Save the Date and Spread the Word!
The Education Minnesota Student Group is holding an event on Monday, April 15th. It is an education debate that will include topics like standardized testing, charter schools, and so on. Please feel free to forward this along to anyone you think would be interested in attending!

Debaters: Cindy Reuther (Executive Director of Laura Jeffrey Academy, a girl-focused charter school), Karl Aaro (Executive Director of Education Minnesota), Joe Nathan (Director of Center for School Change), and Bill Wilson ( former St. Paul City Council member; Executive Director and founder of Higher Grounds Academy)

What: Debating the current pitfalls and future prospects of education

When: Monday April 15 at 6:30pm

Where: Anderson Hall room 350http://www1.umn.edu/twincities/maps/AndH/

Please come and bring friends! Food will be provided and the panel will be debating questions from the audience as well as those posed to them by the moderator. Hope to see you there!

Please RSVP

EDMNdebate_April 15_final.pdf

Save the Date and Spread the Word!
The Education Minnesota Student Group is holding an event on Monday, April 15th. It is an education debate that will include topics like standardized testing, charter schools, and so on. Please feel free to forward this along to anyone you think would be interested in attending!

Debaters: Cindy Reuther (Executive Director of Laura Jeffrey Academy, a girl-focused charter school), Karl Aaro (Executive Director of Education Minnesota), Joe Nathan (Director of Center for School Change), and Bill Wilson ( former St. Paul City Council member; Executive Director and founder of Higher Grounds Academy)

What: Debating the current pitfalls and future prospects of education

When: Monday April 15 at 6:30pm

Where: Anderson Hall room 350http://www1.umn.edu/twincities/maps/AndH/

Please come and bring friends! Food will be provided and the panel will be debating questions from the audience as well as those posed to them by the moderator. Hope to see you there!

Please RSVP

EDMNdebate_April 15_final.pdf

The educational needs of students and teachers have changed dramatically over time. That's why the University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) is re-envisioning our teacher education program to better prepare teachers for the challenges they face in a 21st century classroom. We call this re-envisioning the Teacher Education Redesign Initiative (TERI). As the leading public research institution in the state, we're uniquely positioned to improve teacher development by connecting ongoing research to TERI.

TERI began in 2010, when CEHD became one of 14 higher education partners across Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota working within the Bush Foundation's Network for Excellence in Teaching (NExT) on a 10-year project. TERI thinks differently about teacher education by focusing on classroom diversity, building alliances with students' parents and partnering with schools.

Focus on Diversity

Research shows the school-based factor that has the most effect on student success is the quality of the teacher. TERI's mission is to produce high-quality teachers who are motivated, aware, knowledgeable and skilled to relate to and effectively teach students from culturally diverse backgrounds.

Understanding diversity in the classroom is necessary to help increase high school graduation rates, reduce disparities and close the achievement gap. One required class for TERI students, for instance, is called Cultures, Schools and Communities which addresses the social and cultural dimensions of working in today's schools, led by professors Peter Demerath and Michael Goh. Teacher candidates explore a wide range of challenges and dilemmas facing educators including the multiple identities students bring to their classrooms such as race, culture, class and gender, to name a few.

Build Alliances with Parents

TERI also trains teachers to work with others who are invested in a child's education, especially parents. From our research and practice, I recommend three tips for both parents and teachers to promote school success.

Tips for Parents:

1. Communicate: Don't be afraid to talk with your child's teacher--teachers are trained and expected to communicate with their students' parents. While parents may feel uncomfortable taking this step, discussions with teachers can help break down barriers.


2. Support: Learn what in-school goals the teacher has established and ask how you can support the learning goals at home.


3. Contribute: Offer your expertise--from your profession, from your culture--by visiting the class or inviting the teacher to your home.

Tips for Teachers:

1. Listen: Teaching is not always about planning and instructing. Listening and paying attention to students and parents is just as important.


2. Partner: Treat parents as partners who are willing to engage and support learning both in the classroom and at home. A common misbelief is that all learning has to occur at school. From our research, we know that often more learning is happening at home than we think.


