Learn to Teach - College of Education - Michigan State University

Learn to TeachWhen aspiring teachers choose the College of Educationat Michigan State University, they begin a personal andacademic journey proven to produce outstanding careers ineducation.They master subject matter and the most effective teachingmethods through courses under the guidance of leadingresearch faculty.And they truly experience the K-12 classroom.MSU’s teacher preparation program gradually immersesstudents in schools, revealing crucial lessons throughpractice, before they reach the post-bachelor’s degreeinternship.Then, during this final year, they can fully fine-tune theirskills supported by a mentor and surrounded by the realitiesof school life. It remains a model for teacher preparationtoday.Now, the college’s long history of innovation continueswith an emphasis on urban and global education infusedthroughout the program. Students can begin preparingfor specialized teaching careers in under-resourced andmulticultural settings as early as their freshmen year.Inside, learn how five young educators found their pathstoward promising futures at different stages… on the journey through MSU.

“It took me from wanting tobe a teacher to feeling it’ssomething I need to do.”Christopher Waston and Ramadhani MusaGetting StartedFast track to urban teaching, fueled by passionChristopher Waston has been flying heartfirst toward his future career path.Since arriving at Michigan State University,the aspiring math teacher mentoredstruggling readers at a local elementaryschool. He traveled to Chicago to toururban school settings. He even co-foundeda student group that inspires young men topursue teaching.And freshmen year is barely behind him.The Urban Educators Cohort Program(UECP) gives participants the jump-startthey will need to teach in under-resourcedcommunities, typically exposing them tohands-on learning experiences much earlierthan other future teachers.Waston, a member of the second UECPcohort, says his commitment to the professionis already unchangeable.“It took me from wanting to be a teacherto feeling it’s something I need to do,” hesaid of the group’s discussions. “My eyeswere opened to more than just math.”That was the subject area he excelled inas a high school student, and the basis ofan extracurricular tutoring position that firstshowed the Detroit teenager how powerfulpupil-teacher connections can be. Whenhe encountered teacher education facultymembers from MSU’s College of Education,during an on-campus summer programand later with UECP, he wasn’t surewhat to expect.Soon, through specialized coursesand activities, they showed the openmindedand successful graduate of Detroit’sRenaissance High School an educationalperspective beyond subject-mattermastery – the social justice side of teaching.“It’s a tragedy that we have so manyschool districts that don’t have adequateresources,” Waston said, and counted thecontroversial issues on his fingers: low-incomehousing, bias in standardized testing,school closures, intolerance…After growing up in an urban environment,he realized he had been surroundedby the risks but undeterred. He hopes toreturn there as a teacher.“For a lot of students, even a lot of myfriends, these issues affected them and Ithink they affect them to this day. That reallykeeps them from achieving to their highestpotential… But I’ve seen that this isn’t just aDetroit problem.”Like all UECP students, Waston wasplaced in a Lansing, Mich. school nearMSU’s campus once weekly for anearly field experience. He ended uphelping one boy, Ramadhani Musa, moveup several reading levels through oneon-onetutoring. He also, unfortunately,sometimes witnessed the kinds of unproductiveadult behaviors he learned about inhis courses.“Those types of things just happen overand over. People talk terribly to kids,” hesaid. “I see that and I think, that’s how I willnever be.”For now, Waston plans to “soak up asmuch about urban education as possible,”continuing through a program that willinevitably expose him to more inspirational– and advantageous – experiences.This summer, Waston served as a supervisingmentor of high school students (andtheir elementary-age mentees) during apilot research project. He was invited toparticipate by MSU graduate students andfaculty members with whom he has developedrelationships.“They see the potential in me,” Wastonsaid. Similarly, “I want to be there for myfuture students, to do as much as I can tomake sure each of them has the opportunityto really excel.”

