University at Buffalo — SUNY

You will complete the required coursework for your major, along with the required undergraduate education classes, which includes 15-18 credits that prepare you to enter the graduate portion of the program.

You will complete two full semesters of graduate coursework, including several pre-clinical placements in schools, which are designed to acclimate the you to working in a classroom prior to the residency year.

You will be asked about your preference of school locale (i.e. urban, suburban or rural), and UB will attempt to accommodate these preferences. Generally speaking, the vast majority of UB residents are in suburban and urban placements.

You will enter a year-long residency placement in a local school while also completing the final courses in your program. 

Knowing the value of pre-service teaching time spent in school classrooms, UB firmly believes in the effectiveness of its year-long residency model. You will co-teach with a mentor teacher for two full semesters, allowing more time in the classroom and also more time to become integrated into the culture of the school itself. 

Required courses will prepare you to support students from different communities. Some of these courses include:

• Teaching students with disabilities
• Instructional strategies for inclusive classrooms
• Sociology of education
• Program-specific teaching pedagogy for working with diverse learners

Then, during the residency year, guest speakers are brought into seminar classes to discuss: 

• Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in the classroom
• Working with English language learners (ELLs)

During the residency year, you are assigned a clinical coach from the School of Education office who provides ongoing support throughout the year. Coaches will visit you in your placements monthly and hold small group sessions with your peers in the program. You are also partnered with a mentor teacher, with whom you will engage in co-teaching throughout the year. 

During each academic year, UB elicits feedback from its school partners at various points. This feedback is shared with program administration and faculty members during biannual data sessions, where content area departments work to infuse the feedback into existing coursework. 
UB also has an ongoing Community Advisory Board made up of a variety of local stakeholders. Their feedback is shared with staff and faculty as well. 
Students are polled during and at the conclusion of their programs, and their feedback serves an important role in our year-over-year planning.