Running Head: ASSIGNMENT 1

Assignment 1: TPE 1B Literature Review

Rachel Martin
TED 690 Capstone
Professor Johnson
National University
1/7/16

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Abstract

An article was reviewed to connect the support the concept of Teacher Performance
Expectation 1B for Subject-Specific Pedagogical Skills for Single Subject Teaching
Assignments. The article itself reviewed literature in order to discover what version of pedagogy
teachers should study and master in order to become effective in the classroom. The article
focuses predominantly on the idea of teachers mastering different levels of knowledge within
their single subject. The article concludes by reviewing different opinions of the definition of
Subject-Specific Pedagogy and its importance to teaching.

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Assignment 1: TPE 1B Literature Review

Subject Specific Pedagogy is at the heart of how to prepare teachers to be effective in the
classroom. Do new teachers need to know more than the students, just what is in the textbook or
know a great deal of knowledge that might never be taught to students but in case students have
questions, be able to answer them in great detail? While there are differences of opinion among
the education community, Mary Kennedy discusses the necessity for teachers to be
knowledgeable in accordance with specific ideals such as the social norms regarding a subject,
the relationship to social issues and the value of the subject to everyday life (Kennedy,
1990, p. 8). These specific details correlate with importance of the level of subject specific
knowledge of a teacher.
Scientists and educators have questioned how much a teacher must know about a subject
in order to teach it and whether their primary educational credits should be in the subject itself,
such as science, or in skills of how to teacher, engage and manage a classroom. Kennedy (1990)
mentions that while classroom management is an important tool, teachers often do not
understand their subjects in a way that enables them to explain important concepts to students
(p. 4). Part of the reason for this could be the change in what teachers need to know that calls
for more and better subject matter knowledge for teachers (Kennedy, 1990, p. 5) than in
previous years. However, the question then remains that if teachers do not know and understand
enough of their chosen subject, how will they be effective teachers of that particular subject? Can
they simply get by teaching the textbook curriculum if they are skilled in engaging students in
just that level of information?
Another argument discusses the necessity to know not only information from the text
book but also the social norms, relationships of the information and how to relate it to a students

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everyday life. This information is above and beyond the realm of what is learned just with a
degree, but with more intense study and research for a particular subject. Kennedy (1990)
mentions the value of demonstrating the relationship of how scientific principles can
influence our actions.. (p. 8) and the relationship of how history focuses on the white persons
point of view, which is starkly different from anthropology which is the view of the third
world and minority cultures (p. 8).
So how much and what type subject specific pedagogy must a teacher hold to be
effective? According to Kennedy (1990), the real answer lies with the teachers depth of
knowledge that allows them to help students actively construct mental images of the
material (p. 9) as well as knowing the students themselves to as to help them interpret what
they see in hear in class (p. 10). Subject Specific pedagogy includes blending knowledge of
the subject with knowledge of the students (Kennedy, 1990, p. 12) and using effective
instructional methods to teach the information. Being able to teacher a single subject well
includes the ability to know enough about the subject to engage students interest by relating to
real life, answering questions and challenging student thinking.

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References

Kennedy, Mary. (1990). A survey of recent literature on teachers subject matter knowledge.
National Center for Research on Teacher Education, 90, 1-20. Retrieved from:
http://education.msu.edu/ncrtl/pdfs/ncrtl/issuepapers/ip903.pdf