This program requires the completion of four courses for twelve semester hours. It has a flexible format to fit into your busy life. The courses are offered in a hybrid manner, combining face to face format and online delivery format. Two courses are offered per semester and the certification is earned within one year.
The Teacher Leadership Endorsement Program Coursework is as follows:
Fall Semester:
686: Leadership in Teaching and Learning (3 credits)
Course Description: This course brings together current ideas and literature in a critical exploration of the interrelationship between learners and instruction. It provides teacher leaders with tools and resources to evaluate and develop their own views of learning, knowledge, and pedagogy and to apply these understandings to their own practice. Teacher leaders will study examples from a variety of settings that illustrate common interests and concerns in teaching and learning with an emphasis on professional learning, research-based instructional practices, and the quality of reflective practice and self-study of teaching. Teacher leaders will develop a detailed case study of the teaching and learning environment through collection of extensive student assessment data.
684: Leadership in Self-Study and Research of Teaching Practices (3 credits)
Course Description:This course guides teacher leaders to develop a form of inquiry that parallels their understandings of teaching and learning. It provides teacher leaders with the tools and resources necessary to examine their own practice as the center of their investigation and later share their findings with other teachers. Participating in a cycle of inquiry, teachers will design a self-study that focuses on an authentic question that has emerged from their teaching in the classroom or school setting. They will utilize a variety of different research methods such as action research and narrative research to collect and analyze data. They will be invited to share their research process with their colleagues to reflect on the process of self-study and the ways in which it has begun to impact their teaching. The research proposal from this course becomes the basis for the Teacher Leadership culminating project concluded in 692.
689: Leadership in Professional Development (3 credits)
Course Description: This course brings together research and practice in a critical exploration of professional development and teacher learning. It provides teacher leaders with the tools and resources to be able to develop their own understanding of the role of communities of practice and professional development in teacher learning. Teacher leaders will study what research tells us about effective and ineffective professional development forms, will examine the role of technology and data analysis in teacher learning, and will explore how they are most effectively used in professional development. Teacher leaders will identify professional development needs in their school and then work to develop professional development plans and programs to meet those needs.
692: Leadership for Impact: People, policy, and practice (3 credits)
Course Description: This course brings together theories and practices of education policy and law that have had an impact on teacher education, certification, and licensure. It provides teacher leaders with the habits of mind, skills, tools and resources to analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of education policy and law through the lens of teacher education. Teacher leaders will study the history that has shaped the development of these education policies and laws on local, state, and federal levels, and will consider the impact of politics, the courts, and public opinion. They will apply these understandings in order to critique policies derived from current federal legislation and will explore their roles as advocates for teachers, students, and families.