DEPARTMENT INFORMATION

Below are important messages from your major departments.

ACADEMIC MAJORS

ART EDUCATION MAJORS: Students seeking K-12 licensure in art are required to complete two student teaching assignments. One eight week assignment will be in an elementary setting, and the other eight week assignment will be in a secondary setting. All art education methods courses must be completed prior to student teaching. Please contact Chris Schulte in the department of art regarding completion of your application for student teaching. Bring your current degree audit and application packet with you to meetings concerning student teaching.
(Dr. Christopher Schulte)

BIOLOGY MAJORS: You are poised to change to the other side of the desk. Student teaching is your passageway to teaching biology and possibly other sciences. If you do not know your additional endorsement areas in which you may wish to student teach, consult your advisor before coming to the departmental meeting. Remember, you must have completed all of your science methods courses with a C or better and have a 2.50 GPA in your major. Please bring your degree audit with you to the departmental sign-up meeting.
(Dr. Cherin Lee)

COACHING PRACTICUM FOR ATHLETICS: Students who desire a practicum in athletic coaching as part of their student teaching experience may sign up for one hour of credit. The intent to take part in a coaching practicum while student teaching should be expressed at the student teaching interview. It will be necessary for the student to arrange for their coaching assignment at the time they visit the student teaching site. This would involve meeting with the coach of the desired sport and discussing their responsibilities as a practicum coach. To register for a coaching practicum the student must obtain written approval from Don Erusha in the School of Health, Physical Education and Leisure Services. At this time the student should provide the name of the coach he/she will be assisting. This information is necessary for the student coach to obtain a grade for the practicum.
(Mr. Bob Lee)

EARLY CHILDHOOD MAJORS - Unified Endorsement: During your 16 weeks of student teaching you must complete two eight week experiences in at least two different settings in two of three age levels: Infant and toddler (0-3), preprimary (3-5), primary (5-8), and with children with and without disabilities. If you are a dual major (i.e. early childhood and elementary) you need to student teach in each of these areas because you will be seeking licensure to teach in both areas. This may require an additional 4 weeks of student teaching.
(Dr. Charles May)

EARTH SCIENCE: Welcome to the next phase of your teacher education program. Congratulations on reaching this point in your preparation to teach earth science to young people. Please bring your degree audit and advisement report to the department meeting. Please feel free to visit with Dr. Tim Cooney if you have any questions about your program and the student teaching semester.
(Dr. Tim Cooney)

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION MAJORS: During your 16 week student teaching assignment you will be involved in two different 8 week experiences. Because you will have this opportunity to work in two different settings, you are encouraged to expand your range of experiences by seeking two experiences that are quite different. We urge you to request that one of your experiences be in a self-contained classroom setting at the grade level of your choice. You should request that the other experience be at a) a different grade level, or b) in a setting closely related to your minor (i.e., departmentalized math, science, language arts, chapter one, etc.). Please come to the “sign up” session with several different combinations of experiences in mind. There will be advisors from each of the minors there to help you list your choices. Dual majors must, of course, student teach in each of the areas in which a license is expected.
(Dr. David Christensen)

ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS (K-6): Students completing the English/Language Arts minor program should request as one of their student teaching assignments an experience as a teacher in a departmentalized reading and language arts program or in a self-contained classroom that includes the teaching of reading and language arts as a major responsibility. Settings that provide experience within a literature-based or integrated reading-language arts program would be most desirable.
(Dr. Penny Beed)

ENGLISH (7-12): Prerequisite for student teaching in English is completion of 620:190, Teaching of English, with a grade of “C” or better. Please bring a copy of your degree audit to the departmental meeting to submit with your application for student teaching.
(Dr. Kenneth Baughman)

ESL K-12 (TESOL and TESOL/Modern Language Majors): Prior to student teaching in ESL, 630:193 and 630:194, TESOL I and II, should be completed. Note that those student teaching in ESL will have experiences at both the K-6 and 7-12 levels. Please bring a copy of your degree audit to the departmental meeting to submit with your application for student teaching.
(Dr. Kenneth Baughman)

MATHEMATICS: All students who wish to be considered for student teaching must attend the departmental meeting and fill out an application at this time. The following courses must be completed before student teaching: 800:062; 800:160, 800:165, 800:188, 800:190.
It is expected that all mathematics majors will teach in a middle school/junior high and a senior high setting. Please bring all of the materials including your degree audit that you received at Student Teaching Roundup to the departmental meeting.
(Dr. Catherine Miller)

MIDDLE SCHOOL EDUCATION MAJORS: In the new middle school program (dual major Elementary/Middle School) you are required to student teach in two different settings: a regular self-contained setting and a departmentalized or team-taught middle level (6-8) setting. If you do not complete the required prerequisite secondary methods course, you must meet the Middle School student teaching requirement by student teaching in a 6th grade departmentalized and/or team teaching environment.
If you want to student teach in grades 7-8, you must complete the appropriate prerequisite secondary methods course(s). At student teaching sign-up time, you should sign up for (and later request) 6 hours of 28:134 and 6 hours of 28:137. Students requesting a 7-8th grade placement will be required to obtain signatures from both Dr. Nielsen (Elementary Coordinator) and the appropriate representative of the academic department offering the minor. If you are a student who originally declared the middle school emphasis and now want to switch to the new dual major, contact the College of Education Advising Center as soon as possible.
(Dr. Donna Schumacher-Douglas)

