of
Joseph A. Braun, Jr.
Professor of Elementary Social Studies
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Illinois State University
December 28, 2001
What is my philosophy of teachingPhilosophy of Teaching
I am a teacher educator because I want to change the world. While I realize what I hope to accomplish is limited, I know education is where I can have the greatest impact. I want my students to understand that the professional world they will inhabit, the school, is not immutable. As future teachers they can make a difference and their classrooms can be healthy, supportive environments in which their own students can grow and learn.
I wholeheartedly endorse what the Russian educational psychologist L.S.Vygotsky said about learning -- it is a socially constructed. Thus, my students need opportunities to collaborate with each other, as well as with me, to learn and gain expertise about the act of teaching. To be effective teachers, my students must have the opportunity to take responsibility for becoming life-long learners. This means sharing with others what they learn about teaching and realizing all the things that they have not yet discovered. I want my students to become empowered by their own learning and development as teachers. I create situations where students can take charge for what they learn and how it applies in their classrooms. Finally, I want students to realize that they don't teach subjects but rather people. My goal is to teach the whole person, i.e., the cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions of the human being. The film classic The Wizard of Oz is a wonderful allegory for what I want my students to learn. An effective teacher is like the wizard who must help each individual appreciate the potential that resides within all of us -- the potential to make the best use of our minds, our hearts, and those behaviors that can make the world a better place.
It is impossible for me to be all things to all students. It is healthy for my students to see that I don't have all the answers and that I must deal with contradictions about teaching and life just as they will. To embrace these contradictions and gaps in knowledge creates the opportunity for new understandings and ways of looking at the world. Technology is an important part of my work because as an instructional tool it brings up contradictions for teachers regarding their conceptions of what it means to teach and learn in the Information Aged. Furthermore, the rapidity of change in instructional uses of technology keeps me constantly searching for ways to show teachers what are the educational potentials of culturally transforming developments such as the Internet.
In summary, I believe that as much as possible future teachers should be in control and responsible for what they learn. Furthermore, I believe their accepting responsibility for learning does not occur in a vacuum It also involves those with whom they work. I develop a sense of community in my classes. As members of that community, students are responsible not only to themselves, but to the other members of the community, including me.
Teaching Responsibilities
Each semester I teach two or more sections of an elementary social studies methods course C & I 258. This is a required course for all majors enrolled in the elementary certification program. This course prepares students to use a variety of teaching methods associated with providing elementary students with meaningful learning experiences about history, geography, and citizenship in a pluralistic, democratic society. I have also taught a modified version of this course in the middle school program C & I 352. I have also developed and taught a secondary content area reading course C& I 214.
At the graduate level I teach master's level courses in classroom organization and management (C&I 479) and principles of curriculum design (C&I 411). These courses are for both elementary and secondary teachers enrolled in the master's program. C&I 479 is designed to broaden in-service teachers' understanding of the principles behind effective classroom organization and to expand their repertoire of management techniques. C&I 411 prepares teachers to deal with various elements and constituents involved in designing curriculum emphasizing the Internet as a tool. At the doctoral level I teach a seminar in instructional research C&I 575, again I emphasize the Internet as a research tool. Finally, this summer I taught a master's level course to the educational administration principal preparation program on evaluating student performance C&I 478.
| Spring | C&I 258 sec. 5 and 6 and C&I 214 sec. 1; Supervision of Student Teaching |
| Summer | C&I 575 and C&I 478 (new preparation) |
| Fall | FOI 110 sec. 49 (new preparation); C&I 258 sec. 2 and 5 |
All Syllabi include a course outline, a description of assignments, office hours, and grading policies and procedures.
Instructional Strategies
I use the following group activities and other strategies to keep my students involved and feeling part of a learning community during class: inquiry, group discussions, case studies, interactive lectures, human relations group techniques, multimedia materials, instructional technology (particularly the use of the Internet), and cooperative learning.
