Re-seeing and Reflecting on Teaching

(1 Credit Hour) · Undergraduate

One of the complicating factors in the formation of novice teachers has to do with the "apprenticeship of observation:" the fact that anyone who enters the teaching force has spent, as K-12 students, approximately 14,000 hours across 13 years watching teachers work. This 1-credit seminar, designed for prospective teachers and those interested in the practice of teaching, relies on community engagement, readings, focused observation of lessons from K-12 classrooms, reflection, and conversation with current K-12 teachers and school leaders to make visible the less apparent, and often quite complex, layers of teaching—like student engagement, learning, and classroom culture. By the end of the course, students will have developed a reflective framework that conditions them to know where and how to focus their professional development as they enter into more advanced education-related course and field work.