This course offers an in-depth, reflective introduction to the profession of teaching within the secondary school cycles in the UAE. During the course, interns will be supported in reflecting on observed practices and pedagogical content knowledge of experienced teachers in schools that informs their observed practices, the craft knowledge of students in class, educational theories, insights from educational research and on their own developing thinking, beliefs, values, and attitudes about teaching and learning to teach.
Interns will be supported in drawing on these different sources of knowledge to inform their own developing theories of effective teaching, their developing sense, and identities of themselves as teachers and learners, and their developing repertoires of teaching practice. To support the interns to develop as critically engaged professional teachers, this course will introduce them to different theories of learning, theories of learner development, the characteristics of effective school lessons and lesson planning, the research-informed principles and practices of effective formative and summative student assessment, extended professionalism in teaching, effective strategies for inclusion and catering to learner diversity, and curriculum frameworks including the Teacher Standards for the UAE. By the end of the course, the pre-service teachers are expected to be able to articulate personal theories of effective teaching in the UAE context and begin to demonstrate how to apply these to their own practices.
Week 1
Introduction to course
Developing and reflecting on personal theories of effective teaching in relation to specific aspects of teaching
Developing a personal theory of self as a learner (I)
Required reading
Recommended Reading
Week 2
Thinking and reflecting on how we and others learn
Learning processes
Learner development
Required reading
Recommended reading
Week 3
Preparation for effective teaching in secondary schools: Lesson planning
What is a lesson?
Required reading
Recommended Reading
Week 4
Designing and reflecting on effective learning experiences (I)
Linking learning objectives (LOs), success criteria (SC), learning activities
Required reading
Recommended reading
Week 5
Designing and reflecting on effective learning experiences (II)
Required reading
Week 6
Summative assessment of learning to support effective teaching.
Reflecting on the teacher’s role in ensuring progression and differentiation
Reflecting on school summative assessment practices
Required reading
Recommended Reading
Week 7 & 8
Supporting effective learning through formative assessment
Formative use of summative assessments
Reflecting on school formative assessment practices
Required Reading
Recommended Reading
Week 9
Reflecting on teacher perspectives, beliefs, values, and professional skills
Who are teachers accountable to?
Required Reading
Pollard, A., Black-Hawkins, K., Hodges, G. C., Dudley, P., Higgins, S., James, M., Swafield, S., Swann, M., Winterbottom, M., Linklater, H., Wolpert, M. A. (2018). Reflective Teaching in Schools (5th ed.). Bloomsbury Publishing. Relationships. Chapter 6, pp. 160-171
Recommended reading
Week 10
Supporting student diversity and individual differences in secondary schools
Required Reading