German Section 4
Candidate Preparation (printable version)

a. Foreign Language Students’ Perceptions of the Teacher Preparation Program

Eastern Michigan University continues to be the nation's largest producer of professional education personnel (EMU College of Education web page). As shown below, Eastern Michigan University students seeking teacher certification in foreign languages believe that they are enrolled a strong teacher preparation program and that their content-area and professional preparation courses offer them the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and experiences that are necessary to teach French, German, Japanese, and Spanish in contemporary, standards-based foreign language programs in a variety of school settings.

Foreign Language Students’ Perceptions of the Teacher Education Program, Content Courses, and Profession Education Courses

1= strongly agree     2 = agree     3 = uncertain     4 = disagree     5 = strongly disagree

Item

Average Rating

I believe that Eastern Michigan University offers an excellent teacher certification program.

 2.00

My content area courses have prepared me to be a successful beginning teacher.

1.90

My professional education courses have prepared me to be a successful beginning teacher.

 2.09

Eastern Michigan University students’ ratings of the foreign language methods course and the methods teacher’s instructional effectiveness for the period under consideration are also shown below.

Students’ Ratings of the Instructor’s Teaching Effectiveness

 and  Methods Course   (FLAN 411: Theory and Methods of Language Instruction)

1997 – 2001  

A

B

C

D

E

75%

18%

6%

0%

1%

Student teachers seeking certification in French, German, Japanese or Spanish are placed for student teaching, observed, and evaluated by the methods professor, a specialist in foreign language pedagogy from the Department of Foreign Languages and Bilingual Studies, rather than by a generalist supervisor assigned by the College of Education.  This specialist supervisor observes an average of eight class sessions per student teacher per semester, or approximately one class period during each two-week segment of the student teaching practicum. Students note that they receive professional and meaningful supervision that allows them to analyze, reflect on and improve their teaching.

 

Students’ Ratings of the University Supervisor’s Effectiveness*

A

B

C

D

E

59%

(10 students)

35%

(6 students)

0%

(10 students)

6%

(1 student)

0%

(0 students)

·         Data on supervisor effectiveness were collected beginning in Winter 2002.

b. Content Assessment State Subject-Area Certification Test Scores, 16 Administrations

The number of students taking and passing the Michigan Tests of Teacher Competency in French, German, and Spanish is shown below. High percentages of students in all languages routinely receive passing scores on this test.

Michigan Test of Teacher Competency  Scores

January 1997 – July 2002 *

 

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002 (through 7/13/2002)

TOTAL passing %

 

#

%

#

%

#

%

#

%

#

%

#

%

 

French

8

8

100%

13

13

100%

4

4

100%

2

2

100%

7

7

100%

3

3

100%

100 %

German

11

11

100%

0

0

—

2

2

100%

4 **

7

57%

1

1

100%

2

3

66%

83 %

Spanish

23

23

100%

17

18

94%

15

17

88%

20

21

95%

14

15

93%

10

10

100%

95 %

Japanese

 No Michigan Test of Teacher Competency   is available in Japanese.

Notes

*Data reported in this table differ slightly from those reported by MTTC for tests administered on 1/11/1997, 4/12/97, 7/18/98, 1/2/99, 4/17/99, 7/18/99, 10/2/99, 1/8/00, and 7/15/00 because 11 failing scores were attributed to EMU by students who had never enrolled at EMU (Records Office data) and have been removed.

**In 2000, the same EMU student took and failed the MTTC three times (1/8/00, 4/15/00, and 7/15/00), accounting for all 3 failing scores in German during that period.

Overall Passing Percentages. The overall passing percentage for Eastern Michigan University students exceeded the statewide passing percentage on the Michigan Tests of Teacher Competency   100% in French, 64% of the time in German and 91% of the time in Spanish for all testing dates during the period under consideration.

