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| Teacher
Preparation Team 2 |
Professional
Teaching Standards:
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In recent
years, every major teachers' organization has joined other
parties in calls for a powerful practice of school teaching
that has been described repeatedly in proposals and
standards for curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
A responsible teacher preparation program must attend
to those standards.
MSU's
teacher preparation program has done so both in its design
and in the following standards for interns.
These standards, which were developed by university
faculty and collaborating teachers, compactly represent
understandings, skills, commitments, dispositions that are
needed to be an effective and responsible beginning teacher
today.
Because
these are standards to which interns will be held ultimately
for earning teacher certification, the language in the
standards refers to interns.
However, all course requirements in the teacher
preparation program are guided by the program standards,
and careful attention is paid to building in opportunities
for teacher candidates to acquire the knowledge, skills and
dispositions across program experiences.
Opportunities to learn.
If interns are to achieve the standards set out
below, they will need particular opportunities to learn. The
statements here describe performances that MSU course
instructors should prepare
teacher candidates and
interns to undertake, and that collaborating
teachers and field instructors should provide
teacher candidates and
interns opportunities to practice with support.
If some of these opportunities to learn are not
feasible in the teacher candidate's or intern's primary
placement, supplementary opportunities should be provided in
another setting.
Using the standards for assessment during pre-internship courses.
Assignments and activities in teacher preparation
courses are designed to help teacher candidates work
gradually to build the knowledge, skills and dispositions
needed to engage ultimately in standards-based practice.
Therefore, satisfactory completion of assignments,
regular and appropriate class participation, and
satisfactory feedback from collaborating teachers who work
with teacher candidates in schools constitute feedback to
pre-interns regarding whether or not they are working
steadily and effectively toward program standards.
Using
the standards for assessment across the internship year.
During the fall semester of the intern year, we seek
evidence that interns are making satisfactory progress in meeting each
of the Program Standards (see Assessment
of Intern Progress: A Discussion Tool).
A recommendation for continuing the internship
experience will be based on the professional judgment of the
field instructor, the collaborating teacher, and relevant
others who are familiar with the intern's teaching practice.
In order
to be recommended for teacher certification by the end of
the internship year, an intern will need to show that she or
he is capable of responsible, autonomous teaching based on
the Program Standards.
During the spring semester we seek evidence that the
interns have met
the Program Standards and are ready to assume the
responsibilities of beginning teaching.
Below,
each standard is outlined, along with examples of
performances that show an intern has met that standard.
Examples of opportunities for interns to practice the
standard with support are also given.
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Standard
1: Knowing Subject Matters and How to Teach Them
The intern understands the subject
matter(s) as needed to teach it (them).
For Example:
-
The
intern knows and understands the main goals, core
concepts, important information, tools of inquiry, and
important practices of the disciplines that s/he
teaches.
-
The
intern understands how the disciplines that s/he teaches
are applied, used, practiced, and enjoyed in various
settings and enterprises outside the school, and can
make connections between the subject matter and her or
his own life.
-
The
intern monitors and assesses his or her own
understanding of the subject matter, notices when that
understanding is inadequate for teaching, and uses a
variety of resources for support and to continue
learning about the subject matter.
-
The
intern represents subject matter knowledge and ways of
knowing accurately and appropriately in teaching.
-
The
intern knows what is likely to be difficult for students
and finds ways to address those difficulties.
The intern thoughtfully links subject
matter and students, creating a responsive curriculum.
For Example:
-
The
intern identifies central concepts, information, and
skills that are critical for students to understand, and
sets instructional goals accordingly.
-
The
intern frames worthwhile purposes that take into account
district and/or school curriculum guidelines, subject
matter standards, and students' backgrounds, learning
needs, and interests.
-
The
intern considers a wide range of teaching resources,
evaluates their appropriateness and makes necessary
adaptations.
-
The
intern integrates or connects subject matter areas where
appropriate.
-
The
intern provides good reasons for his or her decisions
about content and instruction.
The intern implements a curriculum of
understanding.
For Example:
-
The
intern constructs units and lessons that make the core
aims, central concepts, important information, tools of
inquiry, and important practices of a discipline
meaningful for students.
-
The
intern combines questions, tasks, materials, and
participation structures that will engage students,
stimulate and support their thinking, organize their
in-depth exploration of topics, and otherwise promote
genuine understanding.
