Hi Everyone,
Welcome to EDUC 612: Teaching & Inquiry I! Because the focus of each of these classes is similar, and a more diverse learning environment is a more effective one, both sections will be using this site for resources and communication.
I remember well teaching in San Francisco, and I would always go to these professional development days where the “latest and greatest” teaching techniques were introduced. I tried them and had little success. Now, OK, it might be that was a terrible teacher, or that the intervention on which I was trained didn’t generalize to my population of students. In either case, I had no way of knowing, nor did I have an answer for failing my students. It was clear that my teacher education program didn’t prepare me for the data-driven world in which we live, and I felt at sea without a life-raft. We have all faced (or will face) this at one time or another. In this course, we look at ourselves as individual, as well as the things we do as teachers in a more critical light (look at the literature, critique research, interpret data), so we can begin to evaluate teaching and learning. It is my hope that by the end of this term, you can go to your professional development day, sit in the back, raise your hand, and feel confident in asking the question: how do we know this works?
I look forward to working with you all. We are going to have a great term!