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Husson believes that instilling in children the sheer love of learning, the ability to read, write, and problem-solve; and the interpersonal and thinking skills necessary to propel meaningful learning, are just some of the basic building blocks of a child's education.
Elementary Education Program Outline
The program outline indicates the types of courses you need to take in Elementary Education. A significant number of required courses in the first two years are liberal art courses. Starting from your third year, you will begin to take the professional educational courses, the elementary education core courses, and the academic content electives. Your final semester involves student teaching, one of your experimental learning requirements, and the seminar in teaching course allows you to simultaneously develop an exit portfolio based on the cumulative experiences you have had to indicate your accomplishment in the program.
Elementary Education Program Experiences
The program experiences in the Elementary Education Program include five areas: 1. Liberal Arts: General Education courses
A strong liberal arts experience is essential to the success of being an elementary teacher. Liberal arts courses include experiences in English, mathematics, sciences, history, psychology, sociology, ethics, children's literature, and microcomputing. These are the foundation of a well rounded professional elementary education teacher. 2. Professional Educational courses
Professional educational courses prepare teachers to be conversant with the philosophy of education, educational processes, standards, and technology as defined by the State of Maine Learning Results for the 21st century educators. Courses in these areas include philosophical foundations of education, computer education, learning theory and classroom management, tests and measurements, curriculum and instruction, and seminar in teaching. 3. Elementary Education Core Courses
There are five core methods courses in the program. They are designed to teach methods of curriculum and instruction in the areas of language arts, reading, science, mathematics, and social studies. These methods courses are the extensions to many of the required liberal arts courses in the five subject areas. 4. Academic Content Electives
The elementary education program at Husson University prepares students for K-8 certification and corresponds to the junior high or middle school curricula. Students are required to take 18 additional semester hours in selective concentration from English, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies for added background in one area of study. 5. Clinical Experiences, Practicum, and Student Teaching
There are two non-credited clinical experiences, three one-credit-hour practicum experiences, and a twelve-credit-hour student teaching experience.
Experiential Learning: Clinical experiences
All Education students are required to complete two separate non-credit clinical observation experiences in K-12 schools during their 2nd and 3rd semesters. Each of these 30-clock-hour experiences are completed as part of ED 201 Philosophical Foundations of Education. Clinical Experiences are designed to allow students to better understand the profession by observing experienced teachers in classroom settings. Through these experiences, you will gain an appreciation of what goes on "behind the scenes" in schools and other professional settings. You will have a new appreciation of the unique learning styles and learning problems of children and youth. Observations in schools and participation in various school activities will give you valuable encounters with school professionals (teachers, administrators and other school personnel), as well as children and adolescents. These early experiences will assist you in determining if you are truly committed to teaching as your chosen profession. Practicum experience
All education students are required to complete three separate one-credit-hour education practicum experiences. They are taken in conjunction with specified courses in your specific education program. During each practicum, students spend 30 clock hours in the schools assisting a teacher and observing classes. Under the direction of the cooperating teacher, students will be given specific teaching assignments. Students must write a lesson plan for each teaching experience. These lesson plans, along with the artifacts (student work, test questions, work sheets, project work), will become part of your Exit Portfolio. In the Practicum I, II, and III, you need to teach one, two, and three lessons respectively. At the end of each practicum, students are required to write a reflective essay analyzing their practicum experiences. Reflective practice is a significant component of your total experience in the Teacher Education program. Reflecting on the lesson as prepared and taught is important to your growth as a professional.
Student teaching
Student teaching consists of two different placements for a total of sixteen weeks. The objective for the two field placements is for the students to experience the elementary and junior/middle school grade levels. Students will produce a portfolio at the end of their student teaching experiences. In conjunction with the teaching experiences, students are required to return to campus to take a seminar in teaching course. This capstone course is designed to provide education students with the opportunity to reflect and assess their knowledge, skills and attitude in preparation for beginning a teaching career. As students engage in student teaching in schools, they accumulate a wealth of experiences that can be discussed in this class. Each student in the class will be videotaped once during the student teaching placement with visual information that will be beneficial in class. Appropriate feedback in curriculum, organization, lesson planning, assessment, communication skills, and management strategies will be provided by fellow students and the instructor. The seminar is designed around the 10 Maine Standards for Results-based Initial Teacher Certification.
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