Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Teaching Our Teachers: Practical Suggestions To Improve The Quality Of Learning In Bemidji State University's Department Of Professional Education, Ann M. Gassert Carstens

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Nefdc Exchange, Volume 15, Number 1, Spring 2004, New England Faculty Development Consortium

New England Faculty Development Consortium Exchange

Contents

Message from the President: Things We Value - Tom Edwards, Thomas College

Metaphors for Teaching - Polly Parker and Bill Searle

Significant Learning Experiences: Integrated Course Design Designing the Learning We Want into the Learning Experiences - L. Dee Fink

NEFDC Fall Conference Keynote Speaker: L. Dee Fink

NEFDC Spring Roundup, June 4, 2004; theme: Building Community and Collaboration Through Technology

UNH To Offer Online Certificate in College Teaching - Michael Lee, University of New Hampshire

Assessment in New England: Announcing Discipline-Based Workshops

Conference: Faculty-Student Partnerships in Teaching and Learning

Board of Directors

Promoting Learning Through Inquiry, Virginia S. Lee

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Inquiry-guided learning promotes learning through students’ active, and increasingly independent, investigation of complex questions, problems, and issues. This essay explores its theoretical rationale and the varied classroom practices of this exciting constellation of learning strategies.

Great Expectations And Challenges For Learning Objects, Anne H. Moore

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Learning objects may be important building blocks in the future of instruction in higher education. This essay explores the importance of emerging standards and practices that invite widespread use of relatively stable “chunks” of information.

Engaging The Whole Student: Interactive Theatre In The Classroom, Suzanne Burgoyne

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay explores how instructors can use techniques from Augusto Boal’s Theory of the Oppressed to guide student exploration of ideas-particularly those associated with power and social justice-through images and enactment.

Engaging Faculty In New Forms Of Teaching And Learning, Paul Hagner

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay explores the importance of the motivational state of the faculty member in the success or failure of systematic efforts to transform teaching and learning.

Constructivist Versus Traditional Methods In Language Education, Emma Agola

Perspectives In Learning

My experience as a teacher in a British oriented system of education equipped me with the skills needed to approach teaching from what is called the traditional classroom curriculum. I was introduced to constructivism as an alternate method of teaching through a course in Improved Teaching of Secondary School Language arts. At first I thought this was a great idea and felt that we ought to toss all traces of the traditional approach out the window and fully adopt the constructivist approach. However, this was before I was faced with the practicality of applying all that I had learned in …

Addressing Diversity Through The Utilization Of Team-Teaching In Teacher Education Field Experiences, Rita Mitchell, Bonita Williams, Paulina Kuforiji

Perspectives In Learning

The inclusion model for the delivery of special education services, the services of support personnel, reading, media, and technology specialists for example, and the use of paraprofessionals and volunteers in the classroom are common structures in place in elementary and middle schools today. Pre-service teachers should be prepared to work in such increasingly more collaborative settings. The growing diversity of the student population in public schools also sets the stage for team-teaching and other collaborative models if indeed we achieve the educational goal of “no child left behind”. In an age of specialization and individualization, some form of teacher collaboration …

Self-Efficacy In College Teaching, Anita Woolfolk-Hoy

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

The essay describes self-efficacy (that is, an instructor’s judgment about his or her capability to promote student learning and motivation) and its application to college teaching.

Taking Self Assessment Seriously, Georgine Loacker

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay provides a framework for students to examine and reflect upon their own performance as a demonstration of learning. It further describes students’ role in directing the ongoing development of their own learning.

Student Plagiarism: Are Teachers Part Of The Solution Or Part Of The Problem?, Chris M. Anson

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay explores ways in which instructors can subvert opportunities for plagiarism by rethinking limited models of writing and engaging students more fully and authentically in the assignments they present.

