CLEAR_EDUC_333

Santa Clara University

School of Education and Counseling Psychology

Department of Education, MS/SS Clear Teaching Credential Program

(EDUC 333- Clear Credential Capstone Project (3 units)

(Summer 2016)

Mission and Goals of the Department of Education

The mission of the Department of Education is to prepare professionals of competence, conscience, and compassion, who will promote the common good as they transform lives, schools, and communities. Rooted in the Jesuit tradition at Santa Clara University, core values of reflective practice, scholarship, diversity, ethical conduct, social justice, and collaboration guide both theory and practice.

Department of Education goals:

• 1. To prepare professionals who will work competently with individuals who have a variety of strengths; experiences and challenges, those with diverse backgrounds, and those in greatest need;

  2. To develop positive habits of mind, identify and apply best practices in the field, and engage in critical reflection on practice;

  3. To demonstrate mastery-level knowledge and skills in teaching and learning; and

1. To become leaders sensitive to the ethical and social consequences of their decisions.

Course Description

This course is designed to support clear credential candidates’ work on a capstone project. This project, the culminating experience of the clear credential program completed in the final quarter, gives you the opportunity to synthesize the knowledge and skills learned in the clear credential program and to connect them to your practice: specifically, improving student learning outcomes in the content area targeted in your Yearly Professional Goals.

Each candidate’s capstone project will be unique, however all capstone projects must be designed to:

(1) be implemented in your classrooms in the coming year

(2) make a contribution to improving student learning outcomes in the content area specified in your growth plan

(3) document the ways in which you have integrated all the CSTPs into your professional practice.

Unlike the highly structured signature assignments you remember from Integrating Theory and Practice in Classrooms, the capstone project is open-ended and flexible. With the assistance of your faculty coaches and your clear credential cohort peers, candidates conceptualize and complete a project—a curriculum unit, a set of cooperative learning tasks, innovative web-based mathematics manipulatives—for use in your classroom in the coming academic year. You will develop a plan to complete the project, create a timeline/schedule to guide your work, set landmarks you’ll use to assess your progress toward completion, and manage your time carefully.

Your faculty coaches and cohort peers will be supporting you throughout this process. In addition, you’re encouraged to seek input from any individuals you believe will be able to offer you specialized assistance: your school principal or department chair, colleagues at your school site, people with significant expertise in your target content area, or your own informal professional networks.

Course Format/Schedule

This course, expressly designed to support your work on your capstone, is structured in an unusual way. (See calendar/schedule below.)

This course is structured to provide you with a high degree of structure and support at the beginning of the capstone process when you need it most; maximum flexibility as you work on your project; and the support and encouragement of your cohort community as you demonstrate the results of your efforts.

The course begins in mid-June with an intensive week of class sessions (5 days, 3 hours per day) attended by the entire cohort. During this week you (a) conceptualize and fine tune your capstone project; (b) identify the knowledge, skills and resources you will need to complete the project, (c) develop your timeline/schedule for completing the capstone and set your landmarks for each week; and (d) create a rubric for assessing your performance on the capstone. You will also identify your capstone work preference—work independently, create an informal capstone team to share ideas and provide formative feedback, establish a structured capstone PLC to support your progress, or some other arrangement that will best meet your needs and help you succeed—and use class time to make those arrangements.

Class does not meet for the next five weeks. During this time you work independently (supported by the arrangements made during the first week of capstone work), following your timeline/schedule and working toward your landmarks, and preparing for your capstone presentations. During this period, faculty coaches will hold regularly scheduled “open-door” office hours and be available by appointment to provide you with the support and assistance you need. Every candidate will be expected to arrange at least one (1) one-on-one meeting with a faculty coach during this 5-week period.

The final week of class is reserved for capstone presentations. Your work on your capstone project will be assessed during your presentation.

1. Self-assessments

You will bring two completed self-assessments of your capstone to your presentation: an assessment using the CSTP Assignment Rubric and the Capstone Rubric you developed in class.

2. Assessment by an Expert Panel

Each of you will present your completed capstone project to an Expert Panel. Each Expert Panel will have 3 contributing members: (1) an SCU faculty coach; (2) the Coordinator of Catholic Education or the Director of Teacher Education or another teacher education faculty member or administrator; and (3) your site principal. The members of your Expert Panel will evaluate your capstone project using the CSTP Assignment Rubric.

