LIVETEXT CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK COOPERATING TEACHERS
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Relationship to SIUC Mission
Development of Conceptual Framework
Introduction to the Conceptual Framework
Professional Commitments and Dispositions
Diversity
Technology
Language Arts
Relationship of the Conceptual Framework to Standards
References
The conceptual framework identified by Southern Illinois University Carbondale's College of Education and Human Services reflects the professional community's commitment to preparing reflective educators at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. This section of the report describes the conceptual framework, its relationship to the university's mission, its development, and its relationship to professional education standards.
The mission statements of Southern Illinois University Carbondale and of SIUC's College of Education and Human Services reflect a strong commitment to effective instruction, quality research and service to the region. One of SIUC's means for addressing this mission is to prepare quality teachers for southern Illinois and for the state and nation. By preparing quality teachers, SIUC will enable all communities to employ teachers possessing knowledge and skills necessary to ensure that all children learn as well as to enrich their lives and the life of their community. As Linda Darling-Hammond (1996) states: "What teachers know and can do is the most important influence on what students learn."
The unit's conceptual framework was originally developed in the mid-1980s to reflect SIUC's commitment to prepare effective educational professionals who are reflective in their approach to teaching. The proposed conceptual framework was discussed and debated by panels of faculty and administrators from the university and public schools. Over the past twenty years, the framework has been utilized to guide the development of the Teacher Education Program. During that period, it has been refined to be in alignment with NCATE and Illinois standards at the initial and advanced levels as they have emerged and changed. Various committees and task forces have examined the conceptual framework as they have considered modifications to the program. All revisions of the conceptual framework must first be discussed and approved by the Teacher Education Advisory Committee. Currently, SIUC's conceptual framework addresses the five elements of mission, philosophy, knowledge base, performance expectations and unit assessment.
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Southern Illinois University Carbondale's Teacher Education Program considers teaching to be a reflective practice. Mary Kennedy (1989) states that reflective practitioners have a thoughtful, contextualized sense of teaching and must ultimately make their own choices about preferred goals and practices. They construct working knowledge out of various frames of reference and alternative viewpoints. This working knowledge, which includes theory, experience, research, values and beliefs, is utilized to critically analyze and continually improve teaching. Osterman and Kottkamp (1992) consider reflective practice to be an integrated approach to thinking and acting focused on learning and behavioral change; it is individuals working to improve organizations through improving themselves. Building upon the work of such scholars as Berliner (1988), Cruickshank (1981), Dewey (1933), Schon (1983, 1987), Tom (1985), Valli (1992), Van Manen (1977), and Zeichner (1981-82, 1996), SIUC's conceptual framework views the professional development of teachers and other educational personnel to be an evolutionary and maturational process. The goal of the SIUC Teacher Education Program is to prepare a competent, dedicated and caring beginning teacher. A competent beginning teacher is ready to assume the responsibilities of educating individuals but with full awareness that his or her induction into the profession continues throughout the duration of their professional career. The College of Education and Human Services considers the process for becoming a reflective educator as beginning during a teacher's undergraduate preparation for initial teacher certification and continuing throughout his or her professional career. Effective teaching is characterized by interactions with students to present subject matter, followed by informed reflection on these interactions and presentations. Teachers should make decisions among methods and content based on their competence in both subject matter and pedagogy, rather than acting as technicians following a predetermined curriculum. The first component of the Teacher Education Program, which begins during one's initial certification program, focuses on the basic skills and knowledge required to perform the act of teaching. The knowledge base provides prospective teachers with an intellectual anchor from which to become more reflective in their thinking and teaching. It includes the university's core curriculum with courses in humanities, arts, social sciences and science. Further, it includes content and methods courses within a student's major. Prospective teachers gain knowledge and skills within the areas of instruction, planning, classroom management, technology, educational psychology and foundations of education. The knowledge, skills and dispositions expected of beginning teachers are aligned with the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards (INTASC) and with the content standards adopted by various professional organizations (e.g., NCATE, NCTE, ACEI, NCTM, etc.). These standards are evident in both curriculum and assessment processes. Diversity and technology also are consistent strands interwoven throughout the Teacher Education Program. Program faculty are expected to integrate content related to culturally diverse student populations into their coursework. All students enroll in a course that focuses on planning and delivering instruction and training for exceptional children. In addition, students are placed in culturally diverse and inclusive school settings throughout the teacher education program. Technology, including the use of computers, video, audio, and multimedia technology, is modeled in coursework as well as in field experiences. All students have access to several computer and video laboratories. Both diversity and technology are assessed through the application of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards.