-
The
intern plans coherent units and lessons that
have beginnings, middles, and endings; that are
connected appropriately to preceding and following units
and lessons, that are connected appropriately to other
subjects; and that suit the place and the time of year.
The intern is thoughtful about assessment
and its relationship to planning and teaching.
For Example:
-
Prior
to instruction, the intern finds out what students
already know, believe, or feel about the matter to be
taught; figures out how that
prior experience is likely to affect instruction;
and plans accordingly.
-
The
intern monitors, documents, and studies individual and
group work throughout the course of instruction, and
uses that information to make decisions about what to do
next.
-
The
intern constructs or selects assessment tasks
(assignments, tests, questions, etc.) that allow and
require students to show their understanding, e.g.,
ability to connect ideas, use ideas, solve problems,
apply skills.
-
In
evaluating students' work, the intern distinguishes
between genuine understanding and other performances
(e.g., memorizing for the test).
-
The
intern treats assessments as information not only about
student learning but also as information about the
quality of instruction, and acts accordingly.
-
The
intern gives students written and oral feedback in a
timely manner that focuses on supporting learning, as
distinct from simply giving a grade.
Opportunities
to Practice Standard 1 with Support
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Plan,
teach, and evaluate units that integrate
the language arts
(e.g., reading and writing processes support each other;
children speak and listen to each other about oral,
written, and visual texts).
-
Plan,
teach, and evaluate units that regularly engage children
in writing
for authentic purposes and audiences and in talking
with each other about their writing.
-
Plan,
teach, and evaluate units that engage children in reading high quality children's literature and in talking
with their classmates about their responses to
that literature.
-
Plan,
teach, and evaluate units that support children in
learning to listen
critically, analytically, and appreciatively and to speak
their own ideas with clarity and confidence.
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Plan,
teach, and evaluate mathematics
units that are carefully focused on important concepts,
that pay serious attention to children's
mathematical ideas and theories; that actively
engage children in doing,
writing
about, and talking
about mathematics; and that challenge and foster their meaning-making about mathematics.
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Plan,
teach, and evaluate science
units that are carefully focused on important concepts,
that pay serious attention to children's
scientific ideas and theories, and that combine
hands-on activities
and scientific discussions
to promote conceptual
change learning.
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Plan,
teach, and evaluate social
studies lessons and units that are carefully
focused on important
concepts,
that pay serious attention to children's
ideas and experiences, that incorporate class discussions
of stimulating texts, and that challenge and foster
their critical
thinking skills.
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Integrate
the arts
(music, art, movement, dramatics) into units across the
curriculum.
-
Construct,
try, and evaluate authentic
assessments that both reveal
and document students' learning, and that are
useful both in evaluating
one's own teaching and in communicating with
parents and others.
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Standard
2: Working with Students
The intern respects and cares for all
students in his/her charge.
For Example:
-
The
intern treats all students as capable of learning,
focuses on their capacities and strengths rather than on
their deficits and weaknesses, and strives to create
conditions in which they can learn.
-
The
intern interacts and communicates clearly with students,
making students feel cared for and listened to.
-
The
intern seeks ways to encourage all students to
participate in the activities of the class.
-
The
intern understands how children learn and develop, and
organizes activities that support their intellectual,
social, and personal development.
-
The
intern discovers relevant differences among students and
their approaches to learning, accommodates those
differences or uses them as resources in the classroom,
and modifies the task or environment as needed to
support students' continuous intellectual, social, and
physical development.
-
The
intern learns about students' interests, strengths, and
cultural backgrounds in order to connect class topics
and activities to students' experiences and interact
with them effectively.
-
The
intern effectively uses outside resources (home, school,
community) to support students' learning and to deal
with their problems.
The intern promotes active learning and
thoughtfulness.
For Example:
-
The
intern teaches coherent lessons that are organized about
some framework, have a clear aim and focus, proceed
reasonably from a thoughtful beginning to a thoughtful
ending, and keep all students involved.
-
The
intern leads class discussions that explore problems and
ideas, that elicit diverse responses from many students,
and that get students to think critically.
-
The
intern helps the students to make connections between
new content and prior learning.
-
The
intern asks appropriate and stimulating questions,
listens carefully, and responds thoughtfully to
student's ideas, comments, and questions.
-
The
intern understands how to motivate students to learn and
how to maintain students' interest even in the face of
temporary failure.
The intern builds on students' interests,
strengths, and cultural backgrounds.
