Transcript The Conceptual Model: Philosophical Background

The Conceptual Model:
Philosophical Background
Welch College
Teacher Education
2013
 The founding role was expanded to
include the development of programs
for other professionals with an
emphasis on a Christian worldview.
Essentialism
 Originally established as Free Will
Baptist Bible College, Welch College
is a denominational school whose
original purpose was to educate
ministers, missionaries, and related
Christian professionals.
 This mission was maintained when
the sponsoring denomination voted
to change the name to Welch College
in July 2012.
Essentialism
 Revised mission statement (2003):
The mission of Free Will Baptist
Bible College is to educate leaders
to serve Christ, His Church, and His
world through Biblical thought and
life.
 If Christians are to have an actual
influence in the world, those Christians
must be prepared to rise beyond safety,
security, and social needs and apply
themselves to facilitating the positive
development of others.
Essentialism
 The inclusion of any program into the
educational agenda of Welch College
follows a belief that dedicated and
committed service to others is a
foundational responsibility of any
Christian.
 Understanding the constraints demanded
by a denominational school along with the
missions of the denomination, the college,
Teacher Education, the state, and the
various accrediting bodies constant review
is required.
Essentialism
 Likewise, the college is committed to
developing a learning environment that
avoids temporal provincialism and
emphasizes the equal moral and ethical
duty of all, regardless of gender and race,
to world responsibility.
Essentialism
 Periodically, the Teacher Education
(and general) faculty, the Advisory
Committee (consisting of practicing
professionals), the Licensure
Committee, the college
Administration, the Board of
Trustees, and other groups of
education professionals and patrons
carefully review the objectives of
teacher preparation and the
influence which each of these groups
may have on procedure.
 The missions of the denomination,
the college, Teacher Education, the
state, and the various accrediting
bodies must achieve congruency.
Essentialism
 As a denominational school there are
a number of constraints, which
demand consideration in planning
and conduct.
 This philosophy is consistent with the
sponsoring denomination, the history
of the college, and that of the
current faculty and administration.
Essentialism
 The underlying philosophy, the basis
for the Conceptual Model, is
Essentialism.
Essentialism
The attached research
document, Essentialism:
Everything Old Is New Again by
Dr. Etta M. Crittenden, a current
member of the faculty at Welch
College, gives the background on
the development of Essentialism
and the influences it has had in
the field of education.
 Essentialism resulted from an attempt to
keep the influence on the content of
learning from the Traditionalist philosophy
and use the advances in education from
the Progressive Education philosophy.
 Extremist theorists and practitioners in both
groups had moved from the valuable
contributions of each.
 The traditionalists’ stronghold on the
liberal arts curriculum dated back to
Aristotle and Plato.
Essentialism
 The key components of the research are
these:
Essentialism
 The key components of the research are
these:
 Traditionalists in the late 19th and early
20th centuries were not acknowledging
that the American educational system
was in transition from being selective to
being a more universal one, thus
creating problems for those who held
this view of education.
 “The progressive tradition in American
education grew directly out of this
challenge of universal education in the
face of expanding democratic
opportunity” (Null, 2007).
 (1) dominant educational theories, such
as Progressivism, were ‘essentially
enfeebling,’ and
 (2) the relaxation of academic standards
in many school systems had led to the
policy of widespread ‘social promotion’
(Gutek, 1997)
Essentialism
 William Bagley identified two specific
causes of the United States’ educational
malaise:
 Bagley’s personal philosophy of teacher
education was to integrate subject-matter
disciplines, teaching techniques and to
maintain a focus on the question of
purpose (Milson, et. al., 2004).
Essentialism
 The Essentialism movement was an
attempt to salvage the important
components of Progressive education,
while at the same time putting an
emphasis on a unique philosophy of
professional education.
Essentialism
 Null (2007) states “…essentialism
integrates progressive and traditional
education in order to focus on the
moral, pedagogical challenge of
providing a liberal arts curriculum to
every child in the nation.”
 Essentialists believe that there is a
common core of knowledge that needs
to be transmitted to students in a
systematic, disciplined way. …The core
of the curriculum is essential knowledge
and skills and academic rigor
 Essentialists accept the idea that this
core curriculum may change.
