Realizing the Democratic Ideal:

Teacher Education at Illinois State University

PHYSICS 353 -- STUDENT TEACHING SEMINAR

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

Spring Semester 2008

Drop Down to Course Outline

(Finalized 1/14/2008)

Catalog Description:

STUDENT TEACHING SEMINAR

1 s.h.

Spring

A seminar through which students exchange information, share reflections, and document observations and activities prior to and during student teaching. Note: This is a five-week in-class course taken during the same semester as, but prior to, student teaching.

WARNING: Associated with this course is one or more NSTA-mandated summative performance assessments linked with Professional Studies' Exit from Student Teaching gateway. Failure to adequately demonstrate the required competencies in a timely fashion will result in the teacher candidate being ineligible for the state teaching certificate. In addition, one or more PBA System requirements are linked with this course. All three required LiveText submissions (Final Reflective Essay, Multicultural/Diversity Lesson Plan, and Democratic Ideal Portfolio) must be completed and uploaded no later than one week prior to the end of student teaching.

Instructor:

Name: Dr. Carl J. Wenning, Coordinator
Physics Teacher Education Program
Office Location: Moulton Hall, Room 322
Office Hours: drop in or by appointment
Telephones: (309) 438-2957 (office); 454-4164 (home); 830-4085 (cell)
e-mail address: wenning@phy.ilstu.edu

Meeting Days/Times/Location/LiveText Deadline:

The class will meet once weekly for one-hour seminars immediately following PHY 312 on Monday evenings for the first five weeks of spring semester. The only exceptions will be during the second and fifth weeks of class when we will move to a Thursday class, January 24 and February 14. During this five-week period students will perform pre-student teaching clinical experiences at their future student teaching sites, and these experiences will be discussed in seminar.

All three required LiveText submissions (Final Reflective Essay, Multicultural/Diversity Lesson Plan, and Democratic Ideal Portfolio) must be completed and uploaded no later than one week prior to the end of student teaching. These assignments must be connected with the appropriate evidence from the Student Teacher. Failure to have all assessments completed might result in students not being able to graduate at the end of spring term. Here are guidelines for submission lest you forget how to do so.

Methodology:

Pre-professional clinical experiences give the teacher candidate a chance to grasp more fully the educational dilemmas and opportunities presented by the educational process. Students will bring experiences and reflections to bear in a seminar as they exchange information derived from clinical observations and teaching activities made at their student teaching sites prior to and during the student teaching practicum. This seminar will culminate in the creation of a student teaching clinical experiences documentation folder and a student teaching portfolio. The heart of the student teaching portfolio will be based primarily upon NSTA Science Teaching Standards and Teacher Education's conceptual framework, Realizing the Democratic Ideal.

This course will have a learning environment that is student centered, knowledge centered, assessment centered, and community centered. This course will be student centered to the extent that the teacher builds on knowledge students bring to the learning situations. This course will be knowledge centered to the extent that the teacher helps students develop an organized understanding of important concepts in the physics teaching discipline. This course will be assessment centered to the extent that the teacher makes students' thinking visible so that ideas can be presented and verified. This course will be community centered to the extent that the teacher establishes classroom norms that learning with understanding is valued and students feel free to explore what they do not understand.

In this course, as in other Physics Teacher Education courses, emphasis will be placed on an Assessment-for-Learning policy. That is, assessments of student performance will be used not only to assign grades, but also to improve student performance. Unsatisfactory work will be returned to the student for improvement. A student's score can be improved following appropriate revision and resubmission of "unsatisfactory" course projects, so long as all deadlines are met.

Course Goals:

• Provide transitional experiences from teacher candidate to student teacher.
• Provide opportunity for the teacher candidate to become more aware of the full range of professional teaching responsibilities.
• Provide a mechanism for documentation of and reflection on student teaching practice.
• Provide an opportunity for self-assessment and professional development.
• Provide an opportunity for students to create two student teaching portfolios documenting professional practice.
• Provide students to deal with situation of the day and justification of the day.
• Provide opportunity for catharsis and final reflection.

Performance Objectives for All Undergraduates:

