What You'll Find At the Rural Teacher Residency Teaching Commons:
- A free and "always-open, one stop shop" for the RTR community to find and share resources, expertise, and professional connections to people supporting education in high-need rural schools.
- A free and open digital library of teaching and learning resources for the ongoing support for RTR students, mentors, faculty, administrators, and community as the develop their skills for successfully teaching in high-need rural schools
- Free online community services, both open and private, for RTR students, mentors, etc to continuously grow the RTR community's supportive sharing and dialog needed for student success in high-need rural schools
- Free and open online tools for the RTR community to create and share eportfolios for capturing, sharing, and improving educational practices in high-need rural schools.
ABOUT Rural Teacher Residency (RTR)
The Rural Teacher Residency (RTR) is a pathway that bundles the Master's in Education with a multiple subject or education specialist preliminary credential. Residents participate with cohorts of general and special education Residents to cultivate Professional Learning Communities, collaboration, and promote school change.
The Rural Teacher Residency (RTR) is a comprehensive partnership between the University's School of Education and four high-need rural school districts in northern California designed to improve the preparation of new teachers, to address the needs of rural schools, and to improve the achievement of all students to overcome the Achievement Gap.
ABOUT MERLOT
MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching www.merlot.org) is an open online digital library of over 35,000 teaching and learning materials for educators and students around the world. The California State University has led MERLOT for 15 years and has integrated MERLOT into a wide variety of CSU's teacher education programs (e.g. Noyce Scholars, California Science Educators, California Math Educators, Education Leadership).
What Makes Rural Teacher Residency Special?
- The Resident appreciates and values human diversity, recognizes community and cultural norms, shows respect for students' varied talents and perspectives, seeks to foster culturally appropriate communications and demonstrates best practices in his or her field.
- The Resident believes that all children can learn, appreciates their varying abilities, and persists in helping all children achieve success.
- The Resident is committed to continuous, self-directed learning, critical thinking and reflection in order to refine instructional practice and deepen knowledge in the academic disciplines.
- The Resident demonstrates pride in the education profession and participates in collaborative relationships with colleagues, students, parents, and social and professional communities and agencies.
- The Resident is committed to the expression and use of democratic values and to the creation of a learning environment that fosters active engagement in learning and encourages positive social interaction.