NCATE Review

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Northern Michigan
University:
Narrative Overview

Subject Matter/
Program Table

Institutional
Report

Planning and
Analytical Studies

Student Teaching
Totals 1983-2000

Professional
Education Unit:
Definition
Organizational Chart

Conceptual
Frameworks

Contextual
Frames

STANDARDS

Standard 1
Candidate Knowledge,
Skills and Dispositions

Standard 2
Assessment System
and Unit Evaluation

Standard 3
Field Experiences
and Clinical Practice

Standard 4
Diversity

Standard 5
Faculty Qualifications,
Performance, and
Development

Standard 6
Unit Governance
and Resources

NCATE Report
(Word Document)

Past Reports and
Long Range Plans

EXHIBITS LIST
SYLLABI/OUTLINES

NMU-AAUP
Master Agreement

School of
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NMU State
Accreditation Website

STANDARD THREE

Field Experiences and Clinical Practice
The Unit and its school partners design, implement, and evaluate field experiences and clinical practice so that teacher candidates and other school personnel develop and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to help all students learn.

The Unit’s teacher education field experiences program from Phase I through Phase IV, entry into the profession, has as a goal that each candidate practices:

1. Teaching as artistry within the Conceptual Framework Derivative 1 as opposed to teaching as only a science and skill;
2. Integrates content, skills and dispositions to effectively teach all learners, regardless of race, culture, ethnicity and class within the Conceptual Framework Derivative 4.

Developing a practice per the conceptual framework requires an extended sequence of field experiences in order to understand the ethical nature of their teaching rooted in practice, research, reflection, and artistry, if content is to become an effective medium for all learners.

The Professional Education Unit’s Phase I and II field experiences are imbedded in courses, and thus the field experiences do not have a “life” apart from the purposes of the courses of the professional studies curriculum, or from the instructors of these courses. This is extremely important in the Professional Studies Phase II where content methods courses link content, skills, and dispositions together. As noted on page 6, two types of courses in the professional studies program phases have field experiences: 1) the courses at the University that have candidates in the schools for field experience(s), and 2) courses which are situated in schools with the Unit faculty engaged in the classrooms with the candidates and classroom teachers. The two or three professional studies courses that do not have designated field experiences are taken concurrently with courses that do and thereby have a field-base for discourse, practice, reflection and application of practice in a course. For example, ED 483 uses other field experiences for projects using technology.

The blocking of classes, the conjoining of classes with the same instructor, the sharing of a common field site by candidates, and having courses situated in the schools creates a shared program instead of a collection of “isolated” courses and field experiences. Thus, through the field experiences, coherence, collaborativeness, and cohortness develop among the candidates and the University/school faculties which enhance the faculty “jurying” the candidate performance relative to effective teaching of all students. See page 5 for the number of clock hours and sequencing of courses for field experiences. Through the State Department of Education Collaborative Sites, Practice and Inquiry Grant (CSPI), Northern Michigan University is one of two universities funded (fourth year of funding) to develop collaborative programs for the preparation of general education and special education teachers in “inclusive settings” for students with disabilities. The schools with course-situated field experiences are among the recipients of professional development monies to support collaboration and the mutuality of respect among all faculties, University and schools, at the collaborative sites.

All field sites and experiences, including the practice teaching placements, are selected and developed collaboratively by the Director of Field Experiences, the University/school faculties, building principals, and the teaching faculties. For example, the “school situated” courses engage both the Unit and school faculties/administrators in selecting classrooms, and in designing, implementing, and evaluating the field experiences program, including evaluating the progress of candidates in demonstrating entry-level proficiency. Some programmatic emphases will serve as frames to the field experience program. Examples are: 1) having middle schools as the first school-situated course (ED 231) and field experience site for all secondary education candidates before proceeding to experience the more departmentalized structures of high schools; 2) having multiple schools sites for experiencing different school cultures, modes of teaching, and administrations.

As suggested by the contextual frames on page xvii, descriptively and directionally, the K-12 school and the Unit faculties assist each other to advance the art of practice, i.e., both faculties support the teaching and learning of P-12 students and of candidates preparing to become teachers. The school sites for the courses delivered on site function like “teaching studios” for “pressing” the artistry of practice and developing teachers who “reach” to other educational communities. Within professionally supportive learning communities which care for and honor differences among all students, candidates can begin demonstrating how they too will “press” their practice, e.g., how they will:

• Integrate content as a medium to pedagogical positions,
• Assure that all students learn,
• Create supportive learning communities,
• Care for and honor the differences among diverse students,
• Integrate into their practice (lessons, units, etc.) the Michigan Curricular Frameworks and the Michigan Teaching and Learning Standards,
• Develop the artistry of their practice.

The courses situated in the schools create a setting for faculty to engage the candidates in reflecting upon the knowledge-base for what they are doing and what is being learned by the candidate prior to Phase III, Practice Teaching. When the candidates begin the semester of practice teaching away from these sites, they will not only demonstrate the proficiency level 3 or above, but will also carry with them new ways of extending learning for all students, diverse students included, and new ways to utilize the various curricular frameworks and standards.

The Phase III field experience, sixteen weeks of practice teaching, is guided by the Unit’s two handbooks: Field Experiences and Student Teaching and the Handbook for Supervising Teachers. The assignments of practice teachers are shared decisions between the Director of Field Experiences, the building administrator or district-designated coordinator for practice teaching, and classroom teachers. As noted in the narrative for Standard One, the classroom supervising teacher will make the decision as to whether or not the candidate is ready to be certificated. If not, a grade of “P” or “U” is assigned without a recommendation to the State for a teaching certificate. Sometimes the candidate’s performance warrants extending the practice teaching assignment. The number of candidates whose practice teaching was extended and/or received a grade of “P” is: 7 for the 2000-2001 academic year and 4 for the 1999-2000 academic year. See Exhibit # 3.1.

