EDUC 568A: Guided Practice A

EDUC 568A: Guided Practice A

EDUC 568A: Guided Practice A

SEPTEMBER 2013

INSTRUCTOR: Yusuf Allahjah

Phone: (310) 936-2589

Email:

Office Hours: Wednesday 8:30-9:30 (after class)

INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE

Guided Practice is a two-part course. Candidates in this course must receive credit for successful completion in order to continue into EDUC 568B/Guided Practice B. This course provides participants with opportunities to apply theory in practice, to deepen their understanding of the teaching-learning process, and to engage in a continuous cycle of critical reflection. In this way, Guided Practice offers you an opportunity to realize facets of the MAT program’s professional “Vision of a Teacher,” which refers to the set of identities and goals that teacher candidates work toward in the MAT program. In this course, you will apply learning theories, content knowledge, and the repertoire of pedagogical approaches acquired in previous courses as they work to positively affect student learning in your placements. Specifically, this course offers a curriculum that is informed by the MAT program’s seven essential “Domains of Practice,” which are depicted in the accompanying graphic. The subsequent course, EDUC 568B: Guided Practice B, builds directly on the foundation established here.

Guided Practice A to B: A Developmental Sequence

The domains of teacher practice examined in this course, the unit’s respective learning objectives, the key questions, and the formative assessments are organized along a developmental continuum. You are not expected, nor should you expect to achieve mastery within each domain of practice by the conclusion of Guided Practice A. Each domain encountered in Guided Practice A will be revisited in Guided Practice B, where there will be a focus on the depth of your ongoing reflection and the growth in their practice as it relates to the seven knowledge domains. Throughout Guided Practice A and B, you will practice engaging in a reflective cycle as you focus on developing knowledge within and across the seven domains of practice and as they apply that knowledge in your guided practice placements.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

By the end of this course, teacher candidates will be able to:

  • Apply knowledge of learning theories, content and pedagogy when planning and implementing lessons/curricula;
  • Use the reflective cycle to deepen one’s understanding of the relationship between teaching and learning;
  • Draw upon information from observation and reflection to inform instructional decision-making;
  • Use multiple and varied approaches to facilitate individual and group learning; and
  • Develop one’s identity as a teaching professional, change agent and educational advocate.

Why is this course in the program?

The assignments and learning experiences for this course are intended to: Provide opportunities for practice teaching, drawing on knowledge of learning theories, subject matter, and pedagogy; Provide opportunities for reflecting on one’s own and others’ teaching practice; and Enable progress from abstract to applied knowledge of theory—in other words, theory in practice. This course also fulfills various state certification requirements. (For more detail concerning how this course meets California Council on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) standards, as well as Teacher Performance Expectations (TPEs), please see Appendices D and E).

COURSE REQUIREMENTS, ASSESSMENTS, AND GRADE DISTRIBUTION TABLE

School Site Requirements

First and foremost, all members of Guided Practice are expected to fulfill the basic requirements of their respective roles—Teacher Candidate, Guiding Teacher or Guided Practice Instructor—as they are laid out in the Guided Practice School Placement Policies (Appendix A) and Roles and Responsibilities (Appendix B). See specifically:

“School Site Attendance and Daily Expectations.” Additionally, all teacher candidates must complete the following seven assignments during Guided Practice A. Rubrics are available in the Course Toolbox; however, your instructor may provide updated/revised rubrics via email. Instructors will review rubrics in class as assignments are introduced.

Assessment 1: The Entry Interview

The Entry Interview provides a structured opportunity for you, your Guiding Teacher, and your Guided Practice Instructor to meet together to discuss your understanding of the expectations of this course, your learning goals for the first ten weeks of “student teaching,” the elements that will count as “evidence” of you meeting those goals, and the activities that will constitute your assessment of teaching performances throughout the course/placement. The Entry Interview is a mandatory component of this course and program and may be conducted over the phone, on the Adobe connect platform, or other videoconferencing software. You will be expected to actively assist in the arrangement of the Entry Interview with the Guided Practice Instructor and Guiding Teacher to take place during the first week of the term or sooner (if amenable to all parties) The Guided Practice Instructor will ask questions to challenge your assumptions, while assisting you in cultivating your goals and refining your plan for achieving and assessing those goals. Your attendance to the Entry Interview is mandatory; the attendance of your Guiding Teacher is strongly preferred, but should your GT not attend, you will not lose credit. Please make every reasonable effort to ensure your Guiding Teacher participates in the Entry Interview, as this opportunity is important to your development and to your GT’s understanding of the course goals and requirements. Please refer to the rubric for this assessment before attending your Entry Interview.