3. Let go of assumptions: Do not put students or families into boxes based on the color of their skin or the clothing worn to school. Get to know them on an individual level. In TERI, we teach adaptive expertise, which is the ability to adapt to a situation and to different types of people. Our teachers are trained to exhibit adaptive expertise in a variety of classroom situations, including working effectively with students learning English, students with special learning needs, and using the latest instructional technology to enhance learning.

Partner with Schools

In addition to working together successfully with parents, TERI prepares teachers to be leaders within their school. We have very high performing students in TERI--we teach them to be advocates and leaders. Conversely, school administration can become more mutually supportive by acknowledging teachers' day-to-day leadership. By fostering an environment of collaboration, schools can support teachers by helping to turn their ideas into action. Administrations that value collaborative initiative help ensure quality teachers are attracted to this critical profession.

By thinking differently about teacher education, TERI prepares future teachers to have a long-lasting, positive impact on the children of Minnesota.

Misty Sato
Director, TERI
Associate Professor, Teacher Development and Science Education
Department of Curriculum & Instruction
Endowed Chair, Carmen Starkson Campbell Chair for Innovation in Teacher Development
College of Education and Human Development

Read Misty's Bio

Minneapolis Public Schools On-campus Interviews for alumni and current student teachers.

March 26th, 28th, 29th
STSS Interview Center, 524
Deadline to submit: Friday, March 15, 2013 at 3:00pm

The employer is interview for:
Special Education - multiple areas
World Languages - multiple areas
Bilingual / Bicultural Elementary
Social Studies
Physical Education
Health
Early Childhood
Science
Chemistry
Physics
Math

At the College of Education and Human Development great efforts are taken to make sure that our teacher candidates are given the best education and support in and out of the classroom. Part of that process includes Supervisor Workshops conducted by the Educator Development and Research Center.

On February 1st, a cold Friday morning, 29 University supervisors representing Elementary Education, Science Education, Social Studies Education, Second Languages and Cultures Education, Physical Education and Health Education, Early Childhood Education, and Special Education met to discuss and practice mentoring skills to support student teachers.

The introduction to for coaching candidate's teaching practice was led by Dr. Tiffany Moore. As part of our developing induction system for our new teachers, supervisors and cooperating teachers will be prepared in the same framework used by mentors for new teachers.

Dr. Elizabeth Finsness, Coordinator, Curriculum and Assessment, also presented and reviewed strategies for supervisory support of candidates completing their edTPAs.

This was the fourth session of a five workshop series for new supervisors of teaching candidates.

As part of the University of Minnesota's Teacher Education Redesign Initiative (TERI) teacher candidates are taking part in classes known as the Great Lessons; taught by Dr. Peter Demerath and Dr. Michael Goh. On Wednesday, February 6th, 2013 students gathered in St. Paul for Great Lesson #8: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. The focus of the session was to prepare the teacher candidates for the curricular vision of teaching, develop empathy for students, and to develop a culturally relevant pedagogical framework for teaching practice.

The idea that teaching is a profession that requires continued growth and learning was an idea that resonated with students. Social Studies teacher candidate Pete McKown reacted to the lesson after class, "Perpetual learning empowers teachers to continue growing, leading, and perfecting their art of teaching."

Andrea Kay had a similar takeaway from the class about getting through the struggles of being new to the teaching profession, "There is a cycle in teaching because it is a profession (just like law or medicine) and I should feel comfortable that I won't be a novice forever; I will be able to look back at my frustrations and see that they were resolved in some way or another."

Photo by: Terry Kleinbaum, Pillsbury Faculty

Co-teaching specialists Amy Jo Lundell and Stacy Ernst were pleased to contribute to Pillsbury Elementary whole faculty staff development on January 15, 2013. Grade level teams met to co-plan to co-teach, discuss the benefits of the collaborative work, and get to know each other better as colleagues.

