What should a teacher education program include?

From all over, cries of pain about professional development workshops, required coursework for certification/pay increases, and coursework in teacher ed programs.

Here's what I think, a rough, off-the-cuff attempt at outlining what I am glad to have learned and what I wish I had learned. I welcome your ideas. Please note that none of this matters if it's not rigorous. And yes, I know that this is way more classes than a typical master's degree includes. Perhaps an education degree should be a separate thing, like a law degree or a medical degree. Also, I think that would-be teachers should be observing in classrooms and/or student teaching from day one of their degree program. Nothing helps you learn like knowing what you need to know!

PREREQUISITE: an undergraduate major in something other than education. An education degree ought to be a master's. Why? Every teacher should know one field well, both the content and the thinking skills and methods used by practitioners in that field. Ideally, choosing a major will help the future teacher identify a field about which they feel passionate; passion for one's subject is invaluable in preventing burnout and in motivating students to care. I don't care if you're going to teach third graders arithmetic, the 50 states, the solar system, and some reading skills, you're a more interesting person and a better role model if you are really excited by something academic.

Those lacking appropriate preparation in statistics and reading and understanding science and social science studies should be required to take a course in these topics during their first semester, in order to get the most out of the rest of their classes.

CONTEXT/HISTORY: (15 credits)

• History of education in the US: It's helpful to have some perspective on how schools got the way they are
  
• Philosophy of education: At least one course providing an overview of different philosophies of education, with students examining their own ideas about the purpose of schooling for the individual and society
  
• Comparative education: Compare the US system to those of other countries including the UK, Japan, and others
  
• At least two of the following:
  
  
  
  • Ethical Issues in Education
    
  • Education/Children & the Law
    
  • Introduction to School Administration
    
  • Economics & Education
    
  • Politics & Education
    
  • Alternative Models of Education: This could examine everything from IB programs to free schools to homeschooling to Waldorf/Steiner schools
    

PSYCHOLOGY/DEVELOPMENT/COGNITION: (15 credits)

• Learning & the Brain 1: A foundations course in cognitive science with a strong focus on studies of how people learn
  
• Child & Adolescent Development: Physical, psychological, intellectual, & spiritual development from birth to 20-something
  
• Special Education 1 & 2: I imagine that the first course would address the types of students one might encounter who have special needs in the classroom, and how to best teach them, and the second would address the larger context of special education, including evaluation of students for special education services, legal issues, the IEP, etc.
  
• At least one of the following:
  
  
  
  • Abnormal Psychology of Children & Adolescents
    
  • Learning & the Brain 2: In this course the students would actually design & conduct a study of learning!
    
  • A selection of courses focusing on educating children with specific types of "exceptionalities," including learning disabilities, severe behavioral disorders, giftedness, autism, etc. Each teacher would have a solid grounding in how to modify instruction for students with at least one type of exceptionality.
    

METHODS: (55 units + optional additional classroom management stuff)

• Teaching & Learning Literacy: It's an art & a science, and teachers need to know both. I nearly put this with the psych/dev/cog section because my vision is that it would be heavily research-based while providing an overview of the most significant programs and methods developed over the last 30 years or so.
  
• Teaching & Learning Mathematics: See above! Please note that these courses are for everyone, regardless of chosen subject area. Some will disagree with me, but I feel that we are all responsible for all kids reading and writing well and thinking mathematically. It might be helpful to offer slightly different versions depending on the grade levels teachers are planning to teach.
  
• At least three courses in subject-specific teaching methods. The first could be for everyone (it's helpful for me as a middle school teacher to know what the elementary and high school science teachers are doing!), and the second and third focused on the grade levels the teacher is planning to teach. These courses should strike a balance between general methods and specific activities. New teachers love workshops where they are given ready-to-use or easily-adaptable activities, and there is a value in this, but they should also be taught how to create their own activities, where to look to find activities created by others, how to use a textbook and other commercial materials, etc.
  
• Differentiating Instruction: Practical strategies for making sure the teacher addresses the wide range of prior knowledge, experience, skill, and interest likely to be encountered in the classroom.
  
• At least one (but two might be better) course in assessment. I imagine one course that looks at macro-level assessment, standardized tests, report cards, intelligence testing, etc., and a second course that looks at micro-level assessment, such as informal assessment through questioning and looking at student work, how to create rubrics and design projects and tests, etc.
  
• Classroom Management 1: An overview of classroom management styles and methods.
  
• At least two of the following:
  
  
  
  • Writing in the Content Areas
    
  • ESL & Bilingual Education
    
  • Interdisciplinary Curriculum Design
    
  • Advanced Curriculum Design (to add on to the three subject-specific methods courses)
    
  • Teaching with Technology (I'd like to require this one, to tell the truth...)
    
  
  

SPECIAL TOPICS (1-CREDIT WORKSHOPS):

• A selection of 1-credit workshops on specific classroom management strategies.
  
• A selection of 1-credit workshops on specific curriculum programs that are in use/vogue today, such as Core Learning, Success For All, etc.
  
• Additional workshops on specific aspects of technology use in the classroom, such as webquests.
  
• Integrating the arts into core subjects
  
• Classroom recordkeeping and other organizational and procedural stuff
  
• Child abuse prevention/reporting
  
• Surviving school politics
  
• Interacting with Parents
  
• A selection of workshops on diversity issues, such as race/ethnicity, language, immigration, sexuality, etc.
  

What do you think?