Conceptual+Framework

[[|Link to Original File]] **Overview** Peabody Teacher Education Programs prepare graduates to design, plan, implement, and refine instruction based on continuous investigation and analysis of student thinking and skill development. The Student Teaching Seminar and other professional education courses are designed to help teacher candidates develop a strong foundation in four distinct, but inter-related areas that are central to the Peabody Teacher Education Program:
 * Peabody** **Conceptual Framework**

1) //Subject matter knowledge for teaching// – including both deep understanding of the content areas to be taught (core conceptual structures, flexibly organized factual knowledge, forms of reasoning) and how this content can be made accessible to students.

2) //Understandings of learners and learning// – recognition of the ways in which learners’ academic, behavioral, cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic histories and repertoires inform learning and so also teaching;

3) //Conceptions of the practice and profession of teaching// – how teachers construe their roles and relationships within their classrooms, schools, communities and the profession;

4) //Initial repertoire in curriculum, instruction, management, and assessment// – the understanding of and ability to use appropriately a well-chosen set of tools and techniques, as well as to transform materials (e.g., given by the school or district) to support student learning.

In the diagram, we represent our approach to teacher preparation. Key dimensions of the four core areas are outlined below.

· Candidates understand the content domains as dynamic fields of study, and possess a solid command of subject matter (including major concepts, assumptions, debates, and processes of inquiry) in the disciplines they plan to teach. They make connections across subject areas and identify opportunities for interdisciplinary study. · Candidates demonstrate the ability to design and organize given subject matter in order to make disciplinary content accessible to students. They recognize landmarks in the development of understanding of core ideas/concepts – as reflected in students’ explanations, errors, etc. – and how these landmarks relate to trajectories of development.
 * Subject Matter Knowledge for Teaching**

· Candidates understand learning as a process of participation that shapes and is shaped by persons, content, and contexts. They seek to identify and learn about students’ linguistic, social, behavioral, cognitive and cultural histories and repertoires – integrating them as resources for teaching and learning, and thus providing each student access to learning. Specifically, candidates plan for learners’ unique strengths, resources, goals and motivations, connecting to the experiences of students and their families.
 * Understanding Learners and Learning**

· Candidates demonstrate the ability to enter into the learner’s thinking/reasoning as reflected in learner’s talk and work, and to use these insights to inform planning and instruction. They envision developmental learning trajectories, and plan learning experiences that support students’ progress along these trajectories. They understand and draw appropriately on learning theory to support their investigations and analyses of student learning and planning for instruction.

· Candidates understand that teachers support and constrain learning through the conditions and opportunities they make available to students, and that students are active agents who also shape the learning process.
 * Developing Conceptions of the Practice and Profession of Teaching**

· Candidates recognize that teaching and learning are nested within a broader educational system that includes school and district organizations, families, local communities and government.

· As they work to support children's learning and welfare, candidates understand their roles and influence in different contexts. They develop respectful and collaborative relationships with students, colleagues, parents, and members of the broader community, and act to uphold professional norms of responsibility, advocacy, and confidentiality.

· Candidates understand that learning to teach is a career-long endeavor. Ongoing critical analysis and revision of one’s practice, and pursuit of other opportunities for learning and renewal, are central to one's role as “teacher.”

· Candidates can use a carefully chosen set of research-based instructional strategies, curriculum materials, and classroom management techniques to support their work with all students. In planning, candidates select curricular and instructional tools on the basis of their deeper function in supporting learning – matching tools and approach to a variety of learning goals and needs.
 * Developing an Initial Repertoire in Curriculum, Instruction, Management, and Assessment**

· Candidates can use assessment techniques (formal and informal) to collect data on student progress and can interpret these data to inform goal-setting, planning and instruction for all students.

· Candidates demonstrate the abilities both to modify existing materials to support students’ learning of subject matter and to develop new materials. Candidates possess skills to create modifications and accommodations for students who require them.

· Candidates can plan simultaneously for instruction, management and assessment to create an optimal learning environment for all students.