PhD Program in Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education

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Curriculum, Instruction, & Teacher Education Ph. D.
Courses for Fall 2011

For a full listing of courses, see the university schedule of courses.

TE 919: Policy Analysis in Education
Wednesday, 4:10 to 7:00 pm, Berkey Hall, 108
Instructor Teresa Tatto

This course is specifically designed to help doctoral students interested in education at all levels acquire the skills and abilities that are required to design sound and responsive policy analysis. Accordingly this course will explore the conception, generation, and analysis of educational policies using as examples key education policies at the global level such as policies directed at early childhood education, curriculum reform, teacher education and the education of immigrant populations among others. The course will pay particular attention to the contexts of policy including the evolving conceptualization of global and local systems of governance. The course will also explore the uses, limitations, and ethics of policy analysis.

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TE 921:  Learning to Teach
Wednesday, 6:10-9:00 PM, Erickson Hall, 111
Instructor: Samantha Caughlan

Participants in this course will explore a variety of issues related to learning to teach across the career span. What do novices bring to the task? How do we (what do we?) learn from experience? What is involved in taking on the role of teacher?   How can learning to teach be supported at the beginning of the teaching career as well as sustained throughout one’s professional life?  In considering these questions in conversation and in writing, we consider teacher knowledge and various ideas about how it is acquired.  We look at the activity of researching teacher learning. We investigate  aspects of learning to teach and becoming teachers that infuse teachers' lives: identity, orientation, purpose. Finally, with this in mind, we consider the policy environment for teacher education at the state and national level: what assumptions about learning to teach are embedded in legislation and standards for teacher education?     

            Because this course is open to first year students, writing assignments are designed to engage students in analysis, in learning to write reviews, and in making meaningful connections across a range of sources.  More advanced students may negotiate requirements that fit their needs to investigate areas of interest in more depth.

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TE 931: Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods
Monday, 12:40 to 3:30 pm, Erickson Hall, 226
Instructor: Elizabeth Heilman

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TE 931: Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods
Thursday, 6:10 to 9:00 pm, Room TBD
Instructor: Jeff Bale

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TE 936 Topics in Research on Teaching and Learning Science: Assessment
Wednesday, 12:40-3:30 PM, Erickson Hall, 224
Instructor: Alicia Alonzo

This course is designed to provide a background in educational assessment for doctoral students in the Department of Teacher Education and in the NEW science education graduate certificate program. It addresses two areas of assessment that will be of particular relevance in careers involving teaching and educational research on teaching and learning.

Part 1: Formative Assessment

Formative assessment is one of the most powerful tools available for teachers. Yet ample evidence exists that typical practice does not adequately utilize formative assessment information to influence the teaching and learning process (e.g., Black & Wiliam, 1998). The first goal of this course is to support doctoral students in developing knowledge and skills required to use formative assessment in their future practice—teaching at the college/university level, working as teacher educators with prospective teachers, or working with K-12 teachers. We will explore characteristics of high quality formative assessments and ways in which these practices can be implemented, particularly at the college/university level. We will also consider ways to support K-12 teachers in utilizing formative assessment strategies.

Part 2: Assessment Tools for Research on Teaching and Learning

Much educational research involves the assessment of student learning—for example, as a measure of the success of educational interventions. However, assessments are often used without sufficient attention being paid to the quality of those assessments and the extent to which they match the purpose for which they are being used. Thus a second goal of this course is to prepare students to critique and evaluate assessments for use in research on teaching and learning. This part of the course is project-based. Students will select and analyze—both conceptually and empirically—an educational assessment that is relevant to their own focus.

Despite its affiliation with the science education program, this course is designed to be useful to doctoral students in all areas of education. Doctoral students in other curricular areas, as well as students interested in teaching and learning in higher education or teacher preparation are welcome in the course. Readings, discussions, and assignments will be tailored to meet the needs of enrolled students. 

 

*** This course is part of the NEW science education graduate certificate program. Doctoral students in the Colleges of Education, Natural Sciences, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Engineering are eligible for this certificate upon completion of three required courses (including this one) and a project.1

1 Science education doctoral students who have completed coursework in the previous sequence (TE955 and TE991A) may apply to have these credits apply towards the certificate coursework requirements.  