For Example:
-
The
intern adjusts or adapts lessons to accommodate
students' individual needs and abilities and to include
all students in class activities.
-
The
intern adapts her own role to the activity that s/he is
trying to produce among students, e.g., tries to figure
out when to talk and when to listen in a class
discussion.
-
The
intern monitors and checks for students' understanding
(prior knowledge, throughout lesson) and flexibly adjust
her or his plans in response to students' actions and
other contingencies.
-
The
intern seeks and uses information about students' prior
knowledge in planning.
The intern builds on information about student
understanding gained from such tasks for further
planning.
The intern treats all students as capable
of learning.
For Example:
-
The
intern values and respects each student's thinking and
actively elicits and considers students' thinking in
planning and teaching.
-
The
intern demonstrates curiosity about what students
already know, what they are thinking, and how they
understand or make sense of what they are learning.
-
The
intern understands and uses a variety of approaches to
encourage students' development of critical thinking,
problem solving, and performance skills.
-
The
intern continually elicits and responds to student ideas
in order to shape and challenge student understanding.
The intern thinks about:
How are students making sense of this?
How are they going astray?
Opportunities
to Practice Standard 2 with Support:
-
Plan
and teach lessons
that are designed to be coherent
and highly engaging for students, and then gather
and analyze information that would enable the
intern to assess how the students actually
did experience the lesson.
-
Devise
and practice strategies for valuing
children's ideas, questions, and experiences and
for hearing their voices with respect, and then gather
and analyze information that would enable the
intern to assess whether the intern indeed did hear and
work with the students' ideas.
-
Explore
the problems and opportunities that students
with special needs face in the classroom, figure
out how to adapt
instruction to include those students, and assess
those adaptations.
-
Explore
how students from different histories, cultures, and
communities might respond differently to their teaching
practices, figure out how to adapt
instruction to include those students, and assess
those adaptations.
-
Devise
and practice strategies intended to model
a love of learning for students, and then gather and analyze information that would enable the intern
to assess how the students did
interpret those strategies.
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Standard
3: Creating and Managing a Learning Community
The intern creates a safe, caring,
productive environment in the classroom.
For Example:
The
intern develops and refines a clear and reasonable approach
to classroom management, and plans specifically for the
management of instruction and students.
The intern's classroom management
strategies match and support his/her instructional goals.
The intern analyzes and works to improve the fit
between classroom management strategies and instructional
goals.
The intern establishes and
maintains regular routines for classroom activity.
The intern establishes
consequences for inappropriate behavior that are fair and
appropriate, and follows through on the consequences.
The intern develops shared values
and expectations with students regarding their interactions,
academic work, and individual and group responsibilities.
The intern organizes and
introduces activities so that students are prepared for them
and can carry them out successfully.
The intern makes the classroom an
inclusive community.
For Example:
-
The intern creates an environment
that supports and respects inquiry, exploration, and
intellectual risk-taking.
-
The intern actively engages
students together in making sense of meaningful concepts and
skills.
-
The intern employs a variety of
participation structures (whole group, small group,
individual, etc.) that suit the lesson goals and tasks.
-
The intern creates a classroom
learning environment in which students and teachers are
jointly engaged in developing shared expectations and/or
standards for their joint work.
-
The intern understands and builds
appropriate connections between learning community qualities
and subject matter goals.
-
The intern helps students to
learn to work alone and with others and to participate in
decision making, problem solving, and conflict resolution.
-
The intern uses knowledge of
effective verbal, nonverbal and media communications
techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and
supportive interaction in the classroom.
-
The intern models effective
communication when presenting ideas and information and
asking questions, and promotes effective communication among
students.
The intern helps students develop personal
and social responsibility.
For
Example:
-
The intern sets norms for social interaction among
students that foster respect and cooperation.
-
The intern uses multiple strategies (e.g., nonverbal
cues, proximity, voice) to manage student behavior and keep
students on task.
-
The intern helps students to understand rules and
routines and to learn to follow them.
-
The intern employs management strategies that
encourage personal responsibility and self-motivation in
students.
-
The intern deals with minor disruptive behavior such
as talking inappropriately in reasonable and consistent ways
that regain students' attention and keep the class moving.
-
The intern works with students who have severe
behavioral or emotional problems in an organized and
professional way that helps them to develop and follow
through on reasonable plans to overcome their problems.
