The President's Page - December 1, 1999


The Teacher Preparation Program

For over 30 years Princeton's Teacher Preparation Program has prepared Princeton students for careers in elementary or secondary school teaching. With concerns about the quality of teaching increasing, with the 6-16 age group growing, and with the teaching force aging--fully a third to a half of current elementary and secondary teaching staff are expected to retire within the next decade--the need for excellent and well-educated teachers is acute.

Approximately 25 to 30 students in each Princeton class complete this interdepartmental program. In recent years, student interest has been fairly equally split between primary and secondary certification. Students who wish to teach in a secondary school setting may select certification in art, English, social studies, mathematics, sciences, or languages. In addition to regular course work, students complete an eight-week "practicum" during which they assume the responsibilities of full-time classroom teachers, and a Senior Seminar on Education. The seminar examines philosophical concepts of teaching, models of the teaching-learning dynamic, and case studies of teachers, students, and schools.

The practice teaching component is arranged with cooperating schools in the area. Each student works "on site" with a teacher associated with the program who serves as both supervisor and mentor. Student-teachers spend a minimum of 90 hours teaching and at least 150 hours in the classroom. Staff members of the Teacher Preparation Program observe each student in the classroom at least once a week and write detailed critiques of their teaching performance.

Learning to teach is the primary objective of the program. But in teaching others and in examining different philosophies of teaching, students also learn how to improve their own learning skills. A recurring comment about the seminar is how much students benefit from the senior seminar group projects. Groups must prepare two- to three-day teaching units to cover a complex topic or inter- disciplinary subject. Each group is selected to take advantage of student similarities and differences combining different disciplines or mixing students interested in secondary with those focusing on primary education. Last year students concentrating in English, history, biology and computer science designed a high school course unit that examined the influence of technology on social change. Moving from exploration of symbols and metaphors in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, to analysis of heart-rates in frogs to show bio-electrical effects on nervous systems, to the influence of the philosophies of Voltaire, Locke, and Jefferson on politics and culture, to the impact of the current telecommunications revolution on society, the course unit succeeded in connecting diverse subjects and approaches to form a coherent and engaging whole.

The objective of the assignment was to develop high school students' abilities in a variety of disciplines, but designing the course unit also proved to be an intellectually and pedagogically rewarding team planning exercise for its creators.

Students in the program frequently win recognition from the State of New Jersey. Last year, for example, four of the sixteen state-wide Commissioner's Distinguished Teacher Candidate Awards went to Princeton students. All those who complete the Teacher Preparation Program earn certificates that are valid in most states, and about three-quarters of those completing the program pursue careers in teaching. An extraordinarily high percentage-80 percent-go on to do graduate work. Some graduates take up teaching positions in schools founded by Princeton graduates. For example, a graduate of this year's program is teaching in the Eagle Rock School in Colorado. Founded by Robert Burkhardt '62, the school aims to assist students with troubled histories at other schools.

In addition to training new teachers, the Teacher Preparation Program runs three major outreach programs for surrounding school communities that help experienced teachers learn new skills or explore new directions. One such program, Teachers as Scholars, began this fall. Targeted to area teachers and led by Princeton faculty, the program consists of 3-4 day-long seminars spread over a number of weeks. With the addition this year of programs sponsored by the Center for Teaching and Learning, we anticipate additional new possibilities for campus exchange on the art of teaching.

Much has changed in the teaching profession since the Teacher Preparation Program was established in 1968, but student evaluation remains consistently high. Students describe practice teaching as among the most challenging and difficult experiences of their undergraduate careers.

But with equal frequency, they rank this teaching experi-ence as among the most rewarding of their four years at Princeton.

I hope you will visit the program's website to learn more about the program: http://webware.princeton.edu/teacher/.


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