 Schooling should be practical, preparing
students to become valuable members
of society
Essentialism
 Bagley proposed common curriculum
for all students during his day.
Essentialism
 It should focus on facts-the objective
reality out there--and "the basics,"
training students to read, write, speak,
and compute clearly and logically.
 Schools should not try to set or
influence policies.
 Students should be taught hard work,
respect for authority, and discipline
 This approach was in reaction to
progressivist approaches prevalent in the
1920s and 30s
Essentialism
 Today’s need for common core
standards is very similar to the same
needs Bagley identified in the early
20th century
 The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA)
of 2001 addressed ideas and
situations similar to what Bagley
faced almost a century earlier.
Essentialism
 Leadership from Secretary of
Education William Bennett in the
1980’s and works such as E. D.
Hirsch’s Core Knowledge Sequence
revisited the tenants of essentialism.
Essentialism
 All programs of study in Teacher Education at
Welch College are content-based.
 Not only was this mandated by state regulation
but it also fits in the philosophy of the
Department of Teacher Education.
 This content learning is basically supplied by
the faculty in the Department of Arts and
Science.
 These professional practitioners seek to
determine that the students have the
background information that they will be
charged to teach.
 They provide the essential material and
resources that the teachers will need to
prepare their students.
Essentialism
 The essential content can best be
presented to the students if
research-based practices are
followed. Management of the
teacher-education and learnerpreparation process begins with the
application of research-based
knowledge in the theoretical
classroom and practical context.
Essentialism
 Knowledge-base components are grouped as
general, specialty, and professional emphases.
 Each area complements the other as research
and learning in each adds its emphasis to an
overview of man's social, intellectual, physical,
historical, creative, and moral nature.
 These accent both theory and knowledge of
Christian philosophy of education and ethics,
teacher and developing competencies, school
organization and administration, learning,
learner characteristics and development,
cultural diversity, curriculum and instruction,
measurement and evaluation, special needs,
organization and management of the
classroom, and legal issues.
Essentialism
 Each professional core course contains some form
of research, reporting, and micro experience
implementation.
 Students are expected to review the various
journals, interview practitioners in the field,
become involved in professional teaching
modules, report in written form or in class, and
identify important strategies and implications
from these activities.
 Teachers, advisors, and other students act as
facilitators as students analyze the experiences
and synthesize personal assumptions, relate
these to the underlying knowledge base(s), and
plan for using the information in future
decision-making.
Essentialism
 Evaluation takes place through observation of the
activities just mentioned, through the assignment
of projects, position papers, research activities,
cooperative group endeavor, interviews, and
formal written assessment.
 In addition to these, the faculty reviews
student records of achievement from
transcripts and grade reports, PRAXIS II scores,
the Honors Matrix, conferences with graduates
and employers, ACT Comp results, acceptance
into and progress of graduate students in post
baccalaureate programs, and job placement.
 The school has a Director of
Institutional Research and
Effectiveness who maintains constant
review of all instructional programs
and delivery systems.
Essentialism
 Formal and informal assessments are
conducted periodically and include a
senior honors matrix that notes areas
of scholarship, leadership,
citizenship, and Christian service.
Essentialism
 Department of Teacher Education
has adopted The Interstate Teacher
Assessment and Support Consortium
(InTASC) as a means to insure the
teacher education graduates are
prepared to teach
Essentialism
 In their InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards: A
Resource for State Dialogue, The Council of Chief
State School Officers (CCSSO) gives this description:
 The Council of Chief State School Officers
(CCSSO), through its Interstate Teacher
Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC), is
pleased to offer this set of model core teaching
standards that outline what teachers should know
and be able to do to ensure every K-12 student
reaches the goal of being ready to enter college
or the workforce in today’s world. These
standards outline the common principles and
foundations of teaching practice that cut across
all subject areas and grade levels and that are
necessary to improve student achievement.
