COURSE OBJECTIVES:

The Master's Project is a one-credit seminar that works to directly support the student teaching experience. Students will meet for seven special-date sessions to address pragmatic concerns such as preparing for the job search and infusing technology into the classroom. Grading for the Masters Project is Pass/Fail.

COHORTS (ASSIGNED BY SUPERVISED TEACHING SEMINAR):

Cohort 1: Iasevoli and Shaw
Cohort 2: Lewis and Pettus
Cohort 3: Lewis

SHARED TEXT:

Sternberg, Robert & Grigorenko, Elena. Teaching for Successful Intelligence

SESSION OVERVIEWS:

DEMONSTRATION LESSON PREPARATION
COHORT 1, 2, 3 February 3, 7-9pm, 179 Grace Dodge Hall
Demonstration Lesson Preparation

Teaching a demonstration lesson is the final part of the interview process at many schools. The focus of this workshop is to prepare Masters candidates to craft and teach these lessons effectively. Topics to be covered will include researching the context of the school/classroom in which the lesson will be taught, classroom management in demonstration lessons, and follow-up interview/debriefing of lessons.

March 10, 7-9pm, 179 Grace Dodge Hall
Weaving Practice into Articulated Principles

In this workshop, students will practice how to articulate principles that are evidenced in the artifacts of classroom teaching. Each participant needs to bring three copies of a completed demonstration lesson which will be workshopped in small groups and also serve as a segue into the interview process.

April 7, 7-9pm, 179 Grace Dodge Hall
Interview Preparation: Mock Interviews and the Portfolio as an Interview Tool

This workshop will focus on two main components of the interview process for those seeking jobs in secondary English: types of questions commonly asked in a job interview, and the use of the professional portfolio to help a candidate effectively represent his or her principles and pedagogy. Students will engage in mock interviews. NYC public school assistant principals will co-facilitate the session.

April 21 (extended session), 5-9, 179 Grace Dodge Hall
New Teacher Panel

The event will include both presentation and question and answer session by a panel of ten TC English Education alumni that are wrapping up their first year of teaching. The topic of the panel is first year reflections, with teachers addressing pragmatic English teacher issues such as job search, school politics and managing the paper load.

Infusion of Technology in the Language Arts Classroom
234 Horace Mann

These sessions will introduce the students to the possibilities of integrating technology into their pedagogy. Students will create their own webpages, using their TC accounts. The purpose of these webpages will be for the students to publish their own scholarship and to begin developing teaching webpages for their students. In addition we will explore what other teachers have done and how to mine the Internet for resources to augment their own lessons and to assist their students in their own scholarship.

Students will be assigned a cohort and attend three sessions on the following sessions:

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."
Buckminster Fuller

E-Portfolio, Computer Lab - 234 Horace Mann

We will be working with your previous work at TC.

Please bring a laptop with your work on it, if you have one, to the first meeting.

If no laptop, please bring your work on a disk.

January 20, 7-9pm - Cohort 1
January 27, 7-9pm - Cohort 2
February 10, 7-9pm - Cohort 3
Peace Corps

CyberEnglish I, Computer Lab - 234 Horace Mann
Some Inspiration

"Acquire new knowledge whilst thinking over the old, and you may become a teacher of others."
Confucius, (BC 551-479, Chinese ethical teacher, philosopher)

February 17, 7-9pm - Cohort 1
March 3, 7-9pm - Cohort 2

Tutorials
All are welcome. Email me that you will be coming. Bring your own laptop, if you can.
Computer Lab - 234 Horace Mann
March 24 7-9pm
March 31, 7-9pm
May 5, 7-9pm

The College will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented disabilities. Students are encouraged to contact the Office of Access and Services for Individuals with Disabilities for information about registration (166 Thorndike Hall). Services are available only to students who are registered and submit appropriate documentation. As your instructor, I am happy to discuss specific needs with you.

Standards:

In Masters Seminar in the Teaching of English, we will work to address the following NCATE Standards through individual and collaborative exploration:

St1: Inquirers and Reflective Practitioners (K1.1; S1.1)
St2: Lifelong Learners (K2.2)
St3: Learner-centered Educators/Professionals (K3.3; S3.2; S3.4; D3.1)
St5: Advocates for Social Justice (K5.1; D5.1)

Grade of Incomplete (Effective as of Autumn Term, 2004):

The grade of Incomplete will be assigned when the course attendance requirement has been met but, for reasons satisfactory to the instructor, the granting of a final grade has been postponed because certain course assignments are outstanding. If the outstanding assignments are completed within one calendar year from the date of the close of term in which the grade of Incomplete was received and a final grade submitted, the final grade will be recorded on the permanent transcript, replacing the grade of Incomplete, with a transcript notation indicating the date that the grade of Incomplete was replaced by a final grade.

If the outstanding work is not completed within one calendar year from the date of the close of term in which the grade of Incomplete was received, the grade will remain as a permanent Incomplete on the transcript. In such instances, if the course is a required course or part of an approved program of study, students will be required to re-enroll in the course including repayment of all tuition and fee charges for the new registration and satisfactorily complete all course requirements. If the required course is not offered in subsequent terms, the student should speak with the faculty advisor or Program Coordinator about their options for fulfilling the degree requirement. Doctoral students with six or more credits with grades of Incomplete included on their program of study will not be allowed to sit for the certification exam.