|
|
| Home The University of Louisiana at Lafayette's College of Education is committed to responding to the increasingly complex and changing demands of teaching in schools. Both school and community settings offer opportunities to inquire into what it means to work with school children. Field experiences provides an excellent opportunity to inquire into what curriculum looks like in practice and to begin to understand the deep responsibilities of being a teacher. The College of Education received a Board of Regents grant that is multi-focused, highlighting educational projects and teacher preparation, providing imaginative projects that seek future opportunities to enhance educational projects and promote higher achievement. The Fall 2004 semester will focus on connecting teacher candidates in Blocks I and II (juniors and seniors) with in-service mentor teachers. The Spring 2005 semester will allow teacher candidates in Block III (seniors) to collaborate with university professors and their mentor in the classroom to create, design, integrate, and implement content with appropriate pedagogy. These reform efforts focus on teacher preparation by enabling students in the College of Education to synthesize their learning and deliver instruction to "a real audience" of school age children who will receive relevant application of the subject matter in critical shortage areas. The investigators realize the importance of offering the best experiences to teacher candidates in order for them to develop into highly qualified and effective teachers. This project will set the stage for a more involved collaboration between the university and public/private schools in the future. Knowledge gleaned from this year's activities will better shape learning experiences for teacher candidates in years to come.
Robin Ward - Principal Investigator Hunter Beasley, Mary Jane Ford, and Gerald Carlson - Co-principal Investigators
|