Open Prompt #5: Teacher Preparation at MSU

Michigan State University has the best Elementary Teacher Education Program in the country (US News).  MSU's program prepares students to become teachers with all of the knowledge and skills needed to teach all subjects K-5th grade.  In this post I am going to talk about all the requirements Elementary Education majors need.  

To become an elementary teacher, first the student must pick a focus, a focus is the subject the student will be specializing in.  Although all teachers must have a strong foundation in all of the subjects for K-5, the focus allows teachers to teach their specialization in grades 6-8.  For example, my focus is language arts so I will be allowed to teach language arts in a middle school class room if I wanted to. To get a teaching degree, undergraduate studies must be completed including completion of a professional education program, and a fifth-year teaching internship is also required from Michigan State.  This assures all of MSU's teachers obtain the skills to be successful in the elementary classroom.  

There are many program requirements for Elementary Education Students which includes the following:

1. University Requirements 

• Integrative Studies Courses
• Writing Requirements
• Math Requirement

     2. Teacher Education Courses

     3. Teaching Major

• Classes directed at chosen focus

     4.  Elementary Planned Program

• Courses giving students knowledge needed to teach all elementary subjects
• Minimum of 20 credits

     5.  Examinations

• All education majors must take and pass the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification (MTTC) 

     6.  Bachelor Degree

     7.  Student Teaching

• A fifth-year, or internship year must be completed which includes experience in a classroom along with graduate level courses

These are the requirements to become an elementary teacher and Michigan State, it may seem like a lot but as you plan out your years with an advisor it will all fall into place, and in the end it will all be worth while because of how prestigious a teaching degree from MSU really is.

This information is from:

"Top Education Schools | Best Education Programs | US News - US News." US News RSS. US News & World Report LP, 1 Jan. 2015. Web. 17 Feb. 2015. <http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-education-schools>.

"Academics." Summary of Program Requirements. MSU College of Education, 1 Jan. 2015. Web. 17 Feb. 2015. <http://education.msu.edu/academics/undergraduate/elementary/elementary-ed-program-summary.asp>.

Prompt #5: Urban Educators Cohort Program

At Michigan State University there are countless organizations that are available for MSU's students, that said within the College of Education there is also many organizations specified for education majors.  In this blog I am going to be talking about the Urban Educators Cohort Program.  To start out, UECP is aimed at helping students gain the knowledge and skills needed to teach in communities where services and resources are limited.  The reason I am picking this program to talk about is because I am actually a member of UECP so I can give you more of an insight of this program while learning more about it myself.

The great thing about UECP is that members join the summer going into their freshman year, so it is really nice to be apart of something before even coming to MSU, in addition to an easy way to meet new friends and expand your network.   The second thing I love about UECP is the specialized classes offered to freshmen and sophomores, these classes are small and allow students to take classes pertaining to their major starting their first semester at college.

UECP also allows students to get involved within Lansing's community by going into urban classrooms and helping the teachers and students during their school day.  It allows MSU students to get experience in their major and it benefits the schools all at the same time.

The main goal of UECP is to get students familiar with urban areas and how to best accommodate students in these areas, and through the vigorous courses, workshops, opportunities, and involvement in urban school UECP fulfills this goal.  Students in this program, myself included are motivated to help give students the best education possible, which is sometimes limited by school budgets among other factors.  "These schools need teachers who know how to cultivate the resources and potential other may fail to notice--so that all learners have the best chances to succeed"(UECP).

This program is very important and helps MSU students to learn about urban schools, being a part of the organization has been eye-opening to me and I would recommend it to anyone interested in education.  Below is a video explaining even more information about UECP and what UECP is about Thanks for reading! And for more information you can go to UECP!

 

Open Prompt #4: Private or Public

Recently my aunt was considering private school for my middle school cousin, so that had me thinking what are the big differences between private and public schools?  Of course private schools cost money and public schools are funded through government taxes, but I was curious to the other differences, because obviously parents must send their children to private schools and pay all of the extra money for something good in return.  So I did some searching and found some answers from both my aunt who went and toured a private school and from Private versus Public's article on the differences between the two types of schooling.

So first off is the money, it is unknowingly assumed that because private schools come with a price they are automatically better that public schools.  This may be true for some but being that private schools do not have to follow government regulations or education requirements, private schools can basically teach anything they want, so depending on the school this could be better or worse, it would require looking into the actual school itself.  Definitely find out if that private school is what you want for your child and more though because according to Private versus Public the average tuition is around $17,441 a year.

Also, unlike public schools students must be admitted to private schools which would involve applications, testing, and interviews.  It could be good college prep, but stressful for students so young like my eleven year old cousin.