The second component of the SIUC TEP conceptual framework encourages students to critically analyze and reflect upon a basic rationale for specific educational practices being utilized in the classroom. This reflection occurs throughout courses in methodology and theory, but also through various microteaching experiences and all levels of field experiences, including practicum and internships at the advanced level. At the advanced level, one's ability to analyze and reflect is not only addressed throughout coursework but also is assessed through action research projects, preliminary exams, theses, and dissertations. Such experiences are designed to encourage students to critically examine and reflect upon their own attitudes, behavior and performance, and to be active decision-makers in their classrooms and schools.
The final component finds teachers making connections between what happens in the classroom and their impact on broader social structures, such as work, a community's moral, ethical and political principles, and the cultural experiences that impinge on a classroom. Typically, the ability to view teaching and learning through a wider economic and social lens begins to occur during student teaching and culminating coursework and continues throughout a professional career in teaching, including advanced coursework. Furthermore, it is recognized that prospective teachers mature and develop at varying rates. Thus, the relationship between education, teaching, community and society is continually emphasized throughout both initial and advanced programs at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. In several cases, this critical analysis and reflection on the teaching/training, learning and application processes encourages teachers to pursue National Board Certification. It is also built into SIUC's plan to assist teachers to move from initial to advanced certification. The candidates' knowledge, performance and dispositions are routinely assessed throughout their programs by applying state and national standards. Performance is typically assessed in campus courses through video taped demonstration lessons and portfolios - and also throughout the candidates' field experiences component, including student teaching, practicum and internships. All field experience assessments are aligned to the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards.
Professional Dispositions: Exhibits a professional work ethic Exhibits a love of learning Demonstrates professional ethics, including honesty & trustworthiness Demonstrates dependability Demonstrates a cooperative attitude Exhibits reliability Exhibits enthusiasm for the discipline he/she teaches Demonstrates a commitment to the profession Diversity Dispositions: Respects all students Exhibits belief that all students can learn Exhibits sensitivity to individual diversity Exhibits sensitivity to cultural diversity Willing to collaborate with diverse colleagues, parents and guardians Actively pursues variations and differences in approaches to learning including learning styles and performance modes and how they affect learning Reflection Dispositions Demonstrates sustained intellectual curiosity and a commitment to life-long learning Is willing to assess own practices and behaviors Is concerned with effective application of pedagogical knowledge and strategies Assesses adequacy of educational goals, including moral and ethical, towards achieving learning outcomes Considers own dispositions and biases as he/she thinks creatively and critically
Whereas educators have much experience in assessing knowledge and skills, dispositions, on the other hand, are more difficult to measure. Numerous educators have grappled not only with the definition of dispositions and but also have searched for a venue(s) to effectively assess a candidate's dispositions. SIUC's Teacher Education Dispositions will be assessed through a variety of venues including portfolios, observation, interviews, teacher assessment, etc. These processes will be more fully explicated within the discussion of the TEP's assessment system.
Southern Illinois University Carbondale is committed to preparing educators who possess the dispositions, skills and knowledge that enable them to work effectively with diverse student populations. Sonia Nieto (1992) has argued that preparing educators to work with diverse children, youth, and families is one of the biggest challenges in today's society. The inclusion of dispositions that specifically focus on diversity reflects SIUC's commitment to preparing educators to meet this challenge. SIUC's reflective educators are prepared to serve in diverse classrooms and communities by infusing diversity throughout the unit's programs. We define "diversity" broadly to include race, language, social class, gender, disability, and sexual orientation (as suggested by Sleeter & Grant, 2003). For the most part, diversity is infused throughout our programs and field experiences. However, all teacher education candidates must successfully complete a course, "Characteristics and Methods of Teaching Exceptional Children," as part of the Teacher Education Core course sequence. At the master's degree level, candidates take a variety of courses within their program that emphasize the multiple layers of diversity. All doctoral students in the College must enroll in the Cultural Foundations of Education course that has a strong emphasis on diversity.
