Unit 1: Tomorrow's Teachers

Overview

Teaching literacy skills throughout grades K-12 is crucial for academic success. Literacy forms the foundation of all learning. By prioritizing literacy education throughout K-12, educators contribute significantly to the holistic development of students, preparing them for the challenges and opportunities they will encounter in their academic journeys and beyond.

Learning objective(s) 

Identify the practice of literacy-embedded instructional practices.

What will you do? 

1. In the Virtual Class, 

• Watch the Video “The Power of Literacy”

• Discuss what literacy instruction looks like for different grade levels and subjects.

• Discuss the Literacy Definition Guide and the importance of vocabulary instruction. 

     2.  Individually,

• Provide a post in the discussion forum that answers the question, “How can you embed literacy-based instructional practices within the grade and subject area you teach?"

     3.  As a group,

• Each member will equally contribute to completing the Literacy Guide for Module 2 by providing definitions and additional information for each term. 

Candidate assignments

• Discussion post  (Please copy and paste your post(s) from the discussion forum into the submission box as well).

• Literacy Guide (To be submitted during the final unit of this module)

Reminder: to maintain academic integrity, you must cite any information, ideas, text, or images used in this activity by identifying the source.

Overview

Laws impact teaching and learning within schools. In this activity, you will create a video on one of the laws or policies that affect education in the country or state in which you are living or in your home country.

Learning objective(s)

• Research education laws and policies critiquing the impact on schools, students, and teachers.

What will you do?

1. Research education laws and policies in one country or state. Use the activity resources as a starting point for your research.

2. Create a 4-5-minute video that reviews one law or policy that affects education. The video should include slides and can be created in a tool of your choice (Examples: Google Slides, Canva, PowerPoint, Loom, etc.) The presentation should:

• Accurately describe the selected law or policy.

• Describe the historical or current perspectives on the law or policy.

• Identify its strengths and weaknesses.

• Reflect on how the law or policy affects schools, teaching, and student learning. Upload your 4-5 minute video to Moreland's Video Library (tutorial in resources). 

     3.  Upload your 4-5 minute video to your cohort's Google Drive (tutorial in resources). 

     4.  Submit the URL on the platform in the submission box.

Candidate assignment

• Video (4-5 minutes) on one law that affects teachers and teaching

Reminder: to maintain academic integrity, you must cite any information, ideas, text, or images used in this activity by identifying the source.

Notes:

• If you are working for an international school, you can choose to talk about the policies driving your school, especially if the country's policies do not have any or have limited effect on the functioning of the school.

• All assignment descriptions are written for Proficient. You should carefully examine the criteria for an Outstanding score if you want to aim for Outstanding.

Content specific methods requirements

Method Subject: English as a Second Language

As per your certification area, for your video for this activity, you will explore the ESL identification and program placement procedures for your state of licensure. While creating your video, address the following: 

• Understand and describe how ELLs in your state of licensure are identified using English Language Proficiency assessments.  

• Explain the policies and procedures related to program placement and reclassification in your state of licensure.  

• Describe models of ESL/ELL instruction (structured immersion, ESL pull-out, two-way bilingual, sheltered instruction, etc.) used in the schools of your state.

Overview

It is essential to teach students how to be responsible digital citizens and empower them with the tools and competencies to cite information and safely maneuver themselves in the digital world.

Learning objective 

Analyze the goals of digital citizenship and organize ways to recognize and prevent plagiarism.

What will you do?

1. Watch the three videos about digital citizenship and plagiarism in the activity resources.

2. Respond to the following questions in one discussion post

   • Why is it important to teach digital citizenship to students?

   • How would you teach students what plagiarism is and how to avoid it?

Candidate assignment

• Discussion Forum post regarding digital citizenship and plagiarism (Please copy and paste your post(s) from the discussion forum into the submission box as well).

Reminder: to maintain academic integrity, you must cite any information, ideas, text, or images used in this activity by identifying the source.