For future teachers
Start with another student’s story. Notice the support they found, the choices they made, and what resonates with your own journey.
PATHWAYS FOR FUTURE TEACHERS
Every teacher’s journey
begins with a story.
Listen to students, teacher educators, and community partners in Laredo, Texas. Explore the experiences that shape a future in teaching.
Explore the interviewsTexas A&M International University · Laredo, Texas
THE INTERVIEW LIBRARY
Find a voice. Follow a journey.
Browse by name, audience, or topic. Watch interviews and read available transcripts here.
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Search includes speaker names, interview titles, topics, and available transcript text.
EXPLORE A QUESTION
What matters on the path to teaching?
Explore interviews about the decisions, relationships, and experiences that shape future teachers.
Use a story for reflection or discussion
These suggested prompts are new companions to the archive:
- What experience influenced this person’s decision to teach?
- What support might help someone with a similar experience?
- How does this story challenge or deepen your understanding of becoming a teacher?
OUR STORY
Learning from the people
who walk the path.
Blue Deer Learning brings together the voices of future teachers, teacher educators, and community partners in Laredo, Texas.
The project grew through a collaboration between Texas A&M International University and Technology & Innovation in Education in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Our purpose
Help future teachers and the people who support them learn from lived experiences: the choices, relationships, barriers, and hopes that shape a journey into teaching.
What guides this library
Listen closely to individual stories. Recognize the knowledge people bring from their families and communities. Make room for different paths into teaching.
The Journey of Tunuri and the Blue Deer inspired the project’s name and thinking. The artwork featured here is The Blue Deer by Christian Faltis.
TAFE: Texas Association of Future Educators.
TAMIU: Texas A&M International University.
USING THE LIBRARY
Watch. Reflect. Bring it into conversation.
For educators and mentors
Choose a topic or speaker, watch together, and invite participants to connect the story with their own setting. Give people the option to reflect privately.
Reading transcripts
Open the transcript below a video, or search a word across the library. Transcripts were supplied with the interview collection and may contain transcription errors; compare uncertain wording with the recording.
Video access
Videos are hosted on YouTube and play within the library. Use the player’s caption controls when captions are available. Each interview also includes a direct YouTube link if the embedded player is unavailable.
Reflection prompts for an individual or group
- What did you notice in this person’s story?
- What experience or relationship shaped their path?
- What assumptions does this story invite you to reconsider?
- What could you bring into your own learning or mentoring?
These prompts are learning companions, rather than quotations from the interviews.