At the Warner School, we are committed to educating teachers who have the courage and conviction to lead struggles for social justice, who have in-depth knowledge of the subjects they teach, and the skills and understanding of teaching and learning needed to help all students develop their potential. Our students learn to approach curricular and pedagogical decisions as thoughtful practitioners with knowledge of the social, historical, and political contexts of schooling and curriculum. It is our ultimate goal to prepare teachers who can become agents for change in schools and who are committed to higher standards in teaching and learning.

Teaching and Curriculum faculty have articulated the following commitments that are specific to our program:

A commitment to social justice
A commitment to inclusion of children with disabilities
Integration of content and pedagogy
Integration of theory and practice
A sociohistorical perspective on learning and human development
Assessment in context
A commitment to enhance student learning through technology

A commitment to social justice. Underlying all of our teacher preparation programs is an understanding that social justice concerns are related to processes and relationships that produce and reproduce patterns of distribution. Warner School candidates understand that social justice is an ideology and a goal; that is, it is both theoretical and practical. Reading Specialist candidates come to see literacy as a social practice that is ideological (Street, 1995) in that social meanings and power relationships are enacted through literacy. We believe that there is a knowledge base that one needs to have access to in order to be effective as an agent for social change (social justice requires more that will and good intentions). In addition, our candidates understand their role in the maintenance or transformation of social and educational practices that engender inequality. We strive to encourage candidates to develop a sense of social responsibility through reflections about themselves as raced, classed, and gendered individuals. Through their interactions with others whose background is different from them, they develop a cross-cultural understanding of the construction and discourse of difference. Courses such as EDU 498 Literacy Learning as Social Practice, EDU 427 Theory and Practice in Teaching and Learning Literacy in Elementary Schools, and ED 409 Language and Literacy in Education develop candidates recognition of the connections between power/knowledge, education, and teaching and learning and understand that all forms of difference are interrelated, interlocking, and interactive; that is, they are not isolated variables. We have two courses that are specifically designed to cover issues of social justice and the role candidates play as change agents. Candidates must choose between EDU 404 Teaching, Curriculum, and Change and ED 442 Race, Class, Gender and Disability in American Education to fulfill program requirements. Both courses promote the understanding of difference described above and actively engage candidates in understanding themselves as raced, classed, and gendered. All our courses include components that address difference and explicitly expose candidates to pedagogical theory and practices designed to promote meaningful student learning.

A commitment to inclusion of children with disabilities. We believe that all teachers should be prepared to recognize the diverse needs of their students various abilities and backgrounds, and they should have strategies to adapt instruction so as to meet those needs. We believe that all students bring rich and meaningful experiences to school and that those experiences should be resources for curriculum development. Warner School graduates will lead efforts to advocate for full inclusion for students with disabilities as part of their efforts to reform schools. We define inclusion as a commitment to the education of all students in heterogeneous schools and classrooms within environments that value diversity and maintain high expectations based on students’ individual strengths, needs, and interests. Inclusion promotes and requires collaboration between school, family, and community while providing students and teachers the necessary supports and services. All our teacher preparation courses are infused with this perspective on inclusion. In addition, we have designed several courses that focus specifically on teaching students with disabilities in inclusive settings. Candidates in the Inclusive Education program are required to take ED 446 Collaborative Teaching partnerships in Inclusive Classrooms and may take ED 442 Race, Class, Gender & Disability in American Education. Candidates also have the opportunity to take ED 451 Teaching and Learning in Inclusive Classrooms as an elective. In addition, all our “methods” courses pay explicit attention to students’ unique learning styles and needs, and to methods for differentiating instruction so as to best serve all students in the classroom. We also make special effort to offer all of our candidates the opportunity to conduct their field experiences, student teaching, and practica in inclusive settings.

