Conceptual Framework

REAL: Reflective Educators for All Learners

In 2004, the Department of Education adopted Reflective Teaching and Learning as its conceptual framework. The framework incorporates knowledge, skills, and dispositions associated with teaching. Knowledge and skills are represented in the model below by subject matter knowledge, information fluency, professional competencies, and research and scholarship. Dispositions permeate growth within knowledge and skills.

The current framework acknowledges that Invitation education, the previous conceptual framework, has evolved into reflective thought growing into reflective action. The expansion of the previous framework was based on a desire of all unit members to have a more robust model that captures the current faculty’s philosophy of reflective teaching and learning as well as addressing national standards.

The components of this model are not linear, rather they are recursive. They are not static, rather they flow and ebb in irregular patterns. These elements are not independent; rather they interrelate into a cohesive whole. Robustness of this model is documented by teacher candidate’s success in clinical practice and in presentation of the senior conference.

To provide further clarification of the model, the following components are delineated, beginning with dispositions and then proceeding to knowledge and skills.

Dispositions

The unit has adopted the following four dispositions required of successful teacher candidates based on the INTASC Principles and the BSC Education Program. A successful teacher candidate in the BSC Teacher Education Program:

• Practices reflective teaching and learning
  The teacher candidate is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates the effects of his/her choices and actions on the education community and who actively seeks out opportunities to grow professionally.

• Believes all students can learn
  The teacher candidate believes that all students can learn, understands how students differ in their approaches to learning and creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners.

• Has a professional demeanor
  The teacher candidate is committed to developing the characteristics of a professional teacher and actively strives for: clarity of expression, appropriate physical appearance, initiative, reliability, enthusiasm and rapport with colleagues and students.

• Is culturally responsible
  The teacher candidate is committed to creating a multicultural classroom inclusive of all populations by (1) being respectfully sensitive, (2) knowing and learning the culture of his/her students and (3) understanding how culture influences the student’s learning and using that knowledge in his/her teaching. ills

Knowledge and Skills

Four institutional standards that address knowledge and skills assicated with teaching. Teacher candidates become proficient in subject matter knowledge, information fluency, professional competency, and research/scholarship through curricular activities. . Candidates are prepared in subject matter knowledge including research and scholarship in their BSC coursework. Information fluency through literacy, technology, and critical thinking skills is infused throughout the curriculum. Throughout their field and clinical experiences, the candidate’s professional competencies skills are built and assessed.

Subject Matter Knowledge
Subject matter knowledge is acquired through classes within the candidate’s field as well as BSC general education requirements. This knowledge is assessed and reflected in the candidate’s grades and other evaluations.

Information Fluency

An important challenge facing liberal arts education today is to anticipate how emerging technologies will change the traditional ways of teaching and learning. One of the best ways to address the challenge is by bringing the faculty, librarians, and Information Technology staff together to develop a common understanding of the task before us. One of the goals is to find ways to guide the candidates in becoming adept at using the varied types and sources of information available to them in productive and responsible ways in their learning; in other words, to become information fluent.

Using critical thinking skills and appropriate technologies, information fluency integrates the abilities to:

• Collect the information necessary to consider a problem or issue
• Employ critical thinking skills in the evaluation and analysis of the information and its sources
• Formulate logical conclusions and present those conclusions in an appropriate and effective way

Information fluency may be envisioned as the optimal outcome when critical thinking skills are combined with information literacy and relevant computing skills.

This area relates to all others by identifying an information need, knowing when and how to seek information, evaluating that information and synthesizing the relevant information. This model, as identified by Dr. James Rettig at the University of Richmond and Dr. Susan Hagen at Birmingham-Southern College, has six essential elements which are: (1) recognition of the need for information; (2) formulation of a plan to obtain it; (3) discovery, identification, retrieval of that information; (4) evaluation and selection; (5) synthesis of knowledge or creation of new knowledge; and (6) presentation or publication to an audience.

Professional Competencies and Demeanor

The Department of Education adapted a list of professional competencies for teacher candidates from local school system employment applications. The list includes professional competencies such as classroom management, planning, and leadership as well as elements of professional demeanor. The list is used as an evaluation tool from the first transition point- entrance into the Teacher Education Program (TEP) - through program completion. The candidates sign an agreement regarding behavior in the schools as well as discussing the professional competency list with faculty at each TEP interviewer. The teacher candidates will self-evaluate their progress toward professional competency at each transition point. Professors will also evaluate the candidates and discuss progress at the second transition point -entrance into internship, and the third point- completion of certification requirements. The professional competency list is also used as a weekly intern evaluation of the teacher candidate by the P-12 co-operating teacher. The co-operating teacher evaluation completes the three-fold evaluation of the candidate – self-evaluation, faculty evaluation, and P-12 clinical evaluation.

Research and Scholarship

In their final academic year at BSC, students are required to complete a senior conference in their field. The final product is a public presentation of their work. Elementary/Collaborative Education majors have the option of presenting action research from a methods class or research based on their internship experience. Secondary and arts teacher candidates present research or scholarship in their field.