Middle Grades

Transcription

1 Middle Grades What are the strengths of NKU s Teacher Education Program? I liked just about everything about the program. I think the professors were very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about their subject matters. We were very well prepared for the realities of the school environment, the necessity of the proper dispositions, and were treated like individuals with proper care!! Small classes, great professors, some great advisors The strengths would include the professor's ability to work with all student within a timely manner, in regards to outside the classroom. Also, the professors are very knowledgeable and most have great classroom experience. were very well educated and did a great job of expressing what it would be like inside the classroom. They did a very nice job of setting the atmosphere for us, and teaching us how to handle and maintain a classroom. The teacher work sample, and the university supervisors Allows the student teacher to seek placement in schools in which student teacher may want to work. Teachers are very helpful to the students and were always there to answer student questions. Students were thought of as students and not numbers. All the EDU teachers tried to reach out and get to know every student in their class! Only a couple of seminars. I feel prepared and ready to go into teaching. I felt very well prepared for Student Teaching, and had a wonderful experience. The professors are realistic and prepare you for more real world experiences. They really prepare you for being a teacher. The staff is very caring and supportive. Practicums, classroom management, assessment, literacy. They are real teachers who know what they are talking about. They were once out in the schools that we are going to be teaching in. They come with a lot of knowledge about the real world of teaching. I liked how the class sizes were small: I felt that the professors got to know me well. The strong curriculum that prepares you for student teaching. All aspects of the KY Teaching Standards are demonstrated in classroom work at NKU. Wonderful professors who know their content as well how to effectively teach the material to us. Small classes. Middle Grades program seems small and close knit. I appreciate these teachers within this program. Hands-on learning, real world applications The Middle Grades program is exceptional. I have been able to put everything I learned to use. The ability to have so much hands on experience in the classrooms, as well as the instructors in the middle grades level classes. were great teachers and really taught us a lot about being great teachers in and out of the classroom. NKU's practica really get you prepared for student teaching. The professors are honest and realistic. The Professors were helpful and wanted the students to succeed. Professors are young and very approachable. They understand whole-heartedly if we have a problem and they will work with us. I felt as if it were like family within our middle school program.

2 I felt the major strength with NKU's teacher education program was the technology. The program also taught us how to write lesson plans. Overall it is good, but could be improved in few areas. The teacher education program prepares student teachers to manage instruction and classroom behaviors very well. The teachers are very helpful and positive. There are several strengths. There is a very strong sense of family between the students and professors. I always felt that I could go to my professors at any time with questions or concerns. I learned a great deal from all of my professors throughout my time at NKU and felt very prepared for my student teaching semester. The professors really care about you and helping you be a good teacher! I really feel prepare to excel in my profession after my experience in NKU's Ed program! The visibility and feedback from the university supervisor was a great strength of the program. Everyone in the program is very helpful. NKU's teacher education program does very well in i's course construction in that each course develops on those that the students have already taken. This program also prepares it's teachers very well to reflect and utilize this reflection to grow as a teacher. The NKU teacher education program has many qualified and caring instructors. The program is strong in certain courses, such as, development of the child, classroom management, assessment, middle grade adolescent philosophy, etc. I always felt my instructors cared about my learning and development. I believe that NKU does an excellent job at preparing the students for teaching. All of the professors in the middle grades program are very helpful and want all students to do well. Professors were very fair to all students as well. The direction the staff leads us in to succeed, and the support the staff has given throughout the education program. Collaborative learning opportunities. is a huge asset as well. The program made me feel confident going into student teaching. I felt ready to have control of the classroom. Also my CT commented on how prepared I was compared to student teachers she has had from other colleges. NKU's program really gets a person ready for student teaching. They give you lots of experience in schools. They use awesome CT to help us learn about teaching. They prepared me well for the classroom and helped me with classroom management goals. It was very well organized. Everyone is very positive and give you the feedback you need to become a better teacher. The instructors will tell you straight forward what you were able to do effectively and what needs improvement. This has improved my teaching skills tremendously. Great Professors; good classroom management and assessment class Great professors and many courses that help in the field The middle school program is awesome! have their act together! They work together as a team and are available for questions and assistance. Because of practicum experiences, I was more than prepared for student teaching. I really enjoyed the conference about the community outreach projects. I really liked hwo they explained that these projects enhance the content that is being taught and it helps their community. - Extremely knowledgeable professors, - Classes that gave us great ideas to utilize in our classrooms

3 - Positive feedback and attitudes from the Professors - Student teacher, the most valuable part of the program Some teachers are able to share meaningful, personal stories that I will remember when I have my own classrooms. The professors at NKU are great. I liked the one on one attention I got from my professors. The biggest strength is the professors themselves. They are more like colleagues that teachers. They are truly there to help. Allowing/ providing students with real life practice in the school systems. Practicum professors/ evaluators were very helpful and provided great guidance. Classroom management class and schooling and teaching in the middle grades were very helpful. What are areas for improvement in NKU s teacher education program? I wish there was a program to help graduates find employment. Perhaps more classes that enhance our content knowledge. Classroom management needs to be a bigger emphasis, a career office would be great In my opinion, the only thing I would change is the methods courses. I think each method course should be broken up into thirds and the content from the middle grades should actually be used. For example, in the Social Studies method, it should be 6 weeks of Geography content, 6 weeks of World Civilization content, and 6 weeks of American History content. This would at least give us a good idea of how to use the methods of teaching in the classroom. The social studies and language arts methods courses, as is, each offered the exact same types of things. I felt like I took the same class twice. Too many reflections, and better Praxis preparation in the methods courses emphasis Social Studies Make some EDU classes in the evening. For middle grades science, the courses aren't geared toward teaching middle school science it is just general science class unlike math where they teach you what middle schools are teaching. A better way to keep track of everything that must be done while Student Teaching. The inconsistency in who teaches the methods classes made things hard. We all had different experiences depending on what semester we took a methods class. Pro II should require more time in the classroom than Pro I. The days should also be back to back in Pro II so that we can see the impact of our lesson. Block style scheduling: Students are unable to create their own class schedule due to lack of class availability. Curriculum knowledge: I feel I have not been taught how to successfully plan units and lessons using the curriculum teachers use everyday. Technology: the technology class was a joke. It covered basics like Microsoft Word, but didn't teach us how to use an online grade book, or how to use a class web page to relay information to parents. I think more Special Education classes should be required in order for one to feel more comfortable in preparing differentiated instruction to students in the class.

