Teacher Education Program Goals

The Teacher Education Program Goals reflect the commitments of the department and specify the desired outcomes of participation in our program for our students. These goals: a) communicate to the students exactly what we expect them to learn and to be able to do, b) remind students of the department’s expectations, c) structure communication with students about their progress in satisfying the goals, and d) serve as a foundation for evaluating both the students’ progress and the Teacher Education Program’s success in guiding and preparing our students as future teachers.

1. A solid grounding in the liberal arts:

• Having breadth of study in the liberal arts: natural sciences, social sciences, fine arts, and the humanities
• Having a deep knowledge of one or more areas of study in the liberal arts
• Being able to translate knowledge of our discipline into experiences for learning, using subject-specific teaching strategies

2. Curriculum Planning and Assessment

• Knowing how curricula are generated
• Developing lesson, unit, and course plans
• Understanding and using a range of assessment techniques, and using assessment to improve instruction
• Addressing local, state and national standards

3. Diversifying instruction to empower all learners

• Understanding and respecting the legal and ethical implications of student differences
• Teaching to accommodate differences: Gender, abilities, socio-economic factors, ethnicity, and culture
• Understanding and responding to childhood and adolescent development (social, emotional and cognitive) within the learning process

4. Appreciating cultures and encouraging family participation in schools

• Understanding and incorporating the context of the student lives in the curriculum
• Understanding cultural differences in child-rearing, language, and authority
• Creating classrooms that promote self-respect and inter-cultural understanding
• Working with families

5. Promoting literacy and communication skills

• Teaching reading, writing and study skills appropriate to the subject and the developmental levels of the students
• Using writing to learn
• Understanding and being able to use “ways of knowing” that are specific to academic disciplines
• Using the conventions of standard English

6. Facilitating Student Learning

• Choosing and applying appropriate instructional strategies
• Using technology appropriately and effectively
• Supporting student discourse, inquiry, and critical thinking
• Establishing and maintaining orderly classrooms
• Understanding and using motivational techniques

7. Promoting the physical, emotional and social well being of students

• Fostering positive self-concepts
• Promoting social skills and teaching conflict resolution
• Dealing with substance, physical, and emotional abuse

8. Preparing students for engaged citizenship

• Understanding classrooms as formative spaces for the social order: Creating classroom communities that promote individual self-worth, a spirit of mutual acceptance, and cooperation among students
• Encouraging students to take the perspective of others and develop positive self-efficacy
• Helping students work collaboratively, recognize commonalities, and respect individual differences

9. Preparing for the professional aspects of teaching

• Developing the ability to reflect on and improve one’s practice
• Viewing teaching as life-long learning
• Developing the work habits of a professional educator
• Knowing professional educational organizations and other resources that help teachers grow professionally
• Demonstrating leadership in the field of education

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