On December 7th, 2012 CEHD and the EDRC hosted a TERI Partner Network Day. A Keynote Panel consisting of David Law (Assistant Superintendent, White Bear Lake), Michael Bradley (Principal, Minneapolis), Marsha Baisch (Interim Director, St. Paul), Amy Corrigan (Teacher & District Liaison, East Metro Integration District), and Stacy Ernst (TERI School Partner Network Coordinator, UMN-TC) discussed the subject "Year Three: Deepening our Collaborative Work in the Partner Network.

The 130 attendees also participated in a variety of breakout groups with a wide range of topics:

• Mentoring with Co-teaching: Cooperating teachers' and University Supervisor's experiences and feedback
• Reciprocal Relationships - Working sessions to improve clinical placement processes & communication in preparation for 2013-14
• Getting Connected: Recruitment and Employment Pathways in Partnership
• Caught in the Middle: TERI liaison, University supervisors, Cooperating teachers as Clinical Faculty in the Hybrid space
• Voices from the field: Cultural Liaison perspectives on practices leading to over-representation of African American children in suspension, expulsion, and special education
• Teacher Performance Assessments: The edTPA and common assessments for all UMN-TC teacher candidates
• We need tutors! We need field placements! How to engage the U's students for Service-Learning in P-12 settings
• What's this about a"Guarantee?" - Mentoring in the Induction Continuum: New Teacher Support in TERI

December 7th Full Description and Agenda

As part of the 2012 NCATE accreditation visit to the University of Minnesota and the College of Education and Human Development in November 2012, members from the both NCATE and MNBOT made a trip to Earle Brown Elementary and Roosevelt High School to witness our school partnerships in practice.

Thank you to Earle Brown and Roosevelt for hosting the examiners.

Event purpose:

• Connect directly with our school partners regarding recruitment, marketing, and employment strategies
• Showcase CEHD's employment services, supports, and interview space available for schools and districts
• Learn more about our distrcit partners' recruitment and employment needs, and
• Highlight CEHD's faculty, program expectations, students' experiences/assessments, service learning, recruitment, iPads, and more.

Attendees:

• CEHD faculty and program coordinators
• Minneapolis Public schools (Six Human Resource personnel)
• Brooklyn Center Public Schools (the superintendent's assistant)
• Columbia Heights Public Schools (two principals and an HR staff member)
• White Bear Lake Area Schools (The HR director and staff members)
• East Metro Integration District (The superintendent and both principals)
• St. Paul Public Schools (Five HR recruitment/employment advisers)
• EDRC Staff
• The Dean's Senior Management Team

Two informative tools that were presented were:

• The Top 10 Qualities which make the UMN-TC's CEHD Teacher Candidates unique


• GoldPass - A University database to help connect students and alumni with employers, volunteer organizations, and internships across the country.
  

Angie Soderberg - Coordinator, Student/Professional Service

TERI Partner Network Co-teaching specialists offering face to face workshops at PDS school sites. New online workshops are also available to district partners beginning August 2012. District partners are invited to contact Stacy Ernst (sernst@umn.edu) for more details.

CoteachingWorkshopsFall2012.docx

East Metro Integration District site team meeting underway with CEHD faculty at TERI Partner Network Crosswinds, Summer 2012.

Many PDS site faculty met to discuss placements and partnership possibilities for 2012-2013.

As part of the Teacher Education Redesign Initiative, the "foundation" courses that our initial licensure teacher candidates typically took before clinical work and student teaching have been redesigned as Common Content courses. The new courses span two to three terms, so field experience is embedded in each.

Initial licensure teacher candidates recently completed the first sequence of three of the re-designed courses:
EDHD5000 Cultures, Schools, and Communities
EDHD5013 Child and Adolescent Development
EDHD 5015 Teaching Special Needs Students in Inclusive Settings

EDHD 5000 Cultures, Schools, and Communities

This course was developed from combining two previous courses (School and Society, and Human Relations). Expanded over a full academic year, the course provides ten "Great Lessons" covering a broad range of topics, such as "Competing Norms and Ideals of U.S. Public Education" and "Professionalism, Teacher Leadership, and Adaptive Expertise." The teacher candidates interact and complete course assignments in professional learning communities (PLC) facilitated by specially prepared doctoral students. The course includes a teacher identity self-study and professional rotations.

