Urban Teaching Collaborative

March 2005
Donna Qualters, Associate Professor and Director, CEUT

In busy urban school settings, new teachers often feel isolated and disconnected from the teaching support network they had as education students. Through this site, Northeastern University can become a leader in alleviating the isolation of new teachers by providing a virtual connection with classmates, veteran urban teachers, cooperating teachers, community partners, arts and sciences faculty and practicing alumni across the country.

While the emphasis in training teachers has shifted to graduating students with more in-depth expertise in their respective disciplines, future teachers' success depends also on their ability to present the material of their discipline in an active, involved, engaging way to their students. Visitors to the site can watch video clips of arts and sciences faculty explaining key teaching concepts in the subject areas of math, English, science, history, and foreign language. For example, math professor Carla Oblas offers tips on teaching fractions, and School of Education Interim Dean and chemistry professor Thomas Gilbert discusses how to utilize active learning to increase student motivation in science courses.

The site also links to the Massachusetts Department of Education's Professional Standards for Teachers. These standards and competencies define the pedagogical and other professional knowledge and skills required of all teachers in the state. The site has been designed to illustrate accomplished practice of these standards by carefully chosen master teachers in urban partner schools. Students in the pre-service program can go to the website to watch video clips of these teachers demonstrating accomplished practice of the standard in an authentic teaching situation. They can also watch these creative teachers to gather ideas and suggestions on delivery methods, classroom management techniques, and teaching techniques to promote equity.

Because schools extend beyond the classroom walls, this site focuses also on the surrounding community. It lists community partners and elementary and secondary schools in the Boston district that contribute to the development of urban youth and pre-service and new teachers from Northeastern. The site also includes links to discipline experts from the College of Arts and Sciences faculty, School of Education cooperating teachers, clinical supervisors and faculty in an efficient manner.

For students enrolled in the Northeastern School of Education, a forum is available to connect beginning practitioners with experienced teachers and peers. Beginning teachers can gain access to the expertise of accomplished teachers, share pedagogical strategies, and discuss school challenges. The site offers urban teachers a list of resources available to assist in their curriculum planning. The UTC also provides valuable data for research into methods and trends to improve the training of teachers for urban sites.

Most importantly, the UTC website offers new urban practitioners support and a virtual community to sustain their teaching practice and commitment during the first few critical years, while they move from beginning to accomplished urban teachers.