2008

Data collected from May, June, August, & December program completers in A total of32 students returned the evaluation.

Section One:

Section Two:

Section Three:

What do you think are the STRENGTHS of our program?

“I had a great group of professors.” “The strengths are teaching the importance of collaboration with colleagues, parents, etc. and teaching how students develop and learn.” “Small class sizes, competent professors, numerous classroom learning experiences, helpful advisors, and challenging, in-depth courses.” “I liked the setup of the program into teams. It was good to go through that all together and form colleague relationships – to learn from each other and get ideas.” “The program provides opportunities for the pre-service teacher to interact with students and teachers. Not only did we get to create lesson plans, but implement them as well.” “We are exposed to many different schools and able to see the diversity to help us figure out where we want or do not want to be.”

What do you think are the WEAKNESSES of our program?

“The program didn’t address day-to-day aspects of teaching. Real learning builds upon what you have done the day/week/month before. The majority of the lessons that we were required to complete for our courses seemed disconnected. Often, we were given tools/lessons/assessments, but not shown HOW to apply them on a day-to-day basis.”

“Lack of direction. It took many different visits to many different advisors to find out what I should be doing. I know I could have been done with my degree sooner if I had been better directed.”

“Education students should be in the classroom earlier and more often.”

“I didn’t feel that the reading instruction or phonics portion was taught. Teaching how to read and how to assess was limited.”

“The two online courses I took were way too easy. I learned absolutely nothing (but received A’s in both classes) and now that I’m in the classroom, I could really use that information.”

“Too much theory, not enough practice.”

Suggestions

If the portfolio process is to continue, it would be helpful if everyone in the School of Education followed the same criteria. Earlier exposure to the classroom environment and earlier exposure to lesson planning for actual students. Place students with their cooperating teachers prior to August so they can job shadow and learn to prepare a classroom for the very beginning of school. Right now, we start student teaching with all of the mechanics already in place. Many of the courses were redundant, especially development and psychology. Instead, offer a course on how to use the curriculum when planning a year’s worth of lessons.

Find out about the reading programs that schools in our area are adopting and discuss these with us. Have us present more lessons in classes and be critiqued on them. We need to learn how to present our teaching to students. More realistic lesson planning. Strive to provide more hands-on activities, hire new staff that are competent and student-focused and have knowledge of current “best practice” tools, and give us more time in the classroom. Spend more time teaching classroom management.