Integration of content and pedagogy. Effective teachers need to have a solid understanding of the subject matters they teach. They need to confront the fundamental questions of what they should teach, why they should teach it, how it should be taught (Shulman, 1987), and for what purpose. In addition, future teachers need to know what is appropriate for the age/grade level they teach and for the children, families, and communities in which they teach. Therefore, “teaching methods” are not taught in isolation, but grounded in a research-based understanding of the relationship between content and pedagogy and child development. All of our courses emphasize reflection on the nature of each content area, the goals for teaching it, and the assumptions and implications of choosing specific teaching methods at varying levels as well as the development of innovative approaches to learning.

Integration of theory and practice. At the Warner School, we believe that theory and practice are deeply and inseparably intertwined. We believe that future teachers should be able to use knowledge gained through both research and practice to construct environments where quality teaching and learning can take place. Candidates have a unique opportunity to understand the relationship between theory and practice throughout their course of study, as practicum experiences take place concurrently with the courses about the teaching and learning of the various content areas. While more challenging for both students and faculty, this approach encourages students to bring insight and questions from their classroom experiences into their course, and vice-versa, and to develop the habits of a reflective practitioner.

A sociohistorical perspective on learning and human development. The Warner School holds a deep commitment to understanding the diversity of human development in order to maximize student learning in schools. We believe that children and youth learn through active engagement in culturally organized activities involving knowledgeable others (Vygotsky, 1962, 1978; Rogoff, 1990, 1994; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wertsch, 1991). Communities of practice or communities of learners emerge as organizational systems within which learning is achieved in the context of social relationships. Learning (knowledge) is thus socially constructed as a sociocultural artifact. We see children as active agents who are not only constructed by social and cultural practices and institutions, but also construct and change the world. Learning involves more than receiving knowledge; it involves constructing new knowledge, in both the declarative sense (knowing that) and the procedural sense (knowing how). Course assignments and experiences model the construction of a community of learners within which candidates develop an understanding of how to construct meaningful contexts for literacy learning. For example, in EDU 498 Literacy Learning as Social Practice, students work in teams on a long term research project in which they analyze video tape of classroom discourse in order to understand how the construction of different participation roles within the classroom provide or limit access to learning.

Assessment in context. Warner School candidates explore assessment as an integral part of meaningful instruction that maximizes student literacy learning and supports development. Candidates learn that assessment should be embedded in authentic learning activities that are for real audiences and real purposes. Assessment should also be tailored to the specific purposes and contexts of learning, so as to support student expression, inquiry, and meaning-making processes. Candidates interrogate the current climate of high-stakes testing, and the limitations of using single-point testing instruments to make decisions about student aptitudes and abilities. In response, they develop a variety of assessment modes, including formal and informal, summative, formative, and cumulative. Candidates explore assessments as ways to both develop curriculum and better meet student needs, as well as to provide students a variety of ways to demonstrate learning, risk-taking, and growth. Student self-assessment and critical reflection are integral to this model. Carefully crafted assessment should provide both guidelines and feedback for students. Candidate will learn the importance of multiple forms of continuous assessment and the role of assessment in informing instruction. While all our courses deal with assessment to different degrees, ED 405 Assessment in Instructional Contexts explicitly meets these goals.

A commitment to enhance student learning through technology. At the Warner School we believe that technology can be an integral part of students' pedagogical content knowledge – that technology is viewed and used in distinct ways as a means to enhance students' understanding of the themes and concepts inherent in each of the disciplines. Candidates interrogate the ways in which technology can reinforce and reproduce traditional pedagogical practices and unequal distribution of resources and knowledge. Thus, we view technology as a social practice that has the potential to change social and power relations in classrooms (Lankshear, Snyder, & Green, 2000). Through coursework experiences communicating, collaborating, conducting research, solving problems and disseminating information and knowledge with technology, candidates learn to use and problematize the various technologies available to support content-specific learning while enhancing their ability to effectively integrate technology into their teaching. Candidates also become familiar with both the various technologies used to facilitate learning and technology integration strategies that work best with students with disabilities. Candidates must be prepared to promote ethical, equitable, legal, literate and humane uses of computer technology resources among their students as means of empowering learners as active citizens in a global society.

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