What Counts as a Good Job in Teaching?: Becoming a Teacher as We Race to the Top

Teacher evaluation in the U.S. is in flux as states increase and intensify their attention to it to qualify for Race to the Top Funds, and as accountability for teacher quality becomes more focused. This book describes a successful approach to preservice teacher education that is designed to help prospective teachers develop the habits of mind for teaching for deeper understanding even as their lived experiences as novice teachers conspire to encourage them to study for the test of the next day’s evaluation rubric.

Table of Contents:
Prelude:The Current State of U. S. Teacher Evaluation Situating Preservice Teacher Education in the Chaos Part I:The Undergraduate Pre-Internship Minor Colleen P. Gilrane Chapter 1:Overview The Spring Block: Practicum and Teaching Methods Planning the New and Improved Spring Block Getting Feedback and Fine-Tuning Did the Four Essential Questions Fit the Rubrics? Course Design Implementing the Plan Course Organization Models of Effective Teaching (2 weeks) Who Are My Students? What Do I Want Them to Learn? (2 weeks) Assessment: What Would Count as a Good Job? (2 weeks) What Resources Are Available to Me? How Do I Organize Them to Support Learning? (3 weeks) Designing Your Learning Plans (5 weeks of Workshop Time) Final Evaluation Conferences Chapter 2:Question #1: Who Are My Students? Who Are My Students: Candidates as Colleen's Kids What Do My Candidates Care About? What Kinds of Help Do My Candidates Need? Classroom/Course Structures Specific Strategies Responses My Candidates Need From Me How Do My Candidates Want/Need to Assessed? To Be Taught? Who Are My Students: Candidates Watching Their Kids Addressing Diversity in our Friday Classes Conferences Addressing Diversity During Workshop Time Class Session Addressing Diversity as a Stand-Alone Topic Who Are My Students: What Did Candidates Learn? List of Readings Used for Diversity Class Session Chapter 3:Question #2: What Do I Want Them to Learn? Specific Supports for Thinking About Content Class Session Addressing Content as a Stand-Alone Topic The Understanding by Design Framework What Do I Want Them to Learn: What Did Candidates Learn? Connecting Students to Content The Process of Identifying Content Worth Learning The Importance of Depth Over Coverage Chapter 4:Question #3: What Would Count as Evidence of Learning? Learning About Assessment by Being Assessed Formative Assessment of My Candidates Summative Assessment of My Candidates Grades for the Friday portion of 422 Friday Class Sessions Devoted to Assessment as a Stand-Alone Topic Performance Assessment Formative Assessment Designing Assessments for Learning Plans What Would Count As Evidence: What Did Candidates Learn? Assessment Beyond Worksheets and Tests Bringing a Critical Lens to Current Practice Bringing Student Experiences to Bear on Designing Assessments as Teachers Chapter 5:Question #4: How Do I Get There? Selecting Instructional Materials Selecting Personnel Resources and Instructional Strategies Making Decisions About Time, Space, Environment, and Pulling It All Together How Do I Get There: What Did Candidates Learn? Expanded Awareness of Resources Time as a Resource Personnel as Resources Interlude: Voices of Candidates Chapter 6:Hannah's Reflection Hannah Louderback Transitioning to Internship First Year Teaching After Internship Teaching Science: Erosion Unit Teaching Math: Problems with Missing or Extra Information Final Reflections Chapter 7:Jessica's Reflection Jessica Covington "Understanding" Across Differing Teaching Contexts Using Knowledge of Students to Set Goals and Evaluate Learning Setting Learning Goals Evaluating Learning What Worked for Me: The W.H.E.R.E.T.O. Strategy Where Hook Equip Rethink and Revise self-Evaluation Tailor Organize Final Reflections Part II:The Graduate Internship Year Kristin T. Rearden Chapter 8:Getting Started: Orienting and Building Relationships Preparing for the Field Experience: Setting up the Seminar Class Physical Design of the Seminar Classroom The Opening Class Session Preparing to Enter the Schools: First Impressions The Field Experience The Spectrum of Classroom Environments Focal Point One: School Culture Focal Point Two: The Classroom Environment Focal Point Three: The Planning Process Focal Point Four: Instructional Strategies Focal Point Five: Assessment Final Reflections Chapter 9:Fall Semester: Overlaying Good Teaching with TEAM Rubrics Initial Weeks of the Internship Physical Space Considerations Establishing a Presence Assuming Responsibility for Planning, Teaching and Assessing Developing Planning Skills Lesson Plans: Novice and Veteran Approaches Questions: At the Heart of Learning to Plan Preparing for Formal Evaluations The “Dry Run” Evaluation The Lesson Plan: Intended Versus Implemented Areas to Improve and Areas of Strength Assessment Data Analyzing the Lesson with Evaluation Rubrics The Initial Evaluation for State Licensure Chapter 10: Spring Semester: Overlaying Good Teaching with edTPA Rubrics Growing into their Roles as Teachers Leading, Not Soloing Viewing Themselves as Teachers Recognizing Beliefs About the Importance of Education Theory into Practice: Action Research and Problem-Based Research Review Blending the edTPA into Our Teacher Preparation Program Supporting the Interns During the edTPA Process Changes to the Program Evidence of Success Coda:The Importance of an Inquiry-Based Approach How Did Candidates Respond? TEAM Results edTPA Results Task 1 Planning Task 2 Instruction Task 3 Assessment edTPA Total Score and Cutoff Candidates' Reflections Discussion

