Courses:

The three courses, 11.129, 11.130, and 11.131 make up a year long sequence to help prepare students to be high school teachers. The pedagogy of all three courses is described here.

The Educational Theory and Practice I course will prepare students to begin their student teaching in January 2007. The classwork will heavily focus on the practicalities of successful teaching practice. The major text used in the course is The Skillful Teacher by Jon Saphier and Robert Gower.

Students will complete 2-4 hours per week in a supervised classroom for their pre-practicum. The students are expected to observe the instruction and participate in the class as the teacher suggests. Most of the pre-practicum work should be done in the classroom where the student will do his/her student teaching during IAP.

During IAP the student is expected to do the following:

• Take on full responsibility for two classes from January 8 - February 2, 2007. This means preparing the instruction for the class, teaching the class, grading student work, giving extra help to students when necessary, and communicating with guidance counselors and parents when appropriate (in association with mentor teacher).
• Attend the school the entire school day. The IAP experience offers the MIT student a deep immersion into school day-to-day life. The MIT student is encouraged to participate as fully as possible in the life of the school. Such involvement may include things like attending faculty and department meetings, participating in extra-curricular activities with students, doing teacher 'duties' and observing more classes perhaps even outside their discipline.
• Attend weekly meetings of 11.130 class at MIT.

The MIT student by state regulation must have 150 hours on site. The MIT/Wellesley Teacher Education program mandates hours beyond the state minimum. These hours are split between "assuming full responsibility" and "assisting". It is the expectation of the MIT program that the student will continue teaching one class from February 6 - mid March, as much as their schedule allows. This has to be worked out between the intern and mentor teacher. It is important that high school student learning is not negatively impacted. Most MIT students spend 200 or more hours doing their practicum.

As mentioned above, the MIT students will continue their student teaching experience by being at the school 3-4 hours per week until mid March or later. The course work for 11.131 will concentrate on refining curriculum design and assessment strategies, implementing differentiated instructional strategies, locating and using appropriate teacher resources, studying adolescent development, and preparing to find a teaching job.