by Krystal Paco

Guam - The Department of Education and the University of Guam's School of Education have joined forces. And the two are working hand-in-hand to create teachers ready to face the realities of working in a DOE classroom.

UOG School of Education dean and professor of education Dr. Frankie Laanan says his job is to create highly effective, highly qualified teachers. And with 90% of his schools graduates moving onto a DOE classroom, he admits it's critical to collaborate with DOE to do so what resulted in last week's forging synergistic partnerships retreat. "It's the first collaboration under our leadership, it's the first of many that's going to come because we're just beginning the conversation," he said. "This is a courageous conversation where we're really talking about the critical issues, the issues that we hear about and we just need to confront and be authentic about addressing these issues. It's really about true partnership."

With 30 teacher hopefuls pending graduation in May, DOE superintendent Jon Fernandez notes it isn't just about teaching ABCs and 123s, but being prepared to work with students from various backgrounds and different needs in classrooms with lacking resources. "The Common Core meeting the needs of a diverse student population, language challenges, those with special needs, those with different socioeconomic backgrounds, different family situations - we're talking about classroom management and what it's going to take to be in a school system where there are resources challenges. So we want to express to them the reality of teaching in the DOE system," he explained.

Both men remain committed to professional development, as Dr. Laanan said, "We need to understand where the needs are, where are the critical areas in math and science - is it elementary special education? And so we need to work well together so we're producing the teachers that DOE needs. We don't want to be preparing teachers and they won't have jobs, and so that's the beginning of this conversation."