An Expert Panel may have additional “guest” members who observe your presentation and participate in the conversation about your work but are who are not involved in the evaluation process. Possible guests could include Diocese administrators, additional SCU faculty members from the Education department or from the content area department linked to the candidate’s capstone project.

3. Assessment by Peers

All members of the clear credential cohort are required to attend every capstone presentation. Cohort members will evaluate each candidate’s capstone work in relation to the Capstone Rubric the candidate developed in class.

If we are beginning another cohort in Fall 2012, we will also invite members of the incoming clear credential cohort to attend capstone presentations; this will give them the opportunity to see what they will be able to accomplish by the end of the program. As with the Expert Panel guests, the new clear cohort members will not evaluate your capstone project.

Required Readings for ALL CLEAR CANDIDATES

1. You will certainly need your copy of the 2009 California Standards for the Teaching Profession (CSTP):

· Engaging and supporting all students in learning;

· Creating and maintaining effective learning environments;

· Understanding and organizing subject matter for student learning;

· Planning instruction and designing learning experiences for all students;

· Assessing student learning; and

· Developing as professional educators.

Required Readings for SINGLE SUBJECT CLEAR CANDIDATES

In addition to the California content standards for your academic content area, you will also need to download the content standards developed by the professional organization in your discipline (such as the National Council for the Social Studies, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Council for Teachers of English, etc.).

Required Readings FOR MULTIPLE SUBJECT CLEAR CANDIDATES

In addition to the K-12 California content standards for the target content area specified in your YPGs, you will also need to download the content standards developed by the professional organization for teachers of that discipline (such as the National Council for the Social Studies, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Council for Teachers of English, etc.).

Course Objectives/Expectations/Learning Outcomes

Course Objectives/Expectations/Learning Outcomes are cross-referenced with the

· Department of Education Goal(s): (DG#)

· California Standards for the Teaching Profession (CSTP#)

In this course you will:

1. Conceptualize a creative project in the target content area specified in your Yearly Professional Goals that will have a positive impact on the learning outcomes of every student you teach. (DG 1-4; CSTP 1-6)

2. Design, plan, execute, and complete your project and be ready to implement it in your classroom when school begins in August. (DG 1-4; CSTP 1-6)

3. Strengthen and demonstrate strong, clear connections between the CSTP and your professional practice at school. (DG 1-4; CSTP 1-6)

Course Requirements/Assignments

Professionalism (60 points, 60% of course grade. Linked to Course Objectives 1-3.)

Professional conduct is the linchpin of this course. You are responsible for developing, planning, and completing an ambitious project during a relatively short period of time. This completed project will be presented to an Expert Panel of esteemed colleagues on a predetermined date, and you must be ready when your date arrives. So, in addition to the dimensions of professionalism described below, you must add time management and self-discipline.

1. Communication. This is the most significant requirement of this class. You will be working away from campus and away from each other for a long stretch of time: we can only support your work if we are in ongoing contact with you.

Email and our Camino website will be our primary means of communication outside of class. (Please note that Camino does NOT work with Safari—use Firefox or another internet browser!) You must check your SCU email and our course’s Camino site every day to ensure you maintain a connection with your cohort and your coaches.

Another crucial aspect of this requirement is the scheduling of your capstone presentations. To enable you to focus on your capstone work, we will coordinate availability and negotiate schedules with all your principals and administrators to arrange these presentations. Our policy is to schedule the presentations at the convenience of the administrators; we need all clear candidates to accommodate the schedule we create. The schedule will be built and posted on the Calendar page of our Camino website (from the course homepage, just click on the “Calendar” tab).

2. Attendance. Regular attendance at all whole class meetings is non-negotiable. For each meeting you miss, 10 points will be deducted from your final grade for the course. Each of you will be granted one Emergency Release (ER). Your ER excuses you from one meeting with half the grade penalty (loss of 5 points instead of 10). To use your ER you must notify a faculty coach by email or phone BEFORE class. Save your ER for medical issues, family demands, car trouble, etc.

Candidates will not be penalized for absences due to the observance of religious holidays that fall on a scheduled class day; please give a faculty coach advance notice of these absences so s/he can make the necessary accommodations. All other absences are unexcused and will affect your grade.