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TE 939: Special Topics in Advanced Qualitative Methodology: Discourse Analysis
Tuesday, 4:10 to 7:00 pm, Wells Hall, C210
Instructor: Samantha Caughlan

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TE 940:  Curriculum Deliberation and Development
Monday, 4:10-7:00 PM, Giltner Hall, 275
Instructor: Kyle Greenwalt

This course examines the nature of curriculum in its historical context, and debates about how it should best be determined. We will spend time examining early debates about curriculum deliberation, focusing in particular on the thought of John Dewey and his relationship to other contemporaries. From there, we will move to consider the next generation of thinkers, with particular attention to Ralph Tyler  and Joseph Schwab. Finally, we will spend considerable time examining the work of contemporary thinkers, including David Jardine, Elliot Eisner, Maxine Greene, Nel Noddings, and Philip Jackson. Several chapters from the Handbook of Research on Curriculum will also be assigned to provide overviews of the contemporary field. Assessments will focus around the continuing legacy of Deweyan-style progressivism in the face of current attempts at curriculum standardization, and the prospects for supporting curriculum deliberation in the current high-stakes environment.Questions about the course should be directed to Kyle Greenwalt, 328 Erickson Hall, greenwlt@msu.edu.

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TE 958: History of Literacy Research and Instruction
Tuesday, 9:10 to 12:00 pm, Olds Hall, 208
Instructor: Douglas Hartman

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TE 971 Teacher Learning in School Settings
Thursday, 4:10-7:00 PM, Bessey Hall 222
Instructor: Sandra Crespo

This course focuses on school-based learning by beginning and experienced teachers and on factors that support their continued professional growth. We begin by reviewing the literature on teaching expertise -- how it has been defined both by researchers and practitioners, in different parts of the world. We will use teacher evaluation criteria used for teacher selection and evaluation purposes (e.g., Presidential Awards, National Board Certification) to further unpack the meaning of teaching expertise. We will then explore how different images and metaphors of teaching expertise relate to different conceptions of and approaches to teacher learning within school settings. We then study the challenges and possibilities of school-based teacher learning by exploring stories of professional growth composed by teachers and researchers.

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TE 982 Humanities Oriented Research in Education
Tuesday, 12:40-3:30 PM, Bessey Hall, 313
Instructors: Lynn Fendler, Jeff Bale

In January of 2009, AERA adopted Standards for Reporting on Humanities-Oriented Research in AERA Publications, which formalized the professional classification of educational research into two distinct branches: empirical social science and humanities oriented. This course is designed to offer students a range of experiences in research traditions across history, philosophy, literary criticism, narrative inquiry, language, communication arts, ethics, religion, curriculum  theory, and cultural studies.  This course complements methodology courses in the social sciences by addressing questions of epistemology, theory, arts, values, and history of science.  Members of the class will be offered opportunities to pursue independently designed research projects geared toward publication in humanities-oriented journals.

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TE 982: Race, Identity and Academic Achievement in Education
Monday, 4:10 to 7:00 pm, Erickson Hall, 133D
Instructor: Dorinda Carter

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TE 982: Advanced Seminar in Comparative Education Research
Monday, 4:10 to 7:00 pm, Erickson Hall, 130
Instructor: Lynn Paine

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TE 991:  Special Topics: Poetic Inquiry
Thursday, 4:10-7:00 PM, Bessey Hall, 224
Instructors: Laura Apol, Janine Certo

Audre Lorde wrote that “poetry is not a luxury.  It is a vital necessity of our existence.  It forms the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into tangible action.”  As university instructors, researchers, and poets, we take a broad approach to the study of poetry, including not only a range of poetic topics and forms, but also historical, sociocultural, and cognitive perspectives to poetry research and pedagogy in formal and informal settings. 

In this course, we will inquire into how poems work---their formalities and linguistic features--- as well as engaging with the living social reality of poetry read, written and performed.  Students will explore how international scholars have approached the study of poetry with a range of methodologies--- from traditional empirical studies to poetic inquiry, a relatively new form of qualitative and interpretive inquiry practice.  

Some key issues we will explore include:  What is poetry?  How has it been taught in elementary and secondary contexts?  How have international educational scholars inquired into the affordances of reading, writing and performing poetry?  How, too, have poets written about poetry---its purpose and its distinct form of literary language?  What role can poetry play in literacy education and across the disciplines? How does performance--- as an aesthetically-heightened and more formalized mode of communication--- alter the interpretive event?   How might educational experiences with poetry influence an individual’s engagement with poetry later in life? 

Students should expect to try on multiple roles in the course, including those of scholar, educator, literary critic, and poet.  The course will include formal opportunities to engage in inquiry on poetry in the university community and in the local and regional communities of East Lansing, Lansing, Detroit, and Chicago.

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TE 991: Special Topics: Investigating Youth Language and Literature
Tuesday, 4:10 to 7:00 pm, Berkey Hall, 314
Instructor: Django Paris

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