Majors from A to Z: education
Olga Malyavskaya Feature Editor
Issue date: 4/9/08 Section: Features
For those who want to become teachers, Lock Haven is a place to go.
Based on the Pennsylvania Department of Education certification programs, the education majors offered at LHU include early childhood education (preschool through the third grade), elementary education (kindergarten through the sixth grade), health and physical education, set up to be K-12, and special education that will give you the skills to help exceptional people throughout their life-time.
In addition, one can obtain a secondary education degree focusing on teaching a certain content area (English, foreign languages, math, social studies and sciences) in middle and high schools.
According to Dr. Terry Brink, the chairperson of elementary education department, those who are thinking about getting a degree in special, early childhood or elementary education need to enjoy working with children.
"[They] are usually people that have a sincere love of young children and want to work with them to help them learn how to learn," he said.
As for secondary education, it is focusing on working with teenagers which can be quite challenging, though, as Brink pointed out, a teacher will be able to present and discuss more difficult and complicated content material and the ideas and concepts that go with that.
"Secondary teachers need to be content experts in their fields, but then they also often want others to share that excitement," he said.
No matter what program you choose, being passionate about teaching and interacting with students is a must.
"Teaching is a demanding job with long hours after work," Brink said. "Papers to grade and new assignments to prepare keep one working late all the time. You need to be comfortable working with an audience. People will be watching you all of the time."
If you feel that teaching is something you really want to do in your life, then be prepared for some serious challenges.
First of all, to get a teaching certificate, the students are required to have a GPA of 3.00 or higher, but some school districts want to see students with 3.5 or higher, explained Brink.
Based on the Pennsylvania Department of Education certification programs, the education majors offered at LHU include early childhood education (preschool through the third grade), elementary education (kindergarten through the sixth grade), health and physical education, set up to be K-12, and special education that will give you the skills to help exceptional people throughout their life-time.
In addition, one can obtain a secondary education degree focusing on teaching a certain content area (English, foreign languages, math, social studies and sciences) in middle and high schools.
According to Dr. Terry Brink, the chairperson of elementary education department, those who are thinking about getting a degree in special, early childhood or elementary education need to enjoy working with children.
"[They] are usually people that have a sincere love of young children and want to work with them to help them learn how to learn," he said.
As for secondary education, it is focusing on working with teenagers which can be quite challenging, though, as Brink pointed out, a teacher will be able to present and discuss more difficult and complicated content material and the ideas and concepts that go with that.
"Secondary teachers need to be content experts in their fields, but then they also often want others to share that excitement," he said.
No matter what program you choose, being passionate about teaching and interacting with students is a must.
"Teaching is a demanding job with long hours after work," Brink said. "Papers to grade and new assignments to prepare keep one working late all the time. You need to be comfortable working with an audience. People will be watching you all of the time."
If you feel that teaching is something you really want to do in your life, then be prepared for some serious challenges.
First of all, to get a teaching certificate, the students are required to have a GPA of 3.00 or higher, but some school districts want to see students with 3.5 or higher, explained Brink.
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