Essentialism
 More importantly, these Model Core Teaching
Standards articulate what effective teaching
and learning looks like in a transformed public
education system – one that empowers every
learner to take ownership of their learning,
that emphasizes the learning of content and
application of knowledge and skill to real world
problems, that values the differences each
learner brings to the learning experience, and
that leverages rapidly changing learning
environments by recognizing the possibilities
they bring to maximize learning and engage
learners. A transformed public education
system requires a new vision of teaching.
 On importance to note, these ten
standards include substandards, which
address what the teacher should know
(the content) as well as how the teacher
should perform and feel (the pedagogy).
 This supports the Essentialism
philosophical position.
Essentialism
 Teacher Education students are
introduced to these standards in the
first class, TE 200 Introduction to
Education and develop artifacts to
demonstrate their competences.
 This structure is both taught and
modeled by the college teacher.
Essentialism
 Importance is given to identifying the
ultimate competencies expected of
the Teacher Education graduate, to
evaluating the entrance level
development of the candidate, to
the process for achieving those
objectives, and to the continuous
evaluation of program, person,
practice, and process.
Essentialism
 To keep this emphasis current there
must be continuous evaluation both
during the process and at the
conclusion of the process.
 This is commonly referred to as inaction and on-action reflection.
 This is seen throughout the
development of the student’s
professional portfolio, which is
based on the InTASC standards.
 Since the teacher cannot possibly
plan for all events, he/she must have
some basis upon which to respond to
those that are so unique as to be
unanticipated
Essentialism
 Not only is the candidate a reflective
manager of learning but so is the
college teacher as he/she models
reflective behavior in a search for
the most appropriate teaching mode
for changing classes of students.
 The teacher can and should reflect onaction. As this occurs when the teacher
looks back over the teaching situation it can
be of a more objective nature.
 Much more theory from the research
knowledge base can be brought into the
appraisal process.
Essentialism
 Too much reflection-in-action may be
counter productive as it tends to stymie a
process, yet the teacher does have periods
for decision-making during the course of an
event and can evaluate events and make
mid-course corrections.
 In progress evaluation is critical but
depends on post event analysis and
planning.
 General education in the arts and
science, learning theory, guided
opportunities for practical application
of appropriate pedagogy, and
summative evaluation are all part of
the teaching education process.
Essentialism
 Teachers must be prepared, in advance,
to respond or at least to have a plan to
negotiate various constraints.
 They identify, model, and provide guided
practice in the use of models of
excellence.
 Primarily, the model adopted by Welch
College is reflective.
Essentialism
 The Teacher Education faculty members
have considerable experience as licensed
teachers in the regular classroom, special
education specialists, reading clinicians,
administrators, and special subject
supervisors.
 Student readiness, personal goals and
learning style of the student, skills and
experience of the teacher, materials and
support services available, and design of
the learning environment should also be
given careful consideration.
Essentialism
 The Reflective Teaching Approach focuses
on planning for teaching by setting
appropriate goals and developing plans
based on the knowledge to be acquired;
on class, course, and school/district goals;
and on the nature of the content area.
 He/she is given opportunity to work with these in
order to determine a process for problem solving,
involving identification of the problem,
suggestion for practical hypothesis development,
guidance in establishing a process for testing
his/her assumptions, data collection and
assessment, and development of a theory for
explaining the problem.
Essentialism
 . From a constructivist view, the student is
provided with foundational information and
guidance for practical involved-learning
experiences in partnership with the teacher and
fellow students where he/she can exchange ideas
and resolve constraints.
 It is developed in field experience
exercises under the supervision of the
cooperating teacher and the college-level
supervisor.
Essentialism
 The theme, The Teacher as a Reflective
Manager of Learning, is taught, illustrated
by faculty, and practiced by students in
the Teacher Education classroom at Welch
College.
 Content, process, and purpose are
identified in the syllabi, the Teacher
Education Handbook, and in selected
outside student-assigned reading, position
papers, and research.
Essentialism
 Courses that include field experiences also
include opportunity to reflect over these
experiences, identify the teaching
strategies that the student used and
observed, and plan for improvement.
CONCEPTUAL MODEL GRAPHIC
Biblically-based
Essential Knowledge
Service oriented
Teacher Preparation