Majors from A to Z: education

By: Olga Malyavskaya Feature Editor

Posted: 4/9/08

For those who want to become teachers, Lock Haven is a place to go.
Based on the Pennsylvania Department of Education certification programs, the education majors offered at LHU include early childhood education (preschool through the third grade), elementary education (kindergarten through the sixth grade), health and physical education, set up to be K-12, and special education that will give you the skills to help exceptional people throughout their life-time.
In addition, one can obtain a secondary education degree focusing on teaching a certain content area (English, foreign languages, math, social studies and sciences) in middle and high schools.
According to Dr. Terry Brink, the chairperson of elementary education department, those who are thinking about getting a degree in special, early childhood or elementary education need to enjoy working with children.
"[They] are usually people that have a sincere love of young children and want to work with them to help them learn how to learn," he said.
As for secondary education, it is focusing on working with teenagers which can be quite challenging, though, as Brink pointed out, a teacher will be able to present and discuss more difficult and complicated content material and the ideas and concepts that go with that.
"Secondary teachers need to be content experts in their fields, but then they also often want others to share that excitement," he said.
No matter what program you choose, being passionate about teaching and interacting with students is a must.
"Teaching is a demanding job with long hours after work," Brink said. "Papers to grade and new assignments to prepare keep one working late all the time. You need to be comfortable working with an audience. People will be watching you all of the time."
If you feel that teaching is something you really want to do in your life, then be prepared for some serious challenges.
First of all, to get a teaching certificate, the students are required to have a GPA of 3.00 or higher, but some school districts want to see students with 3.5 or higher, explained Brink.
The second requirement is to pass all of five Praxis tests.
As Dr. Kathy Richards, assistant professor at elementary/secondary education departments, explained, Praxis tests are standardized tests teachers are required to take to demonstrate their competency to teach.
The Praxis series assesses the candidate's reading, writing and math skills, his/her knowledge of the context area and methods of teaching.
Another requirement one has to meet is 80 -200 hours of classroom experience obtained through student teaching and internships.
Finally, you have to have a good moral character.
"You have to demonstrate so-called 'interpersonal dispositions' - that I have a personality that I will be able to relate to the children, and that is supported by my legal background checks. I cannot be a convicted felon; I cannot have any kind of records. So, it's a total character, it's not just 'I know math and I can teach.' It's not how it works in the public school system in Pennsylvania," said Richards.
According to her, the key to good teaching is knowing your content, knowing your students and knowing how to increase their achievement.
"My goal is to help students be successful, increase their learning. That's what you are there for," said Richards. "You want to take your desire for life-long learning and have them catch this desire as well. Learning doesn't just happen in the classroom, It happens in life."
According to Pamela Temons, an LHU graduate who teaches biology/chemistry in Central Mountain High School at the moment, being a teacher can be a great experience which comes with a great responsibility as you have much influence on kids.
"I live for those days and those moments when I see that light bulb come on. It is the biggest thrill to see that my students understand something or that they get excited about something," Temons said. "That's what being a teacher is really all about - getting kids excited about learning and knowledge."
Temons recalls that when she was younger, she had no wish to become a teacher, deal with a classroom full of kids and try to manage their behavior, despite growing up in an all-teacher family. However, as it turned out, she really enjoyed working with the students and learned easily how interact with them successfully. The only thing you cannot learn is how to love kids and be excited about your job.
"I don't think you can learn to be enthusiastic, so if you don't have that already, don't go into teaching," Temons advised.
Her least favorite part is endless paperwork she has to do everyday, such as having to grade papers and record grades.
"It's just sometimes the paperwork just gets exhausting, and sometimes it just takes the fun out of teaching because you have to spend all your time on those things," said Temons.
Her advice to all future teachers is to be humble and never come to the point where you think you know everything there is to know about teaching or kids or about your subject area.
"I think you need to go into it with some humility because things are always changing, whether it's your field of study or our understanding of education and adolescent minds," said Temons. "You need to be prepared to continue to learn throughout your life."