Kristin Guina and JoAnne West“There are so many extrathings you can do here tohelp yourself get prepared.”Before the internshipAn ultra-fulfilling four yearsKristin Guina is still on a “placement high”as she joins a friend to catch up one springmorning. She has just learned, after fouryears of studying and preparing, where shewill spend the crucial final year fine-tuningher teaching skills before helming her ownclassroom.“I couldn’t sleep last night,” she tells fellowfuture educator JoAnne West, who, byall accounts, was equally as excited whenshe received her internship details – onMarch 26, to be exact. “I love that youremember the date,” Guina says, and theylaugh together.The young women, who were honoredby Michigan State University’s Board ofTrustees for high academic achievement,have just graduated from the College ofEducation’s baccalaureate program. Theythrive on seeing children grow and, likemany MSU teacher candidates, found theirniche for content-area interests and peercamaraderie early on. By senior year, their“TE family” (including two other students)got together for a girls movie night everyWednesday. More than a funny film, it wasa chance to talk about lesson plans to tryand life goals to reach.“That started second semester, whenthings got a little more stressful,” Westexplains. The social ritual was among manyavailable extracurricular activities,organized or otherwise, they sought out toenrich their experience in MSU’s alreadydynamic, high-quality teacher preparationprogram.Guina volunteered for Friendshop – anafter-school program run by MSU students– during fall of her sophomore year. Byspring, she was supervising all daily activitiesfor about 40 elementary kids.“The opportunity to be in front of a lotof kids and be a leader was really valuable,”she said. “There are so many extrathings you can do here to help yourself getprepared.”Meanwhile, West, through an assistantshipfor a research faculty member, landedpermission to observe a local teacher’sclassroom all day once weekly. It was onlyfreshmen year and the particular professionalshe watched, in her words, demonstratedan amazing ability to successfullyintegrate all students.West and Guina attended panel presentationsand service-learning excursionsas part of Kappa Delta Pi, the internationalhonor society in education, and the StudentMichigan Education Association (SMEA).They spent a summer immersed in urbanteaching challenges through the BroadPartnership with Detroit Public Schools.They added Honors College projects totheir teacher education classes.Why do so much?For the same simple reason they chose toattend MSU.“We both really want to be greatteachers,” West says. “You can set highstandards for yourself and reach them.”Likewise, “you need to set the bar high foryour students.”So, add substitute teaching and fieldexperiences they encountered as requirementsof coursework – spending nearly asmuch time in local schools as in on-campusclasses – and both West and Guina saythey stand prepared for the job.Well, at least for the fifth-year internship,during which they will most likely sharepost-B.A. courses and definitely the continuingbonds of colleagues. Guina is headedto Midway Elementary in Holt, Mich., Westto Bennett Woods Elementary in Okemos,Mich. But they are both going to teachsecond grade.“We get to co-plan again.”

“It helped me reallyunderstand the importance ofteaching global citizenship.”Pam Arnold at 3e International KindergartenAwesome internshipLearning confidence and multiculturismPam Arnold couldn’t regroup with fellowteaching interns during the school day.There wasn’t a Target around the corner, afamiliar Meijer or OfficeMax selling materialsfor last-minute lesson ideas. Englishwas the native language of only three kidsin her class. For some, it was their thirdor fourth language. And they were only 5years old.She loved it.All challenges included, spending theyear at 3e International Kindergartenwas the valuable foreign adventure shedreamed about. Guiding children fromthe alphabet through their first sentencescemented her fascination with young languagelearners.Arnold experienced an unusual teachinginternship abroad, thousands of miles fromMSU’s placement sites near Detroit, GrandRapids and Lansing, Mich.“It’s been an eye-opening experience, tosee the growth take place in learners fromall different levels and walks of life,” shesaid. “The diversity there is so prevalentit’s impossible to ignore.”3e sits in the heart of Beijing, China andthe students come from 18 nations. Underan innovative model developed by MSU’sU.S.-China Center for Research on EducationalExcellence, the students split daysbetween learning in the Mandarin and Englishlanguages and, likewise, through bothEastern and Western teaching styles andcultures. Speaking in English right away,Arnold knew, wouldn’t be effective for thevaried group of tiny pupils.“I had to model and imitate everything,”she said, remembering how she reliedon body language and facial expressionsforeshadowed in her courses. “I think Iwould have felt more awkward if I hadn’tjust gone in and done it.”Arnold took that just-do-it approach tothe entire excursion. As an undergraduate,the child development major admired thediversity among her classmates. She spentspare time tutoring English learners andsoon decided that she must, in her futurecareer, do her part to prepare students forglobal citizenship.“I’m not scared to venture out and trynew things,” Arnold said. “I wasn’t alwayslike that; it started in college when I realizedI wanted to see the world.”Preparing teachers to work in internationaland multicultural contexts is a priorityfor the College of Education. In fact, thefirst participants of a new Global EducatorsCohort Program begin classes in fall 2008.Officials are interested in pursuing moreteaching internships outside the U.S.“Our college is trying to put a lot moreinternational focus into the program,” saidCoordinator Sharon Schwille. “This is possiblyone way to do it.”Arnold said being in the classroom withher mentor teacher and students took heron a profound professional journey.The most basic goof-ups became lastinglessons: Her mentor cringing as shedistracted kids from math concepts witha comment about different colored bingochips. She experienced trial and error –and success – in the delicate business ofdifferentiating instruction for a diversestudent group. The experience reaffirmedher interest in kindergartners and ignitedone to learn more about second-languageteaching.“It’s an art really. It’s not something thatcan be taught in one class or one semester,”Arnold said. “Professionally, (this internship)has helped me really understandthe importance of teaching global citizenshipand valuing other people, places andcultures.”