Opportunities
to Practice Standard 3 with Support:
-
Devise, practice, and evaluate classroom
management strategies that are consistent with and supportive
of the instructional goals suggested above.
-
Devise, practice, and evaluate strategies for
promoting and evaluating students' self-discipline,
self-evaluation, and self-regulated learning.
-
Devise, practice, and evaluate strategies for
involving and evaluating students in task-oriented
small group learning.
-
Devise, practice, and evaluate strategies for
engaging students in genuine
discussions of intriguing questions and problems.
-
Devise and practice strategies for encouraging
students to be tolerant and supportive
of each other.
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Standard
4: Working and Learning in a School and Profession
The intern works well as a teacher in a
school community.
For Example:
-
The intern's appearance, manner, and communication
satisfy the expectations for a responsible adult member of
the school.
-
The intern is "good to work with" by being
punctual, reliable, responsible, friendly, energetic, and
reasonable.
-
The intern works with other school personnel in an
open, civil, and constructive manner that respects their
roles in the school.
-
The intern reacts appropriately to stressful
situations.
-
The intern works with parents and guardians in an
open, civil, and constructive manner that treats them as
partners in their child's education.
-
The intern participates in the life of the school,
including taking advantage of professional development
opportunities available to teachers.
The intern works productively with his/her
MSU liaison, collaborating teacher, field instructor and
course instructors in ways that support his/her learning to
teach.
For Example:
-
The intern works with the collaborating teacher,
field instructor and other program personnel in an open,
civil, and constructive manner that acknowledges their roles
in the intern's education.
-
The intern negotiates reasonable
observer, co-teaching, and lead teaching roles with the
collaborating teacher, and keeps the agreements made.
-
The intern engages in open and
honest communication with the collaborating teacher, field
instructor and other program personnel about the situations,
issues, and challenges that the intern faces.
-
The intern seeks feedback from
the collaborating teacher, field instructor and other
program personnel and treats that feedback as an opportunity
to learn.
The intern reflects on his/her experience
and seeks opportunities for continued learning and
improvement.
For Example:
-
The intern uses the contents of the 800-level courses
to guide and inform his or her work in the classroom and
school.
-
The intern figures out how events and outcomes in the
current situation may be relevant to other situations, and
tries to recall how past situations may provide guidance in
the current one.
-
The intern studies how his or her choices and actions
affect others, and adjusts his/her thinking and actions
accordingly.
-
The intern considers different perspectives,
arguments, and alternatives, even when they are different
from or conflict with his/her own.
-
The intern uses co-planning, co-teaching, and other
forms of collaborative work to learn about teaching.
-
The intern uses writing such as a journal as a tool
in planning and for reflecting on her teaching and his/her
students' learning.
-
The intern seeks interaction with other professionals
who can help the intern carry out immediate duties and learn
for the future.
-
The intern makes and carries out plans for his/her
own learning.
-
The intern demonstrates a disposition to think about
teaching not only in terms of "what works" in a
lesson but also to consider questions of purposes and
alternatives.
The intern is open to alternatives and
constructive feedback.
For Example:
-
In setting academic, social, and moral goals, the
intern considers alternatives, chooses among them
reasonably, and can explain why the goals chosen are
important.
-
In deciding what to do, the intern considers
alternatives, chooses reasonably among them, and can explain
why those choices are reasonable.
-
The intern thinks both for now and for later,
remembers what's important, and anticipates problems.
-
Having planned carefully, the intern also implements
those plans flexibly in light of developments.
-
The intern systematically seeks information about the
consequences of his/her actions, and uses that information
in making decisions for the future.
Opportunities
to Practice Standard 4 with Support:
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Ask
experienced teachers their rationales for their
practices and, with the teachers' assistance, to examine
those rationales to possibly base their own practice upon.
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Plan and evaluate units and lessons with
experienced teachers, so that interns gain an inside view of
experienced teachers' reasoning, and are supported in
developing their own reasoning about teaching.
-
Explore a variety of lesson, daily, unit, and annual
planning formats with practicing teachers.
-
Co-teach
units and lessons with experienced teachers, so that the
interns can use the teachers' routines, assistance, and
relationships with students to teach better lessons than
they yet can teach by themselves.
-
Teach units and lessons on
their own, with written
feedback from and discussion
with experienced teachers acting as coaches.
-
Plan and carry out action
research projects in which they pose
questions about teaching and learning, undertake
study and action to answer that question,
and learn systematically from that activity.
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