 Title: Thinking Like a Teacher
Designer: Joe Pounds, West Noble Schools
Inquiry (Essential Question): Do I have what it takes to be an effective teacher?
End Product: Each cadet teacher enrolled in this class must submit an electronic portfolio at the end of the school year. The portfolio contains a collection of polished examples of cadet work that demonstrates the knowledge, skill, and disposition necessary to be an effective teacher as defined by INTASC (Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Resources) Standards -- see Resource link. This unit is designed to focus upon tasks that will help cadets understand the importance of having the disposition of a life-long learner and of a reflective practioner. As a result of this unit, students will produce a piece of work (i.e. a set of belief statements illustrated by a picture) that demonstrates their disposition as a teacher.
Inquiry Model**: A modified version of Annette Lamb's 8Ws: Information Literacy will be utilized. Lamb's first two recursive steps are "watching" and "wondering". During those stages of inquiry students explore ideas through observation, reading, writing, and discussion. They also narrow their focus through a questioning process that challenges them to define their purpose. By the end of the academic year, the entire inquiry model will be used. The emphasis of this initial unit is upon just the first two stages. Carol Kuhlthau begins Chapter 1 of her book Guided Inquiry by challenging educators to think about what we can do to help students develop the skills and abilities necessary for the 21st century. The designer of this unit, Pounds, was motivated by her words to consider what we need to stop doing in our schools. He took a look at his own curriculum and saw that inquiry was lacking thus the birth of this set of lessons. The overarching goal of this unit is to develop independent learners who know how to build upon their own knowledge. Kuhlthau challenges teachers to focus on the process of learning and not to overemphasize the product. She speaks of the power of collaboration and the importance of the media center being a place where ". . . knowledge is constructed." (Kuhlthau 16) This unit does just that.
Key Components: This unit includes three overlapping mini-lessons that contribute to a year-long inquiry process. The lessons are not sequential in nature. The first two are ongoing and act together to enable students to complete the third lesson.
This lesson helps cadets develop both observation and communication skills. They will complete weekly written observations for the first semester of cadet teaching.
This lesson helps cadets develop both reading and communication skills. Throughout the first semester, they will participate in weekly discussion circles on relevant current events.
This culminating lesson will require cadets to synthesize the information that they have gathered from the weekly reflections and guided discussions. They will produce ten concise belief statements and a select a visual representation of their beliefs that will serve as the foundation of their teaching philosophies.
 Student Audience: This is not a typical course. Much of the course work is presented in an asynchronous fashion using a class Moodle hosted by Rose-Hulman University. Defining characteristics of the course include:
Value of this Unit:
The activities within this unit focus upon developing the disposition of the cadet teacher. This has traditionally been an overlooked aspect of the West Noble cadet teaching program. Building an awareness of 1) where the cadets are coming from as a student and learner and 2) where they need to go as a teacher, will help students be more committed to their career goals. This unit develops the fundamental skills that students need to acquire to demonstrate their aptitude as reflective practioners. According to the beginning teacher mentor coordinator at West Noble Schools, one of the greatest challenges of new and seasoned teachers is developing reflective practices. Emphasizing this skill to teaching candidates that are just beginning on their paths towards becoming teachers will help them refine this skill at an earlier age. As seen below, this unit brings together several competency standards.
Standards:
Types of Activities: All are designed to have a real-world emphasis. All build upon one another. Activities will include:
Accommodation of Diverse Learners:
The activities are individualized by design. Students conference individually with their supervising teacher, set personal goals and deadlines, and take initiative to seek help. The goal is for the students to own their own learning. Their supervising teacher acts more in the role of a mentor and accountability partner than a traditional instructor. A high number of ENL (English as a New Language) are frequently involved in the cadet teaching program. All ENL students are considered to be bilingual, but most struggle with composing in English. Individualized support is given through the cooperation of their supervising teacher and the ENL department.
*Method of Design: The framework used to design this unit of instruction is patterned after the work of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTigue in their book Understanding by Design. This approach was chosen so that the cadet teachers could see a real-world example of the UbD framework in their own lives.
**Information Inquiry Role:
After experiencing Lamb's 8Ws approach to inquiry while completing requirements for Project #1 in her on-line course -- S574: Information Inquiry for Teachers -- Pounds realized how important it is to provide students with words that help them visually understand the inquiry process. Her actual inquiry steps are similar to several other models (not the least of which is Michael B. Eisenberg and Robert E. Berkowitz's popular Big 6), but her description of each step is what sets her model apart. Each step is associated with an action verb. Discussing the meaning of each of these verbs will help students better visualize the inquiry process. For example, instead of asking them to form a task definition, we will instead ask them to watch and wonder. Since the cadets are college bound and largely academically successful students, we will also use the "technical terms" for each step of the process. Lamb's disarming word choice, however, is an excellent real-world example of scaffolding student learning.
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