About the Author :
Colleen P. Gilrane is a faculty member in the Theory and Practice in Teacher Education Department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She works with preservice and inservice teachers as well as advanced graduate students in literacy and in elementary education, and serves as Chair of the Institutional Review Board. Her teaching and research interests focus on working with teachers to create communities in which all learners have access to literacy that is rich, powerful, and joyful. Kristin T. Rearden is a clinical associate professor at the University of Tennessee, where she has focused on pre-service teacher preparation and elementary science education for over fifteen years. She received the University of Tennessee Alumni Association’s Outstanding Teacher Award in 2010 and was the Tennessee Science Teacher Association’s Science Educator of the Year for Higher Education in 2012. Hannah Louderbackgraduated from the University of Tennessee with a BS in Psychology and an MS in Elementary Education. During her graduate studies, Hannah completed her internship in a 2nd grade classroom and did research on the use of technology by students to self-assess their reading expression. After completing her degrees, Hannah was hired to teach 4th grade at a multicultural, Title I school in east Tennessee. This teaching experience enabled her to learn how to teach in a cooperative, one-to-one technology and arts integrated environment. After teaching 4th grade, Hannah was hired by the University of Tennessee at the Early Learning Center for Research and Practice. She is the lead kindergarten teacher, while also conducting research and mentoring undergraduate teacher candidates. Jessica Covington has completed a baccalaureate and master's degree at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She is licensed to teach Modified and Comprehensive Special Education grades K-12 and Elementary Education grades K-6. In her internship year she gained experience teaching in a Comprehensive Development Classroom for grade K-5, a 4th grade class, and a high school Resource class teaching English and World History. While completing her internship, she researched technology-based writing intervention for students with Intellectual Disability. She has been hired to teach in a Comprehensive Development Classroom-Activity Based and is looking forward to helping her students develop the skills necessary to achieve their goals.

Review :
Rising above the current discord and relentless cacophony associated with teacher evaluation nationwide, the authors of this text detail the elementary education teacher preparation program at one Tennessee university. Faculty at this university have orchestrated a program aligned with the state teacher evaluation system highlighting the significance of deep understanding, significant documentation, and insightful articulation. This text features the voices of teacher educators, teacher candidates, and classroom teachers contributing to the harmonious composition supporting the sustainability of professionals throughout their life-long careers. If you are interested in the preparation of effective elementary school teachers then this new volume by Gilrane and Reardon should be on your reading list. They offer an interesting and entertaining account of teacher education enhanced by a wide range of reflections by the University of Tennessee teacher education candidates. Practical while scholarly, this book documents the complexity of teacher education as well as the joy creating effective teachers. What Counts is an important book for teacher educators. As the field struggles with how to evaluate teachers and teacher candidates, this book focuses on preparing teachers for any evaluation system. It is about preparing teachers to plan and teach for deep understanding, and there is nothing more important than that.