Elementary Teacher Education

The Elementary Teacher Education Master's program of study prepares students for leadership roles in elementary education as teachers of children in grades one through six and for such positions as curriculum specialist, team leader, or mentor teacher. Depending upon the particular focus of their work, students may be preparing for classroom teaching positions, for educational leadership and dissemination of current best practice, for research that will impact practice and policy, or for further study.

The major goals of this practitioner program of study are to help students expand upon their existing understandings of how learning and the construction of knowledge occur both in relation to themselves and the children and staff with whom they will work. A primary goal of this program of study is to prepare students whose practice will be rooted in developmental and constructivist theory. Another goal is to empower students to grasp the theoretical underpinnings of education reform and translate those ideas into meaningful practice. The program of study also hopes to support educational practices that will encourage students to think broadly and critically about the complex issues that face practitioners in education.

This program of study emphasizes the meaningful integration of curriculum through active investigation, collaboration, problem solving, and dialogue and reflection, focusing on how individual learners construct and co-construct meaning. Within courses in the area, learning is situated in the learner, emphasizing not so much the transmission of knowledge as the creation of knowledge through dynamic interaction with information, people, institutions, culture, and materials. This philosophy of learning is emphatically dialogic, proposing that the richness of our students' involvement in and capacity for dialogue with self and the environment affects the richness of their education. As such, the program of study emphasizes community and collaboration, a problem posing/problem solving approach to teaching, the individual and joint generation of new knowledge, the careful exploration and harnessing of each learner's developmental capacities, and the acquisition of multiple literacies. This model of learning has additional ramifications for teacher education. Among them are the following:

• Prospective and practicing teachers should not only be taught how to teach; they should also be supported in the process of constructing what it means to teach;
• Learning to teach is not as likely to productively occur in isolation from students, rather, the more dialogue and interaction with students the better;
• Teacher education must take into account the full complexity of the many environments in which education (both formal and informal) occurs; hence, "canned" courses concerned with the delivery of curriculum and methodology established in isolation from students can be meaningfully supplanted by investigations of learning in situ;
• Learning to teach is never finished, but is an ongoing and lifelong process;
• Mentoring and other practices that build strong, enduring, and supportive relationships among educators are essential to the development of new teachers and to the sustaining of in-service professionals.

In essence, our engagement with students in the Master's program of study parallels the ways in which we believe students ought to interact with children and other educators. We endeavor to investigate and explore what it means to teach and to learn with the recognition that teachers and children need to be active participants in their own learning. We recognize that pedagogy in the absence of practical skills is not useful. Students take methods courses that are designed to help them experience what it means to construct new knowledge that expands upon previous understandings. Through curriculum integration and the practical application of technology to existing curriculum, we encourage students to actively reflect on their courses and teaching experiences, and to refine their teaching skills in light of expanding theoretical understandings.

Students grapple with issues of diversity and difference not only in courses that emphasize multicultural content, but also in the context of courses and seminars that look at how education is called on to meet the needs of every child. Ongoing dialogue about what it means to teach and what roles public education and teachers must play in shaping a climate in which social justice prevails and in which children are prepared to be responsible citizens in a diverse society is essential as we explore how to move social ideals closer to becoming social realities.

Students seeking certification engage in practica experiences that continue a strong tradition within the field of teacher education that emphasizes a dynamic exchange of information, collaboration, and feedback among students, cooperating teachers, and University supervisors. Students are paired with practitioners and provided with ongoing feedback about their progress.

Desired Master of Education Student Characteristics

Several factors are considered when accepting students into the Elementary Teacher Education Master's program of study. Undergraduate academic achievement, experience with children in both formal and informal settings, and the desire to engage in high-level professional dialogue about teaching and learning are of importance. We look for a diverse community of learners whose experiences suggest that they will be able to develop supportive and equitable professional relationships with children and colleagues and who will be able to reflect upon and revise their practice as they acquire additional experience. The on-campus Elementary Teacher Education Program is not a licensure program.  Therefore, it is strongly preferred that applicants be licensed when applying.

Contact Information

Coordinator: Clement A. Seldin (Professor)

Associated Faculty: Masha K Rudman (Professor)