During Phase III, the Director, the Teacher Education Advisory Council (TEAC) Board, and the University/classroom supervising faculties discuss issues related to maximizing the candidates’ practice teaching field experience in Phase III. These include Michigan Teacher Entry-Level Standards, the preparation of candidates, roles and responsibilities of the University and classroom supervisors, and the kind of expectations to be made of the candidate such as teacher-parent conferences, after-school responsibilities, and uses of video technologies to reflect upon practice. Also, the Unit schedules ED 586: Supervision of Student Teaching to support the classroom supervising teachers in their role. Ten classroom supervising teachers took this course in the Winter, 2000 semester, and 11 in Fall, 2000. The classroom supervisors use their $200 tuition-honorarium to pay for the course instead of accepting the $100 reimbursement.

The Unit employs several recently retired practitioners in supervising practice teachers. The retired practitioners, limited in number, must be recognized by the school and University faculties for their outstanding practice as classroom teachers, i.e., their capacities to teach all students, their capacities to honor differences, their professional knowledge of standards such as the Michigan Frameworks, and their exemplary integration of content, pedagogy, and dispositions. The recruitment and retention of leading practitioners is fitting and appropriate within the Conceptual Framework’s derivatives about habits of character, the ethical nature of teaching and preparing teachers, teaching as artistry, and content as medium. The supervisors thereby represent an experience and understanding of the Michigan Teacher Entry-Level Standards which is a crucial part of making sure candidates recommended for certification attain the requisite level of performance set by the Unit.

As support to candidates who are practice teaching, the University provides a support seminar, ED 450: Student Teaching Seminar, which explores many areas related to their practice experience, e.g., diversity and classroom management. The secondary ED 450 seminars cluster disciplines with content specialists as instructors to better link and contextualize content, skills, and dispositions. One example is Dr. Carolyn Dawson, science educator, Assistant Professor, Glenn T. Seaborg Center for Teaching and Learning Science and Mathematics, who conducts the ED 450 seminar for the science and health areas,. Another example is Dr. Howard Nicholson, social studies educator and historian, Assistant Professor, Department of History, who instructs the ED 450 seminar for candidates in the social studies areas (e.g., history, economics, political science, cultural geography, and social studies). In order to support the candidates’ practice teaching, the Unit schedules concurrently with the ED 450 Seminar, ED 222: Classroom Management, instructed by Judy Parlato or Barbara Ojibway, outstanding former classroom teachers, and ED 223: Multicultural Education, instructed by the Director, Diversity Student Services. Each class has enrollments of 20 to 25 candidates each semester.

The Unit continues extending/developing the field experience program by:

1. Increasing the number and variety of opportunities for candidates in the Professional Studies Program Phase II to demonstrate successful teaching of all students to learn within the frame of the school/classroom curricula;
2. Assuring that each candidate has field experiences at multiple sites to experience different school cultures, building/district leadership, and to observe the different ways in which the art and science of teaching and learning for all students can be practiced well;
3. Developing field sites for candidates, courses, and faculty outside of the Marquette Area Public Schools, e.g., Negaunee Public Schools, Ispheming Public Schools, NICE Public Schools, Naw Tah Wahsh Public School Academy (Native American Reservation School);
4. Increasing the number of secondary subject matter methods courses which are situated in the schools and providing significant opportunities for practice and reflection;
5. Increasing the number of field trips to schools with racial and ethnic diversities which are not represented in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, such as field trips to Green Bay;
6. Creating field experience programs prior to admission to teacher education such as the NMU American Reads After School program which will be extended to mathematics (America Counts) in the Fall Semester, 2001 and the Freshman First Year Experience Seminar for candidates indicating an intent to become teachers, which will be extended to two sections in the Fall, 2001 Semester. Outstanding practitioners supervise these programs: Anne Savera, America Reads and Mary Lou and David Blomquist, ED 295: Freshman First Year Experience Seminar.

The Unit understands that developing the Field Experiences Program is critical to assure the goal, as stated earlier, that each candidate comes to practice:

1. Teaching as artistry within the Conceptual Framework Derivative 1 as opposed to teaching as only a science and skill;
2. Integrates content, skills and dispositions to effectively teach all learners regardless of race, culture, ethnicity and class within the Conceptual Framework Derivative 4.

For the teacher education advanced programs, the courses included in the 18-hour plans of study for the Michigan Professional Certification, and the Masters of Arts in Elementary or Secondary Education include courses which have the candidates using their field site for reflective journals and lesson/unit planning, as examples. In Phase IV: Induction and Mentoring, new teachers are able to use their building, classroom and their relationship to mentors as field experiences. In addition to the projects that are completed within the teacher’s classroom for specific courses in the Master of Arts Degree in Elementary or Secondary Education, each candidate is required to complete a graduate research paper or project, the basic objective being to demonstrate: “The ability to identify significant problems relevant to his or her own program objectives and to define manageable boundaries for study.” See Exhibit # 3.2.

Several advanced degree programs require a capstone field experience as well as the graduate research paper or project, e.g., internships, practica, etc. Examples of internships and practica are:

As is the case with Phase III: Practice Teaching Field Experience, completion of the graduate programs requires satisfactory performance during the internship and/or practica in order to be recommended to the State Department of Education for the school guidance counseling, learning disabilities, and early childhood endorsements. Recommendations require the minimum score on the appropriate MTTC endorsement test. The Graduate Review Committee is the appeal body to review disputes regarding whether or not the performance demonstrated the appropriate mastery of content, skills, and disposition.