Majors in the English Education Track will demonstrate competence in the areas outlined in the Guidelines for the Preparation of Teachers of English Language Arts, 1996 Edition, as developed by the National Council of Teachers of English. In particular, they will demonstrate competence in the areas of diversity, attitudes and practices, opportunities, and fieldwork experiences. They therefore will be regarded as preservice teachers (PSTs). The pedagogical goals include the following:
Preservice teachers (PSTs) will-
6.1 Value languages native to students and their families;
6.2 Recognize and value the diversity of students;
6.3 Promote communication among cultures to foster mutual understanding;
6.4 Draw upon the diversity of students to enrich and enhance their academic achievement;
6.5 Enable students to construct meaning from multiple sources; and
6.6 Encourage the development of students' multiple ways of knowing and understanding.
The program provides preservice teachers (PSTs) with pedagogical knowledge and skill so that they will-
7.1 Understand and be skillful in planning and implementing instruction that recognizes students' interests, abilities, and modes of learning;
7.2 Understand and be skillful in employing authentic ways of assessing students' learning;
7.3 Understand that there are multiple positions or orientations for teaching English language arts and that many of these are valid in certain contexts and in relation to students' needs and backgrounds;
7.4 Know and understand that the various rapidly developing uses of media and technology are becoming integral to teaching practice;
7.5 Acquire familiarity with a considerable body of literature suitable for adolescents of varying abilities, cultures, and backgrounds, and with a variety of ways for responding to this literature; and
7.6 Demonstrate the ability to analyze student writing and to communicate to students both the specific strengths and weaknesses of their writing and to suggest strategies that will help the students' writing improve.
The program provides preservice teachers (PSTs) with opportunities to-
8.1 Develop teaching/learning processes through experiences with a wide range of verbal, visual, technological, and creative media;
8.2 Expand themselves as literate individuals who use their critical, intellectual, and aesthetic abilities to participate in a democratic society;
8.3 Experience a wide range of literature consistent with their own and their students' motivations, interests, and intellects;
8.4 Experience and consider the uses of multiple means of assessment;
8.5 Develop the sense of a professional community and a desire for professional growth that comes with being an English teacher; and
8.6 Reflect on their own and others' instruction as a means for self-improvement and self-understanding.
Preservice teachers (PSTs) will-
9.1 Participate in model classrooms that function as communities of learners and users of language;
9.2 Prior to student teaching or internships, observe and participate in language arts classroom with certified, experienced teachers; and
9.3 During student teaching or internships, spend at least ten weeks in an English language arts classroom teaching groups of students, mentored by a certified, experienced teacher and a university/college supervisor.
