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Summarizing the article: Expeditionary learning: The Alverno College teacher education model. By: Diez, M.E., Athanasiou, N. & Mace, D.P.  Done by: Taleb Badarne

I would like to begin my summary of the article by comparing parents with colleges of education. Successful parents give good education to their children so they can cope in the everyday life later on. Children who are not lucky to have such caring parents, will find it more difficult to manage in their life. The article tries to say that colleges of education and graduated teachers are similar to the example I gave above. The Alverno College is proud of its achievements, and one of them is that 85% of its teachers still in the field after 5 years. The college adopts what is called- **The Expeditionary-Learning Model** which brings better results than the two other models introduced in the article. First, The Armchair Tourist Model, this model emphasizes on theory and almost neglects the practical side and not enough attention is put on the candidates' ability to use teaching strategies. Candidates are chosen according to their academic achievement only, and 50% of them quite teaching within five years. The other model is -The survivor Model. This model is assimilated to a survivor program, where enthusiastic personalities have to live in hard circumstances and survive, but they last in this situation only for a limited period. Unlike the Armchair Tourist Model, this model doesn't emphasize on theory and education achievements, but dynamic personality traits is the core for accepting candidates. Unlike the successful Expeditionary-Learning Model, both models fails. Alverno college tries to "marry" between these two models, in other words to unite theory with practice and get the Expeditionary- Learning Model.

Alverno College adopts the expeditionary-learning model and they want to show how successful they are. The main goal of Alverno college is to produce professional teachers who last more in the field of teaching. The college pays attention to: clear learning goals; ability to deal and be flexible with a curriculum and the assessment process; skills; candidates' dispositions; experience and responsibility for working with learners; ongoing self-assessment and feedback. The candidates in this college are demanded to integrate disciplines and theories with their own experiences, theory and practice go side by side. The aim of this college isn't to count courses in its syllabus, but to connect these courses to the framework and candidates find these courses useful for their work. Candidates learn how to use technology to find information connected to their work, also they are encouraged to be critical for any resource they find and build their own skill so they can manage in the online professional learning communities. What is unique in this college is that every candidate has an electronic portfolio which includes: video clips and analyses of their work; materials they developed within the curriculum; samples of lesson and units plans. Candidates have the opportunity to assess and examine their own performance against the criteria being set and against their own expectations. This process is continuing so candidates can continue to check out themselves and fix their failures in a supporting environment. The field work is supportive and enables learners to explore both the strengths and weaknesses of their performance so they can know what to do next in order to develop and improve their performance as teachers. The faculty in the college observes closely how their candidates teach and helps them to improve any weaknesses points and be ready to the unexpected in a class. The way candidates behave and feel also taken into consideration. The college expects its candidates to be responsible for the learners in class and later on for the community they live in. Alverno college cares about building strong identity for its candidates so they become professional teachers. The use of feedback and self-assessment help in developing such an identity that can be effective and last more in the field. Collaboration between the candidates, observers (teachers in the field) and the college faculty is basic and exists till candidates reach the final stage of being qualified as a teacher. In short, the expeditionary learning programs allow and expect candidates to become strong teachers by giving them enough scientific guide and consultation based on both theories and practice. Also, the program gives ongoing feedback on performance, with involvements and supports so candidates become skillful and professional teachers. Those teachers are ready to work in tough environments where poverty, violence and discipline problems are waiting for them. I call Alverno's graduates: educational warriors of 21st century!!