The "Huggy Bear" Program: An Effective Means Of Educating Teacher Education Candidates For Diversity, Doyin Coker-Kolo, Paulina Kuforiji

Perspectives In Learning

The “Huggy Bear” program uses a triad approach that links university professors with supervising teachers and teacher candidates to develop effective strategies for mentoring atrisk students. The program is carried out at the primary school level with pupils who have been identified by their teachers as having some deficiencies in social and academic skills. Additionally, the program has a multicultural component. It offers college students the opportunity to work with pupils of different cultural and social economic backgrounds. The “Huggy Bear” program seeks to change how teacher candidates think about working with atrisk students and to provide them with the …

Re-Engineering Public Education: Developing New Technologies In Teaching And Assessment, Paul Hackett

Perspectives In Learning

In the nineteen-nineties, I was principal of a middle school when the accountability issue burst into prominence in the state of Alabama in the form of norm-referenced testing as the main tool to evaluate school performance. Designed by well-meaning educators to meet the requirements of Alabama legislation, the accountability program in Alabama was developed to put some teeth into the curriculum. Schools and systems that performed poorly faced state takeover. The Alabama accountability issue was one face of a national movement predicated on the idea that the public schools in the United States have failed egregiously and that more stringent …

Traditional Versus High-Performance Cooperative Learning, Todd Applegate

Perspectives In Learning

Through the years, millions of students have participated in some version of cooperative learning. As evidenced by the numbers of published papers, several educators have reassessed and revised their cooperative learning techniques, but perhaps very few have done more for the refinement of this form of teaching than Roger and David Johnson, professors at the University of Minnesota and founders of the Collaborative Learning Center. These two educators have been training teachers to use small groups for instructional purposes since 1966 and seem to have the most productive approach to collaborative learning. Cooperative learning has been misused or undervalued, a …

Martin Studies Bigotry, 1939-1995, James Brewbaker

Perspectives In Learning

Martin's grandmother teaches Martin his superiority.

The Taylor County High School Prom Of 2003, Edward Howard

Perspectives In Learning

Deep in Georgia's agricultural heartland sits the small town of Butler. This town of only 1,900 residents is the county seat for Taylor County, which has a population of only 8,800. Butler appears as the classic example of a rural county seat in the South. Surrounding that are a few dozen pre-war brick buildings that comprise most of the businesses in town. A few pick-up trucks parked at the curb, and some people walking about at a leisurely pace complete the picture of a town where time seems to stand still. Some would say the atmosphere reminds them of the …

Guidance And Counseling Issues In South Africa's Non-Racial Schools, Joyce Hickson, Donna Pascoe

Perspectives In Learning

Guidance teachers and school counselors in non-racial schools in South Africa need to assess the relevance of their services for individuals from different cultures. The importance of providing relevant crosscultural guidance and counseling in school settings has been underscored by numerous empirical studies which indicate that traditional psychotherapy and counseling are often inappropriate for meeting the needs of culturally different clients. Atkinson, Morten, and Sue (1993) assert that despite recognition that cultural diversity requires multicultural rather than monocultural counseling practices, the systematic study of cross-cultural communication only took root in the late twentieth century. Only recently has the term “counseling” …

Preparing Teacher Candidates For Success In Diverse Settings, Cynthia Benator, Tina Butcher

Perspectives In Learning

Field experiences and clinical practice are essential elements in the preparation of teacher candidates. The College of Education (COE) at Columbus State University (CSU) understands the important role these components play in the development of successful teachers. Field experiences and clinical practice must adhere to the guidelines set forth by the governing bodies that accredit educator preparation programs. They must also reflect the philosophy of the individual institution.

Six Best Practice Structures, Two Disciplines, One Instructor, James Brewbaker

Perspectives In Learning

A common perception about teacher educators is that they preach better than they practice. Too many accomplished elementary and secondary teachers recall an education professor’s tedious class on the limitations of the lecture—delivered, sad to say, in a traditional lecture format. Too many accomplished teachers recall courses in which learning was measured solely through pencil-and-paper, short-answer recognition-and-recall tests that promoted cramming, test taking, and, too soon thereafter, forgetting the material in question. Too many accomplished teachers learned their craft in spite of faculty who were anything but pedagogical role models.

