ALTE DOCUMENTE |
A very different kind of teacher education program: Professional development schools
Dodd, Anne Wescott
If someone had told you a decade ago that people would discuss the Information Superhighway more often than the Interstate, or that you would find knowing someone's e-mail address as important as having their phone or Fax number, how would you have responded? Many of us would have dismissed these ideas as fantasy--we didn't think so much change would come so fast]
Future-Oriented Teacher Education
In the last decade we have seen the Berlin Wall come down and the demise of Communism. Home schooling has proliferated, charter schools have been established, and private companies have taken over the operation of some public schools. Thanks to the restructuring movement, there have also been dramatic changes in school and classroom practices.
Because the only prediction we can safely make about the 21st century is that the world will be characterized by constant change, educators at all levels--K-12 through college--ace the challenge of preparing students to cope with the unknown as well as the known. This task requires a very different kind of teacher education program from the traditional programs most experienced educators remember.
Teacher education programs must help future teachers become critical and creative thinkers, problem solvers, and researchers of their own practice as well as scholars in their disciplines, pedagogy, and other fields of study, such as psychology and sociology. Most important, because student teachers need to connect theoretical study with practice, they need ongoing experiences with real students in real schools. Thus, teacher educators must work more closely with their public school partners than they have in the past.
Because the future is unknowable, and even experienced teachers can never know all there is to know about teaching and learning, we know that stude 11511q162l nts in our program at Bates College Department of Education cannot really learn how to teach. Thus, our stated goal is to "teach them how to learn how to teach" (Bates College, 1994, p. 11, emphasis added).
Since student teachers cannot practice teaching in college classrooms, there has always been a symbiotic--and sometimes prickly-relationship between teacher education programs and local schools. As we and others have worked with local educators to develop a new model for teacher education, however, we have discovered that the relationship can become cooperative and synergistic. In many different ways we are all learning along with the students.
The
Perhaps the most
promising of all new teacher education practices is the
In these schools experienced teachers serve as models and mentors for student interns and as teacher leaders (Darling-Hammond and McLaughlin, 1995). There is no "one best model" for these schools because universities and colleges as well as public schools are different. Some PDSs are connected with larger reform efforts, such as the Coalition for Essential Schools, while others depend on informal networks.
The University of Southern Maine Extended Teacher Program (ETEP), a
one-year graduate program with several school sites, illustrates one example of
the PDS model in practice. Interns are assigned to one ETEP site for the whole
year where they combine student teaching with coursework, which is usually
offered at the school site. Some teachers work for both the school and the
university. One
The ETEP program with its in-depth experience in teaching has attracted older students who are starting second careers as well as recent college graduates. It seems to provide a good foundation for more successful first-year teaching than traditional programs. After teaching for only one or two years, some ETEP graduates have already demonstrated their skills as teacher leaders in their schools or professional organizations.
A
At
Our current program design is based on the work of a Common Ground coordinating committee composed of college and public school teachers and administrators. This collaborative effort, supported initially by a grant from the Maine State Board of Education to develop a pilot program for outcome-based teacher education, resulted in the identification of eight areas of practice in which our student teachers are expected to demonstrate proficiency:
I. Knowledge of subject matter
II. Curriculum, instruction, and evaluation
III. Classroom management, interaction, and relationships
IV. Diversity
V. Interdisciplinary approaches to learning
VI. Environmental education
VII. Technology
VIII. Time management and organizational skills.
In a sense the program itself models the idea of lifelong learning: We do not view the current requirements as fixed but rather as always in process. In fact, the first year we discovered from working with the student teachers that we needed to add "time management and organizational skills" to the original list. There are other areas, too, that we should consider including, such as parent involvement and community connections. To address changing circumstances in a changing society, educators at any level in any discipline would be wise to think of any program as always evolving and in flux.
Like other liberal arts colleges, we are not able to free students to student teach for a year, as the USM ETEP graduate program does, or even for a full semester, as many university undergraduate programs do. Thus, we have had to find other ways to develop a program that supports many of the goals and characteristics of the Professional Development Schools model.
* Students have early and ongoing experience with real students in real schools.
There is one point on which every teacher would agree: No one can learn to teach from reading a textbook. Ask experienced teachers when they learned the most, and almost all will say, "During my first year of teaching." Often they will go on to recount some horror stories from that traumatic first year.
To ensure that our students have the real-life experience necessary to connect theory with practice, they are required to complete a 30-hour field experience component for each education course they take. The fact that our placement options in nearby schools are limited has turned out to be advantageous. Because many of their early field experiences are in elementary classrooms, our students, who will teach in secondary schools, get a chance to view education from a K-12 perspective.
Student teaching is the focus of the senior year. In the fall semester student teachers teach at least one class in the host school and attend a weekly seminar. The second semester they spend most of the day in the schools, teaching three or more classes and attending seminars once or twice a week. Each student teacher also has a Supervisory Support Team (SST), which includes the student teacher, the cooperating teacher, and a supporting teacher (another teacher in the school who can observe occasionally and provide additional support). We have also asked professors from the students' discipline to observe their teaching and provide feedback; we hope soon to include them as regular members of the SST.
The Supervisory Support Team meets throughout the year to discuss students' goals, to assess their progress, and sometimes to help a student teacher solve a difficult problem. These discussions have been invaluable learning experiences for everyone, not just for the student teacher. They have helped to build a positive, productive relationship between the school and the college. Everyone is committed to helping the student teacher succeed. In the process, the college supervisor gets a better understanding of the school context, and high school teachers often get new ideas for teaching and solving problems.
* Students focus on developing the habit of reflection rather than learning "recipes. "
In all our courses we ask students to connect what they are learning in the college class with their experiences in the schools--in journal entries, in other writing, and in class discussions. They begin to develop problem-solving skills even in the introductory course by teasing out the principles underlying a successful classroom practice or, when they see that something is not working, to think creatively and come up with alternatives that might work better.