I demonstrate the use of inquiry as a process for teaching social studies. I also have developed an inquiry homepage for use in courses that address that instructional model and accompanying presentation. Large and small group discussions are conducted on issues related to social studies education in C&I 258, 352, and 452 and to deal with classroom management concerns in C&I 479. Case studies are demonstrated as a method for teaching law-related education in C&I 258, 352, 452; in C&I 479 case studies are used to help students think through classroom management situations. Interactive lectures are used in all courses I teach. Human relations group techniques are used extensively in both C&I 258, 352, 452 and 479 and to a lesser extent in C&I 411. Computer-based curriculum are demonstrated in all courses. I also use multimedia examples of teaching episodes. Cooperative learning strategies are used to assess student comprehension of reading assignments and promote discussion about content. Students present a power point critique of instructional research to the class in C&I 575.In C&I 576 they critique a national reform effort and use power point to present it (see the course homepage).
I model and debrief the above strategies with my students. I do this because they gain knowledge about the strategies, which is a major part of the content in both courses, and students experience how strategies can be applied in their own classrooms. Learning is enhanced and retention improved because students are actively involved through the use of these strategies and these strategies engage students in working together furthering the sense of community I foster.
Student Assignments/Projects
Students do assignments that reflect the work they will do in classrooms. I use a model called Walkabout as the basis of these assignments. Walkabout involves the following six task areas:
This model is holistic as it promotes cognitive, affective, and behavioral growth. In addition to completing the assignment associated with each task area, students are expected to write brief papers summarizing their learning's and reactions.
Students have developed bulletin boards, curriculum-orientated games, and learned songs that they would teach their students as part of the creativity task. In a reaction paper, a student noted, "to my surprise, students became very involved and the cooperating teacher asked me to keep the bulletin board up for the rest of the semester." Planning a field trip for an elementary classroom is the assignment for the adventure task (this assignment is complete in cooperation with a group of four other students).Students also use cooperative groups to present a current event to the class which are part of the practical skills task. Under this same task they individually locate and evaluate resources on the World Wide Web (WWW), and use various capabilities associated with e-mail in developing practical skills. Students provide voluntary service in a number of environments such as retirement centers, the McLean County Juvenile Detention Center, blood drives, homeless shelters, and tutoring programs in the library. In reaction, a student comments, "this experience has been very positive and I have learned much from it . . . to be more patient in waiting for a child to figure out what a word is . . . to select books that are at a child's reading level . . . after children have been working hard they deserve as well as need to have some fun."
There are two options in C&I 258, 352, 452 associated with the Curriculum Development task of Walkabout. For option One students must develop a box of resources around a geographic or historical theme that must include a detailed instructional plan, a scope and sequence chart of possible learning experiences, a description of how each resource can be used to promote a learning experience, and entries that focus on acquiring technology competence such as constructing a computerized a time line, a data base, and a conceptual map. The second option is to identify a historical or geographic topic and develop a WWW homepage that promotes student learning in relation to the topic. In either case, students must submit a logical inquiry proposal before they can get approval for a Curriculum Development task. This proposal specifies what option they are selecting (and how it links to the State of IL Learning Goals), how they intend to complete it, and why this option would be more beneficial as a learning experience.
A textbook is not used in C&I 258 because most elementary social studies methods texts are quickly out of date. Instead, I have compiled a book of readings that consists of articles drawn from appropriate professional journals. This approach gives the flexibility to keep the reading matter in this course current and articles are balanced between theoretical articles and those that describe best practice.
I use a contract for grading in C&I 258/352 because it makes the students responsible for what they learn and gives them self-control over their professional development. Grades are earned in relation to the number of Walkabout tasks that are accomplished satisfactorily. The integration of what is being studied through completing the tasks becomes the students responsibility. They can choose to work through a theme, such as the history of Chicago or the role of women in settling the West.
In C&I 411 a contract is also used students must complete readings, administer a school climate assessment, and participate in class discussions and activities: a grade of B is awarded for submitting a literature review based on a curriculum innovation they would be willing to design; A grade of A is awarded for developing the design as either a WWW site or a grant proposal.
Doctoral students are expected to engage in scholarly writing in C& I 575 and C&I 576 as a significant part of the course. This includes critiquing research studies or reform efforts and preparing a review of the literature on an instructional issue or problem.
