Sample Syllabus and Learning Experience

Sample Syllabus and Learning Experience

Jian Wang

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

College of Education, UNLV

Submitted to the NCATE Steering Committee

May 4, 2001

Table of Contents

1. Syllabus for ICE 450-4

2. Explanation for Classroom Management Interview Project

3. Guideline for Classroom Management Interview Project

4. Assessment standards for interview project report

5. Sample 10-point report

6. Assessment for interview project transcription

7. Sample 10-point transcription assignment

8. Assessment form for group presentation of interview project

“Educating Professionals for Changing Educational Contexts”

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

College of Education, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE ELEMENTARY TEACHING

Spring 2001

ICE 450

Three Credit Hours

Thursdays 4:15 – 6:45 PM

Section 4

INSTRUCTOR: / Dr. Jian Wang

CLASS LOCATION

OFFICE PHONE: / BHS 202
895-1750 / OFFICE HOUR: / 12---4 PM Mondays
7—8 PM Thursdays
E-MAIL: / / OFFICE LOCATION: / CEB 312

COURSE INTRODUCTION

Goal and Purpose

This class is designed as a part of the program to prepare professional teachers for changing educational contexts. The goal of this course is to overview the research-based instruction and classroom management strategies effective in a wide range of subject matters, student population, and different contexts. It is also to help teacher candidates examine and understand the important factors that influence planning, implementing, and assessing effective teaching and classroom management strategies.

Standards Addressed

The contents of class aligns directly with principles, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 9, set up by The Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC), and 2000 unit standards 1, 3, and 4, by National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). These principles and standards are:

INTASC Principles

Principle #1: The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for students.
Principle #2: The teacher understands how children learn and develop, and can provide learning opportunities that support their intellectual, social and personal development.
Principle #3: The teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning and creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners.
Principle #4: The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage students' development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.
Principle #7: The teacher plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students, the community, and curriculum goals.
Principle #9: The teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates the effects of his/her choices and actions on others (students, parents, and other professionals in the learning community) and who actively seeks out opportunities to grow professionally.

NCATE Standards

Standard 1. Candidate knowledge, skills, and disposition

Candidates preparing to work in schools as teachers or other professional personnel know and demonstrate the content, pedagogical, and professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to help all students learn. Assessments indicate that candidates meet professional state, and institutional standards.

Standard 3. Field experiences and clinical practice

The unit and its school partner designs, implements, and evaluates field experiences and clinical practice so that teacher candidates and other school personnel develop and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to help students learn.

Standard 4. Diversity

The unit designs, implements and evaluates curriculum and experiences for candidates to acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to help all students learn. These experiences include working with diverse higher education faculty, diverse candidates, and diverse students in P-12 schools

Knowledge Covered

The knowledge of teaching and learning covered in this class include:

Influences of teachers’ beliefs and experiences on teaching and learning to teach
Impacts of student diversity and various teaching contexts on instruction
Nature of student learning and approaches to understand their learning and behaviors
Effective classroom management methods and techniques
Instruction strategies and their planning and implementation
Competence and skills of effective professional teachers

Performance Expected

I expect that by the end of this course, participants will be able to do the following:

Identify the complicated relationship between teachers’ beliefs and students’ learning
Understand the impacts of teaching contexts and student diversity on teachers’ work
Observe and analyze students’ learning and behaviors with ambitious goals of teaching and research knowledge as guidance
Analyze and critique various classroom management ideas, methods, and techniques
Plan, implement, assess, and reflect on instructional strategies in light of teaching objectives and content of teaching and students’ learning.
Reflect and examine experiences of learning to teach independently and collaboratively.

Dispositions Nurtured

This class encourages and provides chances for teacher candidates to develop the important values and commitments that influence teaching and teachers’ behaviors toward student learning, motivation, and development as well as teachers’ own professional growth. These values and commitments are:

Value the ambitious goals and standards of teaching that promote students' development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.
Be devoted to support students’ growth as an individual with characteristics of caring, fairness, honesty, responsibility, and social justice.
Be loyal to the nature of subject matter knowledge including its contents, methods, and development in planing, implementing, and assessing instruction
Be sensitive and considerate about the learning of all students including their needs, experiences, interests, process, and results in different phases of teaching.
Be commitment to teaching as a practice of self and collaborative reflection and a life-long inquiry and learning process.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND RESULTS

Students are expected to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and dispositions through their quality assignment and presentations, their active participation in different kinds of class and group activities and discussions, and their commitment to this class.

