Improving The Professional Knowledge And Skills Of Teachers

Improving The Professional Knowledge
And Skills Of Teachers
The realization that teachers of young adolescents need specialized professional
preparation is not a recent phenomenon. For over seventy-five years, the
literature has included calls for these preparation programs. Unfortunately
however, significant numbers of teacher preparation institutions, state
departments of education, licensure agencies, and others have chosen to ignore
the need for these teachers and have promoted the widespread idea that when
qualifications for teaching young adolescents are considered, the response is
often "no specialized preparation needed."
As a result, many of today's middle level students are taught by teachers who are
not sufficiently prepared to be successful in the challenging and rewarding
responsibility of understanding and teaching young adolescents.

A complex set of reasons has caused and perpetuated the failure to recognize the
importance of specialized professional preparation for middle level teachers. It is
important to examine some of the barriers that have prevented full success in
implementing specialized middle level teacher preparation to help prevent the
same mistakes from reoccurring. Some of the major barriers are: (a) the negative
stereotyped image of young adolescents; (b) too few advocates at teacher
preparation institutions and state agencies; (c) desire for flexibility in assignment
of middle level teachers; (d) lack of knowledge of the public about appropriate
middle level schooling; and (e) the limited number of instructors in teacher
preparation programs who have the depth of knowledge and experience needed.
These and other barriers must be carefully considered in the movement to
establish strong middle level teacher preparation programs. The most destructive
barrier to specialized middle level teacher preparation, however, is the failure of
states to establish mandatory middle level teacher licensure.
A close relationship exists between the type of licensure available and the
number of teacher preparation institutions that offer special middle level teacher
preparation programs. Special mandatory middle level teacher licensure leads to
the development, implementation, and continuation of special middle level
teacher preparation programs. Therefore, a major reason specialized middle level
teacher preparation programs are not universally available in the nation lies in the
failure of many states to design and implement licensure regulations which
promote the specialized knowledge, dispositions, and performances needed to
successfully teach young adolescents. As well, many states with specialized
middle level licensure have plans with wide overlapping grade levels. The result of
such plans is that most prospective teachers select options with the widest range
of job possibilities instead of choosing to focus on specialized preparation for a
single developmental age group.
The following essential elements of middle level teacher preparation programs
are based on current trends in the field, best practice of middle level teacher
preparation, and the field's growing knowledge/research base. This discussion is
limited to those elements unique to middle level teacher preparation and does
not include other elements that are essential to all quality teacher preparation
programs (e.g., diversity, technology). While the elements include a variety of
traditional focuses (e.g., curriculum, instruction), they are set within a matrix of
current and future concerns.

The movement toward collaboration in teacher preparation with school-based
faculty is a relatively new phenomenon and is a movement against the historical
tide of separation of teacher preparation program from school sites. In the case of
middle school preparation, with their own short but unique history as both
schools and teacher preparation programs, middle schools preceded the
establishment of middle level teacher education programs. To further complicate
matters, often when middle school teacher education programs have developed,
they have often done so without developmentally responsive middle school sites
to use as clinical settings. For these and related reasons, to a large extent, middle
schools and middle school teacher preparation have developed on similar parallel
tracks, each fighting for recognition and legitimacy, but relatively uninvolved with
each other.
To reverse this pattern, collaborative partnerships which move in two
simultaneous directions are essential. First, the collaboration with middle school
faculty (school sitebased teacher educators) and university-based middle school
teacher educators should integrate both faculties in planning, implementation,
direct teaching, assessment, and continuing oversight of the program.
A second direction that partnerships should move in is the creation of site-based
delivery of middle level teacher preparation programs. To achieve high levels of
success, delivery of the program should move out of the university setting to the
school where the work of real middle level teachers and young adolescents is an
ongoing, daily event and where middle school interns have numerous
opportunities for authentic teaching performances with appropriate audiences.
To have the middle level teacher preparation program be totally university based
is to: (a) continue to have it be cutoff from the day-to-day realities of school life;
(b) avoid interactions between two cultures (university and school-based teacher
educators) that have much to offer each other; and, (c) move induction to after
graduation rather than having it be a part of the preparation program. To
collaborate on teacher preparation means to: (a) establish a dialogue and mutual
trust between two important elements of the profession (middle level schools
and teacher preparation programs); (b) initiate positive change that will influence
all participants; (c) improve the professional knowledge and skills of teachers
resulting in increased student reaming; (d) provide opportunities for conducting
joint research projects; (e) offer leadership opportunities for teachers, professors,
and administrators, and other stakeholders; and, (f) attract resources to the
school site. The movement toward professional development school initiatives