To be admitted to student teaching, every teacher candidate must demonstrate each of the following competencies at a B level or above:	Sources of Course Objectives	Correlated Assessment
(1) demonstrate in writing and prior to student teaching a deep knowledge of the public school setting which has been developed through 20 interviews with teachers as well as conferral, referral, and administrative personnel, and by working directly with students in at least 5 different settings.		353A
(2) develop a safety plan that reflects the realities of the student teaching environment.	NSTA # 8 - Environment and Safety	353B
(3) access and use resource information to improve teaching and learning in a diverse setting through the creation of a lesson plan that addresses, at least in part, pertinent conceptual framework elements (#1, #4, and #6) and makes the subject matter and learning experiences meaningful to a diverse population of students; complete, teach, and submit in a timely fashion a meaningful multicultural/diversity lesson plan via LiveText.	ISU Professional Studies Requirement NSTA # 2 - Nature of Science NSTA # 4 - Issues NSTA # 6 - Curriculum NSTA # 7 - Science in the Community	353C
(4) analyze the cooperating teacher's classroom practice over the course of at least three days using the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol to see how well it aligns with the science teaching reform movement.		353D
(5) document and submit via LiveText the fact that (s)he teaches within the framework of Realizing the Democratic Ideal	ISU Professional Studies PBA Requirement	353E
(6) complete in a professional and timely fashion weekly clock hour reports and 10 weekly reflections and, at the conclusion of student teaching, an 11th "summary reflection."		353F
(7) complete and submit via LiveText in timely and professional fashion a final reflective essay		353G
(8) participate fully in class discussions (including Situations and Justifications of the Day) and activities.		353H

Course Alignment with Teacher Education Unit's Conceptual Framework:

Conceptual Framework	Course Objective No.
Moral Virtues:
Sensitivity toward the varieties of individual and cultural diversity.	1, 3-8
Disposition and ability to collaborate ethically and effectively with others.	all
Reverence for learning and seriousness of personal, professional, and public purpose.	all
Respect for learners of all ages, with special regard for children and adolescents.	1, 3, 5, 7, 8
Intellectual Virtues:
Wide general knowledge and deep knowledge of the content to be taught.	1-5, 7, 8
Knowledge and appreciation of the diversity among learners.	3, 5, 7, 8
Understanding what affects learning and appropriate teaching strategies.	1-5, 7, 8
Interest in and an ability to seek out informational, technological, and collegial resources.	1-5, 7, 8
Contagious intellectual enthusiasm and courage enough to be creative.	2, 3, 8

Course Outline:

Please note that the Weekly Reflections shown below are really part of STT 399.72 -- Student Teaching in Physics. They are listed here only as a reminder. In partial fulfillment of your obligation to document your clinical activity experience and time commitment, have your cooperating teacher or other school personnel sign the STT Clinical Experience Log.

Student Performance Assessments:

Submission Deadlines:

STUDENTS WHO FAIL TO COMPLETE THE SOCIAL CONTEXT PROJECT BEFORE STUDENT TEACHING WILL BE BANNED FROM STUDENT TEACHING UNTIL SUCH TIME AS AN ACCEPTABLE PROJECT IS COMPLETED AND SUBMITTED.The Social Context documentation folder MUST be completed and turned in by the Friday prior to student teaching or earlier. All 3 required LiveText submissions must be online seven days prior to the start of finals week.

Academic Integrity:

Students are expected to be honest in all academic work. A student's name on any in academic exercise shall be regarded as assurance that the work is the result of the student's own thought and study. Offenses involving academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to the following: cheating, computer dishonesty, plagiarism, grade falsification, and collusion. For more information about this important topic, visit the Student Dispute Resolution Web site.

Grading:

All required student tasks/activities will be assessed using performance rubrics. The following table denotes the relative weighting of assessment activities:

Social Context Documentation Folder	175 points
Safety Plan	25 points
Multicultural/Diversity Lesson Plan	25 points
Teaching Analysis using RTOP	50 points
Democratic Ideal Project	175 points
Weekly Reports and Reflections	50 points
Total	500 points

The final course grade will be determined on the basis of a composite score according to the following schedule:

A > 90%

82% < B < 90%

74% < C < 82%

66% < D < 74%

F < 66%

SAAMEE: A Model for Academic Success

Caution: Keep in mind as you progress toward student teaching that as a student teacher your students will have an interest in finding out about you. This will lead them to Internet searches. Don't put anything on a web page, uTube, Facebook, MySpace, etc., that you wouldn't want students, parents, teachers or administrators to see.

Disposition Concerns: The College of Education, in an effort to ensure top quality graduates, provides faculty members and interested others with the opportunity to provide input into the teacher preparation process. One of these inputs is in the area of disposition concerns. Education faculty, in particular, are encouraged to bring to attention of CECP any significant problems associated with the following major areas. If three or more filed dispositions concerns have not been resolved, the teacher candidate will be blocked from advancing in Professional Studies.

• Collaboration Issues: The ability to work together, especially in a joint intellectual effort.
• Honesty/Integrity: The ability to demonstrate truthfulness to oneself and to others; demonstrate moral excellence and trustworthiness.
• Respect: The ability to honor, value, and demonstrate consideration and regard for oneself and others.
• Reverence for Learning: Respect and seriousness of intent to acquire knowledge.
• Emotional Maturity: The ability to adjust one’s emotional state to suitable level of intensity in order to remain engaged with one’s surroundings.
• Reflection: The ability to review, analyze, and evaluate the success of past decisions in an effort to make better decisions in the future.
• Flexibility: The willingness to accept and adapt to change.
• Responsibility: The ability to act independently, demonstrating accountability, reliability and sound judgment.

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