Assignments Requirements

All the writing assignments should be typed in double space and 12 fond with course number, your name, date, and assignment at the upper right hand corner on the first sheet. No late assignment will be accepted unless it is because of emergency or with university official notice beforehand. In this case, you should finish your assignment by the time I reassign to you. If you are having a difficulty with an assignment, it is your responsibility to discuss it with me. You should never fail to complete an assignment because you do not understand it.

The following written assignments can be revised if you are not satisfied with the grade you receive and it has been turned in on time. Each revised assignment should be turned in by the following class session after you receive your assignment. These assignments include:

Classroom management interview transcription
Classroom management interview report
Proposal for individual teaching project
All the lesson plans of individual teaching project
All the post-lesson reflections of individual teaching project

(1) Chapter summaries

You are required to write six summaries during this semester and each summary is about one or two page long. Please look at the schedule for the chapter you need to summarize for a particular class section.

Two purposes are built into these summaries. First, they push you to read carefully and critically and be well prepared for class discussion. Second, they help you learn how to synthesize what you read about teaching and learning.

Through these summaries, you can show your comprehensive and deep understanding about the following parts of knowledge covered in this class

Influences of teachers’ beliefs and experiences on teaching and learning to teach
Impacts of diverse student diversity and teaching contexts on instruction
Nature of student learning and approaches to understand their learning and behaviors
Effective classroom management ideas, methods, and techniques

You can also demonstrate the skill of reflecting and examining experiences of learning to teach independently and in the community of learners. In addition, these summaries can also nurture your values in the following aspects.

Value the ambitious goals and standards of teaching that promote students' development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.
Be devoted to support students’ growth as an individual with characteristics of caring, fairness, honesty, responsibility, and social justice.
Be commitment to teaching as a self and collaborative reflective practice, and a life-long inquiry and learning process.

For each summary, you should discuss the following things.

Describe the major contents covered in each part of the chapter

Explain two specific arguments that authors make in the chapter that you think are central to the chapter
Discuss why you agree or disagree with these arguments or raise the questions about these arguments

Your grade on each summary will be given based upon the following three standards:

Thorough summary of the important information of the chapter
Ability to identify and explain the two specific ideas that authors argue
Critical reactions to and analysis of each of the two ideas.

(2) Interview project about classroom management

In this project, you are going to design and conduct a 40-minute interview with a veteran teacher on the issues of classroom management. You are required to audiotape and transcribe the interview. Then you need to analyze and summarize the interview and write a report on what you learn about classroom management based upon the transcription. You should also work in a group, summarize each other’s findings, and make a group presentation on various ideas and methods of classroom management.

This project has three purposes. First, it is designed to support you in developing a deeper understanding of different aspects of classroom management through the eyes of a veteran teacher. Second, it is to push you to connect what you learn from the reading and your experiences with the practice of teaching. Third, it is also to provide a chance for you to learn how to summarize, analyze, and share with your colleagues about the issues of classroom management.

By completing this project, first, you will show your knowledge in the following areas that this course intended to convey:

Influences of teachers’ beliefs and experiences on teaching and learning to teach
Effective classroom management methods and techniques
Abilities and skills of effective professional teachers

Second, you can demonstrate your performances and skills in the following areas

Identify the complicated relationship between teachers’ beliefs and students’ learning
Understand the impacts of teaching contexts and student diversity on teachers’ work
Analyze and critique various classroom management ideas, methods, and techniques
Reflect and examine experiences of learning to teach independently and collaboratively.

Third, the project will also nurture your commitment to teaching as a self and collaborative reflective practice, and a life-long inquiry and learning process.

Please look at attachment 1 for detailed guidelines for this assignment.

(3) Individual teaching project

In this project, you are asked to choose a topic that you feel comfortable about and teach it to a group of people (three or more) in two lessons for the last half of semester. Each lesson should be at least 45 minutes long. You are asked to write a lesson plan and a reflection for each lesson. In the end, you need to write a report to reflect and summarize your findings in the project and present some of your findings to the class.

This project is designed to help us accumulate experiences in applying effective teaching strategies in our teaching by carefully considering the nature of knowledge and student learning. It is also to help us develop competence of reflecting and sharing our experiences in using effective strategies with colleagues. In addition, it nurtures your habits of carefully observing and deeply reflecting in and on teaching practice and student learning.

