Revisiting PACT as US: Supporting our Student Teachers and Field Partners

Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity

Revisiting PACT as US: Supporting our Student

Teachers and Field Partners

Spring 2012 STE University WorkshopCathy Zozakiewicz, PhD

COE PACT Coordinator, SDSU

Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity

PACT Goals/outcomeS PACT TE DUE DATE: FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 2012• To review our roles and resources as US to be able to

support our STs with Technical and Organizational issues of the PACT TE as US, and support our Field Partners as they assist our STs with developing and implementing the PACT TE

• To reflect upon areas of the PACT TE where STs struggle, in order to better prepare our students as effective teachers who can demonstrate competency on all areas of the TE: Planning, Assessment, Instruction, Reflection and Academic Language.

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Technical & Organizational Support

• Forms Handed in on TaskStream:• TE/ESA Permission Form – Form STs sign to

give us permission to use their ESAs, CATs and TEs for instructional and research purposes

• Authenticity Form – PACT Form ST and US/Block Leader signs at end of semester verifying that TE is the original work of ST.

Forms Handed into Team Leader in Hard Copy:SDSU PACT Permission Slips – form for students to be videotaped and to use assessment samples for PACT TE

STs MUST USE SDSU PERMISSION FORMS – DISTRICT FORMS CANNOT REPLACE SDSU FORMS HERE

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US, CT and ST Roles• Refer to Resources “PACT Teaching Event

Tasks for University Supervisors, Cooperating Teachers & Stud. Teachers”

• Key – Attend to Block Timeline for Implementation and Videotaping of TE

• Do Not Observe during TE with intention of giving observational feedback to ST

• Refer STs to COE PACT Website to resources to support the PACT process: http://coe.sdsu.edu/students/pact/

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Guidelines for Support Revisited

• Acceptable forms of support for constructing the TE include:• Explaining the general design of curriculum materials or

instructional and assessment strategies, leaving it to candidates to make selections

• Making referrals to curriculum materials, professional and research articles on issues the candidate is thinking about. Many candidates will use or adapt curriculum materials developed by others; they should just cite the source, including materials from experienced teachers. It is up to each candidate to explain how the materials are appropriate for their students.

• Asking probing or clarifying questions that encourage candidates to deepen their analysis of and reflection on the artifacts, commentary prompts, and/or their responses and to communicate these analyses and reflections more clearly.

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Unacceptable support for Te includes:

• Making choices of curriculum materials or instructional strategies (other than those required by the CT/school/district) for ST

• Providing your own analysis of the candidate’s students or artifacts or offering alternative responses to commentary prompts

• Suggesting specific changes to be made in a draft Teaching Event rather than asking questions aimed at helping candidates reflect on a draft and reach their own conclusions about needed changes

• Providing intensive coaching for candidates perceived to be weak that is aimed at helping them pass the Teaching Event rather than at improving their teaching competence, e.g., extensive focused feedback on repeated drafts leading to the final submission

• Editing the Teaching Event.

Support from You as Supervisors Working with

Cooperating Teachers

1. Educate CTs about the PACT TE emphasizing that what candidates do in PACT is authentic and about becoming effective teachers.

2. Communicate to CTs how important they are in supporting student teachers through the PACT process and what support/guidance is allowed.

3. Keep lines of communication open with Team Leaders about placement issues that may be detrimental to STs’ abilities to successfully complete their PACT TEs in their placements.

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Areas where our STs Struggle on TE

• Data Shots – See Data Results on COE PACT Webpage under Faculty Support – get access form Nina Potter

• http://coe.sdsu.edu/students/pact/

• Areas of Struggle: Assessment, Instruction, Reflection, Academic Language, Next Steps

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Effective teacHING and TE elements aligned

Effective Teachers Show Competency on TE by:• Demonstrating Alignment and Making

Connections: Tasks 1-5 • Intellectual Engagement of Students

According to Subject-Specific Requirements: Tasks 2-3

• Focusing on Student Learning and Learner Outcomes: Tasks 2-4

• Using Academic Language and Knowledge of Student to Develop and Differentiate Instruction/Assessment -- Teaching Contextually to Students: Tasks 1-5

