The following statements reflect the goals we have for Western Carolina University students during the course of their education programs. In collaboration with our B-12 partners in the region providing quality field experiences, our programs are designed to foster the development of these dispositions, knowledge and skills.
We teach our students to use their knowledge of both human development and their disciplines to effectively teach all pupils to solve problems.
Appropriate values and dispositions are central to excellent teaching. We model collaborative, caring, and intellectually stimulating learning communities so our teacher education students will create environments for all their students that encourage curiosity, foster motivation, and promote achievement of rigorous state and professional standards. We require our candidates to use state-of-the-art technology in their courses and in their field experiences.
Our vision is for candidates who are passionate, lifelong learners, who genuinely care about all students, who understand human development, who have a deep knowledge of their disciplines, who have an effective range of instructional skills including a facility with technology, and who expect and support high achievement in their students. This vision is shared, articulated, and supported throughout the curriculum, in clinical experiences, and in the formative and summative assessments.
Knowledge and Skills: Candidates learn to use their knowledge of human development and their subject matter to effectively teach all pupils to solve problems.
Candidates learn to:
Know the subjects they teach
Know how to teach their subjects
Communicate effectively
Understand and use the knowledge bases for multicultural education
Integrate current technology into their instructional repertoire
Understand development in children and adolescents
Effectively organize and manage groups of students or clients
Be proficient at solving problems
Practice critical, independent, reflective thinking
Use informal and formal assessment strategies appropriately
Demonstrate professional responsibility
Become instructional leaders
Foster connections between schools and home, family, and community
Values and Dispositions: We attempt to foster the following values and dispositions in education candidates to ensure that all students learn.
We encourage candidates to:
Value individual differences and demonstrate commitment to the achievement of all students
Know and practice professional standards of integrity
Be passionate and enthusiastic about teaching and learning
Take initiative and have a strong sense of efficacy
Be lifelong learners
Strive for quality
Experience: We provide multiple, substantial, and varied experiences in schools so that candidates will have a strong base for understanding the theories and the practices to enhance all students learning.
We require our candidates to:
Learn through field-based experiences such as observations and internships
Systematically reflect on practice
Draw on their own life experiences, and reflect on the impact of culture on learning in diverse settings
Help their students connect life experiences to new learning
Use a variety of available technological resources and
use their skills to increase the technology skills of their students and other school professionals
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