EDTEP 541A        Winter 2004

Dilemmas of Teaching and Learning

• Course overview
• Class procedures and expectations
• Goals and objectives
• Assignments and grading policy
• Questions and concerns
• Schedule of readings and assigments
• Student information sheet (due Friday by email)

REQUIRED READINGS

(books available at University Book Store)

Bruner, J. (1977) The process of education. Boston: Harvard University Press.

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L. & Cocking, R. R. (2000): How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. New $24.95. You can also/instead read it on the web, for free, at http://www.nap.edu/catalog/9853.html, or order direct from the publisher at the same link for slightly less money (20% discount, but plus postage), but that takes a week or two. (The free web version is searchable, which is handy when you're trying to find that elusive reference.)

Nicholls, J. G. and Hazzard, S. (1993) Education as adventure: Lessons from the second grade. New York: Teachers College Press.

Paley, V. (1992). You can't say you can't play. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. (Also required for EDTEP 511 School and Society).

Readings Packet: Reading packets will be available during the second week of class, methods of distribution will be announced in class and posted on the website.

COURSE OVERVIEW

The purpose of this course is help you continue to work on your own theories of how children learn and develop. As part of this process, you will be developing your professional identities as (1) students of students; (2) creators, within our classroom and with your future students, of lively and intellectually engaging classroom communities; and (3) teachers who are aware of the specific challenges inherent in 1 and 2. This course will treat schools and classrooms as "ecosystems" in which learning, teaching, students' emotional, social, and intellectual needs, and general school and classroom climate all interact and affect one another. Your job is to make "personal sense" of the material in this course, to understand it by integrating new ideas with what you already know about the world, about children, about learning, motivation, schooling, and subject matter. Course readings, assignments, and activities are designed to help you with these tasks, and to help you evaluate what you learn here in light of your own background and goals for teaching. Your experiences in schools will provide opportunities to "try on" theoretical perspectives and "try out" tools and techniques for understandings learners and their environments.

Although we will use a variety of teaching techniques, we will rely primarily on small and large group discussion. The purpose of discussion in this class is to help all students begin to refine their own theories of learning and teaching through reading, listening to others' ideas, observing in classrooms, and discussing ideas with classmates, instructors, and TA's. We will count on you to encourage all fellow 541 students to participate in class discussions, just as you would encourage your own students to do so.

CLASS PROCEDURES AND EXPECTATIONS

Class time will be spent mostly in group discussions of the readings, or in activities based on ideas in the readings. We will lecture only briefly and occasionally. It is essential for you to read all assigned material before coming to class; the nature of class activities will be based on this expectation. You are invited to ask for help from me or from your TA in making sense of difficult ideas and concepts. Please do not hesitate to do this! This can be done during class discussions, before or after class, individually during office hours, or via email. Other students are also a very good source of help and support in sorting through new and difficult ideas. I encourage you to find opportunities to explore ideas from this class with a variety of people; the more we talk, read, and write about learning, the richer it becomes.

On the first day of class we will establish the norms and values that will guide our learning community throughout the quarter. After we construct these guidelines, each student will receive a copy to consult throughout the duration of the quarter. This classroom compact will be something that we might need to remind ourselves of or revisit as the quarter progresses. Please do not hesitate to use it or appeal to it. It will be something that we all have to agree to in advance and will try our best to uphold.

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GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Course objectives (learning targets):

1. Students will learn to critically use major concepts of cognitive theories of learning and development to understand children's learning in classrooms, including construction of knowledge, schemata and conceptual change, and socially mediated learning.
2. Students will learn to use the tools of action research and ethnography to gather and interpret evidence of learning and learning communities.
   
3. Students will understand the role of learning communities in the learning and development of children, and identify and support characteristics of effective and supportive learning communities.
   
4. Students will begin to understand the role of children's social development in their learning and in the establishment of supportive learning communities.
   
5. Students will understand the role of classroom discourse in constraining or creating opportunities children have to learn and develop.
   
6. Students will learn to reflect on their work as teacher-researchers.

TEP Goals and learning targets to which this course contributes:

Goal 1: Effective teaching, assessment, and evaluation. Knowledge of the learning and the learner underpins all aspects of effective teaching and assessment.

