SoE Offers Online Professional Development for Mentor Teachers to Meet State CTC Requirements

UCI's Master of Arts in Teaching program is offering a series of online professional development modules to meet the new requirement from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing that all new mentor teachers engage in 10 hours of professional development on effective mentoring. The UCI mentoring modules have been designed to be integrated with the student teaching experience as a way for the mentor teacher and the student teacher to engage around shared visions of excellent teaching. 

Mentor teachers and student teachers can access the UCI toolkit at https://sites.google.com/uci.edu/uci-mentors and select an overview, depending upon their program affiliation.

•     MAT Single Subject Mentoring Overview
•     MAT Multiple Subject Mentoring Overview
•     CalTeach Mentoring Overview

On the same site, users can access the seven modules that currently available.

•     Co-Teaching
•     Building a Relationship with your Student Teacher
•     Coaching Adults
•     Providing In the Moment Feedback
•     Modeling UDL
•     edTPA Overview
•     High Leverage Practices
  

An eighth module, Classroom Management Support, is in the final stage of development, and a ninth model that will help the UCI supervisor and the onsite mentor teacher engage in a collaborative observation of the student teacher is planned 

As explained on the website, the modules, which include information, resources, and activities that the mentor teacher and the student teacher can explore together, are intended to be incorporated into a shared work experience, rather than approached as additional tasks unrelated to classroom goals. It is expected that the amount of time required to complete each module will depend on the way the mentor teacher and the student teacher engage with the suggested activities and resources.

UCI is the first UC campus to develop online modules to meet CTC requirements. Director of Teacher Education Virginia Panish explains that UCI faculty are sharing module information with other UC campuses and partner school districts. "We look forward to partnering with school districts on this venture. We have designed a flexible program that can be integrated into work that mentor teachers already are doing with their student teachers. To keep the modules current and relevant, we will be soliciting feedback and assessing module usage this winter, which will allow us to modify and update the modules as needed." 

For additional information, contact Director of Teacher Education Virginia Panish, Single Subject Coordinator Sue Vaughn, or Multiple Subject Coordinator Susan Toma-Berge.