TEACHER AS PRACTITIONER EDST 3000 (9-12.00pm)

1. TEACHER AS PRACTITIONEREDST 3000 (9-12.00pm) By Dr. John Kambutu www.uwyo.edu/kambutu www.uwyo.edu/ted http://www.uwyo.edu/edstudies/TPAC/index.html Fall, 2011

2. Today • Introductions • Name, history behind it…, and anxiety level at the moment and why? Recent Wow experience. • Syllabus • Course Structure/School experiences • Course culture/norms • Who’s a practitioner?

3. TEACHER AS PRACTITIONEREDST 3000- A PTSB general course Themes and Outcome Instructional strategies (theories and practices)… 15-20 page paper Planning for instruction… Lesson plans Practicum experiences…. Teaching DVD & Other documentation Classroom Management…. Management handbook *College Mission* Creating Competent, Democratic Professionals

5. Theory and Practice Theories (ideas/principles) of teaching are constant But Practice (application of theories) is age, grade and content dependent

6. Public Schools • Be professional (before time, affirming talk/no gossips, conduct, dress, name tags, sign in, communicate). • Familiarize with school environment (mentor, classroom, culture, dos & don’ts, school structure, ask questions) • Who is a teacher? (Watch mentor schedule, decisions, student/teacher interaction, teacher/administrator interaction) • Is teaching a profession? • Effective teachers (Decision making, teaching strategies, classroom management, Guiding learning & growth) What did you see? What areas didn’t you understand? • Overall (What does all this mean to you? Questions). • Remember you’re a visitor not an employee.

7. College of Ed. Mission (Preparing Competent, Democratic Professionals) • Who is a competent educator? • Has professional skills, knowledge & dispositions (p.7) • Who is a democratic educator? • What types of democracies are you aware of? • Types:

8. Social Democracy • In a social democracy, people consider the “Other” • Examples: • Fairness, respect, justice, kindness, equality, equity, etc. • Learning is the foundation: • Thus, members seek to: • Understand other points of view • Explain their point of view • Sharing and understanding feelings • Collaboration to establish alternatives • “Only dead fish swim with the flow” ~ Sara Palin, 2009~

9. Democratic Space (Sirotnik, 1990) • In a social democracy, the focus is on: • Knowledge:What do I want to learn or what did I learn? • Inquiry:What questions do I have or what questions does this reading, etc. raise? • Competence: How has knowledge gained helped me become a better person? • Compassion & caring: How is the knowledge gained helped me become compassionate & caring • Social Justice: How will I promote justice & fairness for all due to the knowledge gained? • Thus, public schools are schools for publicness (Goodlad, et al. 2004).

10. School for Publicness • Children learn what it means to be a public (p.35) • Thus: • Teachers must: • Create a democratic learning space • Certain unalienable rights…among these.. and others in the “Bill of Rights” • Practitioners

11. TEACHER AS PRACTITIONER • Who is a practitioner? • A professional (p. 4 on teachers.) • Characteristics: • Code of conduct (organizations) • Mastered his/her craft (pedagogy)- p 7. • Speaks the language of the craft • Is a decision maker- • Identify the decisions made by teachers (p 8)

12. TEACHER AS PRACTITIONER • As the decision maker: ..he/she chooses… • To teach • Know when, why, rewards & challenges- why is this important? • How to teach (Instructional strategies?) • How to manage classroom? • How to help children grow and learn • Why should teachers appreciate what it means to be a practitioner?

13. Teachers & teaching • 30% of trained teachers don’t join the profession • 30% of those that join leave in the first 3 years • 50% of those that join leave in the first 5 years due to: • Burn-out, Frustrations, workload • Safety, lack of support, salary • Poor incentives, Motives for joining, • Work environment

14. DO OUR TEACHERS MEASURE UP? • The number one way to enhance students’ learning is through: a) Parental involvement and support b) Challenging preschools c) Reduced student-teacher ratio d) Improved programs for reading and other subjects e) None of the above.

15. Classroom Teacher • “I have come to a frightening conclusion. I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I posses tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or deescalated, and the child humanized or dehumanized.” -Hiam Ginnott, 1977

16. Your Students: Net Generation… (Don Tapscott, 2009) • Have grown up digital--- Screen children…. “Screenagers” • Smarter, quicker & tolerant to diversity • Learn, play & communicate differently • Care about justice and societal problems • Civically engaged • Enable vs. control • Price freedom… freedom of choice • Customize---make it their own—creative • Multi-task & Collaborate • Short attention span– conversation/discussion (learner-centered) • Value fun • Value speed

17. What Principals want • Relationship builder… Be nice to people • Team player • Organizer • Planner • Flexibility • Willingness to learn • Lifelong Learner (Tom Mesecher, 2008~ Grant~)

18. Characteristics of a quality Teacher • Class Text ( p.. 3, 16…) • Your Reflections (Prior teachers) • What else? • Metaphor for quality teachers? • 1…. Leader/organizer • 2…. Writer • 3….. Material getter • 4…… Draws • 5….. Helper • 0….. Presenter

19. Democratic= Practitioner= Decision-maker

20. Quality teacher • Teaching is a process that continues well after your first, third, or twentieth year. It’s what keeps it interesting. Teachers must be thinkers and decision makers who take full responsibility for their classrooms and students. It’s a continual search for knowledge. Teaching relies on the judgment of its “individual practitioners” – it’s called the art of teaching ~ Kathleen Lange, 5th grade teacher in Tennessee

21. Quality teacher • It’s your attitude not your aptitude that determines your altitude ~ Zig Ziglar, 1926~

22. And how are the Children? The Masaai of East Africa

23. Just a thought! • Pedagogical principles are constant, but applications are grade and age dependent • First impression is critical to future encounters • Incongruity (mismatch) between school and home cultures is a hindrance to learning (Smith, 1998)

24. Quality Teachers • View quality teaching as a “personal” decision p. 19 • View teaching as a science and art (pedagogy) p. 7 • Do not teach from a recipe p. 7 • Are decision makers p. 8 • Teachers make one rapid interactive decision every 2-6 minutes

25. EFFECTIVE TEACHERS • Have attitudes that foster learning (warmth, empathy, sensitivity, enthusiasm and humor). • Have deep knowledge of subject matter (Experts). • Are well educated in theoretical knowledge about learning and human behavior. • Have a wide repertoire of teaching skills. (Ryan & Cooper, 1998).

26. QUALITY TEACHERS “It’s not what is poured into the students, but what is planted that matters” ~ Erskine Dottin, 2003 ~