girl

The school children and teachers of Philadelphia welcome you into their classrooms so that you can get to know them and help them learn.

How Inquiry Is Integrated into Each of Our Programs

Developing an inquiry stance is a core theme in our program: reflective, self-inquiring teachers are engaged in a recursive habit of mind that operates on many different levels during the course of a teacher’s practice.  We want to help prepare teachers who are fully engaged in the process of making decisions based on a deep understanding of children’s development, on rich understanding of their own students and their families and communities, and on their own sense of themselves as learners and teachers in those communities.  Below is a table indicating how, during the course of our 10-month programs, we encourage our student teachers to develop this habit of mind. To the right are links that show how these inquiry themes and projects are integrated into the 10-month programs in elementary and secondary education and in the urban education minor. For information on the program for TFA Corps members, see the website: http://www.gse.upenn.edu/degrees_programs/tfa.php  

Core Theme Project Learning/Understanding Goal
Neighborhood Study Understanding the reciprocal relationships between schools and the wider communities that surround them, as well as considering the role of social studies in understanding and redressing social inequalities are the goals of this activity. 
Journaling Student teachers are expected to record weekly their observations, questions and reflections related to fieldwork so that they can analyze events for personal meaning and implications for their practice. During the course of the year, Penn mentors and faculty respond to students’ journal entries, creating two-and three-way dialogues. 
Child Study Project Through close study of the patterns of response of an individual child to developmental, academic, emotional and social stimuli in the classroom, student teachers realize how this process can be central to designing learning experiences that maximize student engagement.
Cross visitation Observing in another teacher education student’s classroom deepens reflection and broadens conversation around intent and effect of specific teaching actions and environments. 
Unit Design In this assignment, students plan for two weeks of learning experiences, considering how interrelated lessons are intended to communicate, deepen and expand concepts, as well as considering what different assessments will allow young people to demonstrate the sense they are making of those concepts.
Portfolio All through the program, students collaborate to develop and respond to each other’s inquiry questions.  This grounds the stance toward practitioner research.  Over time, students choose a question of importance to them and view it as a lens through which to examine their teaching practice and philosophy, culminating in the production of a portfolio, which takes the place of the master’s comprehensive exam.