Working with Early Field Experience or Student Teachers
Let us know about the work you are doing with pre-service teachers.
Providing External Professional Development Support
In your role as a Master Teacher Fellow, when you present at a conference or provide professional development the Master Teacher Program would love to hear about it!
Applying for External Professional Development
Master Teachers are life-long learners and often seek the opportunity for external professional development in addition to what is offered through the Master Teacher program. These opportunities can include conferences, workshops, and other related PD.
There is a limited amount of funding available for requests such as these. The documents below provide detailed information on the external PD support process.
A limited amount of program funding may be available to Master Teachers who, as a group, would like to participate in professional development (PD) activities not created or sponsored by the NYS MTP.1 These funds are not available every year and will be distributed via an application process. Preference will be given to applicants who have not previously received such funding through the application
process.
Eligibility: Master Teachers must be in good standing with the NYS Master Teacher Program according to the Master Teacher Agreement signed upon joining the program. Master Teachers must not have already received this type of funding in the current program year (program years are from September 1-August 31).
Timeline: Applications will be reviewed every other month beginning on October 1 by NYS MTP staff. Subsequent deadlines will be December 1, February 1, April 1 and June 1. Applications for the annual conferences of National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and National Science Teachers Association must be received by the February 1 deadline of that year, at the latest.
Guidelines:
- The PD activity should be professional in nature and substantial in content.
- Participating in the activity should be of professional benefit to the teacher AND to the cohort.
- Preference will be given to well-written applications that outline the specific connections to current and/or future work within the cohort.
- Funds will not be paid nor reimbursed directly to individual Master Teachers; participation in external PD must be coordinated through and billed to the NYS MTP at each host campus.
Application Format: Master Teachers wishing to receive support for external PD activities should complete the application form available on the SUNY Learning Commons.
Submission: Email a PDF of your application form to your NYS MTP Site Coordinators by the deadline. NO exceptions for late applications will be made.
Approval: Notice of the funding decision will be provided approximately 2-3 weeks after the submission deadline. Please take this timing into consideration when choosing your submission date and leave sufficient time for coordination of attendance and billing for the chosen external PD activity, if approved.
1 NOTE: These funds may not be available in future years of the program.
New York State Master Teacher Program (NYS MTP) implementation funds are intended to cover the costs of implementing a robust professional development (PD) program at each Master Teacher Program site. Following each campus’ Business Office protocols, the funds can be used for expenses such as honorarium for campus faculty and other content or pedagogy experts who are participating in or leading professional development events, organizing cohort meetings, etc.
If a site has planned its full calendar of events and other financial commitments and has remaining program implementation funds, they may be used to financially support Master Teachers (MTs) interested in engaging in a PD activity not created or sponsored by the Site Coordinators or host campus under the following circumstances:
- The PD event design, purpose and/or focus are aligned with one or more of the three NYS MTP knowledge domains: knowledge of content, of pedagogy or of students’ families and communities.
- A group of Master Teachers are participating together (this group is strongly encouraged to enhance their participation by facilitating a related PLT or mini-course, presenting at the event, etc.).
- Expenses are billed to the campus’s Master Teacher Program, not to any individual Master Teacher. This means that to facilitate Master Teachers’ attendance, for example, one invoice would have to cover the cost for all MTs for each type of expense such as conference registration fees, bus or van rented for transport, lodging, etc. Program implementation funds cannot be used to directly reimburse Master Teachers for travel and related expenses on an individual basis.
Site Coordinators are asked to work with their respective campus Business Offices to ensure that they are following protocol. An approval by the NYS Master Teacher Program Director for this use of funds does not supersede the protocols in place at each campus for this use of program funds.
The process for requesting funds to participate in PD events outside of those sponsored by the host campus is outlined in the document Guidelines for External PD Support. Master Teachers are required to submit an Application for External PD Support to their Site Coordinators. The Site Coordinators will review the applications and inform the Master Teachers of the decision.
If the Master Teacher receives this additional funding, s/he must complete the External PD Reflection Form and submit it to his/her Site Coordinator within two weeks of participating in PD event. This form is designed to encourage consideration of how this PD activity has helped them meet their goals for professional growth within the NYS Master Teacher Program.
Supporting Documents:
- MTP Site Guidelines for External PD Support
- MT Application for External PD Support
- MTP Site Example Rubric for Evaluating Application for External PD Support
- MT External PD Reflection Form