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About the Department |
Welcome to the Knox College Department of Education! Our department is founded upon three anchoring ideas: Democracy, Knowledge, and Praxis. These ideas, as well as the history of Knox College, are integrated to form the conceptual framework for all who work and learn in our department. The preparation of professional educators has a logical and rightful place within the context of the history and mission of Knox College. Founded in 1837 by Reverend George Washington Gale, Knox College strives to be a "community of individuals from diverse backgrounds challenging each other to explore, understand, and improve ourselves, our society and our world" (Knox College Catalogue, p. 3). Knox College's history reveals how it's graduates have attempted to accomplish these goals. Its founder, Rev. Gale, was charged with sheltering fugitive slaves; the first president, Hiram Huntington Kellog, supported women's rights; Abraham Lincoln, who was awarded his first honorary degree by Knox College, debated the issue of slavery with Stephen Douglas at the entrance to Old Main; Barnabus Root was the first black student to graduate from a college in Illinois; and Hiram Revels, the first African-American elected to the Senate, attended Knox College. In 1993, the Knox College faculty identified the ways in which this mission permeates all aspects of student life at Knox, The mission is carried out through: 1. our curriculum: combining inquiry in traditional as well as newer disciplines with the integrative perspective of interdisciplinary work; building from basic skills of writing, reading, calculating, and critical analysis to opportunities for sophisticated student research and creative expression. 2. the character of our learning environment: encouraging the critical exchange of ideas, challenging our students with high expectations and persistent demands for rigorous thinking with a supportive and egalitarian learning environment, characterized by an informality and openness that mirrors our Midwest surroundings. 3. our residential campus culture: encouraging the personal, cultural and intellectual growth of our students in a reflective, tolerant, and engaged campus community, through supportive residential opportunities, cultural programming, and opportunities for intercollegiate and recreational sports. 4. our community: reaffirming and extending our ongoing commitment to a diverse community of students, faculty, and staff with each new hiring and admission. Our aims throughout are to foster a lifelong love of learning and sense of competence, confidence, and proportion that will enable us to live with purpose and to contribute to the well being of others. (Knox College Catalogue, p. 3) As a liberal arts college with a commitment to interdisciplinary work, Knox College is an excellent environment for teacher candidates. The mission of both the College and the Department of Educational Studies are part of the same fabric. The faculty of the Department of Educational Studies believe that following the tradition of Knox graduates to improve themselves, society and the world is the responsibility of all Knox graduates, especially those entering the teaching profession. As a result, the teacher candidates who graduate from Knox understand that the aims of the College "to foster a lifelong love of learning and sense of competence, confidence, and proportion that will enable us to live with purpose and to contribute to the well being of others" apply not only to themselves but also to the students that they will be teaching. The Education Program at Knox College is an integrated program sequenced over two or three years of study. Success in the program requires a commitment to the profession of teaching, to the education of all children, to personal, professional, and societal critique, and to the development of an appropriate knowledge base, as outlined in the Department of Educational Studies Teaching Standards. The program has three foundational components: democratic values, knowledge, and praxis. Based upon the mission of Knox College, the knowledge of the profession, and the Illinois State Teaching Standards, these foundational components serve as organizational tools for the commitments that all faculty and staff in the Department of Educational Studies have made and to which all teacher candidates in the program are held. These components can be found in the course syllabi and in the program description. Central to each of the foundational components are the goals to improve societal and school conditions and promote quality in the educational and life experiences for all through high educational standards. People in the Educational Studies Program are committed to: 1. the development of learning communities and environments that embrace diversity and promote social justice; 2. an understanding of the historical, ethical, political and social issues associated with education; 3. the study of the nature of knowledge; pedagogical practices; methods of assessment and evaluation; and the use of technology; 4. the recognition of the breadth and depth of knowledge, which integrates the study of education with the other disciplines; 5. the integration of theory and practice that is developed, supported, and maintained by reflection, 6. the preparation of teacher candidates to meet state and national standards, develop the habits of mind that encourage professional growth, especially in terms of technology, and create leaders in educational communities. From these foundations we have created the Knox Teaching Standards which must be met by all students wishing to obtain an Illinois Teaching Certificate. |