Week 1 - 20 points 5% of final grade

Assessment 2: Reflective Fieldwork Log #1 – Initial Classroom Observations

During the first week of Guided Practice Part A, you will observe instruction in your assigned classroom(s) and focus on the ways the Guiding Teacher considers the needs of learners, the support the Guiding Teacher provides to learners who have not yet acquired the essential prerequisite skills for each lesson, and the tools the Guiding Teacher uses to facilitate learning (resources, language, and strategies). Additionally, you will identify the theoretical approaches the Guiding Teacher uses and reflect upon how these strategies fit into your beliefs about the ways to achieve higher learning outcomes. Following the “Fieldwork Log Format” created by George Posner (2010) in Field Experience: A Guide to Reflective Teaching, you will document your observations by composing a reflective fieldwork log (See pp. 21-28). Your log should be 3-5 typed pages in length and include the following components:

  • Heading: Name, Dates of classroom observations, time spent (e.g., 8:30AM-11:45AM)
  • Timeline: Generate a concise/simple timeline of procedures or “list of events” observed during the time periods that you document observations
  • Description: Select two significant events that you observed to describe in as much detail as possible. As Posner (2010) writes, “When you describe an episode, try to relive it. Reliving the experience will enable you to provide as much detail as possible. Make certain that you include what people said, what they did, and how they looked” (p. 26). Use quotes and rich descriptions without evaluation or analysis.
  • Reflection: After reviewing your descriptions, what have you learned about your expectations and assumptions related to teaching and learning in this classroom? What aspects of your observations confirm your ideas or force you to reconsider them? What questions of practice arose during your observations that you seek to explore during the next nine weeks?

Additional instructions may be provided on the 2SC LMS. Please refer to the rubric for this assessment before submission. Saturday, 11:55PM PST, Week 1: 20 points - 10% of final grade

Assessment 3: Seminar Participation

Attendance and participation are mandatory in the weekly seminars (Weeks 2-9). Small and whole group discussions will occur at every class meeting and students are expected to participate fully. Candidates will carefully review each set of Key Unit Questions provided in each unit prior to class and come to class prepared with responses and questions in order to actively participate in both planned and impromptu class discussions. Candidates will not be awarded credit for Seminar unless they are in front of a fully functioning computer/monitor with a working video camera and microphone or telephone. Weeks 2-9: 10 points per class/80 possible points - 10% of final grade

Assessment 4: Teaching and Learning Events / “Focus” Videos

Teaching and Learning Events. Working with your Guided Practice Instructor and your Guiding Teacher, you will develop knowledge and skills that will enable you to, eventually, take full responsibility for planning and instruction in your placement. While you will write a lesson plan for every lesson you teach, this course also requires that you submit evidence of your planning, teaching, and reflection in the form of three (3) Teaching and Learning Events. In all three Teaching and Learning Events, you will draw upon the Guiding Questions included below to inform your planning and reflection. Please refer to the rubrics for these assessments before submission. Weeks 2-7; 50 points each event/150 points total; 40% of final grade

Component / Corresponding Guiding Questions
  1. Videotaped preplanning conference with Guiding Teacher (20-30 minutes)
10 points /
  1. What are the expected learning outcomes for this particular learning plan?
  2. Specifically, what characteristics of the learners have been incorporated into the learning plan (e.g., prior knowledge and experiences, learning preferences, strengths and weaknesses, interests, etc.)?
  3. What essential prerequisite knowledge and skills do students need to successfully complete the learning plan? How will you provide support for students who have not yet acquired the essential prerequisite skills?
  4. What sequence of experiences and tools will be used to facilitate learning?
  5. How does the learning plan maintain continuity and an appropriate developmental sequence in subject matter, concepts, and skills?
  6. How does the learning plan fit into the larger curriculum framework?
  7. How does the learning plan support equitable student participation?
  8. What theoretical perspective on learning guided your planning?
  9. How will you determine whether students have made progress toward applying the concepts and skills they have learned in new and novel situations?

  1. Written learning plan
10 points
  1. Video of full-length lesson
10 points / A set of lesson plan models are introduced in each candidate’s Pedagogy A course. Candidates will select and apply a lesson plan model introduced in her/his Pedagogy A course or one required by the school/district. Regardless of the lesson plan model selected, candidates must meet the “Minimum requirements for Written Lesson Plan submissions” outlined in Appendix C. Candidates should review those requirements carefully.
  1. Post-Lesson Reflection Forum
20 points /
  1. What were the strengths and weaknesses in your learning plan?
  2. What prior experiences, knowledge, and skills helped students succeed with this learning experience?
  3. Did students learn the concepts or skills well enough for application in new and novel situations? If not, what additional learning experiences might better support this level of application?
  4. What elements of practice need to change in order to improve student learning and participation (e.g., changes to the instructional sequence, stronger links to students’ prior knowledge, more differentiated support for learners, efforts to ensure more equitable student participation, etc.)?
  5. How does the theoretical perspective on learning that you used help you make sense of your instructional practices?

