Miranda Heller Gift Funds DTE Conference and Initiatives
On October 3, 1998, the Developmental Teacher Education (DTE) program held the first of what will
become an annual event-the Educators Developing Together Conference, at the Haas Clubhouse in Strawberry
Canyon. The conference was a preliminary step in DTE's efforts to bring together current students, program
graduates, master teachers, and other educators who work with DTE. Approximately 75 people attended. DTE is the
Graduate School of Education's model elementary education credential and master's program.
The conference featured lively discussions on numerous topics selected by the participants, including Creating
Community in Diverse Settings, Developmental Approaches to Art and Music Education, Respecting Family and Culture,
Developmental Approaches to Math, Emergent Readers in Intermediate Grades, Supporting English Learners in the Wake of
Proposition 227, and the Role of Unions for New Teachers.
The conference was made possible by a generous five-year grant from a DTE grad, Miranda Heller. In addition to the
conference, this grant has also funded scholarships for DTE students and a colloquium series to be organized by DTE
students in spring '99.
Another way in which the Heller grant is expanding contacts among various players in the teacher preparation
process is through supporting current DTE master teachers who wish to take a class alongside DTE students. The master
teachers enroll through UC Extension's concurrent enrollment plan. In the spring semester of 1999, two teachers from
the Berkeley Unified School District will be the first to take advantage of this opportunity by enrolling in Dean Eugene
Garcia's second-year DTE course, Teaching Linguistic and Cultural Minority Students.
Liz Fuentes, teacher at Thousand Oaks Elementary in Berkeley, looks forward to her return to school: "Taking this course
allows me to be in contact with UCB professors who are teaching teachers and potential teachers like DTE students.
I'm always interested in learning theories that will help me as a teacher. This also gives me a chance to offer my
perspective as a teacher in an academic setting."
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Former DTE supervisor Lisa Wong
DTE co-founder Allen Black,
Brainstorming ideas for collaborations-
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