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Mike Schmoker, bold and provocative writer on education, portrays us as crazed with trying to implement every "best practice” ever created and "researched," yet forgetting the essentials to teaching:  sound instruction, curriculum and literacy.  Fox-like, we race after anything shiny, as opposed to a hedgehog, who knows what is paramount and surrounds it until it is done well. Schmoker believes that his exhausted audience can raise student achievement  by simply concentrating on what is important.  Following a crazy decade, his message is welcome---with many shouting, "Here comes the pendulum!"
 

This is a hybrid course, in which participants divide up their time between the half day morning or afternoon class day and the remaining assignment component to be completed outside class. The hybrid format will allow students to access a wider range of educational materials and gain more relevant knowledge to guide them in their profession.

The following Wisconsin Teaching Standards apply to this course:

T4. The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage students 'development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.

T7. The teacher plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students, the community, and curriculum goals.

T9. The teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates the effects of his/her choices and actions on others (students, parents, and other professionals in the learning community)and who actively seeks out; opportunities to grow professionally.