Preparation for School Placement (Initial Teacher Education )

1. Preparation for School Placement (Initial Teacher Education) Department of Education & Professional Studies September 2013

2. Academic Coordination • Head of Department Dr. Oliver Mc Garr • Academic Coordinator School Placement & Mentoring Dr. Geraldine Mooney Simmie • School Placement Development Officers Dr. Emmanuel O’Grady Dr. Ann-Marie Young Pauline Laurenson

3. School Placement: Our Philosophy • Department of Education & Professional Studies ‘me becoming a teacher of young people in the classroom and the local context of a changing school environment in Ireland’ • Sociological lens in EN4017: making the familiar strange: interrogating the school in contemporary Irish society and in a turbulent global world. • University of Limerick (graduate attributes) knowledgeable, proactive, creative, responsible, collaborative and articulate

4. School Placement: Our Philosophy • Leonard and Gleeson (1999)* : teaching as people-oriented, collaborative and critically reflective • ‘Actual – as opposed to declared – policy and school practice are dominated by technical perspectives that are at odds with the significance of reflective inquiry in teacher education and with the resulting critical awareness of context and policy. Teacher education orientated towards professional development through forms of reflective inquiry is thereby rendered politically marginal (p.49).’ • *Leonard, D. and Gleeson, J. (1999). Context and Coherence in Initial Teacher Education in Ireland: the place of reflective inquiry. Teacher Development, 3(1), 49-63.

5. School Placement: a critical consciousness Brookfield (1995)* Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher developing, using and continually refreshing your professional judgment through hunting the assumptions and living contradictions of your practice through multiple perspectives – self-evaluation; evaluation with a critical friend (peer, tutor, cooperating/mentor teacher); evaluation with your students and evaluation using the lens of the literature (teacher autonomy) *Brookfield, S. (1995). Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

6. School Placement: subject specialism • Subject matter knowledge • Propositional knowledge • Contested nature of knowledge for teaching • Subject Pedagogies • Physical Education, Engineering, Architecture, Modern Languages, Sciences, English, Geography, Gaeilge, Chemistry

7. Teaching Council: Guidelines on School Placement • School placement is a critical part of initial teacher education (ITE) and is designed to give the student teacher an opportunity to learn about teaching and learning, to gain practice in teaching and to apply theory in a variety of teaching situations and school contexts …..thereby developing an appreciation of the complexity of teaching and the variety of roles undertaken by teachers (p.7). • Teaching Council (2013). Guidelines on School Placement. 1st Edition. Maynooth: Author.

8. School Placement: a relationship of co-inquiry • A holistic and person-oriented practice. • Developing a relationship of co-inquiry with young people and with cooperating teachers, mentor teachers, school principal and deputy principal and your university tutors. • Teacher education as a continuum and a lifelong partnership in reflective inquiry and mentoring* • *Mooney Simmie, G. & Moles, J. (2011) Critical Thinking, Caring and Professional Agency: An Emerging Framework for Productive Mentoring. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 19 (4), 465-482.

10. School Placement: Lesson Appraisal Guide LAG Quality of Relationships* Coherence and Quality of Planning* Management of Learning Environment* Effectiveness of Teaching Strategies* Reflective Practice* Professional Conduct and Practice* Subject and Procedural Knowledge Coherence of Lesson Teaching in Diverse Settings Integration of Literacy and Numeracy Quality Assessment of/for Learning

11. School Placement: Academic Regulations* Preparation and Professional Conduct on the School Placement 2.7 A student who is deemed to be unprepared for the school placement will not be permitted to proceed to the placement 2.8 Where a student is not permitted to proceed to the school placement, a fail grade (F/NG) is awarded 2.9 A student who fails to observe regulations with regard to professional conduct, safety, preparation, attendance or punctuality may be withdrawn from the school placement 2.10 A student who is withdrawn from the school placement is awarded a fail grade (F/NG) * School Placement Handbook (2013). Section 2: Academic Regulations/Procedures, 10-11. Limerick: University of Limerick.

12. School Placement: Grading Process Involves several components reflecting the complexity of teaching • Pre-SP, Post-SP meeting(s) • Lesson Appraisal Guides • SP FILE with Reflection(s) SP as a pedagogical cycle - plan, act, reflect Reflected in the grading rubric (SP Handbook, 85-86). A right to a grade appeal (SP Handbook,74-75).

