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EDE 6931 -- Teacher Learning and Professional Development Fall 2006

Assignments

1. Weekly Reading Journal (Weblog)– 20% of course grade

Each week, beginning with the second week of the course, each learner will use the course blog to : 1) summarize the key points that the reader has understood from the readings assigned for the week; and 2) express the reader’s reaction to the literature. The web blog entry should be long enough to summarize the key points and provide a reflection/reaction. You should respond critically to at least one other of your classmates’ entry each week.

2. Class Participation

We all learn best when we function as a community of mutually respectful learners and inquirers. We expect that each of us will contribute to our own learning as well as to that of others within our learning community. In keeping with these beliefs, we will attempt to provide multiple opportunities for large group and small group interaction in both face to face and online environments throughout the course. Therefore, both your attendance as well as your willingness to become engaged with others are important tools for enhancing everyone's learning. We realize that not everyone has the same level of comfort in verbally participating in class and, therefore, judge quality and appropriateness of participation as well as quantity. Because much of the important learning in this class results from dialogue with our community of learners and that experience can’t be made up, more than 2 absences will drop a letter grade. Just a reminder, this includes participation in the online environment.

3. Application Project - 40% of Course Grade

Supervision Practicum

In order to make the concepts in the course more concrete and to make them applicable to the particular contexts in which you work, you are asked to engage in a professional development practicum. The practicum may be completed individually or in groups of 2.

The first part of the assignment that is due on September 12th is the posting of your practicum topic. You may want to meet with Jenn, Chris, or Diane first before formalizing and posting your topic just to keep things moving forward. This topic will be posted to your weblog.

The second part of the assignment that is due on November 7th will be to engage in a supervision/professional development activity with a teacher or group of teachers.

The third part of the assignment that is due on December 5th will be a written manuscript representing your practicum experience which contains the following parts:

A. Introduction:

• A brief review of the literature that sets the stage for the supervision/professional development activity you implemented. This introduction should end by providing a purpose and rationale for the activity.

B. Background:

• Context: A detailed description of the educational context
• Participants: A detailed description of the teacher(s) involved
• Platform: A statement of your key beliefs about high quality professional development/supervision which are reflected in the practicum;

C. Description of activity:

• A set of goals or purposes for the supervision/professional development program;
• A description of the supervision/professional development activities;

D. Evaluation Plan:

• A plan for evaluating the supervision/professional development program;

E. Findings:

• Description of what happened within the process
• Focus would be on capturing empirical evidence of teacher learning related to your emerging understanding of reflection

F. Discussion/Implications:

• A reflective section which analyzes this activity in terms of both the literature on supervision/professional development and knowledge which you have gained about this particular educational setting. This reflective section should include an assessment of the activity’s strengths as well as its weaknesses.

4. Analysis of Empirical Studies - 25% of Course Grade

Review recent research and literature related to your project and identify the dimension of supervisory practice you are exploring in your project.

This option asks you to:

A) Identify 5-7 empirical articles related to your application project,

B) Outline the 5-7 articles using the template provided,

C) Synthesize these articles in a 2-4 page literature review and post on the weblog for the learning community to review

This analysis will include references to all articles in your group and will include a reference list in APA format. This will be handed in on October 10th.

5. Synthesis of Course Concepts using Wiki: 15% of Course Grade

Using your journal as a resource for key concepts identified in the literature and your class notes, create a “representation” of your sense-making of teacher professional development and supervision.

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