Through this project, first, you can demonstrate your understanding about the following aspects of knowledge covered in this class:

Influences of teachers’ beliefs and experiences on teaching and learning to teach
Nature of student learning and approaches to understand their learning and behaviors
Instruction strategies and their planning and implementation
Competence and skills of effective professional teachers

Second, you can show your performances and skills in the following areas

Identify the complicated relationship between teachers’ beliefs and students’ learning
Understand the impacts of teaching contexts and student diversity on teachers’ work
Observe and analyze students’ learning and behaviors with research knowledge as a guide
Plan, implement, assess, and reflect on instructional strategies in light of teaching objectives and students’ learning.
Reflect and examine experiences of learning to teach in the community of learners.

Third, the following professional values can be demonstrated

Be loyal to the nature of subject matter knowledge including its contents, method, and development in planing, implementing, and assessing instruction
Be sensitive and considerate about the learning of all students including their needs, experiences, interests, process, and results in different phases of teaching.
Be commitment to teaching as a self and collaborative reflective practice, and a life-long inquiry and learning process.

Please look at attachment 2 for detailed guidelines for this assignment.

Participation Requirements

The main structure of our class sessions is group and class discussion, group presentation and teaching, plus a few lectures. Thus, active participation is a key to your successful learning and decent grade in this class. Your participation will be graded and counted as a part of your final grade. The following are the important ways to show your active participation in the class.

Complete the assignments as required
Read vigilantly and be well prepared for class
Observe and discuss video-tapes carefully
Actively express your ideas and respond to other people’s ideas in group and class discussion
Summarize and present your group discussion and work thoroughly
Listen and raise questions about other group presentations mindfully
Assess other people’s work and presentations seriously

Commitment Requirements

Your commitment to this class and teaching profession can be showed in the following three aspects. Please be aware of them during the semester.

(1) Attendance

Attendance will be checked throughout the semester. It is your responsibility to sign attendance sheet each class session. I also recognize that you will have unplanned and/or emergency absence. To accommodate for this situation, you will be allowed one absencewith official excuse during this semester. Each additional absenceafter the allowed one will result in your final grade dropped by 4%.

(2) Punctuality

Frequent and uninformed absences, early leaving, and late for classes are not acceptable for this class. It is also important to complete all the assignments and submit your assignment on time. Your behaviors in these areas will have a substantial impact on your final participation grade.

(3) Disruptions

All kinds of beepers and cellular phones should be turned off during the class sections.

The socialization unrelated to the topics and issues of group and class discussion need to be reduced to minimum level. Such disruptions are also considered in grading your participation grade.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK

The required textbookis The act of teaching (Second Edition) by Donald R Cruickshank, Deborah l. Bainer, and Kim K. Metcalf. The text is available in the student union bookstore. I will provide several supplemental readings, cases, and videotapes in class.

PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENTS

Assessment tools

The information for performance-based assessment in this class comes from the following sources:

All written assignments

Formal and informational observations of class and group discussion

Group and individual presentation materials

Group discussion and work sheets
Attendance, assignment, and other records

Assignment Assessment

The quality of your reading and writing and the seriousness of your participation in group and class activities will determine your grade for this class. Each assignment and activity in this class will be graded based upon a 0 to 10 point scale. For each of high quality written assignments, one bonus point will be awarded.

The points you receive for an assignment or an activity will be transformed into a certain percentage and each percentage will be added up toward 100%. Please use the following formulate to calculate the percentage you get for a particular assignment.

(The points you received for the assignment) x (percentage for the assignment) / (the total points the assignment is worth) = (the percentage you get for the assignment)

For example, if you got 8 points for your interview report and the assignment is worth 10%, then your percentage for this assignment will be 8 x 10% / 10 = 8%

The grade percentage for each assignment and activity is as follows:

Six chapter summaries (4% each) / 24%

Interview assignment

·Transcript of interview (5%)
·Report (10%)
·Presentation (5%) / 20%

Individual teaching project

·Project proposal (4%)

·Two lesson plans (5 % each)

·Two lesson reflections (5 % each)

·Project presentation (6%)

·Project report (10%)

/ 40%
Participation / 16%

Grade Transformation

Your final grade will be converted from the total percentage you accumulated in all these assignments and activities into grade point according to the following standards:

95% and above /

90% to 94% / A-
85% to 89% / B+
80% to 84% / B
75% to 79% / B-
70% to 74% / C+
65% to 69% / C
60% to 64% / C-
55% to 59% / D+
50% to 54% / D
45% to 49% / D-
45% and below / F

UNIVERSITY POLICIES