In public schools teachers are required to be state certified but in private schools there is no guarantee the teachers are certified teachers, instead they might just have "subject-area expertise"(Private versus Public).  As said earlier there is also a set curriculum in public schools, each teacher has guidelines for what they must teach and how much time must be spent on each subject, for example, every day my mother must spend 90 minutes teaching her 3rd grade class math.  Private schools though have the freedom to teach what they want, which could result in better or worse test scores.

Special needs programs are often not provided at private schools, and if they are it may result in even more of an expense for the family.  According to Private versus Public a lot of private schools practice "counseling out", where they recommend that children with learning disabilities go elsewhere for schooling.  I found this very offensive and believe it may change some families minds about private schooling, especially those with special needs children.

So there you have it, just some of the basics about private versus public schooling, there are pros and cons to both, each family is looking for and needs something different.  In my opinion, one isn't really better than the other it just depends on the individual.  I thought it was interesting all of the freedom private schools have, but that the qualifications may not be up to par.  It definitely takes some research to figure out what is the right choice for the student so choose wisely!

Prompt #4: Who Do We Trust?

Everyday we read and see things that give us new information, whether that information is about our government, schools, a story on the news, a product, a new study, or even the weather, how do we know that it is valid info?   I found two sources, both which have to do with elementary literacy.  The difference between the two is that one is an article written by a man which the audience knows nothing about and the other is also an article but it is from The Elementary School Journal and is written by three professionals in education.  

The first article was written by Paul Riismandel and it's focus is Video Literacy.  If you view his article you can just see from the site it does not look like it would contain valid information.  The article starts out asking what skills students need to excel in life, then Riismandel goes on saying how important video literacy has become and how students should learn these skills.  The problem is he doesn't elaborate on why it is so important or how to go about incorporating video literacy into schooling.  His only reasoning for video literacy is the fact that our society is "media-saturated", but what is the real benefit to students?  There are not studies or information backing up his idea of media literacy, therefore why would readers trust this source?  The style and delivery of this article may make readers unsure about the legitimacy of what they are reading.  Not only is there no proof or research backing the article up, but the reader also has not idea who the author is, if he is a professional in the field of education or just someone promoting video skills with no background information.  All of these factors must be taken into consideration if you want your readers to listen, no one wants false information.

The second article (Literacy Study) was written by three scholars, all from prestigious universities, whom are all professionals in the field of education.  This article is on a study that was done in nine first-grade classrooms to find what kind of literacy instruction was the most effective with students.  This was a much longer article being about twenty pages in length, but for the right audience the length would not matter; for example, parents with struggling children and teachers for sure would be very interested in this article and the findings from the study.  Everything throughout the article is cited, and there is a list of references at the end reassuring the reader that this is solid, valid information--unlike the other article that contained no sources.  This is a trustworthy source, you can tell it is legitimate just looking at the website and are then are minded again it is true information by the authors, the research and studies, and the fact that it is published by The University of Chicago Press. These are all things making this article much more informational and valid information than the previous article on video literacy.

When looking up information on anything make sure you know and understand where the information you are reading is coming from.  In education this can be especially important for parents searching for information concerning their children's education and other things where it is crucial that the facts you're receiving are correct.  To get an even better understanding on the differences between these two articles the links above will take you straight to the articles.  Thanks for reading!

Open Prompt #3: Why I Want to be a Teacher

Being that I am posting all of these blogs about teaching I thought it might be a good idea to share why I want to be a teacher and reasons why other people become teachers as well.  I mean there has to be reasons why people go into teaching, right?  So I looked up the top reasons to go into teaching and I found they all fit my reasons and I learned that I wanted the same thing out of teaching that other teachers did as well.

1. Make a Difference

• As a teacher you get to see your students grow and develop throughout the year.  I can't wait to experience the feeling of knowing I helped children along on their path to their future.  I also am aware that not every child comes from a good home life so I am excited to help my students to feel comfortable and happy when they come to school.

     2.  Having a Vocation Instead of a Job

• Being a teacher doesn't end, a teacher makes a difference in the world.  To your students you are not just an employee, they look up to you for guidance and as a teacher you help to create their future.  I cannot wait for this, I cannot wait to help students and to be excited to go to work each day.

     3. Variety 

• I personally could not image having a career where I have to go to work and do the same thing each day.  I am happy to know every day will be different, different lessons, different reactions from students and improvement from them.  Also, every year there will be new students.  Variety is very important to me.

     4. Learning

• As a teacher I will also learn, having to teach information requires the teacher to almost be an expert on the topic.  I love learning and it is refreshing to know I will deepen my knowledge a little more each day as an educator.

