Wow! Great Resources! & Texts for New EDU Courses?

Lynn,

Many thanks for posting all of these resources!... This is exactly what I was hoping we could generate!...

Suzanne... I totally understand what you're saying about the URLs... it can be really frustrating as just when you think you have a good one - the address changes or becomes obselete?... But - I still like the idea of using them when we can!

Our Teaching Methods course will be changing its direction slightly beginning in fall 2010 to have a focus on Literacy Development to align more directly with our VSC-sister schools ... I will include the new EOs as proposed (see below) ... Lynn- what is your opinion concerning a decent text?... will the one you use now work okay or do you think we need a different one?

EDU-2055 Teaching Methods – Changes to blurb and EOs to reflect emphasis on teaching literacy.

Revised Title: Teaching Methods for Literacy Development

Revised Course Blurb: This course provides an introduction to teaching methods. Topics include: educational research related to literacy instruction, approaches to teaching, instructional lessons and units, classroom management and communication, strategies for authentic assessment, and self-reflective teaching practices.

Revised EOs:
1. Discuss current educational research and theory as it relates to instructional methods for literacy development.
2. Develop lessons that are sensitive to the diverse needs and styles of students, taking into consideration, content, pedagogy, and materials.
3. Use technology as a tool to support student learning and for professional development.
4. Demonstrate classroom management and communication strategies for teaching in large and small groups.
5. Create thematic instructional units that rely on active learning and encourage higher order thinking.
6. Design performance-based assessments that link instructional decision-making and lesson planning.
7. Develop the ability to reflect on their teaching, student learning, and to make changes as warranted.

I'd like to think about what texts would be most appropriate for these new courses as well (see below)... what do you think? ....what would work best?

EDU-2XXX Assessment in the Education Setting 3 credits
This course is designed to help pre-service teachers understand, integrate, and skillfully apply standards governing educational assessment. Emphasis will be placed on strategies for test-taking and on methods for building quality assessments tied to learning outcomes. Students will take Praxis Exams as part of their exploration on the topic of assessment.

1. Describe the relationship between learning and assessment decisions.
2. Compare the use of formative and summative assessment tools that assist in educational decision making.
3. Administer, score and interpret the results of a range of assessment tools.
4. Discuss the connections between assessment, curriculum planning, and overall school improvement.
5. Recognize the unethical, illegal and otherwise inappropriate uses of assessment.
6. Explore test-taking strategies and complete Praxis exams.
7. Discuss the history and philosophy of educational assessment and assessment of educators.


EDU-2XXX Teaching in a Global Community 3 credits
This course explores the role of global perspectives in democratic education. Historical, sociological, cultural, political, and philosophical dimensions of globalization are considered in relation to issues of teaching.

1. Describe the evolution of teaching global perspectives in the United States.

2. Explore the diverse ways learners experience the world, inside and outside the classroom, the school and in the community.
3. Discuss the impact of an emerging global community on local teaching practices.
4. Discuss the psychological, political, social, and economic dimensions of global society as it functions in schools and communities.
5. Integrate global perspectives into an existing curriculum.
6. Develop a collection of globalization resources and strategies for use in a future classroom.
7. Describe the influence of culture on practices of teaching and learning.
8. Reflect on and assess individual sociopolitical and cultural beliefs in relation to education.
9. Recognize cultural, ethnic, political, and economic biases in curricular materials and discuss strategies to correct them.
10. Analyze the challenges facing educators in a global community.