and school-university partnership programs which emphasize the performance of
critical teaching aspects with authentic audiences and settings is already
underway in some middle school teacher preparation programs.
Middle school teachers, at their most fundamental level, must be experts in the
development and needs of young adolescents. Prospective middle level teachers
attain this expertise through formal study of young adolescent development and
opportunities to work directly with young adolescent students and to apply this
knowledge, all the while reflecting upon the implications of developmental
realities. Without a solid grounding in knowledge and experience of young
adolescent development, the success of the individual middle school teacher and
middle schools as a whole is limited.
Interns should be afforded opportunities to study and observe individual aspects
of young adolescent development and then to integrate this knowledge into a
usable whole by working in authentic situations with individual young adolescents
who have these developmental characteristics in unique combinations. Emphasis
should be placed on the creation of a knowledge, skills, and dispositions in middle
school curriculum, instruction, assessment, student-teacher relationships, and
programs emphasized in performance based assessment.
As well, developmental realities of young adolescents should be set within a
matrix of social, cultural and societal contexts. Teachers should know about how
developmental realities play themselves out against a backdrop of race, ethnicity,
religion, gender, socioeconomic status, family, and community. The intended
outcome of this focus is the creation of developmentally responsive programs and
practices for young adolescents.
Just as young adolescents are different from young children and older
adolescents, middle schools are different from their counterparts at the
elementary and high school levels. This difference is much more than that of
appearance, however, and extends to the philosophical foundations of middle
level education and the organizational structure that grows from and supports
this philosophy. A thorough study of middle level philosophy and organization,
therefore, must be a primary element of the student's preparation program and
not merely a superficial exploration. Middle level teacher preparation programs
should be anchored within a context that supports and extends young adolescent
development. A study of middle level philosophy and organization provides just
such a mooring. A prospective middle level teacher's preparation program should

include opportunities concerning formal study of these essential elements as well
as opportunities to work in middle level schools that implement middle level
philosophy and support it with distinct developmentally responsive middle level
organizational structures.
Working in these kinds of schools affords prospective middle level teachers
valuable opportunities to experience school organizations that utilize: (a) teams,
(b) advisories, (c) exploratories, (d) textbooks, (e) intramurals, (f) flexible block
schedules, (g) heterogeneous grouping, and, (h) interdisciplinary and integrative
curriculum. The emphasis of formal study of middle level philosophy and
organization and site-based opportunities to work within these structures should
be placed upon a school organization for young adolescents where the creation of
a personalized environment that supports and extends their healthy development
is the goal.
The focus of the study of the middle level curriculum is the uniqueness of the
curriculum at this level. Rather than relying on subject matter or disciplinary
curriculum organization, the middle level curriculum should be organized around
and emphasize interdisciplinary and integrative approaches, approaches that also
incorporate young adolescent interests as starting points for curriculum planning.
Prospective middle level teachers should learn about middle level curriculum
through both formal study of curriculum and opportunities to work directly with
the curriculum in a variety of forms and formats. Students of curriculum should:
(a) study past and present theorists of middle school curriculum; (b) learn about
different curriculum designs, formats, and propositions; and, (c) examine a wide
variety of curriculum documents at various levels (national, state, district, school,
team, and classroom). Part of the intern's onsite experience should provide
opportunities, as members of interdisciplinary teams, to develop curriculum. They
need to understand the "big picture" view of middle level curriculum. This view
should include, but not be limited to: (a) the advisory curriculum; (b) the
exploratory curriculum; (c) curricula in the interns' teaching fields; and, (d) other
curriculum areas outside the interns' teaching fields. The program should also
place emphasis upon how different parts of the total school curriculum support
and extend young adolescent learning. To accomplish this, opportunities should
be included that place emphasis on the common core curriculum which provides,
at the middle school level, a general education for students.

