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V. Knowledge and Skill
Bases of Undergraduate
Teacher Preparation Programs
In order to function effectively as a teacher (at the
initial or advanced level), administrator, or school counselor, multiple
areas of knowledge and skills are required. The process used to develop
a mastery of the knowledge and skills needed to create effective, safe,
and stimulating experiences for students varies according to each specific
program’s standards and outcomes. Undergraduate programs affiliated
with the Professional Education Unit focus on the preparation of classroom
teachers. Six learning categories have been defined: General Education,
plus five teacher education categories: 1) Content Studies, 2) Professional
Studies, 3) Pedagogical/ Methodological Studies, 4) Clinical and Field
Experiences, and 5) the Capstone Course. Each of these categories is addressed
separately in order to clarify the function each serves in the preparation
of pre-professionals. It is important to note, however, that the categories
are not perceived to be separate entities. Learning is believed to be
continuous and on-going. The program is delivered systematically; an overview
of the sequencing is reflected in the chart presented below.
Category Sequencing and Implementation
(Initial Teacher Preparation Programs)
General Education
At the University, the process of developing a classroom
teacher begins when students enroll in courses that fulfill general education
requirements. General education requirements are organized into three
categories: a required core, area studies, and an integrative component.
The purpose of the required core is to refine essential skills in the
areas of written and oral communication, computer basics, and mathematics.
The area studies component provides students with discipline-specific
content and skills, and courses must be taken from: 1) humanities, 2)
natural and mathematical sciences, 3) social and behavioral sciences,
and 4) practical living. The integrative component is a capstone course
that is taken in a student’s major or area of study.
While designed to serve all university students, the
general education requirements foster the development of competencies
that are absolutely essential for teachers. For future teachers, area
studies coursework extends the general knowledge beyond the essentials
to help them become broadly intellectually and culturally literate. As
students move through the General Education Program they learn to think
critically, solve problems effectively and responsibly, recognize and
value the multicultural nature of America, and to respect the rights of
all humans. The capstone (integrative component) experience provides an
opportunity for teacher education candidates to integrate the knowledge
and skills learned throughout the undergraduate experience by applying
them in authentic settings during a senior seminar and student teaching
experiences. Because the general education requirements are delivered
over four years, students also experience the idea that “learning
is continuous, developmental, and interrelated” (Piaget, Inhelder,
1969).
Teacher Education Program
While teacher education students are pursuing their
general education, they also begin to construct specialized knowledge
related to their professional preparation. These experiences are generally
organized into five categories: Content/Area Studies, Professional Education,
Pedagogy, and Field/Clinical Experiences and the Capstone Course.
Content Area Studies
In 1983, “A Nation At Risk: The Imperative for
Educational Reform by the National Commission on Excellence in Education,”
(as well as dozens of reform reports since) pointed out the need to strengthen
the academic qualifications of school-based professionals. The faculty
members at Morehead State recognized this need and have shaped content
courses to ensure that students in the initial preparation programs
have ample opportunity to grasp the ideas, theories, principles, skills,
methods of inquiry, and information processing techniques that are essential
to individual academic disciplines. Teacher education faculty members
are expected to model best practices and create learning environments
that challenge students to construct knowledge in meaningful ways. Ultimately
students will be expected to document their mastery of discipline specific
knowledge before completing their teacher education programs.
Professional Studies
Professional studies courses are designed and sequenced
to ensure that candidates develop an understanding of the social, intellectual,
and psychological foundations of schools as multi-faceted social institutions
and of learners as developing individuals of immeasurable complexity.
Two courses, Foundations of Education and Human Growth and Development,
lay this theoretical groundwork for all programs, while other courses
are specific to individual programs. For example, all candidates take
a learning theories course, but they take the version aligned with their
preparation program: early childhood, elementary, middle grade, and secondary
programs.
Although these theoretical professional studies courses
have different goals, they all engage candidates with constructivist models
as well as more traditional approaches to learning. The foundations
course provides an intellectual context for constructing one’s understanding
of the nature and purposes of schooling through examination of major ideas
influences in the history of education and schooling in America from colonial
times to the present. Constructivist epistemologies are introduced, as
are the state initiatives, education resources, and standards, as well
as the unit’s conceptual framework. Future educators are challenged
to think critically about their reasons for entering the profession and
to reflect on their experiences as classroom observers in light of their
newly developing knowledge, personal beliefs, and career expectations.
