Ann Schulte—An Education Activist
"My goal as a teacher-educator has been to prepare teachers with the attitudes and skills necessary to reflect on their practice in a way that will increase their effectiveness with a diverse student population, particularly if the prospective teachers have had little experience with diversity."
When education professor Ann Schulte lived in South Dakota, the state’s teacher salaries were some of the lowest in the nation. She wrote a letter to the local paper protesting the low pay for teachers, explaining that these conditions would result in a quality teacher—namely, herself—leaving the state. Thus began a life of education activism.
At Chico State, she has taught, advised, and supervised future teachers. Her emphasis is on access and equity and democratic education. This is an exciting challenge, she says, because one must demonstrate as well as explain the art and science of teaching.
“My goal as a teacher-educator has been to prepare teachers with the attitudes and skills necessary to reflect on their practice in a way that will increase their effectiveness with a diverse student population, particularly if the prospective teachers have had little experience with diversity,” says Schulte.
Schulte has published Seeking Integrity in Teacher Education: Transforming Student Teachers, Transforming My Self. At the center of Schulte’s teaching is a study of self; she believes that who one is directly informs how one teaches.
“When teachers are more aware that they see the world in particular ways and some of their students might experience it differently,” she says, “the teachers are more able to differentiate their instruction to connect to their students’ perspective.”
Schulte’s ability to connect with students and train future teachers garnered her the Outstanding Teacher Award in 2011–2012. She is also a recipient of Taking it to the Classroom: Conversations on Diversity Award and serves on the President’s Diversity Council.
