Education minor offers students teaching choice with majors

By Kara Swarbrick
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

The United States has a severe lack of teachers, but Norwich is doing what it can for the situation by offering education/teacher licensure as a minor here on campus.

"Students seeking licensure as elementary and secondary teachers must declare a minor in education/teacher licensure," says the Norwich University website.

This little-known program is gradually building more of a presence on campus, due in part to its new program head, Diane Byrne, who took over when the previous head retired. Byrne, an assistant professor of psychology and education, and the teacher education program licensure officer for elementary and secondary, is in charge of the minor.

"I work with the students and oversee the development of their portfolio, which takes them all the years that they're here," Byrne said. "They begin working on it during their first foundation courses, through student teaching, and then I bring the portfolio to the University licensure committee, where there's a second reading, and then the committee decides whether the portfolio is accepted or not, and then it's said whether we recommend this student for certification as a teacher."

The portfolio includes a lot of reflection and consists of an introduction, short papers, a reflective essay about their time here at Norwich regarding their teacher education experiences, statements from faculty about their potential as a teacher, as well as many other small sections that add up.

"[Getting a minor in education] involves two years' worth of courses that interface with your major," Byrne said. "Students need to take four foundation courses and some methods courses, in addition to doing your student teaching and having the practicum experience and some field observations."

The minor is supposed to take two years, which is more feasible for a student who isn't also doing a full-time major. The balancing of the work can be tricky.

"I recommend that students start their education study as quickly as freshman year, because even though it's a two-year rotation of courses, when you are taking it with a major, it's really helpful to get started sooner rather than later, so you can finish in a four-year period of time," Byrne suggested. "Some majors are more challenging than others as far as fitting the expectations of the education program."

"Basically, the students can pick whatever major they want. We find that people who are interested in elementary teaching gravitate towards psychology as a major," Byrne said. "I have several elementary teachers who are English majors and another major [who] is going to be coming down the pike is environmental science, so [pretty much] any major that the prospective teacher is interested in is a feasible major to do."

"Typically, candidates for elementary licensure major in psychology, although with careful planning students majoring in the other liberal arts and science disciplines may also complete the licensure program," says the website. "Candidates for secondary licensure must major in a discipline for which Norwich is approved to grant licensure: English, mathematics, science (biology, chemistry, environmental studies, and physics), and social studies (history, international studies, and political science)."

"There are more elementary students than secondary students, though our secondary program is growing," Byrne said.

Although there are no talks of making education a major at the moment, Byrne said, "personally speaking, that is what I would like to see happen someday."

"The word minor is not a good word, because sometimes when people think of 'minor' they think it's not as important, but I'd like to think of the teacher education program as being able to interface with the majors," Byrne said.

This interfacing is the reason that education is a still a minor instead of a major. The Vermont Department of Education declared a few years ago that they did not want to have an education major; they wanted students to have either a liberal arts major or a science major, thinking that that would make a more well-rounded teacher in the classroom, according to Byrne.

"Significant learning occurs through modeling and reflection. Through their college courses and in their work in schools, students are expected to become keen observers of behavior and reflect on what they see," says the Norwich website. "The ability to critically analyze the value of various teaching and learning strategies is a necessary part of being a member of the teaching profession. The joining of theory and practice should occur in the context of the students' own learning."

"As a teacher education student, there are five required psychology courses, so even if you choose to major in something other than psychology, you would still have a psychology background and foundation because of the developmental stages you would be working with," Byrne said. "This is both for elementary and secondary students that we recommend these psychology courses."

With all the courses required, a teacher education student would be comparable to a student with a double major. Not only are they taking the requirements for their major, which keeps students busy enough, but they are also learning about curriculum, the legal aspects of teaching, the various content areas in education, as well as psychology courses such as child development.

The education/student licensure program is working on building a relationship with Northfield schools that would allow Norwich student teachers to have classrooms there, since it would be closer. This would also involve having the Northfield teachers come to speak at Norwich. The program is also "evolving to have a much more field-based, practical model where we have more field experiences," according to Byrne.

Byrne has been trying to establish the education program as a community on campus. She organizes luncheons, speakers, and talks about practical issues with the students. They even had a competition to name the newsletter, which keeps the people involved with the program informed.

"[I am] generally trying to be available to the students, being here, letting them know that they can find me," Byrne said.

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