Getting Started
- Academic Standards
- Professional Standards
- School-University Partnerships
- Cohorts
- Support
- Program Goals
The Secondary Teacher Preparation Program at MSU is a five year program with an emphasis on preparing knowledgeable, skillful and professional secondary teachers. We are the top-ranked program among all United States colleges and universities. The #1 Secondary Education ranking reflects our outstanding reputation with superintendents, principals, teachers, and educators not only in Michigan, but around the globe. The reason this for this reputation is simple: MSU's College of Education develops teacher leaders.
Being admitted to the Secondary Teacher Preparation Program at MSU is a great accomplishment, and a great opportunity. Here’s why:
High Academic Standards
We emphasize preparing teachers with deep knowledge of the content they are teaching, and of how learners learn the content. Being admitted means that you are academically ready to begin working regularly in real school settings with real students to learn more about teaching your subjects.
High Professional Standards
MSU teacher candidates are nationally recognized as knowledgeable, skillful AND professional. Being admitted means you are ready to learn to take on the behaviors and responsibilities of professional teachers.
See also:
School-University Partnerships
A primary strength of our program is a partnership between practicing teachers and teacher educators in which we work toward making meaningful connections between classroom field work and university coursework. Being admitted means you have been invited to benefit from this partnership, to learn from both expert practicing teachers and from nationally recognized scholars in education.
All of your remaining courses in the Secondary Team will include a field component. Pre-interns have field placements in the Lansing area. Intern placement options are available in the Lansing, Southeast Michigan, Grand Rapids and Chicago areas. Secondary Team personnel make the arrangements for these field placements. We take some of your preferences into account, but we work within relationships we have established with our partner schools. These relationships are a critical part of our ability to provide you with rich field experiences throughout the program.
Cohorts
Being admitted means you have joined a community of pre-service teachers learning together that we call a cohort. Your cohort is designated by your intended internship year and major subject area. Membership in the cohort community is an important part of your intellectual growth and network of support throughout the program. You will have many common experiences with other teacher candidates in your cohort. You will also have diverse ideas and perspectives to share, from your past experiences in schools, your field experiences across a range of schools over different geographic areas, and your individual interests and foci in your own development as teachers.
Changing your intended internship year changes your cohort assignment. Contact your coordinator as soon as you decide that your internship year will change so that your cohort assignments can be adjusted accordingly.
Support for Meeting Your Goals
Another unique strength of our program is the network of support personnel that guide you in meeting all the expectations, deadlines and requirements of becoming a professional teacher. Being admitted means that people across the MSU College of Education are already monitoring your progress and are invested in helping you reach your goal.
To take full advantage of the opportunities and the support available to you in this program, you will rely on the knowledge and expertise of many people in the College of Education:
Secondary Team Coordinators. Coordinators are a key resource for you. They know how the program policies, procedures and people work. Contact them when you aren’t sure who can help you with your question or problem.
Your course instructors. Throughout the program, these faculty and graduate students are important resources for you, not just about course content, but about all kinds of questions and concerns you have about your teaching career.
The College of Education Student Affairs Office (SAO). SAO is an important source for information about your development as a teacher, both now as a pre-service teacher and later as you begin your career. You should continue to work with the advisor in your major regarding your academic program requirements, but College of Education advisors are available to meet with Secondary Education students as needed.
Supporting You in Your Goals
We know you have chosen teacher certification at MSU to become one of the nation’s best teachers. We want to help you reach that goal, by becoming a well-started beginning teacher who is:
- Knowledgeable about your content and about research-based methods for effective teaching; skillful at designing instruction that helps children learn with understanding; and professional in their commitment to the academic learning of each and every child in their classroom.
- Knowledgeable about the critical role of education in a democracy and the varied needs of learners in your care, skillful at designing instruction that honors and appreciates diversity and ensures all children access to their constitutionally protected rights and opportunities, and professional in their commitment to helping each and every child achieve their potential.
- Knowledgeable about the social and interpersonal features of school learning, skillful at establishing learning communities in classrooms and schools, and professional in the strategies they use to guide children toward appropriate social norms in school and society at large.
- Knowledgeable about current theory and policy regarding teaching and education, skillful at integrating theory with classroom practice, and professional in their commitment to achieving the vision of effective schooling laid out in national, state and local calls for reform.
- Knowledgeable about the critical role of professional communities for the support and development of teachers, skillful at working with other educators to improve the experience of children in schools, and professional in their commitment to these activities as a regular part of the work of teaching.
