of Mizzou Academy’s elementary classrooms in Brazil. DeCastro is always looking for opportunities for her multilingual young learners to have authentic experiences listening and speaking in English and this special Zoom read-aloud seemed like just that kind of experience. She met with Watson before the lesson to discuss teaching strategies, for the online and multilingual context.
When the Grade 4 students at Colegio Magno logged on for the session, the excitement was palpable. Students eagerly typed their hellos into the chat and waved enthusiastically at the Mizzou visitors. Watson did an excellent job engaging her class and shared that the experience was new and challenging. “My learning takeaways were all technology-based. I have never had to present via Zoom, so working out those kinks was a challenge. Other than that, I really enjoyed talking with the students and making this connection from across the world.”
“Observing Charlotte and the students interacting together reminded me how important it is for teachers to continue thinking about how to best teach and navigate in an online classroom for elementary-age students,” says DeCastro. She named specific strategies such as scaffolding students’ oral language with sentence starters, giving them adequate “think and wait” times to answer questions, and having visuals easily accessible as key for teaching and learning in this context.
These strategies are part of the art and science of great teaching. When the lesson ended, Watson reached out to Fishman-Weaver and said, “I would definitely love to see this become a program or a more open opportunity to other teacher education students!” At almost the same moment, Veruska Gallo, Colegio Magno’s Elementary Coordinator, reached out to DeCastro and asked when the group would return for the next read aloud.
They are currently working on a schedule and are pleased to have another teacher education student to work with them on this project.
A Lesson on Voice
Fishman-Weaver says that her favorite part of this collaboration is how it centers on student voice.
“The future teachers in my honors course have important things to say about inclusivity in the classroom, and they found a creative way to share their ideas through their children’s book. The elementary learners at Magno have important things to share, as well, and this special lesson gave them the opportunity to share with educators 5,000 miles away who care about their ideas.”
“Yes,” agrees DeCastro, who appreciated “the content of the children’s book, titled We Can Learn Too!, and the connections our fourth graders made to the text.” In the book, a classroom of different animals shares how they feel during a reading test. This led to a great conversation about big feelings, learning, and test taking strategies. “It’s important for students, even young ones, to be aware of their feelings,” says DeCastro, “and to be able to share them. I was encouraged by how our students talked about how their feelings can impact big things at school, like tests, how they are developing awareness about themselves as learners, and how Charlotte gave them options to respond successfully.”
Pietra, a fourth-grade student, bravely shared, “Before a test, I am nervous, but I breathe and relax and then I can do it.”
As a lab school, we are grateful to learn with bright young students like Pietra. We are also thankful to be a space where teachers and future teachers can learn that in 2025 teaching excellence means teaching for a global and connected world.
Thank you to Veruska Gallo for the photos from Magno and thank you to Cathy Rose for the photo from the CEHD Teacher Education Conference!