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IV. Conceptual Framework
Theme: Educators as
Architects
Designing Environments Where
Students Construct
Knowledge and Develop Skills
To help provide an intellectual framework for the pursuit
of unit goals and to help students understand our conception of the teacher’s
role, we have adopted as a theme, “Educators as Architects.”
A goal of the unit is to prepare candidates who are able to design environments
where students construct knowledge and develop skills. The metaphor of
teacher as architect emerged in faculty discussions of our conceptual
framework after the 1993 NCATE visit and was officially adopted before
the 1998 visit.
The term architect continues to be used because it
suggests the creative processes educators engage in when designing, planning,
and constructing environments that foster optimal student learning. More
specifically, the architect metaphor is appealing because:
1) It strikes a balance between the educator as key actor in
the traditional classroom and the educator as passive observer in the
romanticized classroom. It implies that the educator is central to the
planning and preparation of classroom activities, but the student is
the active doer of the work of learning. This is consistent with national
literature and state reforms that focus, not on teacher behavior, but
student work. See for example Looking Together at Student Work: A
Companion Guide to Assessing Student Learning (series on School
Reform) by Tina Blythe, David Allen, and Barbara Schieffelin Powell.
2) It suggests that educators are not merely implementers of
canned learning materials created by others. They themselves are artists,
creating an environment specific to the individual needs of their students
at a particular time and place, using a variety of materials as appropriate.
When the idea that “the artist is instinctively pushed toward quality”
(Willis, 1989) is added, excellence moves to the forefront. Teachers
then become creators of environments that provoke optimal learning,
as suggested in the article, “Becoming architects of communities
of learning: Addressing academic diversity in contemporary…”
by Tomlinson, Carol Ann and Callahan, Carolyn M. (Exceptional Children,
Winter 97, Vol. 63 Issue 2, p.269). This idea is also represented in
numerous sites on the web, including:
http://www.choolkit.com/Corporate/News/Articles/Art003.asp,
http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/99/jun/sandy.html,
and
http://www.coe.uh.edu/~ichen/ebook/ET-IT/cognitiv.html.
3) It fits well with constructivist epistemologies that have
emerged from philosophy, psychology, literary criticism, and neurology.
Constructivism says that the work that learners do is not just rote
recording or imprinting of received knowledge. Learners “are constructing
their own knowledge by testing ideas and approaches based on their prior
knowledge and experience, applying these to a new situation, and integrating
the new knowledge gained with pre-existing intellectual constructs.”
(Piaget, 1952) This is one of the most pervasive ideas in contemporary
epistemology and is reflected in various ways in the thoughts of Piaget
(1952), Vygotsky (1962), Dewey (1933), and Goldstein (1992) and is a
key assumption of all post-modern thought. For education specific examples,
see Streffe, L & Gale, J. (Eds.) (1995), Constructivism in Education.
New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. or C. Fosnot (Ed.) (1996)
Constructivism: Theory, Perspectives, and Practice.
Given our use of the “Educator as Architect”
metaphor and its constructivist epistemology, one will find the following
themes linked to the content, objectives, activities, and assessments
of the courses and experiences that frame and document candidate learning
(in all domains). Links to the educator preparation standards: including
the, New Teacher Standards (NTS), Experienced Teacher Standards (ETS),
School Counselor Standards (GCS), and/or Interstate School Leaders Licensure
Consortium (ISLLC) have been noted by acronym and standard number.
- Candidate engagment in a comprehensive and multifaceted knowledge
and skills base that can be applied to and used in multiple contexts
(NTS 8, ETS 2, GCS 2, ISLLC 2, 3, 6)
- An acknowledgement of the belief that learning is an active and on-going
process (Piaget, 1952)
- Providing candidates with direct experiences to ensure the ability
to use and process information while seeking solutions (Piaget, 1969)
(NTS 8, ETS 2, GCS 2 and 3, ISLLC 3)
- Placing students in authentic or “real” world settings so
that learning has the potential to be meaningful (http://www.coe.uh.edu/~9chen/ebook/EFITT/cognitive.htm)
- Encouraging candidates to extend their ability to process and learn
by reflecting on their experiences so that they can discover the wisdom
of more informed and sophisticated teaching practices (Dewey, 1959;
Reiman, 1999) (NTS 5 and 7, ETS 7 and 9, GCS 8, and ISLLC 5,7).
- Providing opportunities for students to understand the impact that
dispositions, attitudes, values, and beliefs have on student learning
and development ( Richardson, 1996).(NTS 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5,
GSC 2 and 3, and ISLLC 1, 6, 7)
- Assessing candidates and faculty using a variety of quantitative and
qualitative measures, including authentic performance-based projects
and action research (Keeting, Greenburg, Baldwin, Thousands, 1999; Shannon,
1990). (http://curriculum.calstatela.edu/faculty/psparks/theorists/501/consti.htm)
(NTS 4, ETS 1 and 6, GCS 1 and 6, ISLLC 2, 7)
- Encouraging faculty and public school practitioners to fulfill the
role of facilitators of learning by constructing experiences in environments
that stimulate students and provoke thought, action, and reflection.
(Richaradson, 1996; Miller, Wilkes, Sheetham and Goodwin, 1993) (NTS
5, ETS 7, GCS 9, and ISLLC 3, 5, 6).
- Assessing candidate abilities to demonstrate an awareness of and ability
to account for learner diversity, including, gender, race, ethnicity,
cultural, and exceptionality in all aspects of the educational setting
(Darling-Hammond, 2000). (NTS 1, 2, and 3, ETS 3, 4, and 5, GCS 2, 3,
and 4, and ISLLC 1, 7, 11)
- Extending graduates’ abilities to communicate effectively with
students, parents, professional peers, and members of the community.
The intention is to enhance the spirit of collaboration in an effort
to evaluate and enhance the ability of the school to fulfill state and
local educational objectives (Dewey, 1938/1959). (NTS 6, ETS 1 and 6,
GCS 4 and ISLLC 3)
- Preparing of pre-professionals and faculty who are able to effectively
integrate technology into all aspects of the educational process in
order to improve communication, teaching, learning, and assessment.
(NTS 9, ETS 10, GCS 1, ISLLC 2, 9)
- Monitoring the extent to which each educator preparation program fulfills
its goals and commitment to preparing graduates to demonstrate performance
standards, as well as the system each uses to produce positive change
(NCATE, 2000) (Program Reviews).
- Encouraging faculty and students to note and “apply scientific
thinking to real life problems that exist in education in order to increase
instructional productivity and to produce information to disseminate
to others to inform their practice” (Shannon, 1990; Keeting, et.al.
1999). (NTS 7, ETS 1 and 8, GCS 1, and ISLLC 3, 2, 6)
These themes, of course, are widely recognized in professional
literature as best practices in their own right, apart from their constructivist
connections. While the academic autonomy of the faculty allows them to
explore with students a wide variety of pedagogies, these constructivist
ideals are recurrent themes that establish the basis for course content,
objkectives, activities, and assessments throughout all of our programs.
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