The Urban Student Teaching Program was started five years ago by Dr. Liedel-Rice.  It is a collaborative effort with Duquesne University, University of Pittsburgh and Indiana University of Pennsylvania.  Students in this program gain experience through teaching in an urban setting. This allows them contact with students of different cultures.  Student teachers learn different ways of thinking and teaching from these children.  This program is also a way to get a foot in the door at competitive schools in Pittsburgh.  Employers want experience before they grant interviews, and students that complete this program will fulfill that requirement.

1.  To prepare participants to recognize diverse student populations as individuals who can be motivated to learn, think creatively and obtain high levels of academic achievement.

2.  To enable participants to recognize their own teaching beliefs and styles as they relate to teaching students of diverse cultural backgrounds.

3.  To enable participants to reflect on the social conditions of their teaching placement as it relates to the education of their students.

4.  To prepare participants to recognize inequitable issues of class, race, gender and disability and develop alternative ways of promoting multicultural education.

5.  To promote an understanding of urban parents and young children by linking participants with urban community centers.

Student teaching usually occurs in the student's last semester before graduation.  The duration of the program is 16 weeks.  Applications for the Urban Student Teaching Program must be completed in the beginning of the fall and spring semesters.  An interview is also required.  Approximately twenty students are picked each semester to participate.  The program consists of eight seminars, teaching experience, inclusion and information on hiring procedures.  Each student will have three people to support them during this program.  A collaborative instructor will teach with them in the classroom, a site liason will oversee all student teachers in a building, and Dr. Leidel Rice will serve as the University supervisor and meet once a week with the
student teacher.

Destinations for the teaching experience include Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Las Vegas, Nevada, Ireland and Mexico.

For more information contact Dr. Liedel-Rice at x2296.