Disciplinary Expertise

Critical Attribute

Teachers have deep knowledge of the disciplines they teach, including structures, central concepts and skills, prerequisite relationships, and methods of inquiry.

"Those who can, do. Those who understand, teach."

Aristotle

Unsatisfactory

Planning and preparation include content errors or demonstrate a lack of understanding of the content.

Basic

Planning and preparation indicate partial understanding of the central concepts of the discipline and their relationship to one another.

Proficient

Planning and preparation reflect solid understanding of content and the structure of the discipline being taught.

Distinguished

Planning and preparation reflect extensive knowledge of important concepts and how they relate to one another, as well as recent developments in the discipline.

Central Concepts - Key concepts connect learning, help to develop powerful understanding and knowledge

Deep Knowledge - When engaged in deeper learning, students think critically and communicate and work with others effectively across all subjects. Students learn to self-direct their own education and to adopt what is known as ‘academic mindsets,’ and they learn to be lifelong learners.”

Disciplinary Expertise - refers to the specialization and in-depth content knowledge of a certain type of curriculum or subject areas

Interdisciplinary Knowledge - refers to the combination of two or more academic disciplines into one activity

Methods of Inquiry - a process that has the potential to increase the intellectual engagement and deep understanding of learners

Multidisciplinary Knowledge - refers to knowledge of a wide range of perspectives within a combination of subject areas

Pedagogy - "how you go about teaching something" or your overall instructional approach

Pedagogical Content Knowledge - type of knowledge that is unique to teachers, and is based on the manner in which teachers relate their pedagogical knowledge (what they know about teaching) to their subject matter knowledge (what they know about what they teach)

Prerequisite Relationships - anything you need to know or understand first before learning or understanding something new

Key Terms

Proficient or Distinguished

A proficient teacher understands and demonstrates knowledge of both content and pedagogy while a distinguished teacher incorporates both content and pedagogy into each lesson.

A proficient teacher demonstrates a solid understanding of their content while a distinguished teacher demonstrates an extensive knowledge of their content.

A proficient teacher stays current in their content while a distinguished teacher demonstrates those current trends in lessons.

A proficient teacher knows that their content connects with others distinguished teacher demonstrates a multidisciplinary approach to their lessons.