Instructor:
Jeff Goodman
Office Hours M 5:20-6:20, 9-10
Office Phone: 262.2176
Home phone:  828.675.9061
E-mail Address: goodmanjm@appstate.edu
 
 

Class web page: http://pm.appstate.edu/~goodmanj/2800/2800syllabusf04.html
 

Goals and Objectives

Schedule and Due Dates

Evaluation/ Revision Guidelines

Course Description

This course will introduce the prospective teacher to the real world of teaching through classroom activities and a tutorial experience.  You have attended school for many years and have developed a range of ideas about teaching, learning, subject matter, and students -- all from the perspective of a student.  As you explore the profession of teaching, you will also begin to think about these ideas form the perspective of a teacher and from that of the larger society.  This course will help you identify and examine your assumptions about these ideas and to develop your own philosophy of education.  As you engage the subject matter with others, you will gather evidence to support your ideas about teachers, schools and learners, and you will assess your feelings about teaching as a career.
 

Course Goals

The purpose of CI/SPE 2800 is to introduce prospective teachers to teaching.

     1. Involve prospective teachers in experiences which lead to an understanding of the
     importance of reflection and continual professional development in the teaching and
     learning process.

     2. Assist prospective teachers in analyzing their background knowledge about
     teaching.

     3. Involve prospective teachers in experiences which enable them to develop an
     understanding of the responsibilities entailed with, as well as the work involved in
     being a teacher.

     4. Involve prospective teachers in experiences which lead to greater understanding of
     the conceptual frameworks, curricula, and processes of effective teaching.

     5. Assist prospective teachers in developing an understanding of what teachers need
     to know and how teachers acquire, organize, and access what they need to know.

     6. Assist prospective teachers in developing insight into what they have learned and
     how their conceptions about teaching and learning have changed.

     7. Involve prospective teachers in experiences which lead to greater understanding of
     learner diversity.

     8. Assist prospective teachers in understanding their personal relationship to diversity
     and assist them in extending their knowledge of other learners.

     9. Involve prospective teachers in acquiring knowledge of identification and services
     for students with special needs.

     10. Assist prospective teachers in learning to be participants/observers in students’
     learning activity.

     11. Assist prospective teachers in learning to write summaries and records of their
     interaction in a student’s learning activity.

     12. Assist prospective teachers in gaining experience with telecommunications and
     microcomputers.

     13. Assist prospective teachers in gaining experience with educational software.

     14. Assist prospective teachers in connecting abstract concepts with concrete learning
     experiences.
 

Methods of Teaching

Reading, drawing, writing, simulations, roll play, cooperative group work, student-led presentations, documentary and fictional video, lecture, small and large group discussions.
 

Texts

You should purchase a copy of A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines and Growing Minds  by Herbert Kohl. You may get the best price by mail-ordering them yourself from amazon.com or bn.com; or you can support a local bookstore and get these books from them.  These books are quite popular, so they are available in a variety of places; however, since there are so many of you needing to get copies, you should buy them soon.  A few chapters from Growing Minds are due on 9/20. The first five chapters of A Lesson Before Dying are due the first of November.

Other course readings will be supplied by the instructor either in paper form or on line..
 

Schedule (Subject to change; please check website and listerv for modifications.)
 

