Course Description

Teaching and learning are complex phenomena that can seem deceptively simple. And yet as teachers, we face a series of dilemmas that require weighing options, making difficult decisions, evaluating the results and using them to decide our next move. We all develop theories of learning and teaching through our experiences as students and mentors, coaches, and teachers. These theories are often implicit: they affect our decision-making and yet we don't often pause to examine them. In this course we will be examining, challenging, and perhaps re-thinking our ideas about how students learn and how best to teach so that they do. Your job is to make sense of the ideas, test them against your observations and experiences and those of your colleagues.

Although we will use a variety of teaching techniques, we will rely heavily on small and large group discussion. The purpose of discussion in this class is to help all students begin to develop their own theories of learning and teaching through reading, listening to others' ideas, classroom observation, and discussing their own ideas with classmates. In addition, through our work together you will be learning professional collaboration skills: generous listening, thoughtful contributing, and making the community safe for diverse opinions. Through the development of a safe environment, requests for elaboration, clarification, or evidence will come to be seen as encouraging thoughtfulness rather than as personal attacks or "silencing." We all have roles to play in creating our classroom community.

In this course we will treat middle and high school classrooms as "ecosystems" where learning, teaching, individual and group differences, non-academic behavior, evaluation, and motivation all interact to affect one another. The effects on learning of a particular teaching approach must be understood in the context of the classroom as a whole, as well as in relation to its individual inhabitants, and to forces outside the classroom. This course will emphasize the relationships among learning, motivation, and teaching. The written products upon which your course grade will be based should also reflect this integration.

<-- RETURN TO TOP

SECTION MEETINGS

Required Readings

There is one required book: Mike Rose's Lives on the Boundary, available through the Bookstore. All other readings can be found in electronic reserves (ereserves) on line. Click on the link and search on my name (NOLEN) for the course. The schedule of assigned readings is here.

<-- RETURN TO TOP

Grading Policy

Grades will be based on three major assignments.

The Pilot SLP is completed prior to beginning classes, and we will use your work to help us plan further instruction in interviewing techniques. Pilot SLP write-ups will be graded check/no-check using the scoring rubric provided. 10% of final grade (check = 4.0)

The Student Learning Project is the major requirement for this course. You will conduct a mini-educational research project in which you observe a brief unit of instruction (three consecutive lessons in the same class and subject, for example the 5th period French class on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) and interview two students about what they learned. You will then analyze student responses using concepts and ideas from this class to explain what students learned, how, and why. Finally, you will write up the results in the form of a 12-15 page paper. Detailed written information about how to complete this assignment (including evaluation criteria) is available now online--see link below; we will discuss the project in class and section. Examples of successful past SLPs can be found here. The SLP is graded and counts for 45% of your final course grade.

Complete directions for Student Learning Project

Thematic Papers are short (2-3 pages) or longer (4-5 pages) assignments that give you an opportunity to work out your current position on the major ideas from the readings. At the same time, they give us an opportunity to assess your understanding as the course progresses. In each thematic paper you will identify a theme that ties together a subset of readings. A theme might be an issue on which the various authors take positions, or a particular stance toward adolescents or teaching reflected in the group of articles, or a position that you take challenging or supported by readings. Themes are narrower than "Cognitive Development," but broad enough to tie the group of articles together.

Complete Directions for Short or Long Thematic Papers

You will choose to do either 3 -5 Short Thematic Papers (STPs) OR 2-3 Long Thematic Papers (LTPs) for 45% of your grade. Each paper is evaluated and given a check or a no-check; papers can be revised and resubmitted. The number of successful papers determines your grade.

Short Thematic Papers: 3 checks = 2.0, 4 checks = 3.0, 5 checks = 4.0

Long Thematic Papers: 2 checks = 2.7; 3 checks = 4.0

Please indicate your choice (Short or Long) by Thursday, Oct. 4; click here to send email.

<-- RETURN TO TOP

REVISIONS AND LATE WORK POLICY

All written work may be revised and resubmitted at no penalty until the final deadline for written work, which is Monday of finals week (December 10). No written work will be accepted after the final deadline.

Work handed in on or before the due date will, in most cases, be graded and returned one week later.  Work handed in after the due date will be graded and returned as soon as we can work it into our schedules.  For speediest turnaround (helpful if you decide to resubmit an assignment), hand work in when it is due. Note that if you hand the SLP in on time, you will have just over 1 week to revise and resubmit, if necessary. You can always hand things in early.

 Calculating your grade:

<-- RETURN TO TOP

Concerns about our teaching...

If you have any concerns about this course, your TA, or your instructor please see the instructor or TA about these concerns as soon as possible.  If you are not comfortable talking with the instructor or TA, or not satisfied with the response that you receive, you may contact the director of teacher education, Dr. Cap Peck, in the TEP office, 211 Miller, 543-1754.  For your reference these procedures are posted on the bulletin board just outside Student Services, 206 Miller.

Requesting disability accommodations:

To request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disability Resources for Students, 448 Schmitz, 206-543-8924/V, 206-543-8925/TTY.  If you have a letter from Disability Resources for Students indicating you have a disability which requires academic accommodations, please present the letter to me so we can discuss the accommodations you might need in this class.