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Demonstrating alignment & Making Connections

• Tasks 1-2: Context and Planning/Assessment• Tips - TE/Teaching Effectiveness Mantras:

• Alignment and Connections• Developing Detailed Plans• Manageable Standards/ObjectivesFatal Flaws:

Misalignment and Disconnections between standards/objectives, tasks and assessments, and/or between plans and commentaries

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Intellectually Engaging Students

• Engage Students Intellectually – Beyond Participation, with Subject Matter

• Review Planning Rubrics 1 for Engagement according to Subject Specific Requirements/Variations – Reflect and attend to Pedagogical Content Knowledge

• Tips and Fatal Flaws in Instruction• Wrong Choice of Video Clips by interaction

structure or context expectation• Classroom Management Chaos or Safety in

Science• Significant Content Inaccuracies

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Focus on Student Learning

• Focus on Student Learning and Learning Outcomes instead of Teacher/Teaching only

• Tips and Fatal Flaws on Assessment

• Misalignment of assessment rubric/evaluation criteria, assessment itself and/or standards/objectives measured

• Next steps vague or too brief, or do not align to analysis – to learning outcomes

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reviewing Academic Language & Its Importance

• What is academic language?• Do we believe it is important as a

teacher educators? Why or why not?

• Why do we think AL is included as a central task you must demonstrate competency in as a new teacher within the PACT TE – your State TPA?

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WHY include Academic Language?

• Academic language is different from everyday language. Some students are not exposed to this language outside of school.

• Much of academic language is discipline-specific and deepens subject matter THINKING.

• Unless we make academic language explicit for learning, some students will be excluded from classroom discourse and future opportunities that depend on having acquired this language.

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Academic Language• Academic language is the oral and

written language used in school necessary for learning content.

• This includes the “language of the discipline” (vocabulary and forms/functions of language associated with learning outcomes) and the “instructional language” used to engage students’ in learning content.

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Vocabulary• Technical vocabulary: triangle,

metaphor, metabolize• Words whose technical meaning is

different than everyday language: “balance” in chemistry, “plane” in mathematics, “ruler” in history/social science, “force” in science

• Connector words: and, but, because, therefore, however

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Three F WordsThe FUNCTIONS of Academic Language are to clearly and explicitly define, classify, analyze, explain, argue, interpret and evaluate ideas for distant audiences. Every language function has FORMS or structures that are common and often discipline specific (text, sentence or graphic/symbolic)

Developing students’ FLUENCY in academic language forms and functions provides access to the “language of school” and academic success

Academic Language Competencies Measured IN PACT

• Understanding students’ language development and identifying language demands – Rubric 11

• Supporting language demands (vocabulary, form and function) to deepen content learning – Rubric 12

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Using AL & knowledge of sts to Develop Instruction

• Focus on Academic Language across Tasks• Emphasize this is What Effective Teachers Do – • Use Content and Language Objectives• Tips and Fatal Flaws

• Deficiency view of students – My Sts cannot… • Identify AL as Vocabulary Only• Provide only Generic Support without considering

Lang. Demands of learning tasks – (vocab., forms and functions)

• STs perform Forms and Functions for Sts versus facilitating the developing of these for their Sts

•

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Academic language resources

• On PACT Website – There are Acad. Language Appendixes for Each Content Area that share examples of:

• Functions• Genres – Forms• Instructional Language

• URL: www.pacttpa.org/• Under: Supporting Documents for

Candidates

PACT Resources for US

COE PACT Website – Resources Below Will Be Available Under Faculty Support Next Week:

http://coe.sdsu.edu/students/pact/• Acceptable Support for TE• PACT Support Tasks for US, CT and ST• Academic Language Appendixes by Subject• Subject Specific Variations• PACT US Spring 2012 PowerPoint

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Final Questions/Sharings

• Thanks and remember to email or call me with questions:

• [email protected]• 594-1152