Scaled Scores. Eastern Michigan University students’ scaled scores exceeded the statewide average scaled score on 15 of 17 testing dates (88% of the time) in French, on 18 of 23 testing dates (78%) in Spanish and on 7 of 13 testing dates in German during the period under consideration.

c. Pedagogy (1998 Michigan Entry-level Standards)

In addition to a number of smaller assignments and required one-on-one office-hour meetings with the professor, students in FLAN 411: Theory and Practice of Modern Language Instruction complete the following major assignments:

—    plan, prepare and teach 13 (weekly) micro-teaching demonstrations

—    coach their peers and reflect in writing on their weekly demonstrations

—    plan and prepare five consecutive days of lessons plans

—    teach and reflect on one of  the lessons from their 5-day plans

—    plan and prepare a learning scenario (five days of plans, a culminating assessment project, and assessment rubrics),

—    teach and reflect on one lesson from the learning scenario

—    present and defend to peers, faculty and in-service teachers their culminating assessment project and rubrics

—    prepare and peer-edit several versions of the philosophy of teaching. 

In all assignments, students are expected to address the national standards for foreign language learning, show broad-based general knowledge of and connections to other content areas, use technology, and offer age-appropriate activities and adaptations to meet the needs and learning styles of all learners. Major course assignments and assessments are aligned with the Entry-level Standards for Michigan Teachers as follows.

ALIGNMENT

FLAN 411: Theory and Practice of Modern Language Instruction

and Entry-Level Standards for Michigan Teachers

Activity

Stand. 1

Demonstrate

broad content

know-ledge

Stand. 2

Show commitment  to students& their learning

Stand. 3

Show know-ledge of

subject matter & pedagogy

Stand. 4

Manage and monitor student learning

Stand. 5

Organize and reflect on teaching  practice

Stand.6

Participate in learning  communities

Stand.7

Use technology

Plan, prepare, and teach 13 (weekly) micro-teaching lesson; participate in peer-coaching discussions following each demonstration lesson.

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Write weekly reflections (description, analysis, and reflection) on micro-teaching lessons

 

X

X

 

X

 

 

Plan and prepare five consecutive lesson plans; teach and reflect on one lesson from these plans

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Prepare at least two versions of a philosophy statement, incorporating peer-critiques and editing

 

X

X

 

X

X

 

Plan and prepare learning scenario (plans and assessments; teach and reflect on one lesson from plans

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Present their learning scenario (unit description, plans and assessment rubrics) to a panel of peers, faculty and in-service teachers

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

d.1. Cooperating Teacher Perceptions of Teacher Preparation

Cooperating teachers rate their student teacher’s mastery of content knowledge and mastery of the subject matter on Item 1 of the midterm and final evaluation using the following scale:

Excellent

Satisfactory

Limited

Not observed

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cooperating teachers’ ratings for the period under consideration are shown below. Cooperating teachers routinely rate Eastern Michigan University students’ content knowledge as highly satisfactory to excellent and cooperating teachers’ average ratings of EMU students’ content knowledge for all languages are in the excellent category.

Cooperating Teachers’ Average Rating of

EMU Students’ Content Area Knowledge

 

1997

Fall and Winter

1998

Fall and Winter

1999

Fall and Winter

2000

Fall and Winter

2001

Fall and Winter

2002

Winter only

TOTAL average rating

 

#

Average rating

#

Average rating

#

Average rating

#

Average rating

#

Average rating

#

Average rating

 

French

3

1.6

6

2.0

3

1.3

1

4.0

1

1.0

4

3.75

18 Students

2.27

German

4

2.0

3

3.0

1

3.0

1

3.0

0

—

0

—

9 Students

2.33

Japanese

1

4.0

0

—

0

—

0

—

1

2.0

1

1.0

3 Students

2.33

Spanish

10

1.8

7

2.14

12

2.08

7

1.85

8

2.37

5

2.6

49 Students

2.10

Cooperating teachers address the extent to which Eastern Michigan University students demonstrate the instructional, managerial, and decision-making skills consistent with those required of a beginning teacher on Item 46 of the midterm and final evaluation using the following scale:

Excellent

Satisfactory

Limited

Not observed

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cooperating teachers’ ratings for the period under consideration are shown below. Cooperating teachers routinely rate Eastern Michigan University students’ preparation and potential as a teacher as excellent and average ratings for all languages are in the excellent category.

Cooperating Teachers’ Average Rating of

EMU Students’ Overall Potential as a Teacher

 

1997

Fall and Winter

1998

Fall and Winter

1999

Fall and Winter

2000

Fall and Winter

2001

Fall and Winter

2002

Winter only

TOTAL average rating

 

#

Average rating

#

Average rating

#

Average rating

#

Average rating

#

Average rating

#

Average rating

 

French

3

1.33

6

1.66

3

1.0

1

3.0