Prof190 will have several assignments. The main 5 are listed and briefly described below:

1)    You were informed about the Summer Reading Assignment. Based upon the need for ongoing professional learning as required by the College of Teachers (as described in the Foundations of Professional Practice booklet), this assignment was to read a personal choice from a list of suggested books that deal with classroom management or teaching practice. Your reading was to be summarized in a personal written review. More details as to the specific requirements for this review can be found at: http://www.educ.queensu.ca/Prof-190-191/prof-190/assignments/reading.html . Your brief review is due during Friday, September 24^th’s class.

2)    Your Statement of Beliefs assignment is, as suggested by its title, simply a philosophical statement about what you presently think about this profession and your approach to teaching and learning. As described at: http://www.educ.queensu.ca/Prof-190-191/prof-190/assignments/assignments-beliefs.html , it requires you to comment on seven (7) specific areas. This assignment will be reviewed in class before and after each round and is expected to be included in your teaching portfolio. The first draft of this is due in class on Friday, September 17^th.

3)    The major paper for this course is the Professional Inquiry: Action Research. Here you are expected to take a topic that has become important to you through your classes or your placement(s) and you feel that you need to investigate that topic in more depth. It involves doing action research on your topic in one of your placements and writing up what you learned. It also contains a professional reading component. This assignment will be briefly discussed during September, more thoroughly in November, and revisited in January, 2011. It is highly recommended that you have the paper completed by Friday, February 11^th . At the very latest, this assignment must be submitted by Friday, April 15^th. See http://www.educ.queensu.ca/Prof-190-191/prof-190/assignments/professional-inquiry.html for more details. Make absolutely sure that you complete all of the required paper work for this assignment.

4)    Introduced in your Friday, November 5^th class and due Friday, November 19^th, you will, like all teachers in this profession, identify a manageable goal for your Professional Development Plan and describe four (4) activities that you propose to complete to meet that chosen goal. Courseware pack offers a possible template for your use and gives an example. See: http://www.educ.queensu.ca/Prof-190-191/prof-190/assignments/self-directed.html .

5)    The Professional Teaching Portfolio (and associated Exit Conference) is the 5^th and final major assignment. As stated in the assignment outline, the professional portfolio is “It is a collection of your professional beliefs, goals, practices, and achievements. It combines process (the actual process of synthesizing learning and selecting artifacts) as well as products (the artifacts). Your portfolio will be a vehicle to capture some of the features of your own teaching and learning.” It will be introduced in one of the September classes and revisited during November and again in January/February. Like the Action Research, the portfolio is very important to you and clearly reflects your professional development and learning during the year. Information about the portfolio is located at the same place indicated in #4, above.

As well, you will be completing other assignments that will be completed either during your regularly scheduled on-campus classes (as part of reading discussions or practicum debriefing sessions) or during your meeting times during the practicum (Weekly Discussion Topics). Some preparation might be advised in advance of your meeting sessions. See http://www.educ.queensu.ca/Prof-190-191/prof-190/discussion.html for more in-depth information.