3. Punctuality. Coming to class/meetings on time and ready to learn is another course requirement. Your first lateness will be excused; your second lateness will cause 1 point to be deducted from your final course grade; your third lateness will cause an additional 4 points to be deducted. More than three late arrivals indicate a serious problem; this situation will be dealt with at the discretion of the faculty coaches.

4. Preparation. You are expected to prepare for each class/meeting by doing all of the readings, completing the assignments, and coming to class with all the necessary materials.

5. Participation. Expectations for participation include engaging actively in all discussions and activities; demonstrating a commitment to your own professional development; supporting the growth of the other teachers on your capstone team; and maintaining your commitment to maximizing the learning of the students you teach.

6. Responsible use of technology. During class/meetings, laptops/blackberries/cell phones/iPods, etc. must be used only at appropriate times and in appropriate ways. While our class is in session, you should not engage in any activity not directly related to what is taking place in our classroom. We reserve the right to ask you to close your laptop or put away some other form of technology; when/if this occurs, please respond quickly and without protest to avoid further disruption of the class’s learning. If you would like more detailed clarification about the expectations regarding appropriate and inappropriate in-class technology use, please feel free to contact us for further information.

We take these professionalism requirements very seriously, and we expect you to take them seriously also. See the “Grading Criteria” section of the syllabus for details about how your performance in this area will be assessed.

Capstone project (40 points, 40% of course grade. Linked to Course Objectives 1-3.)

The capstone project is a differentiated learning experience designed to allow you to pursue your own professional interests while maintaining engagement in a larger learning community. You are encouraged to develop a capstone project that capitalizes on your learning preferences and leads the creation of something—a curriculum unit, a phenomenal choose-your-own-adventure style webquest that enables your students to be active technology users, a class set of handmade geoboards and a stack of geoboard challenge cards—that will impact your students’ learning in ways that are effective and powerful. Detailed information about the capstone project will be provided during the first class session.

Course Schedule

Grading Criteria

• All tasks, projects, and assignments must be completed and handed in (or brought to class or posted on Camino) by the due date and time specified unless arrangements have been made in advance. Late work may be penalized.

• Points lost due to poor attendance and/or lack of punctuality are deducted from your final grade. A student with excellent grades on assignments and other aspects of professional conduct can earn a poor course grade as a result of excessive absence or chronic lateness.

• Your Professionalism grade will be determined by analyzing evidence gathered through our ongoing observation and documentation throughout the quarter. If we have reason to feel you are not meeting the expectations spelled out on the syllabus, we will contact you privately to discuss the issue, to clarify the expectations as needed, and to offer our support in helping you reach those expectations. If we do not contact you with a concern, you can assume you are fully satisfying these course requirements. However, if you would like specific feedback on your professional conduct, you are welcome to contact any one of us and we will be glad to share our assessment with you.

• As you know, it is our pleasure to support your progress toward becoming effective teachers. To help you reach that goal, we offer you the option of asking us to provide ungraded formative feedback on a preliminary draft your capstone. Because of the tight time window for this course, we reserve both the right to limit the number times a candidate may resubmit the capstone for formative feedback (even if that decision impacts the project grade) and the right to set a final date after which no revisions will be accepted.

• Your performance in this class will be assessed according to the criteria specified in the CSTP. The numerical ratings/evaluative categories on all the CSTP assessment forms are aligned with the ratings/categories on the Diocese of San Jose’s Teacher Performance Appraisal. The ratings also correspond roughly to letter grades:

Grade conversion guidelines

Disability Accommodations

Students needing accommodation for a disability should contact Disabilities Resources at 408-554-4109 (voice) or 408-554-5445 (TDD) (ECPPM Graduate Bulletin, 2008-2009).

Academic Integrity

The University is committed to academic excellence and integrity. Students are expected to do their own work and to cite any sources they use. A student who is guilty of dishonest acts in an examination, paper, or other required work for a course, or who assists others in such acts, will receive a grade of F for the course. In addition, a student guilty of dishonest acts will be immediately dismissed from the University. Students that violate copyright laws, including those covering the copying of software programs, or who knowingly alter official academic records from this or any other institution, are subject to disciplinary action (ECPPM Graduate Bulletin, 2008-2009).