14. School Placement: Reliability & Validity of Grading Process Accountability for our processes: • Academic Coordination team • Improved School Placement documentation/social media • Two tutors (sometimes three) and a Grading Process • Ongoing CPD for all university tutors (internal and external tutors: faculty, teacher educators and retired teachers, school principals, deputy principals and DES inspectors) • External Examiners and regular internal Review • Referral Visits for Potential-F and Potential-A Grades • Compliance with Teaching Council Guidelines and University of Limerick Academic Regulations for Placement Practice (s)

15. School Placement: Reflection Lesson Appraisal Guide 11. Reflective Practice Identification of strengths and deficiencies Realistic responses to problems experienced Willingness to pursue particular issues and/or problems over a series of lessons and draw meaningful conclusions Learning from good practice of others Response to tutor(s) Responsibility for own professional development* Critical reflection supported with literature* University of Limerick. School Placement Handbook (2013). Section 6, 28-55.

16. School Placement: reflection as the story of why? If you feel the class went well you need to engage in a critical interrogation in this regard Why did it go well? What aspect(s) went well? Why did they go well? What did you do to assist? What evidence do you have to support this? What was supportive about the environment at that time? Why?

17. School Placement: Critical Reflection social and political dimension* uneasy social consciousness connection to theory and the research literature evidence-informed approach to teaching • *McGarr, O. and Moody, J. (2010) Scaffolding or stifling? The influence of journal requirements on students’ engagement in reflective practice. Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 11 (5), 579-591.

18. School Placement: Reflective Writing Summary of Requirements SP Handbook (p.44)

19. School Placement: SP Handbook Question(s) to Guide your Reflective Writing At the end of each two-day period think back and answer the following questions: What are your overall feelings at the end of the last two days of teaching? Looking back, what do you want to think about more deeply? Describe this issue briefly. Why is this so important for you as a student teacher? What questions does it raise? From reflecting on this issue and from reviewing your previous reflections, what insights have you gained? Link to knowledge base. School Placement Handbook (2013), p.36. Word Count a weekday reflection: 350 – 450 words.

20. School Placement: making ‘problematic’ first two weeks • Reflections WEEK 1 of school placement: • This week you are asked to focus on the theme of ‘developing awareness of ability grouping as it affects student learning’ in your reflections and take guidance for this inquiry from the research findings in Lynch and Lodge (2002). • Reflections WEEK 2 of school placement: • This week you are asked to focus on the theme of ‘teaching for respect and celebration of diversity’ ‘in your reflections and take guidance for this from the research findings of Lynch and Lodge (2002) and the Teaching Council Codes of Professional Conduct (2012). EN4017 School as an Institution. Handbook. Reference Number 6060, 30. Print Room. University of Limerick.

21. Bibliography Brookfield, S. (1995). Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. EN4017 School as an Institution. Handbook. Reference Number 6060, 30. Print Room. University of Limerick. Leonard, D. and Gleeson, J. (1999). Context and Coherence in Initial Teacher Education in Ireland: the place of reflective inquiry. Teacher Development, 3(1), 49-63. McGarr, O. and Moody, J. (2010) Scaffolding or stifling? The influence of journal requirements on students’ engagement in reflective practice. Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 11 (5), 579-591. Mooney Simmie, G. & Moles, J. (2011) Critical Thinking, Caring and Professional Agency: An Emerging Framework for Productive Mentoring. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 19 (4), 465-482. Teaching Council (2013). Guidelines on School Placement. 1st Edition. Maynooth: Author. University of Limerick (2012). Handbook of Academic Regulations and Procedures. Limerick: Author. University of Limerick (2012). Our Graduate Attributes. Limerick: Author. University of Limerick (2013). School Placement Handbook. Limerick: Author.

22. Understanding and supporting adolescent literacy; the role of all post-primary teachers Department of Education & Professional Studies September 2013

23. Objectives for session • To consider the context for the current national focus on literacy • To deepen our understanding of the concept of literacy • To prepare for school placement and begin to consider the role of the teacher in supporting literacy

24. Literacy and Initial Teacher Education • "the enduring traditional belief among student teachers that the development of literacy was beyond the remit of the individual subject teacher at second level" (LETS p. 24) • "An additional challenge was the conflict that secondary classroom teachers have felt between covering course content and finding time to implement reading strategies to assist students in understanding content information" Changing the attitudes of pre-service teachers toward content literacy strategies (Bonnie et al)

25. Lesson Appraisal Guide • 8. Integration of Literacy and Numeracy (p.71) • Integration of literacy and numeracy within the lesson • Responsiveness to literacy/numeracy issues

26. The National Policy Context http://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Policy-Reports/lit_num_strategy_full.pdf http://schoolself-evaluation.ie/

27. Important consideration • Find out if your placement school is focusing on literacy for their School Improvement Plan (SIP) • What actions/ strategies have they planned for this term? Are these reflected in your plans? • If there is a literacy or numeracy core team, ask if you can join.