Teaching Culture In The Foreign Language Classroom, Jose' Villavicencio

Perspectives In Learning

The United States is going through great demographic changes in the diversity of its population that does not only include ethnic and racial diversity but, also, linguistic diversity. People with limited English proficiency are entering schools in greater numbers. (Gollnick & Chinn, 2002). These demographic changes require that the schools prepare citizens who are knowledgeable of other cultures, who are more accepting of cultural differences, and who can communicate with people of different backgrounds (Cushner, McClelland, & Safford, 2003). In agreement with the above proposition, the foreign language national standards suggest the need to develop citizens with cultural understanding and …

Discipline Based Art Education: One Classroom Approach, Ashley Byrd Kittrell

Perspectives In Learning

In many school districts across the country, the arts are no longer confined to a room in the far wing where students draw, paint, and, if they are lucky, make some pottery or jewelry. Instead, art is front and center in every subject taught in the classroom thanks to the teachings and research of Dwaine W. Greer, director of the Getty Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts. Known as Discipline Based Art Education (DBAE), this concept is being developed and implemented in schools all across the nation. DBAE treats art as an actual subject for study, rather than as …

Encouraging Civil Behavior In Large Classes, Mary Deane Sorcinelli

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay offers practical advice for promoting a positive classroom community in large classes and specific ways to deal with behaviors that affect negatively the teaching and learning process.

Variations Sur La Langue De Molière; L’Enseignementdu Français Aux États-Unis, Thomas C. Spear

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

French has always been among the top foreign languages taught in the American university, even if Spanish occupies the first place. As a result of the social transformations of the 1960s and 1970s and the development of new fields of learning, changes were also introduced gradually into French department programs to include francophone literatures, although in a manner that some have deemed disturbing.

This openness, which is not found in France, has brought about the creation of new faculty positions, some of which are occupied by teachers and writers from Africa and the Caribbean who are making a significant contribution …

La « Littérature Francophone » En Question, Roberta Hatcher

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

While literatures from Africa, the Caribbean and Québec have been taught in U.S French programs since at least the 1970s, the widespread incorporation of «francophone» literature and culture into all levels of the curriculum is a relatively recent phenomenon. Yet the organization of these heterogeneous fields under the umbrella of Francophone Studies has generated little discussion concerning the field’s definition and its relation to French Studies as a whole. This essay examines the category of Francophone Literature, arguing that it is no longer adequate for understanding today’s complex literary and cultural terrain.

Volume 15, Number 01, G. William Hill Editor

Reaching Through Teaching

Full text of Volume 15, Number 01 of Reaching Through Teaching.

Nefdc Exchange, Volume 14, Number 1, Spring 2003, New England Faculty Development Consortium

New England Faculty Development Consortium Exchange

Contents

Message from the President - Jeff Halprin, Nichols College

Keynote speaker, fall conference 2003: Parker Palmer, American Association of Higher Education; theme: The Courage to Teach

Teaching In Community at Northern Essex Community College - Judith Kamber, Northern Essex Community College

6th Annual Faculty Development Roundup, June 6, 2003. Nichols College

Universal design - Lisa Isleb, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Board of Directors

Education In Costa Rica: Best Practices And Beyond, Trey Fitch

Perspectives In Learning

Costa Rica is considered to be the most developed of the Central American countries because it has a relatively high Gross Domestic Product per capita as well as best indicators of life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate, and adult literacy rate (United Nations Development Program, 1999). Much of this success has been attributed to its progressive education system. Costa Rica is one of the few countries in the world to exist without a national military system, consequently, more money can be diverted into educational programs. The adult literacy rate is near 95% and rivals the United States where the …

Improving Teaching Through Classroom Action Research, Gwynn Mettetal

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay discusses how to conduct small, in-class research projects on student learning in order to document teaching effectiveness and select appropriate teaching strategies.

Helping Students Help Each Other: Making Peer Feedback More Valuable, Linda B. Nilson

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Student peer feedback can be emotionally biased, misinformed, and/or superficial. This essay discusses two types of feedback that yield neutral, valid, and detailed information and enhance students’ audience awareness.

Teaching Circles: Making Inquiry Safe For Faculty, Laurel Black, Mary Ann Cessna

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

How can I improve my teaching? Pressured by a need for high student ratings and administrative demands for excellence in teaching, faculty find a haven and room to learn in teaching circles.