Assessment of Student Work
Student learning is assessed through reaction papers they compose in relation to certain tasks, the resource box or WWW homepage they develop, attendance and participation in class, and by observing their contributions to discussions about readings in cooperative groups. In writing the reaction papers, students are asked to respond to the following questions: Describe what you learned and why you undertook the task? How could you apply what you learned to the classroom? What would you change if you were to do this over again? Work is accepted on a satisfactory or unsatisfactory basis. They may revise and resubmit any unsatisfactory work once so they can profit from their mistakes and still achieve their goal.
Students submit an individual report holding the other members of their cooperative groups accountable for contributing to the groups success. I evaluate this along with all written work. During the scheduled final exam period, students who contracted for an A meet as part of a three-member review team (I serve as a member of each team) and work is accepted by this review team. We review WWW pages or read research papers depending on which Curriculum Development A level option was selected. This assessment technique is instructive for future teachers. Students are encouraged to submit their papers to the Education Resources Information Clearinghouse (ERIC) system for a possible publication or to place their homepages on the WWW.
In C&I 479, assignments are more traditional although some are drawn from the Walkabout model (specifically the creativity and practical skills- computer data base). A textbook is used because it is a common basis for helping students study for the comprehensive master's examination. Similarly, a mid-term and final examination is used in this course to prepare students for the experience of writing a detailed response to the type of questions found in the master's exam. Copies of the final examination can be found in Appendix L. Also required is a 5-7 page reaction paper for three sections of the book. For the fourth section students are placed in cooperative groups and assigned a chapter's content to present to their peers. This is done for two reasons: as graduate students, they can drawn their classroom experience to embellish the content and the cooperative group and peer presentation fosters the sense of community.
C&I 411 is a contractual course that includes levels of tasks. the level involves having students becoming familiar with the Internet as a tool for curriculum development. For a grade of B or better, students must complete a take-home final successfully and participate in a group presentation to the class. For the grade of A, students must complete an individual project involving the development of curriculum based on the principles brought out in class.
Efforts to Improve Teaching
A number of ideas from conferences have been incorporated into my teaching. For example, I teach students a technique for assessing an oral discussion group that was learned at a conference a year ago. This technique has the teacher use a rating sheet to evaluate individual student contributions to a small group discussion. As a participant in a multicultural workshop, there were several activities that were incorporated into my social studies course. I also attended two workshops to learn HTML for constructing homepages. I am a voracious reader of curriculum literature particularly as it relates to social studies instruction. As the packet of reading materials I use as a text in my course reveals, I incorporate what I read into my course content.
Formal and informal student evaluation is used as a primary way to assess teaching and reflect on ways it could be improved. Formally, the university evaluation of teaching indicates that I am an effective instructor. Informally, three times a semester students are asked to anonymously respond to three questions: What are the most significant things that you have learned in this course? What is a question you still have? What is something you've noticed about my teaching? These questions monitor students' ongoing reactions to course content and its presentation throughout the semester. The feedback from these questions is valuable. For example, I now begin each class in a circle and conduct a brief classroom meeting for less than ten minutes at the beginning of class. I use this meeting to build community in my class and to respond to questions, concerns, or needs of the students as well as an informal means to assess their understanding of course content or assignments. The classroom meeting also serves as a model for teachers who can incorporate this process into their own work with students. I have also made videotapes of my teaching and used these for self evaluation (see Additional Teaching Data below)
A sample of responses follows: "Very student participatory." "Your teaching is very group orientated." "Everything you've done in class and had us participate in models a democratic classroom." "I've noticed that you really try to create a positive sense of community." "You set a good example. You teach as you want us to teach." "Excellent course! Very practical and lots of ideas to apply to my classroom." "Great! You've helped me grow as an individual and a teacher in the classroom."
Future Goals
I would like to be more systematic in communicating to students the evaluation process. I would like to use weboards as a means to foster more student to student interaction about the course outside of class time. I would like to learn more about video-editing so I could create videos for my class. I also am going to work at the Juvenile Detention Center teaching a life skills course.
Additional Teaching Data
In addition to the other links that are found on the Teacher Educator Page, in my office I have a print version of this portfolio as well as videocassettes of examples of my teaching. These videotapes include not only the courses I teach at the college level but also examples of lessons I have taught in elementary classrooms.
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Love without reserve . . . Learn without restraint . . . Live without dead time