28. Definition of Literacy • Literacy includes the capacity to read, understand and critically appreciate various forms of communication including spoken language, printed text, broadcast media and digital media. • (Literacy and Numeracy Strategy

29. Looking at Literacy • Speaking • Listening • Reading • Writing • Digital • Critical Thinking

30. Literacy Theory: • Psycholinguistic (Chomsky) • "Psycholinguistic ideas fitted historically with the 'language through experience' approach of the 1960s where originality, creativity, first-hand experience, self-discovery and imaginative spontaneity were the hallmarks" (Hall, 2004)

31. Cognitive and experimental psychological perspective • A stage model for reading • Word recognition significant • The psycholinguistic and cognitive lines of enquiry place emphasis on child as individual and the individual nature of meaning making

32. Socio-cultural Perspective • (Vygotsky, Bruner, Wenger) • Shifts emphasis from individual to the individual in relation to others (the social and cultural context in which literacy occurs) • A fundamental outcome of this line of enquiry is a recognition of what pupils bring with them in terms of cultural knowledge and experience

33. A Balanced Approach • More recent research on literacy teaching advocates a more balanced approach to literacy content and teaching strategies encompassing aspects of skills based and whole language methods. Many highlight it is not a matter of which method is best but rather which approaches are best used to teach a particular specific element ofliteracy for particular groups of students (Education Queensland, 2000).

34. Looking at Literacy • Speaking • Listening • Reading • Writing • Digital • Critical Thinking

35. A dialogic ("talking") classroom • Collective: teachers and students work together • Reciprocal: teachers and students listen to each other, share ideas and consider alternative viewpoints • Supportive: students articulate their ideas freely, without fear of being "wrong" and help each other to reach common understandings • Cumulative: teachers and students build on their own and each other's ideas and link them into coherent lines of thinking and enquiry • Purposeful: teachers plan and steer classroom talk with specific educational goals

36. ReadingEducation and reading are circular – the more one has of one, the better the development of the other Vocabulary Knowledge Fluency Text Comprehension

37. Some ideas to support reading fluency in your class • Create a safe reading environment • Create opportunities for students to read aloud in a way they will be comfortable- pairs/ small groups • Allow students time to practice if you are asking them to read aloud • Teacher models good reading • No round robin

38. Why is it important to spend time on Vocabulary? Vocabulary knowledge is important to reading because the oral and written use of words promotes comprehension and communication. However, according to Swanborn and de Glopper (1999) the probability that students will learn new words while reading is relatively low – about 15%. Content areas teachers should engage in vocabulary instruction strategies to enhance students' vocabulary knowledge and aid comprehension

39. Teaching Vocabulary Common Misconceptions • Teaching vocabulary means teaching formal definitions • Teaching vocabulary must be teacher-directed • Each chapter should begin with students looking up definitions in a dictionary or glossary • Word searches help students learn vocabulary

40. What works: • Active engagement • Acknowledging the word in other contexts • Intentional teaching of selected words • Multiple opportunities for practice • Establishing relationships between words • A minimum of ten exposures to new vocabulary words is needed for full understanding • Review & assessment are essential for long term understanding and retention

41. ReadingEducation and reading are circular – the more one has of one, the better the development of the other Vocabulary Knowledge Fluency Text Comprehension

42. Supporting Comprehension • Before Reading: • Activate prior knowledge • Set a purpose for reading • Make connections • Make predictions

43. During Reading Generate questions Monitor understanding Synthesise Review

44. Looking at Literacy • Speaking • Listening • Reading • Writing • Digital • Critical Thinking

45. Teachers should teach the writing of their discipline • “Just as students learn to control different oral registers, they must also be able to write in different ways for different purposes .... Simply allowing students to write a lot will not necessarily provide sufficient practice in the various types of writing required” (Reppen 2011) • “The conventions of writing must be explicitly taught and they will not simply be picked up by students for whom the language is unfamiliar.” (Delpit, 1988)

46. How can I support writing in my subject? • DO I? • Ask students to write frequently- not just left to high stakes situations? • Show students examples of 'good' writing in the subject and explain why it is good • Invest time in pre-writing activities: brainstorming, group/pair work, graphic organisers

47. Build in writing activities during class time (not always for homework) • Build in opportunities for peer and self assessment of writing? • Give formative feedback on written tasks? • Publish and celebrate students' writing • Explicitly teach the types of writing associated with the subject dicipline

48. Explicit Instruction Model I do, you watch I do, you help You do, I watch You do, I help

49. A final note.... • You will not be expected to address all the aspects of literacy in every lesson. • Literacy should not be seen as something "extra"- it should be an integral part of subjects where speaking, listening, reading and writing occur. • Literacy is a gateway or tool to deepen students' understanding of my subject. • Literacy is about getting students to "think", deepen their understanding and articulate their knowledge of a subject.

50. Planning for Teaching and classroom management LECTURE 2