4 More time needs to be spent in the middle school classroom. Offer a praxis II pre class during Pro II. I believe the practicum experience could be better. Possibly going two days in a row instead of every other. This would help see how the day to day transition. I would like to see placements start at schools during the first week of classes, so we can see how teachers start out the year, set expectations, set rules in the classroom, etc More flexibility in class scheduling. Less reflecting on things and not as much busy work in the classes. We have a lot of things to do in general, busy work doesn t improve anything. An area that could be improved is increasing the amount of lessons you teach before going on to student teaching. Advising. Student teaching seminars should be less about Facebook and what to wear, and more about what we need to do to complete the attachments that go into the TWS. In Pro I and II, the university supervisors very thoroughly go through what's expected for all the documents that go into our e-portfolio. This did not happen in student teaching... at all! I was very disappointed with the information provided and didn't feel we received enough practical support from the College of Education, Student Teaching office for what we're expected to accomplish in student teaching. One thing that might be improved was more classroom management tips and more methods classes would have helped. There are not enough content area classes. In math, I felt very prepared to teach middle school student with the classes that were required. On the other hand, I do not feel there was any class in which previous content was discussed. There are a couple of things that I feel NKU can improve upon. Using technology; I felt that we should have had more than just one class on how to use technology in the classroom, since anymore these days technology can be a huge assets to the classroom. I also felt that there should have been more information taught about collaboration with special education teachers and how to differentiate instruction for the high and the low students. Also during Pro I and Pro II we should have been required to spend more time in the classroom. There is a lot of "busy" work which I don't feel was necessary. Lack of preparation for middle grades science content. The math teachers take math for middle grades educators and in science we just take regular college courses. I feel that NKU;s teacher education program could improve on it's communication with it's students. There have been times where there have been mixed responses to questions. Also, some information in the student handbook (online and in paper) is difficult to findand understand, such as the leadership project's directions and requirements. Methods Courses - Certain method courses need to focus more on direct ideas for planning and implementing lessons. *Portfolio- Most students feel that this is not read by instructors and is a great deal of work without purpose. Can it have more purpose? Feedback from outside sources say that the portfolio will never be looked at.

5 I believe that NKU's program is great. I am Middle Grades certified and I think that the Middle Grades professors, especially Dr. Cook, did an outstanding job at preparing me for the classroom. I felt like students should have to teach more lessons and recieve more feedback on how well they are doing throughout the program. Being so close to Ohio and having a lot of people coming from Ohio I think NKU could improve by looking more at Ohio's standards and benchmarks. Also they could look at thier teacher internship program. I was not ready to look at Ohio's benchmarks and indicators because all I had seen was Kentucky's. They need to improve classroom management class. I did not feel ready at all. When I was left alone in the class, it felt like I was fed to the wolves. I did not feel that the classroom management class helped me. They should add realistic situations to the class to help you prepare for dealing with student behavior. They could allow us to discuss how they would deal with each situation. This way we could talk about good and bad ways to deal with the students. The advising office needs to be more organized. Also, I would have liked more ideas in the area of creating lesson plans. I think it would have been better if we would have been taught more evaluating students performance. I also think future teachers need to be taught how to differentiate instruction for students. More involvement in teaching during practicum one and two More work with creating lesson plans for greater periods of time and teaching more lessons during practicum to better prepare for student teaching Student teaching is somewhat vague. I didn't feel like questions were welcome. I understand there is a handbook, but some personalities feel the need to ask questions and speak with a person. The advising center could be improved significantly. During my time here as an Education major, they have switched my advisers three times. Every time this happened, it felt like the new adviser did not know me and he/she had different things to say. This was very confusing and resulted in me loosing credits/taking unnecessary classes. I think the methods courses need improvement. The math method and the science methods were great about telling you the standards covered in the middle grades as well as what to teach. I really feel that they could elaborate on how to take those standards and put them in an order that seems right to teach them in. For example fractions, ratios, proportions, mixed numbers, and improper fractions. Which one should be taught first (keeping in mind the indicators). Reflections, there seemed to be a ton of reflections assigned throughout the program and especially student teaching. I do not believe that I got much from doing these, it just took up time. - eportfolio during student teaching: there should be several dates in which parts of the eportfolio must be completed by. I had so much work to do during student teaching, that I completely left the eportfolio off until the end. This was a problem because I am still teaching two subjects/interviewing for jobs/being observed and on top of that I am bombarded with

6 hours of work to do for the eportfolio. If we had to complete parts of it throughout, I think we would be more successful and less stressed about it It seemed like some teachers were not as involved or interested in assisting students or explaining instructions or expectations. More classes on classroom management The weeding out process. I think in the end there were some students that should not be teachers and the program should have gotten them out earlier. I think that the math methods course could be improved. I would like to see the math methods course give more ideas for teaching math in the classroom rather than having us do worksheets you could give students in the class.