Admitted students complete a five-semester sequence of professional courses after admission to the program. The professional methods courses and clinical experiences must be followed sequentially and taken in consecutive semesters. Class schedules for the professional sequence courses are determined in advance. Courses below are Curriculum and Instruction (Curric) listings unless otherwise indicated.
Practicum experiences provide a school-based setting for students to develop their professional and classroom skills. These experiences generally begin a few weeks after the start of the semester and are approximately nine weeks in length. Students will usually spend three half-days at their assigned schools. Concurrent registration in the methods courses provides students with an opportunity to learn about, and then apply, teaching techniques in a classroom.
The full-semester student teaching assignment is the capstone experience of the professional sequence. Through it students expand upon the activities, responsibilities and expectations encountered during the practicum experiences. Student teachers will function as regular staff members in their assigned schools and also attend a seminar on campus one afternoon each week. Student teachers are required to follow the school day, school calendar, vacation days and policies of the school where they work. For more information about the field experience portions of the program, see the Elementary Education Student Teaching Handbook.
Grade Level Distribution Requirements. Students should be aware of the grade level distribution requirements that apply to the three practica and student teaching experience (367 Literacy, 373 Math/Art, 440 Social Studies/Science practica, and 464/465/498 student teaching). It is required that students earning an EC-MC certification have experience working with three of the following levels: PreK, K, 1-2, and 3-6. Similarly, it is required that students earning a MC-EA certification have experience working with the following grade levels: 3-5 and 6-8. MC-EA students may be placed in grade levels 1-2 for their practica but will only be able to student teach in grade levels 3-5 and 6-8.
Diversity Requirement. To help insure that program graduates are prepared to teach all students, at least one of the field-based experiences in the professional sequence (excluding the first semester) must be completed in a school that has demographic characteristics qualifying it as "culturally diverse." Diverse schools are designated by the school district as having numbers of children at or above the average percent of children in the district who are racially/ethnically diverse and/or who qualify for free/reduced lunch. Of the four semesters students are in the school for the Curric 367 Literacy practicum, 373 Math/Art practicum, 440 Social Studies/Science practicum, and 464/465/498 student teaching experience, at least one must be in a diverse school. A list of schools that qualify as culturally diverse is available in the elementary student teaching offices in 556 or 574 Teacher Education Building.
Additional Wisconsin State certification and licensing requirements include Minority Group Relations, Conflict Resolution, and Phonics.
Elementary Education students are encouraged to study abroad. Students wishing to do so must plan to go abroad before beginning the professional program sequence. Students go abroad during the fall semester immediately after acceptance into the program; these students will be assigned to start the professional sequence in the spring semester. The Elementary Education program cannot defer the start of the professional sequence for an entire year.