Undergraduate Professional Core Overview

We believe that becoming a teacher is a dynamic process extending from initial preparation over the course of an entire career.  Through its program of study, the Department of Teacher Education at Stetson University has made a strong commitment to quality teacher education for the 21st century - striving to prepare a common series of courses and experiences that provide knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will enable candidates to meet the needs of students within culturally diverse educational settings in a rapidly changing world. 

The Department of Teacher Education, in collaboration with the schools and community, stress a holistic program of individual development perceiving candidates as active inquirers and participants in their own growth.  The program combines a high quality liberal arts education with excellent professional training to prepare candidates to assume leadership roles and work in culturally diverse settings and in a rapidly changing world.   

Consistent with this philosophy is the belief that teachers learn to teach by teaching.  Therefore, early and continuous field experiences are provided to systematically integrate practice and theory by linking field experiences to courses within the program. 

So what kind of things do candidates need to know and be able to do?

Candidates will need to learn how to address the many facets of curriculum, classroom, and student life—and they must have the dispositions and commitments that lead to professional development and responsibility.  That means candidates will need to know and be able to demonstrate the content, pedagogical, and professional knowledge, skills and dispositions necessary to help all students learn.

The candidates will:  

1.   have knowledge in the following topics:

a.       characteristics of reflective teaching and practice  

b.       child development and learning theories   

c.       issues involving teaching and schooling in a complex and culturally diverse society.

d.       unique learning characteristics, needs, and capabilities of students of different ages, cultural, language and socio- economic backgrounds, and exceptionalities.

2.   gain knowledge of content and teaching strategies in their subject area as demonstrated through assignments and examinations.

3.    demonstrate the appropriate uses of both formal and informal assessment strategies. 

4.   plan and develop - individually and collaboratively - curriculum, instruction, and assessment that uses appropriate technology and fosters problem-solving.  

5.  demonstrate the ability to bridge theory to practice in a variety of educational settings.

6.   implement best practices of teaching and learning for personal and professional growth.

7.   plan and implement strategies in cultural diversity and nurture human relations with pupils, peers, teachers, and other stakeholders.

8.  seek articles in professional journals about teaching, learning, educational management, and reform.  

9.  show evidence of behaviors that exemplify the ethics of the teaching profession.  

10. reflect on and formulate a personal philosophy with respect to learning and teaching  

11. value a questioning and analytic attitude (e.g., utilize critical analysis of data and behavior to initiate change).  

12. develop awareness, appreciation, and understanding of diverse population.

Due to the developmental spiral of the program, these competencies are monitored throughout the program, and faculty members have many opportunities to gather and synthesize information on candidate performances. Objectives and expectations for each

course are given in syllabi, with each course identifying a major assignment (critical task) for candidates to complete.  As a beginning teacher, candidates must have, at the very least, an awareness of the knowledge and understandings needed to develop these skills in their own practice.  As they continue to grow toward becoming an accomplished practitioner, it will be in the degree of sophistication they exhibit in the application of knowledge rather than in the kind of knowledge needed.

What are the specific courses that make up the professional core?
The professional core consists of the following courses:

Tier I Courses (9 hrs)

EN 245: Social Foundations of Education

EN 255: Educational Psychology

EN 265: Principles and Methods of Instruction for Diverse Learners

Tier II Courses (12 hrs.)

EN 325: Reading in the Content Areas (Elementary Education Majors)

or
EN 427: Improving Reading and Writing Skills in the Middle/Secondary School

(all other majors)
EN 326: Assessment and Evaluation

EN 395: Junior Field Experience

EN 433: Comprehensive Strategies for ESOL

Tier III (15 hrs.)

EN 429: Senior Intern Seminar

EN 430: Student Teaching

EN 474: Educational Management of Exceptional Students

The program requires three foundation courses (Social Foundations of Education, Educational Psychology, and Principles and Methods of Instruction for Diverse Populations) prior to admission into the teacher education program. EN 245 gives candidates an introduction to the social, historical, and philosophical foundations of education; EN 255 is an introduction to educational psychology, which emphasizes human growth and development; EN 265 is a general introduction to principles and methods of instruction for diverse learners. All instructors teaching in Tier I meet once a semester to discuss candidates’ progress and review the Field Experience Assessment forms completed while participating in the public schools.  Letters are sent to students exhibiting problems, with copies placed in their files.