Date	Topics	Readings Due for This Class	Assignment Due
	Teachers
8/30	Introduction		Class Blog pages
9/13	Discussion of Student Biographies/ Palmer Posting on your Blog Site (comp lab)	"The Heart of a Teacher," from The Courage to Teach by Parker Palmer "Possibility in the Case Records" by Janeal Ravindal	Student Biography (Do this before you read Palmer.) If possible, this will be posted to your site on blogger.com. Please bring a hard copy of this to class for discussion.
9/20	Learning Theories, Question Taxonomy	"Growth," "Altruism, the Calling to Teach," and "The Public Schools at Last" from Growing Minds by Herbert Kohl  "The Teacher as Mediator", from Science Stories by Janice Koch
9/27	Community of Practice  Work on Peer Teaching Project	"The Anointed," by Kathleen Hill
10/4	Peer Teaching 1, 2, 3, 4	"Method Teaching," from Small Victories, by Samuel G. Freedman" A Curious Character: The Making of a Scientist," in What Do You Care What Other People Think? by Richard Feynman	Peer Teaching Lesson Plans Due
10/11	Peer Teaching 5, 6, 7, 8	reading from True Notebooks by Mark Salzman	Educational Issue in the News: Topic Due
	Schools
10/18	Politics and Education; School Funding (comp lab)	"Not So Elementary Schools" in Schools That Work, by George Wood No Child Left Behind and other Legislation
10/25	Curriculum:  integration, technology	North Carolina Standard Course of Study ("The Situation Made Us Special," by Barbara L. Brodhagen, from Democratic Schools)	Educational Issue in the News: Rough Draft Due
11/1	Classroom Management, Evaluation	"Choice Theory and Motivation," "Quality Schoolwork," and "Dealing with Discipline Problems" in  The Quality School,  by William Glasser  A Lesson Before Dying,  by Ernest Gaines, Chapters 1-5	Educational Issue in the News Paper: Peer Review Due
11/8	Multiculturalism and Cultural Diversity	("Multiculturalism:  Myths and Realities, by H.B. Price, in Phi Delta Kappan  74, 208-213)  "Encountering Writing Standards:  Confidence, Fury and SElf-Doubt in the Third Grade," by Joan Bradbury, in Schools, Volume 1, Issue 1. ("The Stereotype Within," by Marc Elrich, in Educational Leadership, April 1994.) A Lesson Before Dying, Chapters 5-10	Educational Issue in the News: Paper Due
	Learners
11/15	Technology Competencies (comp lab) Exceptionalities Introduction	Link to the Advanced Technology Competencies:  for licensure, you will have to create a portfolio of artifacts to meet these.  Click here for a sample telefolio from a student of mine. A Lesson Before Dying, Chapters 11-15
11/22	Lit circles on A Lesson Before Dying, Chapters 1-10 Work on Exceptionalities Web Pages (comp lab)	"An Unexpected Opportunity,"  and "The Suspension of Ego in Teaching" in Growing Minds: On Becoming a Teacher, by Herbert Kohl The Lady Who Does Stories: an Interview with Vivian Paley" by Randy Testa  "Jason's Story" (excerpt) from The Boy Who Would be a Helicopter, by Vivian Paley A Lesson Before Dying, Chapters 16-20
11/29	Lit circles on A Lesson Before Dying, Chapters 11-20	A Lesson Before Dying, Chapters 21-25	Teaching Philosophy Paper: Rough Draft Due
12/6	Lit circles on A Lesson Before Dying, Chapters 21-end Exceptionalities Project, Case Studies (comp lab)	A Lesson Before Dying finished by 12/6	Exceptionalities Web Pages Due Teaching Philosophy Paper: Peer Review  Due
12/13	Discuss Philosophy Papers Discuss A Lesson Before Dying	Bring covered dish?	Teaching Philosophy Paper: Due  Tutoring Reflective Journal, school site visit, and Time Card Due

 

Evaluation

Peer Teaching (10%)

In small groups, you will be asked to lead a half-hour lesson on a topic of your choice for a K-12 audience of your choice.  You will produce a full lesson plan, describing your audience, linking this to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, and detailing the plan itself, including a set of higher-order thinking skills questions you will ask.

In small groups, you will research a particular exceptionality and produce a web page which provides some background on this exceptionality as well as links to resources for teachers and parents.  Groups will present their findings to the class, and then we will use the web resources the groups have created to analyze several case studies.  This work will be useful for your Advanced Technology Portfolio (required for licensure), so you should be sure to keep a copy of this on disk and in hard copy.