It is important that prospective middle level teachers enter a curriculum
organization that emphasizes a general education which includes interdisciplinary
and integrative reaming. Therefore interns' content preparation should expand
beyond one field (discipline) to two or more teaching fields. As well, these fields
should be broad and integrative. The preparation in the multiple fields should
have a thorough academic underpinning of content, content pedagogy, and the
connections and interrelationships among the fields (disciplines) and other areas
of knowledge. Even while students are working in or studying a single field, they
should be on the constant lookout for interdisciplinary connections to utilize in
their teaching.
Interns should operationalize their learning by working in interdisciplinary teams
with students as they teach their subject (discipline) knowledge to young
adolescents. It is essential that they teach in their own disciplines as individual
subjects as well as create and teach interdisciplinary and integrative lessons and
units that incorporate their knowledge of broad fields.
While middle level teacher preparation programs are founded on the
developmental aspects of early adolescence, this foundational knowledge must
find its way into action. Planning, teaching, and assessment offer opportunities to
translate this developmental knowledge into practice. Opportunities, therefore,
should be offered in both systematic study and in practice in authentic settings.
Systematic study of planning, teaching and assessment should include the wide
range of developmentally appropriate instructional techniques and the research
that examines their most appropriate use. This element should also include short
and long-term planning techniques that middle level teachers employ in both
daily lessons and interdisciplinary units. As well, the range of assessment
techniques should be an essential focus-from traditional testing to alternative
assessments, portfolios, exhibitions, open-ended problems, and learning to
construct and apply each of these appropriately. Finally, the role of technology as
a form of planning, instruction, and assessment should be examined and
appropriate techniques developed.
Early and continuing field experiences provide the context for learning about
young adolescents, their appropriate instruction and assessment, and how
teachers and schools can further development and reaming. Early and continuing
field experiences provide a learning laboratory for interns for formal study and

application where education faculties (school site and university-based) can
teach, supervise, and advise.
Because collaborative partnerships are designed as induction programs, interns
should begin their school site work early in their college careers. With early
middle level immersion experiences, prospective middle level teachers and
teacher preparation personnel can make informed decisions about each other.
Early field work also provides a developmental sequence for the program, in this
case a developmental sequence based upon interns' development. This sequence
should follow a pattern of increasing complexity and involvement, culminating in
an extended internship experience where prospective middle level teachers are
functioning as site-based teachers responsible for groups of young adolescents.
By having a developmental sequence over an extended period of time,
prospective middle level teachers can move through various aspects of the
essential elements of programs in a three-part organization-introduction,
development, and maintenance. Another extremely valuable aspect of field work
is that it allows multiple mentors, coaches, and teachers to work with prospective
middle level teachers while reflecting and evaluating on their development with
these individuals.
One of the unique elements of middle level schools for teachers is the heavy
emphasis on collaboration. This emphasis is on the day-to-day aspects of teaching
with colleagues as well as external constituencies of families and community
members. This focus on collaboration should flow from the philosophy and
organization of the school where all of the school's resources are mobilized to
support young adolescents and their development. By collaborating with internal
and external audiences, teachers are not operating in isolation. This permits
insights and understandings about students to be shared with others and
therefore maximized.
A second element of the collaborative role is concerned with the multiple
audiences with which they must collaborate. These audiences include colleagues,
families, and communities to further the education of young adolescents.
A major focus of middle level teacher preparation programs should be providing
opportunities for interns to experience and reflect upon the knowledge that they
are not isolated individuals-either in schools, in working with families, or
functioning within communities. They should come to understand and appreciate

the fact that they exist within a complex web of relationships with responsibilities
and obligations, and yet with support and resources from others.
Mandatory middle level teacher licensure that does not overlap with the
elementary or senior high school grades (e.g., grades 5-8) is also strongly
supported because of the realization that quality middle level teacher preparation
programs are very unlikely to be established or maintained in states where no
middle license is required, or even available, to award those who successfully
complete professional preparation programs. Only when middle level licensure
becomes universally required will young adolescents be assured of having
teachers who have received the specialized preparation needed to be highly
successful.
Jeff C. Palmer is a teacher, success coach, trainer, Certified Master of Web
Copywriting and founder of https://Ebookschoice.com. Jeff is a prolific writer,
Senior Research Associate and Infopreneur having written many eBooks, articles
and special reports.
Source: https://ebookschoice.com/improving-the-professional-knowledge-andskills-of-teachers/