In the classes I teach I have recently replaced the final exam with a portfolio. The requirements for one course show how students are encouraged to connect theory with practice, to reflect, and to try action research in their field experience settings.
Portfolio Requirements for Ed 362
1. A list of "Big Ideas"--guidelines for educating students with special needs, diverse backgrounds, and individual abilities and learning styles. Consider cultural/social context and institutional practices as well as classroom environment and practices. To prepare for writing about these ideas, make a planning concept map for each idea. In your written summary, explain the importance of each idea by integrating concepts and examples from the course reading and class discussions/activities , your field experience, and your prior personal experience and knowledge.
2. Three changes you would recommend for your field experience class to improve student learning and/or motivation OR list three practices you have observed in that class that might be beneficial in other classes.
3. Your revised/extended lesson plan to illustrate these concepts in practice. Briefly explain how your plan addresses the needs of different students.
4. Reflection on the metaphor for teaching (If being a teacher is like...,then being a student is like...,the subject is....,the classroom is....) you wrote at the beginning of the semester.
5. A final copy of your field experience action research project
This project required the students to compare and contrast data collected on a classroom practice on which their host teachers wanted feedback: describing the practice as they observed it and explaining what they understood its purpose and desired outcome to be; interviewing the teacher and summarizing his or her understanding of its purpose and desired outcome; and interviewing/surveying some students who represented a range of abilities and backgrounds and summarizing their understandings of its purpose and outcome.
6. A brief summary of what you learned about yourself as a learner and your possible future role as a teacher and/or parent, and a list of questions raised this semester that you will continue to think about.
7. Anything else you'd like to include to demonstrate your ability to analyze, think critically and creatively, and synthesize what you have learned in this course.
Students often submit annotated journal entries or write an addendum.
By compiling "practice portfolios" in the early courses, students are prepared for the portfolio they are required to develop to show what they learned as student teachers. The addition of course portfolios may change what future student teachers do. Some may choose to broaden the scope of their senior portfolios to show what they learned over the whole program by including some material from previous courses and field experiences.
* Students learn to understand people and situations from multiple perspectives.
"Because teaching and learning are inextricably bound to one another, one cannot truly say that one has taught if students have not learned." Thus, we ask our students to reflect on classroom practice by viewing it through the eyes of their host teachers and "students' eyes and students' learning" (Bates College, 1994, p. 11). Our students and student teachers are asked to think about learning as much as about teaching.
As the portfolio requirements indicate, students also learn to consider the possible effects of such characteristics as differences in cultural backgrounds or learning styles on students' performance. Because getting student feedback is important, we model some strategies in their college classes. For example, in addition to their journal entries, they may be asked to do informal writings on the textbook reading or class discussions.
* Students collaborate with each other and more experienced professionals,
We encourage student teachers to meet on their own to informally share ideas and experiences and to observe each other teaching. The Supervisory Support Team is perhaps the best example of the collaboration with experienced professionals, but students have also been given financial support to attend conferences. In the early courses students are sometimes asked to work in teams to teach their classmates in the college classes.
* Students are encouraged to become lifelong learners.
We have begun to incorporate the idea of teachers as researchers by assigning projects in our required courses. Two professors (one from education, the other from psychology) also created a new elective course on action research in which Bates students served as research assistants for public school teachers.
We believe that "to be an effective teacher, one must not only love children and young people, one must also have a passion for learning and the process of learning to teach never ends" (Bates College, 1994, p. 10). We even count as a measure of our success "the unanswered questions" our graduates will want to continue to pursue. We want them to "understand the power of engagement, reflection, and imagination as they practice the art of teaching" (p. 11).
* Students, college educators, and public school educators work in partnership to foster learning for everyone.
Since the
beginning of the Common Ground partnership, we have had many opportunities for
experienced teachers and student teachers to learn together through workshops,
seminars, and speakers. Sometimes the topics have been new to almost everyone,
such as an introduction to the Internet or environmental education. On other
occasions a panel of local teachers shared their expertise on classroom
management, and a college teacher discussed ways to connect grammar and
writing. We have also invited nationally-recognized experts, such as Philip
Jackson from the University of
Whatever the format or topic, the discussions afterward among the students, local teachers, and teacher educators have been rich and engaging. We have seen how we can learn from others and from each other. Reenergized and recommitted by this synergistic relationship, we are all able to do our jobs more thoughtfully and effectively.
By joining with our public school colleagues, we have begun to improve our program and also to change the way they and we think about professional development for teachers already in the classroom. As Darling-Hammond and McLaughlin (1995) note, efforts to restructure education "require rethinking teachers' preparation and professional development" (p. 598).
Since no one really knows what teachers will face in the 21st century, whether we work ae the college level or in a public school, we will be more successful in coping with effects of constant change if we join our heads, our hands, and our hearts. The college-school relationship has always been symbiotic; our collaboration with local educators has begun to show us the promising possibilities of transforming that relationship into a synergistic one. As we learn together and serve as models of lifelong learners, we help our teachers-to-be acquire the skills and knowledge they will need to teach effectively in the next century.
References
Bates
College Department of Education.
Reflection and Engagement: Educational Studies at Bates.
Darling-Hammond,
L. "Developing Professional Development Schools: Early Lessons, Challenge,
and Promise." In Professional Development Schools,
edited by L. Darling-Hammond.
Darling-Hammond, L., and McLaughlin, M. W. "Policies That Support Professional Development in an Era of Reform." Phi Delta Kappan, April 1995.
* This book
includes information about a number of
Anne Wescott Dodd
is at Bates College Department of Education,
Copyright
National Association of Secondary School Principals May 1996
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
|
