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MISSION

The City College School of Education prepares knowledgeable, reflective and caring educators who are qualified and committed to teaching and leading in diverse communities.

THEMES

A. DEVELOPING IN-DEPTH KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE WORLD

We seek to support our candidates to develop the content knowledge and skills that are needed to help all students learn. Our goal is to nurture candidates’ abilities and dispositions to realize their potentials and become life-long learners.

PROFICIENCIES

1.1.      Utilize content knowledge to organize, plan and implement lessons.

1.2.      Utilize knowledge of the developmental characteristics of the age group to organize, plan and implement lessons.

1.3.      Plan lessons that are aligned with the NYS learning standards.

1.4.      Utilize a variety of teaching methods that encourage students’ development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.

1.5.      Challenge students to develop skills that will advance their level of understanding (Belief that all students can learn).

1.6.      Demonstrate a desire to deepen own knowledge of subject content, curriculum and how children learn.

1.7.      Engage in conversations about technology and digital citizenship.

1.8      Use digital and computational literacies to explore concepts, present ideas, and invite critical thinking about technology.

B. BECOMING SKILLFUL, REFLECTIVE PRACTITIONERS

We aim for our candidates to demonstrate pedagogical excellence by fostering a practice that includes: a deep knowledge of human learning and development, the ability to support learners who can actively inquire and construct understandings about the world, the ability to recognize and respond to all learners, skills in using technology appropriately, a broad range of instructional and assessment strategies that are effective with all learners, competence in applying theory and knowledge to practice in real-world situations.

PROFICIENCIES

2.1.      Demonstrate strategies that create a positive learning environment. (Treat all students with fairness)

2.2.      Utilize multiple forms of assessment to evaluate instruction.  (Treat all students with fairness)

2.3.      Assess and analyze student learning outcomes and make appropriate adjustments to instruction (Belief that all students can learn).

2.4.      Utilize school based expectations for students in order to plan short and long-range goals.

2.5.    Reflect on teaching practice and suggestions of cooperating teacher and/or college supervisor to inform subsequent lesson planning and instruction.

2.6.      Use instruction with digital practices and tools that provide multiple means of engagement, representation, action, and expression.

2.7.      Reflect, analyze, and critique technology tools for use in schools, classrooms, and instruction.

2.8.     Establish goals for professional growth and engage in self-assessment and ongoing reflection of practice including through the use of digital tools such as blogs, video analysis, and online teaching portfolios.

2.9.    Promote mindsets that support curiosity, risk-taking, and troubleshooting.

C. EDUCATING FOR AND ABOUT DIVERSITY

We embrace diversity as a resource that enables the faculty to build on the varied strengths of all learners. We continuously work to promote understanding by being responsive to the needs and perspectives of those from diverse sociocultural backgrounds.  We focus special attention on how issues of diversity can best be used to support student learning and positively impact schools in urban settings.

PROFICIENCIES

3.1.  Provide for individual and/or group needs in the classroom. (Belief that all students can learn and treat all students with fairness).

3.2.  Demonstrate attempts to learn more about the students’ culture and/or language backgrounds. (Treat all students with fairness).

3.3. Locate, evaluate, curate, and modify materials (including technologies, digital tools and texts, and multimedia), to differentiate instruction and accommodate all learners, including culturally and linguistically diverse learners of varying abilities and experiences.

3.4. Critically analyze biases in educational policies and their impact, including policies about technology.

D. NURTURING LEADERSHIP FOR LEARNING

Our goal is to develop the capabilities of candidates to assume leadership roles in their classrooms, schools, and communities. We seek to nurture educators who are critical-thinkers, can articulate their understandings to others, and become active agents for improvement and change.

PROFICIENCIES

4.1. Foster relationships with colleagues and members of the school community to support students’ learning and well-being.

4.2. Demonstrate a willingness to improve in areas that needed strengthening.

4.3. Collaborate on projects, including computing and digital projects, that lead to meaningful relationships both among peers and between children, adults, and the community.

4.4. Advocate for students by using media and computing as a tool for voice, participation, and social change.

E. BUILDING CARING COMMUNITIES

We seek to enable candidates to create democratic communities in their classrooms and schools and to model caring, committed, and ethical practice.

PROFICIENCIES

5.1. Demonstrate the ability to develop a democratic, respectful classroom by modeling caring, committed and ethical practices (Treat all students with fairness).

5.2. Utilize a variety of positive and developmentally appropriate classroom management techniques.

5.3. Demonstrate professional dispositions that are expected of all candidates.

5.4. Practice a range of strategies, including using digital tools, for communicating and collaborating with local and global communities.

5.5. Use multiple data sources to facilitate qualitative and quantitative analysis to engage students, families and Communities

DISPOSITIONS

In order to realize the five themes of the conceptual framework we seek to instill in our candidates the following dispositions:

1. All students can learn.
2. All students should be treated fairly.
3. The classroom should be a caring and nurturing environment.
4. An educator’s personal and professional standards should reflect the ethics and values of the teaching profession.
5. Reflective practice is essential for effective teaching and learning.
6. Individual and cultural differences should be respected.