The human growth and development course explores
constructivist and more authoritarian models of learning development,
and encourages teacher education candidates to learn through participation
and experiences with young learners (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969; Vygotsky,
1962). Learning is enhanced through exploration of issues related to cultural
diversity and the needs of exceptional learners. Candidates are encouraged
to apply their knowledge to teaching practices that support the development,
motivation, and achievement of all students (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Gardner,
1999).
This theoretical knowledge is not studied just as ivory
tower scholarship, but through observations and interactions with children
in school settings, future teachers are required to reflect upon and express
the insights gainded through their field and clinical experiences.
Methods and Pedagogy Courses
Teachers must possess a variety of skills in order
to transform theoretical knowledge into effective classroom practices.
Methodology and pedagogy courses provide candidates with opportunities
to develop and demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary for designing,
planning, implementing, and assessing learning and instruction. Courses
in this category prepare students to understand the complex relationship
among unique needs of individual learners, formalized lessons, units of
instruction, and overall curriculum of institutionalized education. Field
experiences are required for each methods class to provide pre-service
teachers with meaningful opportunities for practice and reflection (Dewey,
1959). Exposure to and use of state-generated curriculum guidelines, learner
expectations, and assessment tools help students understand the professional
realities they will face when they become practicing professionals.
Faculty members who mentor candidates during methods
courses model a variety of classroom management techniques and research-based
instructional practices. This is not only to enhance “mastery of
content,” but also to model for candidates the teacher’s role
as a professional decision maker – selecting and implementing a variety
of strategies as individual situations warrant. Role playing, cooperative
learning, case studies, and field experiences are all constructivist strategies
used to provide candidates with opportunities to develop problem-solving
skills related to classroom management, discipline, environmental safety
and security issues.
Throughout all professional studies and pedagogy /methodology
coursework, pre-service teachers’ dispositions are observed and feedback
is given to ensure that students understand the relationship between their
attitudes and the creation of a positive environment for student learning
(Dewey, 1959; Goldstein, 1999; Reiman, 1999). Social interaction skills
are practiced and refined for the purpose of preparing pre-service professionals
to foster positive relationships with students, parents, colleagues, staff,
and administrators.
Clinical Practice and Field Experiences
Field and clinical experiences play a central role
in the learning experience of pre-professional candidates because they
enable candidates to construct their knowledge directly from the raw material
of life, not from the sifted experiences of the worldviews of others.
These field experiences follow a four-tiered developmental sequence -
from initial anthropologically oriented observations to final whole-class
teaching responsibilities – and parallel the candidates’ own
developing expertise and professional maturity. The chart on the next
page shows the framework that has been created to enhance and improve
the preparatory field and clinical experiences in our secondary education
programs.
Prior to admission to the Teacher Education Program
(TEP), candidates are primarily involved in observation and reflection
about schools and children. Following admission to the TEP, candidates
move into field experiences that require interaction with or teaching
a single student or small group of students. As candidates begin methodology/
pedagogy coursework, the complexity of the practice in the field increases,
whether it be in terms of teaching a whole group or teaching for an entire
class period. These experiences are designed to prepare the student for
student teaching, the culminating and integrative experience in the program.
Planned Field Experience Sequence
Capstone Course
Although the capstone course is the integrative component
of the general education requirements of the institution, it is program
specific. For teacher education programs, it is a seminar taken with the
professional semester. This experience: 1) helps the candidate make the
transition into the student teacher role, 2) provides support and feedback
about the candidate’s work in an actual public school classroom,
and 3) supports the development of an exit portfolio. This document demonstrates
the extent to which a candidate has constructed a functional body of knowledge
as well as his/her ability to create nurturing learning environments for
others. Ultimately the goal is to document that each candidate is prepared
to design environments (document architectural skills) where young learners
can construct their own knowledge and develop skills.
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