Course Description:
Participants will examine ways to effectively work with parents, mentor teachers, administration, peers, and teacher organizations. Included will be ways in which the teacher utilizes resources within the school, community, state, and nation to provide continuous improvement to themselves and their work.
Participants will work through a comprehensive chart of essential information needed by every teacher to be successful. Included will be activities to help participants find resources on laws, rules, and information to help them make informed decisions on working with students, parents, peers, and organizations. A review of mistakes often made by teachers and how to avoid them will be included.
Instruction is focused on providing participants with information and practice that will lead to self-awareness and classroom implementation of effective strategies. The successful practitioner of The Profession and Politics of Teaching will:
- Identify the stakeholders and their expectations.
- Examine own belief systems and self-evaluate needs.
- Provide their mentor or administrator with a comprehensive list of information needed for the new teacher.
- Set up meaningful parent conferences.
- Be able to work as a partner with parents and with the community.
- Be aware of community needs, resources, and key people.
- Know where to get help when needed
- Know how to evaluate research on teaching.
Objectives:
Participants will know: (declarative knowledge)
- The terminology related to the politics of teaching.
- Organizations that help new teachers.
- The steps that lead to an effective parent-teacher meeting.
- The connections between Multiple Intelligences Theory and working with others.
- The most common mistakes made by new teachers and how to avoid them.
- The research-based recommendations on working with parents and community members from poverty areas.
- Where to go for information related to laws, rules, parent rights, and teacher rights etc
- The steps necessary for continuous improvement.
- The national trends in education.
Participants will be able to: (procedural knowledge)
- Create a venue for good parent-teacher communications.
- Be a team player.
- Find information when needed.
- Create and use a comprehensive list of information and resources needed for survival.
- Work with a mentor to understand the politics and avoid pit-falls.
- Define and understand the qualities of good staff development.
- Put into place a plan for self-improvement.
- Know their rights as teachers as well as the rights of parents and students, including what to do when rights are violated.
- Create a personal plan for working within the system.
Procedures:
Each lesson includes activating prior knowledge, tutorials, assignments, and Learning Log reflections. Participants will use information from the instructor along with readings from the bibliography and exploration of Web sites to build their knowledge about and confidence in making the most of the politics of teaching. The course is designed to be interactive between and among the instructor and other participants. Participants will design and implement several tools related to the teaching and learning involved in planning for success. They will use the Toolbox and Conference Center to share and compare ideas with other participants, and they will write their reflections in the Learning Log. The instructor will offer feedback through e-mail and the Conference Center.
Content:
Lesson 1 - Terminology and Concepts Related to the Politics of Teaching
Lesson 2 - Terminology Test
Lesson 3 - Impact on Learning
Lesson 4 - Connections to the Parent-Teacher Conference
Lesson 5 - Connections to Teacher Evaluations
Lesson 6 - Keeping Up
Lesson 7 - Application in the Classroom
Lesson 8 - Post Test
Lesson 9 - Reflections
Evaluation:
Assessment Tasks:
• Task 1 - The learner will complete the Terminology Test with a mastery level of 90%. (Lesson Two)
• Task 2 - The learner will participate throughout the course in Conference Center assignments and dialogue with participants and instructor. (Lessons Two - Seven)
• Task 3 - The learner will find and list information important for the survival of the teacher. (Lesson Three)
• Task 4 - The learner will discuss how he or she communicates with parents. (Lesson Four).
• Task 5 - The learner will plan and implement a parent/teacher conference. (Lesson Four).
• Task 6 - The learner will gather and share information about teacher evaluations and due process. (Lesson Five)
• Task 7 - The learner will prepare a compare and contrast on the variations on due process. (Lesson Five)
• Task 8 - The learner will evaluate recent staff development training using a given set of criteria. (Lesson Six)
• Task 9 - The learner will read and review information from three professional organizations using the web. (Lesson Six)
• Task 10 - The learner will self-assess their role in the classroom, school, and community. (Lesson Seven)
• Task 11 - The learner will use the online Learning Log throughout the course to reflect on the learning and to respond to the instructor's specific questions.
• Task 12 - The learner will complete the Post Test with a mastery level of 90%.
Bibliography
Bandler, R. (1988). Learning strategies: acquisition and conviction (videotape). Boulder, CO: NLP Comprehensive.
Barker, J. (1992) Future edge. New York: William Morrow.
Bryk, A.S., and M.W. Driscoll. (1988). The high school as community: Contextual influences and consequences for students and teachers. Madison, Wisc: National Center on Effective Secondary Schools, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Caine, R.N. and Caine, G. (1997) Education on the edge of possibility. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Cicchinelli, L. Gaddy, B. Lefkowits, L. & Miller Kirsten. (2003) No child left behind: Realizing the vision. MCREL Policy Brief April, 2003. Aurora, CO: Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning.
Greenfield, P. M.,C. Raeff, & B. Quiroz (1997) Cultural values in learning and education. Closing the achievement gap. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
RAND researchers (Grissmer, Flanagan, Kawatta & Williamson, 2000) quoted in Cicchinelli article.
Ildiko Laczko-Kerr and David C. Berliner (2003) In harm's way: How under certified teachers hurt their students. Educational Leadership. May 2003, Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
McCune, S.L., Stephens, D.E., & Lowe, M.E. (1999). Taking the ExCet. Hauppauge, NY: Barron's Educational Service.
Payne, R.K. (2001) A framework for understanding poverty. Highlands, Texas: Aha! Process Inc.
Rigsby, L.C., Reynolds, M. C. & Wang, M. C. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Tileston, D.W. (2003) What every teacher should know about instructional practices. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
Tileston, D.W. (2003) What Every Teacher Should Know About Planning (2003) Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
Tileston, D.W. (2003) What Every Teacher Should Know About How Learning Occurs (2003), Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
Tileston, D.W. (2003) Every Teacher Should Know about Motivation (Tileston, 2003). Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
Wald, P.J. and Castleberry, M.S. (2000). Educators as learners: Creating a professional learning community in your school. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Wang, M.C. & Kovach, J.A. (1996). " Bridging the achievement gap in urban schools: Reducing educational segregation and advancing resilience-promoting strategies." Closing the Achievement Gap. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum and Development.
Wiggins, G & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by design. Alexandria: VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Williams, B. (1996) A social vision for urban education: Focused, comprehensive, and integrated change. Closing the achievement gap. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
United States Government. (2002) No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. Washington, DC: Author
Zeichner, K.M. (1996). "Educating teachers to close the achievement gap: Issues of pedagogy, knowledge, and teacher preparation". Closing the achievement gap. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Web Resources:
http://www.ascd.org
http://www.greatsource.com
http://www.mcrel.org
http://www.multi-intell.com
http://www.ncte.org
http://www.nwrel.org
http://www.nassp.org
http://www.naesp.org
http://www.nea.org
http://www.thinkingmaps.com
http://www.newhorizons.org/
http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/other/homepages.html
http://www.ktca.org/newtons/12/brain.html#cerebellum
For more information, please contact: info@whateveryteachershouldknow.com
7. What Every Teacher Should Know About the Profession and Politics of Teaching