When working at elementary schools, ProTeach junior Valentina Pontesse could soon have students around her legs and a supervisor in her ear.
Well, not exactly.
Earpiece transmitters that would allow supervisors to give feedback to UF students teaching in classrooms could soon be a reality for UF ProTeach students, thanks to a $1.5-million grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs.
Starting this month, the money will help UF education professors Penny Cox and James McLeskey implement Project Restructuring and Improving Teacher Education.
"It means updated, more state-of-the-art teacher education," Cox said.
Students will see changes starting this summer. The program will focus on connecting classroom learning with real-life experience.
The money from the grant - $300,000 each year for five years - will help hire consultants and pay salaries for UF faculty dedicating their time to redesigning the program.
McLeskey said 10 faculty members are working to identify which skills are most crucial to be a highly effective teacher. They have developed subject-based curriculum and activities that will spread content throughout the school year.
Students will now also graduate from UF with a reading endorsement, which means they have learned strategies for teaching reading in the classroom, McLeskey said.
"We'll be changing the place where they'll be learning during their fifth year: in an elementary classroom as opposed to a college classroom," he said.
Pontesse, 21, said the grant is great because she sometimes learns more in the field than from textbooks or professors.
"Some concepts you can't put into practice until you use them with real children," she said, adding that the program will be especially useful in her special education training.
Students with disabilities are increasingly included in standard classes rather than pulled out for specialized instruction, Cox said.
This means teachers must be able to teach students on a variety of levels at the same time. UF's revamped program will produce teachers who know how to facilitate learning in all students.
"Better teachers means better learning and better outcomes for children," Cox said. "If you don't have good teachers, what happens to the kids?"