Peter Demerath and Michael Goh from the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development were part of the team that developed EDHD 5000.

"Teachers are joining a profession with a long history," says Goh. "We ask the questions: Why schools, and why teach? And how can a teacher lead in a culturally diverse classroom? The course reflects what we believe to be the foundational philosophy of teaching and the human relations qualities and behaviors that will be the hallmark of teachers who graduates from CEHD."

On the first day of the new course this summer, the room was abuzz as nearly 150 students and their 11 graduate assistants assembled. The lesson was delivered by Harriet Bishop, Minnesota's first public school teacher, via the Minnesota Historical Society. Bishop brought them back to her makeshift classroom of 1847, where students spoke English, French, and Ojibwe. She carried a trunk full of teaching tools of the period, such as an illustrated primer and slate, and engaged students in classroom exercises and conversations about teaching principles and values.

As the summer sequence wound up, here are some of the teacher candidates' comments:

"This is an amazing class. Thank you for helping me to discover more about myself culturally and as an individual."
"[I] like the topics covered in the Great Lessons and then breaking into our smaller, comfortable groups to discuss."

"The small community within the PLC has given me great time and resources to dive deep into these subjects. We've had great conversations and activities."

Sequence Two begins in September. Topics will include "Culture and Learning" and "Race, Culture, and Education."

EDHD 5013 Child and Adolescent Development

This course provides teacher candidates with valuable opportunities to observe students, to think critically about teaching and learning, and reflect on their roles as professional educators so that they may continually improve their practice. In particular, candidates will learn about students' pathways toward successful adulthood, including how social, psychological, emotional, and educational factors diverge upon entrance into school. Candidates participated in mini-lectures, readings, group discussion, case writing, and online and face-to-face classroom discussions.

The course was developed by Vichet Chhuon from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction.

A comment from a student in EDHD 5013: "I loved this class--we moved around so much--it was very student centered. The pedagogy was great. Three hours is hard for anyone (adults or kids) to sit still and this class flew by and more importantly, I learned a ton!"

EDHD 5015 Teaching Special Needs Students in Inclusive Settings

This new course provides an overview of the areas of exceptionality defined in federal and state regulations. During the two sequenced terms, candidates will learn the historical perspectives, definitions, etiology, characteristics, needs, and service delivery systems for each area of exceptionality as well as the general educators' role in collaborating with special education personnel in order to meet the needs of students with special needs.

Kathy Seifert from the Department of Educational Psychology originally developed this course.

Students completing the first sequence shared:

"This class has been very practical and hand[s] on, I've appreciated the projects and that the assignments have been meaningful and not busy work."

"I am finally engaging with special education! This is Big! I am addressing the topic and I have sparked an interest to do more investigating."

Up next

The second sequence for these three courses will begin in the fall. In addition, EDHD 5017/18 Academic Language and English Learners will make its debut in September.

For more information about TERI, see http://www.cehd.umn.edu/TERI .

In May 2012, nine additional co-teaching specialists completed the "train the trainer" sessions with Nancy Bacharach and Teresa Washut Heck of St. Cloud State University. They are listed below. Welcome to the team!

• Kristin Bird (St.Paul)
• Nancy Gates (St. Paul)
• Michelle Leba (St. Paul)
• Dan Wrobleski (Columbia Heights)
• Michelle Dewitt (Columbia Heights)
• Erin Stutelberg (UMN)
• Terry Wyberg (UMN)
• Susan Ranney (UMN)
• Shelly Berken (UMN)

We now have over 40 co-teaching specialists in the TERI Partner School Network!

Part of implementing co-teaching as a student-teaching model includes sufficient preparation in the model and concrete strategies for the classroom. Two workshops have been developed by the EDRC and provided throughout our TERI Partner Network in face-to-face workshops in 2011-2012.

