Integrated Practicum
Elementary Education, Math/Science/SS Methods Block
Spring 2013, 1 Credit
Instructors:
Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have documented temporary or permanent disabilities. All accommodations must be approved through Disability Support Services located in the Idaho Commons Building, Room 306 in order to notify your instructor(s) as soon as possible regarding accommodation(s) needed for the course.
· 885-6307
· email at <>
· website at <www.access.uidaho.edu>
College Vision
Idaho's Leader in Lifelong Learning and Healthy Lifestyles.
We seek teaching, learning, and living that transforms, invigorates, and nurtures. We expand lasting knowledge centered in local and global communities.
College Mission
The University of Idaho’s College of Education is the state’s flagship and land-grant research college focused on the preparation of professionals for schools, the movement sciences, and workforce counselors and educators. From our commitment to develop leaders in these fields emerges our responsibility to enhance the scientific, social, economic, and cultural assets of the state and develop solutions for complex problems.
We deliver on our commitment through focused, interdisciplinary excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and engagement in a collaborative environment at our residential main campus and our regional centers. Consistent with the land-grant ideal, our outreach activities serve the state and at the same time strengthen our teaching, scholarly, and creative capacities.
Our teaching and learning include undergraduate, graduate and professional education offered through both resident instruction and extended delivery. Our scholarly and creative activities promote K-12 academic achievement, human development and wellness, global awareness, and progress in professional practice.
Conceptual Framework
University of Idaho educators CARE. Together we develop as scholar practitioners who value and professionally apply and advance:
Cultural Proficiency;
Assessment, Teaching, and Learning;
Reflective Scholarship & Practice; and,
Engagement in Community Building & Partnerships.
Purpose: The purpose of the practicum experience is to support students in linking practice to theory, observing learners in classrooms, and gaining authentic experience in facilitating learning through an integrated approach. It will provide opportunities to observe, participate, teach a lesson, and reflect on these experiences. Students will spend 30 hours in an elementary classroom, assigned in groups of two.
As Teacher Candidates progress in coursework, field experiences are designed to move a teacher candidate from an observer/learner role to one of a more intentional leading role. Experiences are designed to be done while spending time in classrooms working with elementary education students.
One on one, small group, and large group instructional activities allow the teacher candidate to build on their understanding and skill in working with students while under the direction of the classroom teacher. Teacher candidates will also build on their diversity understanding by targeting specific student groups and reflecting on experiences from multiple perspectives.
Course Objectives:
Students will
1. Attend the practicum consistently, be punctual, dress professionally and interact appropriately with students, teachers, and support staff.
2. Communicate effectively and appropriate to the situation.
3. Demonstrate caring, respect & fairness for all students; develop rapport & communicate well with students; recognize needs of diverse learners and advocates for diverse learners in the classroom.
4. Demonstrate an active interest in learning about the profession; shows growth and improvement; actively seeks and responds well to feedback.
5. Plan a lesson with clear goals, materials are ready; student is well organized and prepared.
6. Know a subject well and be comfortable and accurate with the content.
7. Use effective strategies to motivate and engage students and plan activities for students that are appropriate for grade level.
8. Use appropriate classroom management strategies to engage and motivate students.
9. Plans a lesson that includes multiple strategies, either formal or informal, to assess student performance or understanding at different points during the lesson.
10. Plans a lesson that differentiates and scaffolds instruction to address diverse learning needs and styles including those of special needs students.
Requirements:
1) Attend all Tuesday morning sessions. Check the Calendar for locations and times of each session.
2) Be an Active participant in the classroom and offer support when /where needed. Adhere to the Expectations for UI students in Elementary School Classrooms (see Student Expectations).
3) Dress professionally for classroom setting (see Student Handbook)
Assignments:
1.Time Log
Complete and submit an Integrated Practicum Time Log (attached)
*the Time Log needs to show 45 completed hours.
2. Practicum Reflection on Task Stream (Due throughout semester): Focused Observations, Analyses, and Reflections on Classroom Practice
Focus your reflection on the topics listed below. Describe what you observed during the class regarding the topic and reflect on the strategies that you observed the teacher using. Find a few minutes (with your partner) to ask the teacher to briefly discuss how he/she approaches each of these areas. Each entry of your reflection journal should be titled with the focus topic of the reflection (if applicable), and the date.
Task Stream Signature Assignments
1. Classroom Context for Learning: Week 1-2 –
A. About the school/class where you are teaching:
1. Where are you teaching? Describe the school and its student population.
2. List any specialized features of your school or classroom setting (e.g., themed magnet, classroom aide, bilingual, team taught with a special education teacher) that affects teaching in this learning classroom.
3. Describe any district, school, or cooperating teacher requirements or expectations that might impact instruction, such as required curricula, pacing plan, use of specific instructional strategies, or standardized tests.
4. What are the represented socio-economic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds of the students? How might these influence planning, teaching and assessment?