Education is a common topic in the news, especially this year where it is shaping up as a central issue in a variety of elections.  You will begin work on this 4-6 page paper by collecting articles/ TV news clips/ radio news clips about education from a variety of local, state, and national sources.  You will then pull out a theme you would like to discuss, and you will continue to collect material dealing with that theme.  Your paper will be a critical analysis of this theme, its roll in the current political and social environment, and its treatment in the news.  You should include at least 6 sources from a variety of news outlets.

This paper will be due in draft form two weeks before it is due.  You will then switch papers with another student and critique one another's work;  then you will have an opportunity to revise.  You will be graded not only on your own paper, but also on the quality of your feedback to your partner.

We will be discussing Ernest Gaines' Book A Lesson Before Dying, using a "literature circle" approach in which each member of a small discussion group has a given job (e.g. Discussion Director, Summarizer, Investigator, etc.).  Each student will be assigned jobs for each week of discussion and will prepare materials related to those jobs.

The discussions and interactions that take place in the classroom are an important part of this course. You will frequently be asked to read, write or view something and contribute to class discussion; a listserv has been set up to facilitate class communication outside of class about logistics and course content (address: mcdowell@listserv.appstate.edu.) Class participation may also include oral and written feedback on other students' work. Since there are a number of activities that we will do as a class that will be difficult to make up if you are absent, it is important that you make every effort to come to every class. Please tell me if you know in advance that you are going to miss a class, so I can fill you in on what you need to do. Missing class without contacting me, or missing class frequently (even if you let me know) will affect your grade.

As a part of this class, you are required to work 4 hours per week tutoring in a school setting.  Details of this tutoring experience will be different from person to person and may include out-of-classroom tutoring, Title I, or after-school programs; specific scenarios will have to be approved by your instructor.  You will tutor for a minimum of ten weeks, and you should keep a tutoring log, noting dates, times and students' names, to be turned in at the end of the semester.

Approximately once a week (a minimum of 10 times during the semester), you should complete a journal entry.  For some sample questions, go to http://pm.appstate.edu/~goodmanj/2800/tutoringjournal.html Remember, you will NEED TO USE ALIASES TO PROTECT THE IDENTITY OF STUDENTS AND THE SCHOOL. Your journal entries will be posted to a blog site on blogger.com.

You will also be asked to do a Portrait of a School, using the school in which you are tutoring.  A printable guide for this is available at http://pm.appstate.edu/~goodmanj/2800/schoolportrait.html
 

Your final paper in this course will be an approximately 6 page double spaced paper in which you will share your evolving philosophy of teaching.  You will be required to use specific examples from your life, your experiences tutoring, class readings and discussions.  This paper will provide a framework for the teaching philosophy statement you will need for your professional portfolio later in your education program, so you should keep it both in hard copy form and on disk.

This paper will be due in draft form two weeks before it is due.  You will then switch papers with another student and critique one another's work; then you will have an opportunity to revise.  You will be graded not only on your own paper, but also on the quality of you feedback to your partner.

Revision Guidelines

Ideally, grades should be about feedback, not about reward or punishment.  Thus, you will have the opportunity to revise work throughout this semester, turning in things for me to look at again up until the end of the course (though it will be easier for me to read it carefully and give it back to you if it is handed in before the last class period.)  It is important that if at all possible you turn in a copy of the original paper and/or my comment sheet so I can see the changes you made in your revision.

          A paper or project:

          C paper or project:
                    Meets the minimum expectations of the assignment.
                    Has more than a few problems with mechanics, organization, and/or technical issues.

          D paper or project:
                    Does not meet the minimum expectations of the assignment, but deserves some credit

          F paper or project:
                    Is not turned in, or is so minimal that it deserves no credit.
 

Listserv

There is a listserv for this course. It will be used to share ideas, information, questions, problems, etc., and you should subscribe to it immediately.   To send a message to everyone, you need only send a message to mcdowell@listserv.appstate.edu .  Be careful; replying to message from the listserv will go to everyone who is on the listserv.