Featured Educator: Jay Shuttleworth

What sparked your interest in education? How did you end up working with CPET?

I found an interest in education in the early 1980s. Traveling with my dad (who was a school superintendent at the time), we often visited an old Northern California mining community that had no municipal electric or phone service -- but they had a vibrant one room school house. From those interactions, I developed a curiosity about the role of education in our daily lives.

I found out about CPET by luck! I came to TC in 2008 to teach full-time and begin my doctoral work. A few years later, I joined a social studies coaching project in the Bronx, and I have been involved ever since.

---

How does CPET seek educational equity while navigating complicated mandates and policy shifts?

CPET seeks to provide a vibrant education coupled with high expectations for all students. Mandates and policy shifts are always on our radar, but the focus remains on how to engage all students with rigorous analysis while still providing opportunities for joy and personal reflection.

What are your current research interests and current projects?

I am interested in the social issues of sustainability education. I have several projects currently ongoing that study how teachers engage students in dialogues about responsibilities associated with sustainable living.

I am also working on several studies about how pre-service social studies teachers experience pedagogical transformations via online video observation networks.

If your life was a movie, what genre would it be, who would play you, and what is one song you want on the soundtrack?

If my life was a movie, the genre would be a coming-of-age, deeply reflective interaction with nature flick, but the theme song would probably be the title track from The Benny Hill Show.

If you could choose one word to summarize CPET's philosophy what would it be?

Reflective