
Janis M. Harmon
Professor of Literacy Education
Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching Department
UT San Antonio
As a teacher educator, I believe that teachers are the most critical factor in helping children and adolescents achieve success in learning. The experiences we provide for preservice teachers can have far-reaching consequences for the many children they will eventually teach. It is our responsibility to help future teachers develop as critical thinkers who are open to new learning, maintain a strong focus on teaching students as individuals, value the different ways in which learning can occur, and, above all, remember the tremendous influence they can have on their own students.