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Upcoming Events and Information:
Teacher Quality Enhancement
| Enhancing Teacher Quality Through Co-Teaching, Mentoring and Professional Development |
| St. Cloud State Universitys' College of Education is partnering with Media X, Diversified Media Resources and many local school districts, including the St. Cloud public schools, to implement a $5 million Teacher Quality Enhancement grant. The grant will incorporate a co-teaching model in student teaching, and work to enhance the professional development and support that teachers in Central Minnesota receive. SCSU is the top producer of teachers in the state of Minnesota , and has been collaborating with local school districts for many years. The Teacher Quality Enhancement initiative facilitates further reform by building on the partnerships already in place. |
The following key strategies will be utilized in this initiative:
Intensive clinical co-teaching experience for the entire length of the required student teaching assignment. The co-teaching model is founded on the knowledge that more can be accomplished working in partnership than working alone. Cooperating teachers, teacher candidates and supervising university faculty will receive professional development in the use of the co-teaching model. This new model of student teaching provides dynamic, active roles for both the teacher candidate and the cooperating teacher as they actively engage in co-teaching throughout the student teaching experience.. |
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Mentoring, support and professional development for new teachers in the first three years in teaching. This will be achieved by providing regular topical discussions for new teachers, providing electronic access to other teachers in the area and providing a forum for mentoring specialists from area districts to meet and discuss current practice and future needs. |
Enhanced professional development for experienced teachers that will be meaningful and relevant in the context of today's changing classrooms. Research continues to provide disheartening results of workshops or short courses as effective strategies for professional growth and development. The TQE professional development efforts will be overseen by a Professional Development Consortium or coordinating council of about 15 members from the 6 districts participating in the grant. In addition to facilitating the Professional Development Consortium, the Teacher Quality Enhancement initiative will pilot a professional learning community. As a pilot project, a professional learning community will be established with a group of teachers and SCSU faculty who will spend a year reading, meeting, and learning together. The topics for discussion will be determined by the group. Personal reflective journals will document the growth of those involved.
 
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Developing business partnerships that would facilitate production and dissemination of high quality teaching aids, including audio/visual productions which would demonstrate the co-teaching model of teacher preparation, and assessment rubrics to facilitate objective and consistent evaluation of student teachers.
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Making the seamless transitions of the instructional process used by an experienced teacher visible to pre-service teachers, through the use of grant-produced audio/visual and print materials. These materials would demonstrate the use of co-teaching in a variety of academic settings and would be made available for regional and national dissemination.
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