“I know I can teach anywhere.”Callie Sullivan and her classOut there after MSURisks and rewards on the educational path less traveledWith fresh confidence from her internshipyear, Callie (Clausnitzer) Sullivan told theprincipal she wouldn’t regret hiring her. Shewas in Harlem, New York and, for somereason, she felt an “instant connection”when she walked into upbeat and colorfulPublic School 185.The MSU elementary education graduate’sfirst full-time teaching position, especiallyin this urban setting, wasn’t going tobe picture-perfect, however.Her first-graders cursed and kicked. Supplieswere sparse. Family involvement waspractically non-existent.When it came time for parent-teacherconferences, Sullivan, who grew up insuburban Brighton, Mich., sat petrified andprepared for the worst.Until the parents started showing up.Nearly all of them.Many came to thank her for a differencein their children they had not seen before: achild now reading grocery signs and everythingelse he can find, a girl who created abehavior chart for her household.“Those thank-yous meant the world tome,” Sullivan said. She knew then, as shebelieved the first day, that she was exactlywhere she was meant to be.“I’m an intense and intelligent personwho went for the added challenge. I do wellwith what I teach, and I owe that to MSU.”After all, Sullivan had arrived at hercareer destination with a degree from thenation’s top-ranked teaching school anda résumé that appeared to cover all pointsof the classroom experience spectrum:Observation of urban elementaryschools. Check. Interactions with kids frommultiple grade levels. Check. Teaching allsubject areas in a suburban setting. Check.In between graduation and her full-yearinternship, she even managed to teachthree courses for some 150 youngsters inSouth Africa. The trip she participated inremains one of the summer study abroadopportunities organized specifically forMSU teacher candidates.“What I’ve learned is that kids are kidswherever you go and the major thing theyneed is love,” said Sullivan, who saw thestark contrast of different cultures and thedamage of condescending language inSouth Africa. She first foresaw the potentialpower of quality teaching through herown childhood learning struggles, and sheglimpsed how supportive and effective aU.S. school can be during her internshipyear in affluent Novi, Mich.MSU’s teacher preparation program facilitatedher diverse trajectory, ensuring thatshe knew the content, curriculum andmethods to be an effective educator ateach step. More importantly, Sullivan says,the faculty nurtured in her a desire to trulyand equally guide all learners towardhigher expectations.“We were constantly reminded, aseducation students, of the honor we havein teaching our youth,” she recalled overthe phone one afternoon while the schoolyear, her first in the “real world,” began towind down. “As emotionally draining as itcan be, knowing that I can be a positiveinfluence in these students’ lives and thatthese are the students who really need thatinfluence, makes it all worth it.”Her class of 18 children, with faces fromforeign countries and nearby impoverishedneighborhoods, with academic and socialstruggles and, now, with stories of lastingvictories, represents the accumulation of aproductive professional education and thebeginning of a promising career ahead.“I’m confident that I can get throughanything after this year,” she said. “I know Ican teach anywhere.”

The teacher preparation program at Michigan State University:• Combines a baccalaureate degree, many available teaching majors and/or minor concentration areas, and teacher certificationcourses; followed by a full-year teaching internship in a public school• Requires undergraduate field experiences (about 175 hours) that connect theoretical principles with real-life practices; supportsthe use of technology in teaching; and requires interactions with special-needs students in regular classrooms• Provides graduate-level professional instruction from MSU faculty while completing the internship (about 900 hours) with anexperienced mentor teacher, with some credits eligible for application toward a master’s degree• Prepares graduates to achieve state-mandated certification as entry-level teachersGo urbanThe Urban Educators Cohort Program (UECP) prepares committedstudents for the important and rewarding challenge of teaching inunder-resourced communities. Admitted as freshmen, participantsspend their first two years sharing specialized course sections andfield experiences that emphasize skills for meeting the needs of alllearners.www.education.msu.edu/urbancohort“Those who aspire to work in urbancontexts must understand issues of socialjustice, power, privilege and poverty, andthe critical role that educators play inaddressing those issues for youth.”Sonya Gunnings-MotonAssistant Dean for Student SupportServices & RecruitmentGo globalThe Global Educators Cohort Program (GECP) prepares educatorsto teach in a variety of multicultural and international settings. Fortheir first two years at MSU, participants experience courseworkand activities that demonstrate how to teach students to be globalcitizens and to infuse teaching with global content, regardless ofstudent characteristics or content area.www.education.msu.edu/globalcohort“We want our graduates to be globallycompetent and that means understandingother cultures, internationalizing thecurriculum and being able to work with adiversity of people and families.”Carole AmesCollege of Education DeanStudent Affairs Office134 Erickson HallEast Lansing, MI 48824-1034(517) 353-9680coesao@msu.eduwww.education.msu.edu