Teaching, Learning, and Schooling: Synthesis seminar papers – part 2Winter MIT 2010 -- Widening the Circle: Seeking Inclusive EducationQuestions, Products and RationaleWithin the maze of schools, textbooks, assessments, schedules, children and youth; basic questions like How do people learn? What is a teacher’s role in student learning? often get lost. Student learning is your central goal. Teaching in a way that supports student learning within the contexts of diverse communities and schooling is your task. This ongoing project is intended to help you figure this out. Throughout the first quarter you closely examined the nature of learning and what it implies aboutthe nature of effective teaching through the TLS paper. This quarter, you will combine your understanding of learning with that of the effects of schooling, class, identities, and individual abilities to determine effective approaches to teaching. You’ll develop and articulate your understanding through ongoing work on the 8-10 page TLS paper; a final 10 minute power-point presentation of your TLS paper; and the development of a 2-page philosophy of teaching. Over the next two quarters you will have opportunities to practice different kinds of academic writing and communication. As a teacher you will have opportunities to not just teach, but to also write grants, and give presentations for both colleagues and parents. Each of these contexts asks for different skills from you as a writer. Sometimes your communication will involve providingan elaborate critique and synthesis of academic materials as with the TLS paper and the Masters paper. Sometimes it will involve providing an equally well informed, but more condensed, presentation of the key ideas as with the power-point presentation and written statement of your teaching philosophy. Learning objectivesThis quarter, you’ll draw from the workshops and readings to continue to address the following expectations:- demonstrate a written understanding of learning theory and its application to teaching and education systems. (Standard 5.3)- demonstrate an integrative knowledge of learning theories. (Standard 5.3)- demonstrate the ability to produce a document using APA conventions.- demonstrate the ability to write a thesis-driven expository essay.In addition, you’ll use this paper as one of the ways to meet the expectations outlined in the history of education syllabus. The faculty will use the TLS paper, the history try-out teaching, the history assessments and the democracy project as tools for assessing the depth of your understanding of materials dealing with the history of education and the politics of identity.ProcessSeminar preparation (due Fridays)In preparation for seminar each week, you will continue to develop a visual map that helps to describe some issue/concept/argument presented by the text you read for that week. (See visualmap assignment & links to resources on visual maps on the handout link of our webpage). Part of this preparation will involve deciding which visual map will best help you to organize the author’s information and analyze the concepts. You will include a short paragraph that relates thesignificance of the author’s issue/concept/argument to your understanding of learning, teaching and/or schooling. You will also identify a provocative or puzzling passage from the text along with1-2 questions that the text provoked for you. Bring your maps to share with your colleagues to seminar every Friday. Hand in your maps to the faculty each week in seminar.Integrative Seminar papers (draft and final due to faculty week 4 and 8)Twice during the quarter, each of you will write and submit an 8-10 page paper that integrates the work we do in the program about schooling and diversity and relates that work to learning and teaching. We will assess how you are making sense of the seminar and history texts through this paper. The paper will also act as a building block to help you ultimately construct both your TLS PowerPoint Presentation and a succinct teaching philosophy.For both the draft and the final paper you should address the question: How do the author's I've read enhance my understanding of how to create and sustain making pedagogical choices that support a democratic and diverse classroom? The papers should show your understanding of the major concepts presented by the authors (from both quarters), and their application to your classroom and instructional decision-making.For the first peer review, you should boil down your analysis of the nature and process of learningto no more than three pages. Use your colleagues for the first peer review in week 3 (see below) to help you boil down last quarter’s paper into a succinct and well-informed explanation ofthe nature and process of learning. For the first draft that is due to the faculty in week 4, make sure that you draw from Dewey, Greene, Wilson & Corbett, Spring and Huerta to inform your thinking. Continue to build in the other program texts for the final draft and power point presentation.NOTE: 1. Keep refining and clarifying your understanding/writingYou have received considerable feedback from peers and faculty on the strengths of yourpaper and the areas that need refinement. If you need to clarify your explanations about the process of learning, keep working on this and checking in with your seminar leader. If your thesis and supporting argument need work, seek assistance at the Writing Center. We expect you to continue to refine your knowledge and explanations so that your TLS PowerPoint presentation is clear, accurate, and concise.2. Incorporate feedback from colleagues (due week 3 and week 6)For both drafts, organize a peer review with two of your colleagues before handing in this paper. Remember, as the author, you have control over how you incorporate your colleagues’ feedback. After reading your colleagues’ feedback, briefly summarize their suggestions. What recommendations and critiques did they make? How do you plan to incorporate their feedback? 3. What to submit As with last quarter’s work, revise the paper using that feedback. Be sure to hand in the draft along with the following documents: (i) draft, (ii) summary of colleague’s feedback with your plan for how to use it, (iii) self evaluation on rubric TLS PowerPoint Presentation (evaluation week)Your will give your TLS PowerPoint presentation during Evaluation Week. Everyone