The effective use of educational technologies in the classroom is a goal for all SIUC candidates at both the initial and advanced levels. As a result, the Teacher Education Program is committed to providing its candidates with the skills, knowledge, and dispositions needed to use technology in their own professional development as well as to advance the learning of all their students.
The Teacher Education Program's vision for and use of technology continues to evolve. All teacher candidates must learn about appropriate software and how to use various types of technology as part of their coursework in organizing and directing instruction. In addition, technology is taught and modeled to varying degrees in all programs. In their field experiences, candidates must effectively incorporate technology into their lessons in order to meet the Technology Standard of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards. Students are encouraged to use technology in ways that promote reflection and serve the learning needs of diverse students.
The College of Education and Human Services has received a number of grants that have helped to enhance opportunities for initial and advanced level students gain additional knowledge and skills in the area of technology. Several recent grants, Blazing Learning Trails, PT3 and Teacher Quality Enhancement, have enabled programs to improve the technology available to undergraduate and graduate students as well as professional development opportunities for faculty. The American Memory grant through the Library of Congress has helped us to upgrade the Multimedia Center for Teaching and Learning and to provide training for teachers and teacher candidates on how to digitally incorporate archives from the Library of Congress into their curriculum.
The College has a Technology Committee that helps to monitor the current technology curriculum as well as to advise the Dean on our technology infrastructure. Recently, the College's Microcomputer Laboratory has been upgraded, Smart Classrooms have been installed, the building has become wireless, the Math Lab has been upgraded technologically as well as other modifications that will assist our advancement in this area.
The state of Illinois requires that all teacher education candidates be proficient in speaking, reading and writing. The Teacher Education Program at SIUC supports students in developing the required language arts skills at all levels of the program. Beginning in the introductory courses, extensive reflective writing is required and spoken English is evaluated in the field evaluation. Emphasis is placed on editing all public documents Ð letters to parents, lesson plans, etc. and student teachers are held accountable for improving their grammar. There is a separate student teaching performance standard for effective communication with students, which defines language more broadly, including nonverbal and visual communication.
Professional standards for educators have emerged as one of the guiding forces in determining curriculum and experiences in today's teacher education arena. Whether the standards are focused on knowledge, performance and/or dispositions, it is our belief that the need to prepare reflective professional educators to work within these standards reinforces the relevance of our conceptual framework. Recent professional literature points to the need for reflective decision-making in such diverse educational challenges as providing curricular adaptations for students with disabilities (Udvari-Solner, 1996) and effective school administration (Hart, 1990). All unit programs are aligned to the state teaching standards from their respective content areas as well as the standards adopted by their professional learned societies. This includes our school administration as well as school counseling programs. Candidates must also meet the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards (IPTS) that are based on the INTASC standards. In addition, all field experience assessment forms are aligned to the IPTS. Recently the unit subscribed to LiveText, an electronic assessment system that allows students to develop electronic portfolios and submit assignments on-line. LiveText enables the unit to align all forms, syllabi, assignments and portfolios to the IPTS and national content standards. As a result, the unit will be able to electronically access this data in order to generate reports regarding individual candidates and programs. In conclusion, Southern Illinois University Carbondale's Teacher Education Program is committed to meeting the standards established by NCATE for the purpose of preparing effective educators at both the initial and advanced levels. As a result, our commitment focuses on the preparation of candidates, who are grounded in the knowledge base of their content area, skillful in the methodology required by their program, deeply committed to diversity in classrooms and schools, and reflective about their performance as and role of a professional educator.
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