MUSIC EDUCATION MAJORS: The music education faculty in the School of Music welcome you to one of the most important phases of your teacher education experience. A few general reminders are listed below:

PHYSICAL EDUCATION MAJORS: Welcome to the culminating experience of your pre-professional education - student teaching. I hope you are excited about this opportunity and make the most of the learning experiences and challenges which await you. As you begin to plan for this semester there are several items you need to keep in mind:

PHYSICS: Congratulations on reaching a major milestone in the preparation for your career in teaching young people science. You should be endorsed to teach in several different disciplines and consequently be placed in a situation where you have multiple preparations, that is, have assignments to teach at different grade levels and/or subject areas. You must have completed at least two semester courses in the subject area in which you are to teach and have earned at least a grade of C in those courses. Please bring your degree audit and advisement report to the departmental meeting. If you need assistance and/or ideas for your teaching assignment, please feel free to contact Dr. Larry Escalada.
(Dr. Larry Escalada)

READING EDUCATION: Students who are completing the Reading Education minor are advised to complete as one of their student teaching assignments an experience in a remedial setting such as teaching in a Chapter I reading program or teaching in a program for special readers. If assignment in a remedial setting is not available, Reading Education minors should request assignment as a reading teacher in a departmentalized reading/language arts program.
(Dr. Penny Beed)

CHEMISTRY, SCIENCE AND JUNIOR HIGH SCIENCE TEACHING MAJORS: Congratulations on reaching a major milestone in the preparation for teaching young people science. You should be placed in a situation where you have multiple preparations, that is, have assignments to teach at different grade levels and/or subject areas. You must have completed at least two semester courses in the subject area in which you are to teach and have earned at least a grade of C in those courses. Please bring your degree audit and advisement report to the departmental meeting. If you need assistance and/or ideas for your teaching assignment, please feel free to contact any of the Science education faculty.

(Dr. Dawn Del Carlo)

SOCIAL SCIENCE: The Social Sciences Education Committee welcomes you to the student teaching phase of your teacher education program. All Social Science majors need to bring the completed application and degree audit to the departmental meeting. (History, Geography, Political Science)

(Chad Christopher)

SPECIAL EDUCATION: Special Education majors in the field of Early Childhood or Mental Disabilities: Moderate/Severe/Profound and minors in Behaviors Disorders, Learning Disabilities, Mental Disabilities: Mild/Moderate and Early Childhood must satisfactorily complete the Special Education Phase I and Phase II semesters prior to student teaching. The three levels of clinical experiences are designed to provide students with increasingly more responsibility and professional activity as they move through the program sequence. The principle of “application of learning through experience” is applied.

The Phase I experience concentrates on developing competencies in the Direct Instruction Model through diagnosing and remediating behavioral or learning difficulties in a tutorial setting.

Phase II trainees demonstrate competency in diagnosing, prescribing, implementing and evaluating strategies and techniques in their specialized area with a small group of students in the classroom setting.

Upon satisfactory completion of Phase I, Phase II, and coursework requirements the trainees are prepared for the student teaching phase. The purpose of student teaching is to provide the trainee with a chance to integrate previously learned skills in an actual teaching experience under the supervision and guidance of a master teacher in the school setting appropriate to the student's specialized area.

Special Education majors are required to complete a full semester of student teaching in the classroom setting appropriate to their specialization area. Students completing Special Education minors are required to complete a full semester of student teaching in which half of the experience is completed in the major area and half in their specialization area.

The teacher preparation program in Special Education employs multiple phases of experiences to promote excellence in developing competent, effective and quality Special Education teachers. Upon completion the graduate is prepared for initial teacher licensure in a specialization area(s) and for entry into the professional field of teaching.
(Dr. Frank Kohler/Dr. David Christensen)

SPEECH COMMUNICATION / THEATRE: I am pleased to take this opportunity to welcome you to the final stage of your teacher education program. Just a few reminders:

(Dr. Mary Bozik)

SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGISTS: Speech-language pathology majors will intern in the schools during their last semester of graduate school. Education audiology majors will intern in the schools during the fall semester of the second year of graduate school. Students may select to intern in the school setting for the entire semester or to split their internship semester between 10 weeks in the schools and 5 to 16 weeks in a clinical setting such as a hospital. Arrangements for these experiences are made with the Department of Communicative Disorders. The bulk of the clinic hours required by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association will be acquired during the practicum experiences in the undergraduate and graduate programs. However, students may need to complete the required hours in certain categories in their student teaching practicum. A careful check of unmet clinic hours should be made before leaving for the student teaching experience. The Director of the Roy Eblen Speech and Hearing Clinci will provide the information concerning unfulfilled requirements. Supervision of student speech-language pathologists or educational audiologists will be shared by coordinators from the Department of Teaching and members of the faculty of the Department of Communicative Disorders. All arrangements for practicum sites are done by the Department of Teaching in consultation with the Department of Communicative Disorders.

Student speech-language pathologists and educational audiologists may expect to gradually work into the clinic load of their cooperating clinician and to eventually work with the entire case load. Classroom activities, staffings, evaluations, and other such activities will be an integral part of the experience.
(Dr. Theresa Kouri)