The Co-Teaching Foundations workshop is intended not only for co-teaching pairs, but also for university supervisors, faculty, and school principals and staff in our TERI Partner schools. The Foundations workshop includes an overview of the co-teaching strategies and the research and rationale behind the model. It is followed by a Co-Teaching Pairs Workshop that gives co-teachers time to connect, build rapport and collaboration skills, and also carves out some time for co-teachers to co-plan together.

Normally, the two co-teaching workshops are held face-to-face, on site with teachers. However, sometimes this is difficult logistically, or someone is not able to attend. To ensure that all those invested in co-teaching can benefit from these workshops, we are designing online modules as an alternative. The staff in Academic Technology Services at CEHD, led by Yelena Yan, is preparing these online modules during summer 2012.

On May 24, 2012, Stacy Ernst and Patsy Vinogradov held a Co-teaching Brown Bag session for faculty and staff at the College of Education and Human Development. This session was an informational session with three key topics for sharing and discussion:

• Overview of co-teaching workshops used at school sites


• District and CEHD's plans for co-teaching implementation next year, 2012-2013


• Preliminary data from co-teaching evaluation study

This two-day event included over 80 CEHD faculty, staff, and administrators, as well as TERI Partner Network Curriculum Directors, TOSAs, PAR mentors, and classroom teachers.

Participants learned more about and had opportunities to discuss the following:

• Service learning
• Elementary Education's first year implementation process of new student-teaching and coursework format
• Teacher Performance Assessment (TPA) and its first-year implementation
• New Common Content curriculum (revised with school partner input)

  o Child & Adolescent Development

  o Academic Language & English Learners

  o Cultures, Schools, & Communities

  o Teaching Students with Special Need in Inclusive Settings
  



• Classroom management task group's work


• Clinical experiences effective Fall 2012 for UMN-TC teacher candidates

TERICurriculumSummit_May15_2012.pdf
TERI_Curriculum Summit Agenda - May16_2012.pdf

"A recent New York Times column positioned the Teacher Performance Assessment as motivated or inspired by the commercial interests of one of the major test publishers. TPAC partner organizations American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) and Stanford regard the TPA quite differently, viewing it as the result of hard collaborative work to create an essential tool using professional consensus." For more perspective, please review another TPA related article, entitled "Getting a teaching license may soon include a new test - can hopefuls handle a classroom?" appeared yesterday in the Hechinger Report, and was also posted on MinnPost.

TERI from CEHD on Vimeo.

The first group of teacher candidates to spend a year co-teaching in classrooms is transforming teacher education

IN A FIRST-GRADE CLASSROOM at Earle Brown Elementary School in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, Michelle Hauser and Caitlin Halsey have finished up an early-morning prep. Their 23 students begin to wander in, stowing little backpacks, scanning an assortment of rocks spread over the countertop, and checking the leprechaun traps in the back of the room.

With St. Patrick's Day coming up, the class is on a campaign to catch the culprit sure to mess up the room over the holiday. Four students have finished and brought their homemade traps. One contains a lure of enticing green paper. "Free money!" says another. But so far none has captured the leprechaun.

Hauser and Halsey have reviewed the day's lesson plan: after breakfast, they will resume work on the Earth materials unit, which started yesterday. Then writing. Then reading before lunch. They know who will do what for the next few hours, and they know how to adapt when things don't go as planned.

Hauser walks around the room, checking in with the kids as they get organized. Halsey sits at a table where kids come to her with questions.

While Hauser leads the unit on properties of rocks, tallying sizes, colors, shapes, and textures in lists on the board, Halsey keeps working on the periphery of the classroom with individual students.

A half hour later, Halsey takes the lead with the group, reviewing the writing assignment. Each student is making a simple instruction book to tell someone else how to make a leprechaun trap like theirs. Hauser puts away rock-unit materials and gets ready for reading.

The morning proceeds seamlessly as the students group and regroup, with Hauser and Halsey teaching side by side, moving through subjects, exercises, and activities uninterrupted. They advance at a clip that still never seems rushed....

Continue Reading:
ConnectSpS12_TERI.pdf