5. What are the identified English language proficiency levels of the students? What do you know about the students’ conversational and academic English? How do you know?
B. About the subject area/course you are observing. [If you are observing a subject other than mathematics, answer the questions for the subject you observed, but be sure to report what subject you observed.]
1. How much time is devoted each day to mathematics instruction in your classroom?
2. Is there any ability grouping or tracking in mathematics? If so, please describe how it affects your class.
3. Identify any textbook or instructional program that is primarily used for mathematics instruction. If a textbook, please provide the name, publisher, and date of publication.
4. List other resources (e.g., SmartBoard, manipulatives, on-line resources) used for mathematics instruction in this class.
2. Instruction: Week 3-4 –
1. How does the teacher motivate and intellectually engage students in learning?
2. What does the teacher do to deepen student learning?
3. How is student thinking elicited? (List specific teacher questions or materials, facilitated responses that supported students’ understanding of mathematical concepts.)
4. How does the teacher help students make connections between facts, concepts, computations/procedures, and reasoning/problem solving strategies to deepen learning of mathematics?
5. What representations are used to support students’ understanding and use of mathematical concepts?
6. Pay attention to common mathematical errors or misunderstandings for today’s topic. Note several of these and discuss how a student might reasonably make such errors or hold such misunderstandings.
3. Specific learning needs of students in the class: Week 5-6 –
Identify specific student learning needs within this classroom. Include high performing, low performing students, those with behavioral issues, and students with language needs. With your partner, talk with the teacher about specific students that you have noticed with specific learning needs and about others that you may not have noticed. These may be formally documented with an IEP or 504 plan, or may simply be needs that the teacher has noticed and tries to address. During instruction, observe what the teacher does to support the learning needs of these students. Ask the teacher to tell you about additional things he/she does that you may not have noticed.
Describe what you have observed or learned.
4. Differentiation and Support for Diverse Learning Needs: Week 7 - 8 –
Describe any instructional strategies used to support students with specific learning needs. This will vary based on what you know about the students but may include students with IEPs (individualized education programs), 504 plans, English language learners, or gifted students needing greater support or challenge. You may need to talk with the teacher to learn about supports that were not obvious as you observed.
5. Formative Assessment: Monitoring Student Learning: Week 9 - 10 –
Identify the informal and formal assessments of today’s lessons. Explain how the informal and formal assessments provide evidence that could be used to monitor student progress toward the standards/objectives. Consider how the assessments will provide evidence of students’ conceptual understanding, computational/procedural fluency 5 , and mathematical reasoning/problem solving skills.
Describe any modifications or accommodations to the planned assessment tools or procedures that allow students with specific needs to demonstrate their learning. You may need to talk with the teacher to fully understand the approach.
What feedback does the teacher provide to students about their learning and progress?
How are students encouraged to use the feedback to guide further learning?
6. Academic language: Week 11 – 12 –
For today’s lesson, Identify the key academic language demand and explain why it is integral to the central focus for the segment and appropriate to students’ academic language development.
Consider language functions and language forms, essential vocabulary, symbols, and/or phrases for the concepts and skills being taught, and instructional language necessary for students to understand or produce oral and/or written language within learning tasks and activities.
Explain how planned instructional supports will assist students to understand academic language related to the key language demand to express and develop their content learning. Describe how planned supports vary for students at different levels of academic language development.
Language functions: for oral and written language in classrooms, the function is the purpose the language is intended to achieve within each subject area. Functions are associated with verbs found in learning outcome statements. Common language functions in math include describing mathematical phenomena, modeling to demonstrate mathematical phenomena, predicting from models and data, comparing based on common attributes, summarizing mathematical information, justifying conclusions, evaluating data and mathematical representations, classifying based on attributes, explaining phenomena and processes, drawing conclusions based on data, representing mathematical information and mathematical models.
Language forms: structures or ways of organizing oral or written language serve a particular function within each subject area. In math, language forms include symbolic representations such as numbers, equations, and proofs, tables and graphs, and narrative. If the function is to compare, the appropriate language forms could include Venn diagrams or pattern sentences like “The _____is longer/larger/heavier than the______.“ If the function is to explain, then students might use sentence starters like “First, I …” “ Then, I…” to structure the explanation, and use :finally, I …” to signal the conclusion.
3. Practicum Lesson Assignment
For this assignment you will:
· Teach a Math Lesson. Directions will be provided by your Math Instructor
•Teach the lesson that you planned. (Schedule with your teacher.)
•Collect artifacts of student learning and of materials used during your lesson.
•Submit reflection on teaching the lesson. (April 26th)
Grade Structures
Attendance & Participation in on-campus sessions 5%
Time Log 25%
Reflection Journal 25%
Reflection on teaching lesson 20%
Teacher Evaluation and Lesson Plan Evaluation 25%
Attendance and Participation
Attendance is mandatory. Unexcused absences and chronic tardiness affect your class participation. Two unexcused absences will result in removal of your practicum classroom which will ultimately lead to failure of the class.