After admission to Teacher Education, candidates begin the second phase of their program.  EN 325/EN427 focuses on reading and learning in content areas; EN 326 gives an overview of the nature of classroom assessment focusing on administering, interpreting, applying, and communicating results of formal and informal efforts to assess classroom learning; EN 395 involves the candidates in formal instruction and a supervised field experience.  There is a section of EN 395 offered for elementary majors and one for secondary majors each semester.  Candidates usually register for EN 395 during the semester they enroll for their methods courses and they need to complete it before they apply for their senior internship. Candidates in EN 433 apply strategies for diverse learners during their field experience with ESOL students.  

The “spiral” aspect of the program allows integration of introductory material to be made more meaningful for candidates by returning to key concepts throughout their program to develop more sophisticated comprehension and skill.  Additionally, this prepares them for the senior seminar and the classroom management course during their internship. EN 429 offers intensive preparation in teaching methods that prepares candidates for a supervised student teaching experience in EN 430.  EN 474, which is taught in conjunction with the student teaching internship, is intended to give candidates practical classroom management strategies and an opportunity to discuss concerns raised by their experience in the classroom during the internship.  This final tier, or Senior Internship, requires candidates to assume full responsibility for the instructional program.

Woven throughout the academic courses and field experiences in the professional core are four strands - Reflective Practioner, Collaborative Instructional Leader, Responder to Diversity, and Facilitative Change Agent - which were established to create a sense of unity across all programs at both the initial and advanced levels. 
These strands reflect the values articulated by the faculty and the outcomes for candidates as they prepare for the teaching profession Although the focus of the conceptual framework at the undergraduate level is on being a reflective practitioner with the identified knowledge, skills, and dispositions, all four unit strands are addressed through class discussions, assignments, and readings.  For example, during Social Foundations of Education candidates are introduced to significant issues and the process of educational change.  During Junior Field, candidates continue to discuss the process of change and the difficulties related to the change process.  During their final tier, candidates discuss their potential roles as change agents.  Candidates at this level are expected to understand what is involved in facilitating change.    The rationale behind the sequencing of the clinical component within the undergraduate teacher education program is that students need to connect cognitive content from coursework within the field of education to experiential learning.  The approach the faculty within the program has developed is one of continuing immersion in school experience.  Candidates start as observers and end as practitioners.  All of our courses in some way infuse problem solving through case analysis, observation then reflection, micro-simulation, and/or hands-on activities with children. The sequence of our program assures that candidates are firmly grounded in the knowledge base of education in general, as well as have a solid knowledge base in their particular field of study.  Thus, as the candidates progress through our program, they become more and more proficient in integrating theory with practice.

But what if candidates don’t plan to teach in the state of Florida?

We have aligned StetsonUniversity ’s expectations for its initial teacher education candidates with the standards of the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) and NCATE’s Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) for P-12 teacher education programs.  All of these standards reflect the professional consensus of what beginning teachers should know and be able to do.  In addition, we show how all these standards align with the Florida Educator Accomplished Practices. Please click on this link to view these expectations.  If you remain in Florida, as a new teacher, you will continue to provide satisfactory documentation of the Florida Educator Accomplished Practices as you teach in your own classroom.   To assist candidates, we also present sample behaviors and various types of evidence that a candidate might present - either in their StetsonUniversity senior portfolio or as part of their documentation as they apply for a professional certificate.

Are there "checkpoints" or places along the way where decisions are made about candidates’ performance? 

Candidate data are gathered prior to admission, during each course and clinical experience included in the program of study, at specific decision points during the program, and at the time of program completion. Faculty members have identified a major assignment(s), or critical task(s), for each course in the undergraduate professional core.  These critical tasks are used to assess the most significant outcomes of each course, and are linked to several sets of professional standards (e.g., Florida Educator Accomplished Practices, ESOL) and the knowledge, skills, and dispositions identified by our unit.  A wide variety of assessment types are used within courses to evaluate candidate knowledge, skills, and dispositions.  Examples of these assessments are traditional tests/examinations, group and individual presentations, reflective essays, lesson and unit planning activities, field experience observations, case studies, and portfolios. 

Rubrics, checklists, and other scoring tools are used to assess candidate performance on these activities and to provide feedback to candidates.  Success in the critical tasks is essential to candidate performance in
Remediation opportunities are provided for candidates who exhibit deficiencies, but candidates who cannot satisfactorily meet the specified standard(s) following a reasonable degree of remediation are not permitted to move to the next tier of the undergraduate professional core.  As candidates progress through the undergraduate professional core, they are expected to demonstrate increasingly higher levels of knowledge, skills, and dispositions as identified in the unit’s conceptual framework and program knowledge bases.  each core course, with performance on the critical tasks weighted heavily in the course grading system. 
Successful completion of all critical tasks included in a given course is essential if the student is to receive a successful grade in each course.  If candidates have problems completing the assignment at an acceptable level, instructors provide remediation.