Fall Practicum | Spring Practicum | Student Profiles | Mentor Profiles 

Established in 1999, the Urban Teacher Training Collaborative (UTTC) is an innovative school-university, school-based, Master of Arts in Teaching program that was developed by Tufts University in conjunction with three small Boston Public Schools (the Boston Arts Academy, Fenway High School, and Mission Hill School). The UTTC is committed to developing effective, collegial, and reform-minded teachers for city schools.

The mission of the UTTC is to help meet the need for good urban teachers through an innovative model for teacher training similar to the "residency" model used to train medical professionals. Instead of completing a typical ten-week school internship after a semester of university courses, UTTC student teachers—referred to as interns—work at their assigned schools full-time under the guidance of mentor teachers and university professors, starting on the first day of school and ending in May.

Fall Practicum

• Discussion between mentor and intern about goals, professional responsibilities and the DOE’s Pre service Performance Assessment form (PPA).
   
  We recognize that most interns have experience with professional conduct, but our experience teaches us that it is useful to have a conversation about what it means to be professional at this school site (e.g. if you are absent or going to be late you should…in our school, dressing professionally means…)
   
• Interns follow the school’s daily schedule and calendar, including school vacations and holidays. Interns are expected to follow guidelines for teachers in terms of attendance, parent-teacher conferences, exhibitions of student work, and social occasions. One day per month, interns observe different classrooms and teachers. 
• Mentor-intern-supervisor meeting in late September held on site.
• Interns shadow a student through a regular day.
• Intern assists mentor in classes, often working with individual students and small groups, helping distribute materials, taking attendance, etc. The intern should be engaged in classroom activities that help him/her get to know the students. Outside of class, interns may assist the mentor in preparing class materials, finding curricular resources, brainstorming ideas for lessons, and helping to grade papers. Generally speaking, interns should not spend more than 2 hours per week on administrative tasks such as photocopying. When giving interns work to do outside of school hours, mentors should keep in mind that interns are also full-time graduate students with courses to attend reading to complete and papers to write.
• Generally mentors and interns spend one hour a week planning together. 
• Interns discuss assessing student work with mentors.
• Interns participate in regular staff meetings and exhibitions, parent conferences, and other events as required by their school site or department team.
• Interns plan a pre-college activity as required by their work-study stipend. In the past interns have worked with students on college applications, taken students on college tours, developed a tutoring program for a basketball team, and brought students to Tufts to edit a video project, tutored writing or math n small groups. 
• Interns plan individual lessons or units in collaboration with mentors/team
• Mentors and interns co-teach one or two classes. This could look like the intern leading a lesson while the mentor walks around to check student understanding, or adds to the discussion.
• Interns interview an administrator and/or member of the student support staff
• Interns observe an IEP meeting
• In consultations with mentors, interns learn to communicate with parents about student progress.
• Interns become familiar with different types of assessment used to record student learning, MA frameworks, and effective use of technology in the classroom
• Interns individually teach 1-2 classes, at least once a week
• Discussion between mentors and interns about the spring semester.

Spring Practicum

• Mentor, intern and supervisor review the PPA together and note intern’s strengths and areas for growth.
• Interns take on increasing responsibility in the classroom: planning curriculum, instructing, managing class climate, assessing, communicating with parents.
• Mentors are available as coaches, providing advice on areas such as curriculum development and classroom management.
• Mentors observe interns teaching and debrief observations, at least once a week. This might be informal or formal.
• Interns and mentors meet for regularly scheduled (at least one hour a week) in-person conversations to debrief intern’s experience:
  
  “What’s working?”
  “What needs improvement?”
• Interns experience teaching without their mentors in the room.
• Interns implement the pre-college activity. 

Mentor Profiles

I think the mentors most important job is to help a developing teacher find his/her own style and voice as a teacher. I think being a good mentor is similar to being a good teacher. It means setting up teaching experiences that allow the intern to feel the success and high of teaching, and also situations where they can safely make mistakes so that they can grow and develop. I also think that for many interns, there is a tough transition from being an idealist to being a realist, and that a good mentor helps an intern navigate this transition without becoming burnt out and cynical.

 -- Emily Simpson MAT 2003

The internship was an invaluable experience. So much of teaching is about experience and learning on the job by trying things out and reflecting on successes and failures. It is important to be knowledgeable about theories of education but without the practical knowledge it is difficult to develop as a teacher. The internship program was a real apprenticeship program. I was paired up with a mentor teacher from the beginning of the year and I was in the classroom all day, every day. This allowed me to experience the rhythm of the day and the cycle of the year. I had to teach students when they were groggy in the morning or hyper after lunch. I was able to see how developing relationships with students progresses from the September to June and how the chemistry of a class can shift during this time. All of these things are even more important in an urban setting, which has unique challenges and demands. The internship was my first exposure to the energy of an urban school. For most of my own schooling, I had attended parochial or suburban schools. Teaching in an urban setting was important to me, but what did I know about it? Because I was there all year, instead of just a few weeks or months, I was able to learn how important it was to really get to know students and learn about their daily lives. As an intern, I was able to see that despite all the challenges it is still possible to make a difference in the life of a young person.

 -- Keith Magni, MAT 2004