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Overview This project is a three-year project funded by the US Department of Education. The Reflective Mediation Through Use of Technology project addresses the problem that any of the young people entering the teaching profession would embrace the opportunity of working in a high-need urban school district if they had the opportunity to learn the skills required to raise standards of student achievement in a supportive and structured environment. Developing the ability to look at one's own teaching practice, the quality of self-reflection is a key element in learning to be an effective teacher. Helping students become reflective teachers while still supporting a rigorous classroom curriculum is a challenge for all of our programs, but we feel that developing this ability early and often will lead to teachers who can make a genuine impact on all learners and raise standards of achievement, even in the most challenging classrooms. |
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Unique Elements of the project include: A collaboration of BSC faculty from all these divisions (Applied Science and Education, Natural and Social Sciences, and Arts and Humanities) on mutual goals; identification of technology as a creative resource for high-need schools partnership with current exemplary teachers in mentoring future urban teachers; emphasis on site-based applications of the technology within a specific subject area leading to greater implication and generalizability; commitment to digital equality for students with special needs. |
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Project Goals The overall goal of this program is to develop a clearly defined and sequential series of experiences for all teacher education students involving actual classroom experiences in urban schools. To make these experiences efficient and effective, they will be supported with the use of a variety of video tools including an established distance learning network between K-l2 schools and the College. Objectives include the implementation of video tools during clinical experiences, development of an enhanced distance learning network, support for on-campus faculty in using these services, establishment of an archival system and enhanced support for new urban teachers. Outcomes include better prepared teachers with an understanding of the role technology plays in differentiating instruction in a standards based classroom and a better campus infrastructure for supporting real classroom experiences for more teachers in more courses. |
Program Components |
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ActivitiesStudents use their experiences in classroom teaching to develop reflectivity through more frequent and varied opportunities and get clear faculty guidance and support for developing the skills to support higher learning standards in the classroom. Faculty will incorporate video across campus and develop a consistent set of learning experiences for all preservice teachers that is research based, effective and supports rigorous State and National standards. A system will be developed to make access to video libraries of real teaching in real urban classrooms easy, organized and user friendly. A video library of effective urban teaching strategies will be available to campus users with a networked computer and special DVD ROMS will be developed to showcase the methods use to help all students achieve high standards in any environment using technology as a supporting tool. 4) Nature of the Consortium- This consortium consists of the Buffalo State College, Buffalo City School District, Niagara Falls City School District, The King Charter School and the Enterprise Charter School. This consortium includes the major teacher training college in Western New York and the two largest urban districts in the area |
Evaluation Technology Consultant, Dr. Dennis Mike from the Department of Elementary Education and Reading. Evaluation Component Internal evaluator (Dr. Carol Stevens, Buffalo State College) and an External evaluators (Dr. Michael Wischnowski , University of Rochester and Dr. John Roden). |