“Focus” Videos

When deemed appropriate by the Guided Practice Instructor, candidates may be officially assigned an additional “Focus Video” assignment. The “Focus” Video follows a different format. For each “Focus” Video, a candidate must select an area of focus that s/he wants and/or needs to explore further; alternatively, the Guided Practice Instructor may encourage or officially assign an area of focus. Each candidate will then record and upload 10-15 minutes of instruction documenting her/his efforts in relation to this area of focus. In addition, each candidate will write a brief explanation/reflection detailing the assigned area of focus and the rational for the instructional choices used in the video. The “Focus” Video assignment will only be required when deemed appropriate by the Guided Practice Instructor. As Assigned – Ungraded - These assignments will be ungraded, but instructors reserve the right to add points to previously submitted Teaching and Learning Event videos when they have assigned a Focus Video.

Assessment 5: Reflective Fieldwork Logs #2 and #3 – Teaching Load Progression

You will follow the teaching load progression as outlined in the Course and Assignment Overview (See p. 8). Written self-reflections of teaching load progression and attendance will be made in Unit 4 and Unit 10. The teaching load progression represents a series of “benchmarks,” which indicate expectations within a developmental continuum of how many lessons should be co-planned with the Guiding Teacher and taught/led by you, the candidate. In some cases, you may feel unprepared to (or asked by her/his Guiding Teacher not to) assume the expected teaching load stated in a given week. In some cases, you may be ready to assume a higher teaching load than the expected in a given week. In either case, you are expected to explicitly discuss and negotiate the teaching load with your Guiding Teacher on an individual and regular basis, with the understanding that your progress is developmental and unique to your needs. You are also expected to contact your instructor should you not be able to follow the recommended teaching load sequence outlined in this syllabus. By the end of Guided Practice A, all elementary and secondary candidates are expected to take responsibility for four full days of instruction (e.g., two days in Week 9 and two days in Week 10) in order to partially fulfill California Council on Teacher Credentialing standards (e.g., a total of ten days of instructional responsibility must be demonstrated by the end of GP-B). Weeks 4 & 10: 10 points per entry/20 possible points – 5% of final grade

Assessment 6: E-Portfolio Formative Assessment

Candidates will present a selection of three video clips, 3-5 minutes each from their Teaching and Learning Event videos, which were uploaded during Guided Practice. These excerpts will be chosen by candidates to demonstrate their instructional improvement during the previous eight weeks (GP-A) of teaching and reveal increasing proficiency, as noted in the criteria provided in the ePortfolio Rubric. Each candidate will also submit an analysis of her/his professional growth. This analysis may accompany the video clips as a voice or video recording, before, in between, and/or after each clip. Alternatively, the candidate may submit the analysis in 3-5 written (typed) pages uploaded to Taskstream along with the video file(s). The analysis must address the following considerations:

  1. How do these excerpts demonstrate your progress toward facilitating learning for all students?
  2. What learning theories inform your understanding of what is transpiring in the excerpts that you selected?
  3. How did you go about monitoring student progress toward meeting the standards/objectives?
  4. What patterns of students’ errors, skills, and understandings did you identify in relation to the standards/objectives in your lessons?
  5. What were the academic strengths and needs of all students within the full range of academic language proficiency? Did you identify instructional needs related to vocabulary development?
  6. What are your next steps moving forward to address the identified needs of your learners, including their acquisition of content knowledge, language, and literacy skills?
  7. Describe the strengths of your teaching practices that were acquired in your experiences during GP-A.
  8. What challenges or “problems” in your practice have you identified that you would like to systematically change to improve the learning of individuals and collective learners in your GP-B placement?

The MAT Program uses TaskStream to collect key assessments, such as the PACT/TPA. For this course assignment, candidates will also submit her/his ePortfolio Assessment on TaskStream (). For the majority of candidates who already have a TaskStream account, the self-enrollment code for this assessment will be share by your instructor. If you do not have a TaskStream account, please alert your GP instructor early in the term, so she or he may share the appropriate directions using a student key code document.Any technology questions should be addressed to TaskStream by following the website’s support link. Any content questions should be addressed to your GP instructor. Please refer to the rubric for this assignment before submission.

Week 8 - 100 points 25% of final grade

Assessment 7: The Exit Interview

The Exit Interview provides a structured opportunity for each candidate and Guided Practice Instructor to meet together to review the E-Portfolio, and for the Guided Practice Instructor to assess each candidate's progress in this course. The Exit Interview is a mandatory component of this program. Candidates will be expected to discuss their E-Portfolios. In particular, candidates must be prepared to respond to the following questions:

  1. How do these excerpts demonstrate your progress toward facilitating learning for all students?
  2. What learning theories inform your understanding of what is transpiring in the excerpts that you selected?

In addition, the Guided Practice Instructor will ask additional questions to assess the candidate’s ability to facilitate learning. Candidates will be assigned a date and time for their Exit Interview. Please refer to the rubric for this assessment before attending your Exit Interview. Week 10 - 20 points 5% of final grade

***Additional Alternate Assignments: Candidates who are assigned to schools that close prior to the end of the 10-week Guided Practice session must complete additional assignments.

School calendars vary, and candidates may find that they are placed at a site that is not open for the full ten weeks of this Guided Practice session. Candidates who are unable to complete ten full weeks of Guided Practice must: