Education
Essays

Teacher education focuses on preparing future educators for the challenges that they will face in the classroom, as well as ensuring that they know curriculum items well enough to teach them to their students. Teacher education programs are generally divided into elementary and secondary education programs. Elementary education programs prepare teachers for students from Kindergarten through fifth grade. Secondary education programs prepare future teachers for students from sixth grade through twelfth grade.

While most education majors prepare to be core subject classrooms teachers, many education majors choose to tailor their backgrounds to specific subject areas. These areas include, but are not limited to: art education, counseling, early childhood education, health education, international and comparative education, higher education and student affairs, music education, physical education, special education, gifted education, English as a second language (ESL), world languages, and academic advising.

Teacher education focuses on several core concepts: schools as organizations, teaching and learning patterns, classroom life, classroom management, lesson planning, motivating students to learn, integrating subject matter knowledge, the role of literacy in content area learning, curriculum, pedagogy, and then student teaching under a mentor teacher.

One of the most important things for future teachers to understand is the role that motivation plays in learning. Some students are intrinsically motivated, some are extrinsically motivated, and most are motivated differently depending on the subject matter. Intrinsic motivation comes from within the student and reflects an innate interest in a topic or subject. Fortunately, teachers can help establish intrinsic motivation in young learners, which can last throughout their educations. However, if students find a particular topic boring, it can be a difficult and lengthy process to create intrinsic motivation; some students may never be intrinsically motivated to study particular topics. Extrinsic motivation includes anything outside of the student that is motivating them to study and learn. Extrinsic motivators can be positive, such as rewards linked to grades, or negative, such as no-pass no-play programs that require student athletes to maintain specific grades in order to play on sports teams. Extrinsic motivators can work rapidly to change student participation in a course, but that interest usually does not last once the motivator is removed.

As important as motivation are learning styles. There are four basic learning patterns that describe how people prefer to learn. While it is not impossible for students to learn information presented in a different pattern, material that is presented in a preferred pattern will oftentimes be much easier for a student to grasp. The sequential learning pattern is based on order and consistency, requiring clear directions, planning, adequate time to perform tasks, and neatness. The precise pattern is based on information and detail; the learner wants to have access to the correct detailed information that will help him or her avoid mistakes and may ask numerous questions to ensure that they have sufficient details. The technical reasoning pattern is based on practical experiences; learners want to figure things out on their own, use their hands, and find out why they are learning things and how they can use that knowledge in real life. Finally, the confluent pattern focuses on intuition and creativity; students want to be unique, explore new ideas, and are not afraid of mistakes or failure.

pare to be core subject classrooms teachers, many education majors choose to tailor their backgrounds to specific subject areas. These areas include, but are not limited to: art education, counseling, early childhood education, health education, international and comparative education, higher education and student affairs, music education, physical education, special education, gifted education, English as a second language (ESL), world languages, and academic advising.

Teacher education focuses on several core concepts: schools as organizations, teaching and learning patterns, classroom life, classroom management, lesson planning, motivating students to learn, integrating subject matter knowledge, the role of literacy in content area learning, curriculum, pedagogy, and then student teaching under a mentor teacher.

One of the most important things for future teachers to understand is the role that motivation plays in learning. Some students are intrinsically motivated, some are extrinsically motivated, and most are motivated differently depending on the subject matter. Intrinsic motivation comes from within the student and reflects an innate interest in a topic or subject. Fortunately, teachers can help establish intrinsic motivation in young learners, which can last throughout their educations. However, if students find a particular topic boring, it can be a difficult and lengthy process to create intrinsic motivation; some students may never be intrinsically motivated to study particular topics. Extrinsic motivation includes anything outside of the student that is motivating them to study and learn. Extrinsic motivators can be positive, such as rewards linked to grades, or negative, such as no-pass no-play programs that require student athletes to maintain specific grades in order to play on sports teams. Extrinsic motivators can work rapidly to change student participation in a course, but that interest usually does not last once the motivator is removed.

As important as motivation are learning styles. There are four basic learning patterns that describe how people prefer to learn. While it is not impossible for students to learn information presented in a different pattern, material that is presented in a preferred pattern will oftentimes be much easier for a student to grasp. The sequential learning pattern is based on order and consistency, requiring clear directions, planning, adequate time to perform tasks, and neatness. The precise pattern is based on information and detail; the learner wants to have access to the correct detailed information that will help him or her avoid mistakes and may ask numerous questions to ensure that they have sufficient details. The technical reasoning pattern is based on practical experiences; learners want to figure things out on their own, use their hands, and find out why they are learning things and how they can use that knowledge in real life. Finally, the confluent pattern focuses on intuition and creativity; students want to be unique, explore new ideas, and are not afraid of mistakes or failure. [ Show Less ]