EDUC 391 - Secondary School Curriculum

Teachers have a vital role to play as mentors who can enable young people to build stronger communities and futures for themselves. Unfortunately schools are not always empowering places – unless teachers are vigilant and talented, schools can marginalize rather than liberate learners. This course aims to prepare students to become effective teachers for all students during their spring practicum (EDUC 496). By reading, discussing, observing, planning, and practicing, students become familiar with research-based strategies and begin to develop their own approaches. The course includes a 35-hour pre-practicum in which students observe and apply these strategies in public school classrooms. In particular, students learn how to plan lessons that meet or exceed the “practice” level of the first two components of the Massachusetts Professional Standards for Teachers (PSTs): Curriculum, Planning, and Assessment (1) & Teaching All Students (2). The course also exposes students to several elements of the third and fourth PSTs at the “introductory” level: Family and Community Engagement (3) & Professional Culture (4). Each class session focuses on one or more of the “essential elements” that comprise the Candidate Assessment of Performance, which serves as the rubric for the spring student-teaching practicum.

Prerequisites
Limited to Seniors pursuing Secondary Licensure Major or Permission of Instructor

Credits 1

Area
Social Sciences

Connection
23015

Division
Social Sciences

Compass Attributes
Social Science, Sophomore Experience