MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — “Out of the Blue,” Middle Tennessee State University’s monthly television magazine program, highlights Lead in Literacy, a partnership between MTSU’s College of Education and Murfreesboro City Schools designed to better prepare future educators to teach literacy skills in elementary classrooms.

Program host Andrew Oppmann, vice president for marketing and communications, spoke with College of Education faculty members Katie Schrodt and Bonnie Barksdale about the initiative and its focus on preparing MTSU students to be ready for the classroom from their first day as teachers.

The five-year initiative brings university faculty together with principals, literacy specialists and mentor teachers to co-design field experiences using instructional materials in real elementary classrooms. The partnership also helps align MTSU’s teacher preparation with the science of reading and the needs of local school districts.

“We are really working on developing teachers to be day-one ready,” Schrodt said. “When our new teachers are walking into the classroom on Day 1, are they ready to teach kids how to read?”

The segment also explores Tennessee’s ongoing literacy challenges, how MTSU students benefit from gaining classroom experience before student teaching and the role Murfreesboro City Schools educators play in strengthening their preparation.

You can watch the segment below:

To watch, listen

• “Out of the Blue” is available anytime on the university’s YouTube channel, the True Blue TV channel, Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV.

• It also airs on Murfreesboro cable Channel 9 daily at 6 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; WNPX “The Spot – Nashville 28” at 4:30 a.m. on Saturdays; WKRN+ at 7 p.m. Thursdays and noon Sundays; and streamed on the MTSU Jazz Network through WMOT.orgat 7 a.m. on the first Sunday of each month; and on other cable outlets in Middle Tennessee, so check local listings.

• It is also available as a podcast on iTunes and Google Play and as individual interview segments on Spotify athttps://spoti.fi/453hxg3.

Watch previous episodes of “Out of the Blue” at https://mtsunews.com/out-of-the-blue.

— Karli Sutton ([email protected])