College of Education and Human Services - Western Illinois University

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The University Teacher Education Committee at Western Illinois University believes that well prepared teacher candidates understand and can demonstrate knowledge of content (subject matter), knowledge of reaching, knowledge of learners, and knowledge of professional skills and dispositions. We further believe that teacher candidates must apply their knowledge, skills and dispositions in school settings. Such field and clinical experiences must provide opportunities for the candidates to enhance their professionalism through personal reflection and collegial interaction.

The mission of Western Illinois University’s Teacher Education Program is to prepare versatile teachers who appreciate the importance of our diverse population; who adapt to emerging social, economic, and demographic patterns; and who are skilled in the use of technological tools to promote teaching and learning in our nation’s schools.

Assessments of knowledge of content, knowledge of teaching skills, and ability to perform should be used to develop program review and to assess student learning. Candidates must learn to be reflective thinkers and faculty must assist candidates in the development of their learning to be reflective thinkers.

Western Illinois University’s Teacher Education Program has an assessment system which supports our beliefs and framework:

I. The competent WIU teacher candidate understands his or her subject matter, including the expectations for students as described in the appropriate Illinois Learning Standards, and how to make this content meaningful to students.

Knowledge of Content: Teacher candidates have in-depth knowledge of what they plan to teach and can demonstrate that knowledge. Candidates in other professional school roles know and can demonstrate the central concepts, tools of inquiry and structures of their fields.

1. Illinois Content Standards for Educators: Teacher candidates understand these standards outline the knowledge that teachers must acquire for each particular subject area as well as the skills needed to deliver instruction that results in standards meeting or exceeding the Illinois Learning Standards.
2. Technology, Language Arts, and Special Education Standards for Regular Educators: Teacher candidates, regardless of certification type or discipline, need to demonstrate the knowledge and skills identified in the Technology, Language Arts, and Special Education Standards for Regular Educators. These standards specify expectations in the use of learning technology tools, resources, processes, and when working with students who have been identified as having special learning needs.
3. Illinois Learning Standards: Teacher candidates understand that these standards reflect what Illinois citizens generally agree upon as constituting a core of student learning and that as teachers they must acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to enable their students to achieve the Illinois Learning Standards.
4. Content Expectations for Future Teachers: Candidates must demonstrate that they can meet the basic content knowledge expectations of their major department, the Teacher Education Program, and Western Illinois University.

II. The competent WIU teacher candidate understands how to plan for instruction, create positive learning environments, implement appropriate technological tools, and use varied approaches for assessing student learning.

Knowledge of Teaching: Teacher candidates reflect a thorough understanding of pedagogical content knowledge delineated in professional, state, and instructional standards. They have in-depth understanding of the subject matter that they plan to teach and provide multiple instructional strategies so that all students learn.

1. Instructional Planning: Teacher candidates understand instructional planning and designs instruction based upon knowledge of the discipline, students and the community and curriculum goals.
2. Learning Environment Design: Teacher candidates use an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
3. Technology Integration: Teacher candidates are able to appropriately and effectively integrate technology and information literacy in instruction to support student learning.
4. Student Assessment: Teacher candidates understand various formal and informal assessment strategies and use them to support the continuous development of all students. The competent WIU teacher candidate understands the growth and development of students, how students learn, and how to promote learning for individual students and a diverse student population.

III. The competent WIU teacher candidate understands the growth and development of students, how students learn, and how to promote learning for individual students and a diverse student population.

Knowledge of Learners: Teacher candidates can design instruction that meets learners’ current needs in the cognitive, social, emotional, ethical, and physical domains at the appropriate level of development.

1. Human Development: Teacher candidates understand how individuals grow and develop and can provide learning opportunities that support the intellectual, social and personal development of children.
2. Learning Theory: Teacher candidates utilize their knowledge of how humans learn to provide instruction that is meaningful to students at varying levels of development and to students with diverse learning needs.
3. Learning in Practice: Teacher candidates know how students learn and how to make ideas accessible to them. They consider school, family, and community contexts in connecting concepts to student’s prior experience, and applying the ideas to real-world problems.
4. Student Diversity: Teacher candidates develop and demonstrate proficiencies that support learning by all students as show in their work with students with exceptionalities and those from diverse ethnic, racial, gender, and socioeconomic groups in classrooms and schools.

IV. The competent WIU teacher candidate understands the importance of professional behavior, collaboration with others, and continuous professional growth as outlined in the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards.

Knowledge of Professional Skills and Dispositions: Teacher candidates are prepared to be reflective practitioners who continually develop their content knowledge and teaching skills and evaluate how their actions affect their students, their school and their community.

1. Illinois Professional Teaching Standards: Teacher candidates understand that these eleven standards describe what Illinois teachers should know and be able to do to fulfill their various responsibilities and that these standards provide a common reference point for determining whether teachers are meeting their professional expectations.
2. Professional Conduct and Leadership: Teacher candidate’s interactions with students, families, and communities reflect the dispositions expected of professional educators as delineated in professional, state, and institutional standards.
3. Collaborative Relationships: Teacher candidates understand the role of the community in education and develop and maintain collaborative relationships with colleagues, parents/guardians, and the community to support student learning and well-being.
4. Professional Growth: Teacher candidates are prepared to actively participate in such areas as academic course work, curriculum development, staff development, and professional organizations and understand that as educators they must recognize and respond to their ongoing professional obligations (adapted from ISBE).

V. The competent WIU teacher candidate understands how to apply his or her knowledge of subject matter, learners, and teaching during field and clinical experiences how to reflect upon those experiences to improve teaching performance.

Application and Reflection: Teacher candidates critique and reflect on their performance during field experiences and especially their efforts to promote student learning.

1. Course Work Integration: Teacher candidates create approaches to learning that are interdisciplinary and that integrate multiple content areas.
2. Instructional Delivery: Teacher candidates understand and use a variety of instructional strategies to encourage students’ development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.
3. Communication: Teacher candidates use knowledge of effective written, verbal, nonverbal, and visual communication techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration and supportive interaction in the classroom.
4. Reflect on Field and Clinical Experiences: Teacher candidates apply and reflect on their content, professional, and pedagogical knowledge, skills, and dispositions in a variety of field settings with students and adults.

Some departments require a portfolio as a means of assessment for meeting the professional teaching standards. Check with individual departments for requirements.

Center for the Preparation
of Education Professionals

WESTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
TEACHER EDUCATION FRAMEWORK

Center for the Preparation of Education Professionals

WESTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY TEACHER EDUCATION FRAMEWORK

Center for the Preparation
of Education Professionals

WESTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
TEACHER EDUCATION FRAMEWORK