Goal 2: Meeting the needs of diverse learners, particularly learning targets 2A, C, & D:
"2A. Learning and Development. The TEP student will understand how students learn and develop, and will provide learning opportunities that support intellectual, social, and emotional growth.
2C. Respect for Learners. The TEP student will demonstrate respect for learners as thinkers and as individuals and create a learning community in which individual differences are respected.
2D. Assessment of Development. The TEP student will understand and use formal and informal assessment strategies to ensure the continuous social, emotional, and physical development of the learner."

Goal 3: Creating a positive learning environment. "The TEP student will use an understanding of classroom and social dynamics to create a positive learning environment that encourages students to work effectively as individuals and in groups. This includes supportive social interactions, collaboration, active engagement in learning, and self-regulated learning."

Goal 4: Professional commitment. Work in our class will contribute directly to attaining learning target 4A: Teamwork with colleagues, and 4D: Reflective practice.

ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING POLICY

Your course grade will be determined by your performance on written assignments. A mastery philosophy will be followed in assigning grades for the first three assignments: if you submit a written assignment and, after feedback, are not satisfied with your understanding or performance, you may revise and resubmit the assignment without penalty. Our concern is for your level of understanding of the course content, not for how quickly you make sense of the material. In revising, pay close attention to the feedback on your first attempt. You must attach your first attempt to your rewrite so that we can see that you addressed our original concerns. For the last assignment, we will hold extra office hours during the week of March 2 to accommodate your questions and concerns. We will also comment on drafts submitted by March 5.

Field Assignment 1: Student Learning Project (25% of course grade)

This assignment will assist us in developing the first course theme: the importance of becoming students of our students. Data for this assignment will be collected during your first week in the schools. Detailed instructions, criteria, and scoring checklist will be discussed before you go out in the field and may be found on the web here. A sample paper will soon be on the web as well. The goal is for you to carefully observe two different children, make inferences about what they know, and write a brief paper (5-6 pages double-spaced) about the experience. We will use the paper to assess your understanding of and ability to use ideas from the course in understanding student learning. This project is graded using a checklist of criteria. When all criteria are met, the project will earn a 4.0 for 25% of your course grade. Course objectives 1, 2, 6.

Short Thematic Papers: (30% of course grade; 15% each)

Short thematic papers (STPs) are a chance for you to synthesize important ideas from the readings with your own experiences as a teacher or learner. Your job is to develop your theme while using ideas from the readings critically to support or challenge your own position. We will use these papers to assess your understanding of the readings and ideas and your ability to use them as you think about teaching and learning. STPs will be graded check/not-yet-check, using a checklist of criteria. You may revise and resubmit if you are not satisfied. A check earns a 4.0 for that paper. Detailed instructions, criteria, scoring rubrics plus example papers can be found on the class website. Course objectives 1, 3, 4, 5

Field Assignment 2: Learning Communities Project (45% of course grade)

To complete this assignment, you will use a variety of teacher-researcher tools to carefully study one learner within his or her classroom community. Data from the classroom observations will be analyzed and discussed in light of the concepts and ideas from this class. An analysis will be made of (1) the classroom community; (2) how it might affect the learning and/or development of your focal student, and within one subject area specifically; and (3) further information you might need to know about this student's social/intellectual/emotional development and steps you might take as a teacher to further the child's development. You will write up your case study in the form of a 12-15 page paper. Detailed information about how to complete this assignment and on how your paper will be evaluated will be discussed later in the quarter. Detailed instructions, criteria, scoring rubrics, and soon an example paper can be found on the class website. NEW! Lists of possible questions and methods. Course objectives 1-6.

Written assignments for this course are weighted as follows:

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Please Note:

If you would like to request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disabled Student Services, 448 Schmitz, (206) 543-8924 (V/TTY). If you have a letter from Disabled Student Services indicating you have a disability that requires academic accommodations, please present the letter to your instructor or to Kent Jewell, Area Secretary in Educational Psychology, to discuss the accommodation you might need for class.

If you have concerns about this course, please see Susan (or Mandy) as soon as possible. If you are not comfortable talking with Susan or Mandy, or not satisfied with the response you receive, you may contact Dr. Bob Abbott, Chair of Educational Psychology, in 312 Miller Hall, at 616-6308 or abbottr@u.washington.edu. If you are still not satisfied with the response you receive, you may contact Dr. Cap Peck, Director of Teacher Education, in 211 Miller Hall, at 543-1754 or capeck@u.washington.edu.