     5. Always Smiling

• Even without being a teacher at this point in my life children make me laugh and smile all the time.  There is constantly something amusing that they do.  As a teacher I am sure I will never experience a dull moment.

     6.  Family Time

• To me family is very important and eventually I know I will want to have a family of my own.  Teaching could not be a better fit for this.  I would work the same times as my children went to school and I also have weekends, breaks, and summers off to spend with my family.

These are some of the main reasons why I amongst other teachers chose their career.  It is a career you must love, not do for the money.  But if you like helping children learn and succeed, want family time, and are committed teaching could be something you may want to look into.  I know I couldn't be more happy with my decision.

The list of reasons to become a teacher were from http://www.unc.edu/uncbest/teacher.html.

Prompt #3: Communication in Education

It just so happens that I ended up picking the same career choice as my mother, so for this post I decided I would interview her, Gina Jacques. So I called her up and started asking her questions about her teaching career.  She teaches 3rd grade at a public school in Sault, MI, although throughout her career she has taught all grades up to 6th grade.  When I lived at home my mom would talk about her class and things going on in her classroom but it was interesting to hear some in-depth answers from her through this interview.  I had no idea how much work was really put into communicating as a teacher, among the parents, students, colleagues, principals, and the government my mother and all other educators never really experience a dull moment.

I started out asking who she communicates with on a daily basis, I was shocked to find out the countless people she has to keep in touch with, people you wouldn't even think of.  My mother communicates with: students, other teachers, paraprofessionals, janitors, lunch workers, recess supervisors, specials teachers, a speech therapist, an occupational therapist, and social workers.  She said this can be very stressful because there is a lot of people she works with, and she also has three special needs children in her classroom making for even more people to keep in contact with.  Obviously to communicate with this many people you would have to stay well organized and also stay on top of things.  I can definitely see this being stressful, but I am the type of person that is always organized and I am good at communicating, so it is nice to know these skills will come in handy as a teacher some day.

I proceeded to asking my mother about common misconceptions that happen to her as a teacher and as a communicator.  A lot of people believe that teachers have a lot of time to get things done, but this is not true.  My mom experiences constant interruptions, questions, people knocking on the door, unexpected visitors, and phone calls throughout her day.  She also has loads of paperwork aside from just papers she grades.  Teachers are expected to give all kinds of tests to her students, and she said a lot of the tests are done through the computer and she receives little to no help in the computer lab.  She said the best way to make sure things go smoothly is by communicating with other teachers and receiving support from her fellow teachers, she said if it wasn't for them her job would be a lot more difficult.

Another big part of communication as a teacher is keeping in touch with all of the parents.  My mom says she communicates with the parents by sending home a monthly newsletter with all of the events listed that are happening during that month in the classroom.  My mother must also write out monthly reports for her three special students.  Also, she has evaluations she must respond to from her principal.  And theres even more!  She still has to complete her lesson plans for her class, fill out report cards, and on professional development days comes more paperwork.  As a student interested in going into teaching I knew there was more work than the lesson plans aside, but I had no idea the work stretched out this far.

Even though it was my mother I interviewed, I still learned a lot of new information from her.  Her job is stressful at times, but she loves it--which again is a must as an educator.  She even offered for me to come into her classroom to observe and possibly teach a lesson.  I am very excited about going into education and it makes it even better having my mother to look up to as a professional in that field.

Open Prompt #2: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

Pedagogy refers to a method or practice of teaching.  This post is mainly going to focus on teaching in culturally diverse settings.  Being that my focus in education is on urban education this is a very important topic to me and I am learning more about teaching to diverse groups of students in my classes.  Gloria Ladson-Billings article "But That's Just Good Teaching!  The Case for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy" contained useful information on the best ways to teach in a culturally diverse setting and that is the article I will be referring to throughout this post.

One of the most important thing I have learned about teaching in general is to make the information relatable.  An efficient way to get students engaged in learning is to "insert education into the culture".  If you teach using information the child is already familiar with the child will be more successful in the classroom.  I think more teachers need to be trained how to relate to all students, being that it will help the student to learn more effectively, especially because our nation is so culturally diverse.

For a service learning project I was placed in an elementary school classroom in Lansing and I saw firsthand how this idea of culturally relevant pedagogy applied.  The school I was working at was Willow Elementary School and there I saw teachers that made an effort to relate to the students and others who did not even attempt to relate to their students.  Between the two different teachers you could tell that the students with the relatable teacher were much more engaged and more interested in learning than the others.  These children need to feel comfortable in order for them to perform well academically, they need to feel as if they belong.

I hope to be the kind of teacher who can relate to her students, I want my classes to succeed academically and I want them to feel confident in their work.  Through my classes and readings like Gloria Ladson-Billings I am learning more on how to be this type of educator.