INITIAL PROFESSIONAL TEACHER EDUCATION
"Teacher Leaders for Tomorrow's Schools"
- Handbooks
- PBAs
- Licensure Courses and Schedules
- Special Education
- MA Options
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- Undergraduates
Master's Degree and Endorsement Options
Initial Professional Teacher Education Program Foundations
UCD’s preparation program for general and special education teachers is based on several teaching roles and their related essential questions.
The roles and essential questions emerged from a thorough analysis of state and national standards in teacher education as well as from discussions among teacher leaders at the K-12, state and national levels.
These teaching roles represent an educational model that maintains that teaching includes attention not only to students’ learning and well-being but also to the renewal of K-12 schools.
Teacher Roles and Essential Questions
Teacher as Scholar
How do I use and develop knowledge and critical inquiry to ensure scholarly competence in my work with learners and their families and communities?
Teacher as Instructor
How can I plan for, differentiate, facilitate, and assess the development and learning of each student in an environment that affirms equity and diversity?
Teacher as Student Advocate
How can my teaching practices foster learners’ self-advocacy and ensure equal access to and benefit from quality education?
Teacher as Professional
How do I engage in reflective, ethical, moral, and legal teaching practice and inquiry such that I draw from and contribute to the profession and to the democratic ideal?
Teacher as Leader
How do I engage in or lead school change and renewal processes grounded in the ethics of inquiry, knowledge, competence, caring, and social justice?
Teacher as School and Community Collaborator
How do I engage in consultative and collaborative efforts with families and other school professionals to assure that students with disabilities are able to learn in a variety of settings?
Teacher as Case Manager
How do I efficiently and effectively manage a large number of decisions including but not limited to issues of assessment, literacy instruction, transition and behavior supports while operating under conditions in which resources, time, and differences of opinion exist?
The IPTE programs foster critically reflective inquiry about teaching and learning and the development of collaborative skills necessary to work effectively with other adults on schooling issues. The IPTE programs strive to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse population of students, and to productively participate in and lead school renewal by applying democratic principles in educational settings.
These roles are based on:
- The characteristics of excellent first year teachers as defined by focus groups composed of master teachers from metropolitan school districts,
- The new Colorado teacher education standards,
- The goals of two groups in which the UCD School of Education and the partner school districts have membership: the National Network for Educational Renewal and the Colorado Partnership for Educational Renewal,
- The overall mission of the UCD School of Education to prepare leaders for professional practice in schools, and
- The accreditation standards of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) as well as affiliated professional organizations such as the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), ACEI, and content organizations in English, social studies, math, and science.
