Standard IV:
Design
Swarthmore College Education > State Review
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All students who undertake the teacher certification sequence participate fully in the "general education" or liberal arts curriculum of the College. Students who choose to pursue teacher certification do so in addition to fulfilling the College's distribution requirements and the requirements for an academic major. During their first two years at the College, all students must take three courses in each of three curricular Divisions: Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences. Given the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of many of Swarthmore's courses, however, the overlap in the content of courses designated in various Divisions is increasing. Two of the three courses in each Division must be Primary Distribution Courses from different departments, courses approved by each Division which introduce the student to the general concepts and modes of inquiry in the discipline and related disciplines and which emphasize the use of writing as an integral part of learning in the field. Ideally these Primary Distribution courses should be completed by the end of the Sophomore year. The third course in a Division may be an additional PDC or another upper level course in the Division. The total number of courses required for graduation is 32, and nine of these are satisfied by the distribution requirements. Majors typically require 8-10 credits of work, though students may take up to 12 courses in their major. Seven courses are required for teacher certification, though students often take more than the required number of Education courses. To ensure breadth of preparation, students must take twenty of the thirty-two courses required for graduation outside of their major department.
In February of the Sophomore year, students write a Sophomore Paper in which they outline their program of study for the last two years. At this time they apply for a major or an interdisciplinary Special Major and also apply for admission to the teacher certification program. In the Junior and Senior years students may take both courses and double credit seminars in their major. If students choose to participate in the Honors program (about l/4 of all undergraduates do so), they take four double credit preparations (seminars, theses, or a course and an attachment). At the end of their Senior year they are then examined by faculty from outside the College who evaluate their work for graduating with honors. If students are not in the Honors program, typically during the second semester of their Senior year they complete a Senior Comprehensive requirement, the format of which is designed by the department and may be credit-bearing or not.
Each student being certified fulfills the regular requirements of his or her major, as well as any additional courses that are necessary to meet the requirements for certification in their subject field. In order to be admitted to the certification program, students must already have successfully completed Education l4, Introduction to Education, the initial course in the certification sequence that is usually taken in the second semester of the Freshman year or during the Sophomore year. (Introduction to Education, is an interdisciplinary foundations course that examines the process of teaching and learning, the social and economic context of schooling and current policy issues. It also includes a weekly classroom placement of two to three hours, and is a Primary Distribution course in the Social Sciences.) After Introduction to Education and before the student teaching semester, students take Educational Psychology, a course which examines theory and practice and also requires a laboratory component as well as a weekly teaching/tutoring session with a child over the course of the semester, and they take Adolescence, a course that examines individual development and the adaptation of adolescents in various social contexts and also includes an interview research project or a literature review project. In addition, they take an elective course in Education (e.g. Counseling, Special Education, Urban Education, Gender and Education, School and Society, Environmental Education, Teaching the Young Learner, Literacies and Social Identities), most of which also include a field practicum of some type.
In the Fall or Spring semester of their Senior year, or in a 9th semester, students participate in twelve weeks of supervised student teaching (a double credit course) and take the Curriculum and Methods seminar (a single credit course) and participate in a series of 4-6 Special Methods workshops in their content area. In the Curriculum and Methods seminar, students develop many of the competencies described in the Topics in the Professional Sequence as well as discuss their student teaching experiences in light of the pedagogical theory, research and practice they are examining in the course. The Curriculum and Methods seminar and student teaching experience address all of the learning principles and professional competencies discussed in 354.25, 354.32, and 354.33. In addition, many of these topics, (e.g. the impact and use of technology in the learning process, research methods, issues and trends in public education, application of theory to practice, knowledge of and experience with diverse student populations, lesson and unit planning, classroom management, monitoring student progress and assessment strategies, dealing with individual and group needs, problem solving, oral and written communication strategies, inquiry processes and the structure of disciplines, learning and developmental theory, diverse learning styles, varieties of instructional strategies, student motivation and parent collaboration) are introduced prior to the student teaching semester in one or more of the required courses in the Education sequence. See Topics in the Professional Sequence, Appendix A.
We have found that when students take Curriculum and Methods simultaneously with student teaching the integration of theory and practice and opportunity for inquiry is heightened in powerful ways. During the first two weeks of the semester, the Curriculum and Methods seminar meets six hours a week and students also present a mini lesson that is videotaped for analysis by the student teacher and other seminar participants. Several of the topics covered in the Curriculum and Methods seminar have previously been introduced in Introduction to Education and Educational Psychology, but not in the depth and complexity in which they are explored in the seminar. The revisiting of various curricular and methodological issues and practices in the seminar enhances the developmental process of learning to teach, but does not require students to simply repeat what they have learned in previous courses.
As students complete the required Education courses, they are also taking the courses required for their major, which enable them to integrate their academic studies with their coursework in Education. The courses in their major are intended to enable them to meet the specific subject standards relevant to their content area. (See the Specific Standards reports.) Except for Practice Teaching and the Curriculum and Methods seminar, all courses in Education are open to students who do not plan to teach, and a sizable number of students take these courses as part of their general liberal arts education or in conjunction with Special Majors. The integration of Education courses and courses in the Social Sciences is strengthened by the cross-listing of specific Education courses with Psychology, Sociology/Anthropology, Economics, Public Policy and Linguistics.
The certification program is designed so that students can complete it in four years. Required Education courses constitute 7 of the 32 course credits required for graduation, and courses in the major may not exceed 12, leaving ample room for completing distribution courses and, in most cases, several elective courses. In most instances, students elect to take a total of only three course credits during the student teaching semester, so they can devote their full attention to their teaching. We encourage certification candidates to take an overload in an earlier semester or to use an AP credit, so that they do not need to take a full load the semester they practice teach. However, some students find it difficult to take full advantage of the rich array or curricular offerings and complete certification in four years, and they elect to come back for a ninth semester in which they do student teaching and take the Curriculum and Methods seminar. To accommodate students who value the continuity in preparation and low cost the ninth semester offers (in contrast to doing an alternative certification program or completing a Master's Degree certification program), we are pleased that Swarthmore College has agreed to this Ninth Semester option. (See the Introduction to the Major Review Report for additional information about the Ninth Semester option.)
