Auburn University has a well respected Elementary Education major, which owes much of its success to the practicum program included in their curriculum.

Once a student enters their final year in the College of Education, they have to complete a practicum, which is student teaching. Each student is assigned a classroom to assist a current teacher. They are given full control of the classroom, and learn how to develop lesson plans and get their first taste of teaching their own classroom.

Before students begin their practicum, they have completed many different classes that help them prepare for their student teaching. They complete classes on the way students learn the best and also refresher courses on math basics, language arts and history.

Julia McNeel, a senior in elementary education, completed her practicum last semester and said, “I really knew that I had chosen the right career path during my practicum because I enjoyed being in the classroom every day, watching my students learn and develop their knowledge and skills.”

Students are assigned classrooms based on certain criteria. In order to complete your student teaching, students must complete all prerequisites, maintain a minimum of a 2.5 GPA, a grade of a C or better in all professional studies courses, a passing score on the appropriate Alabama Prospective Teacher Testing Program, a clear background check and departmental approval. Once they have met all of these criteria they are then assigned to a classroom. Students who have the highest GPA are assigned with better teachers in the closest counties.

“The teacher I was assigned to was great, she really let me take control of the classroom and gave me a good taste of what it is going to be like when I have my first classroom,” McNeel said.

When College of Education majors enter their internship they become a “real” teacher for that semester. They build lesson plans, create relationships with the students and their parents, and attend PTA meetings. They are immersed in the world of teaching, which will better prepare them for their first classroom.

During their practicum, each student teacher is given their “two weeks”, which is when they have complete control of the classroom for two weeks. They teach all subjects and are in charge of creating the lesson plans with appropriate activities for each day. This is a time for the student teachers to learn their strengths and weaknesses because they are usually observed by their assigned teacher and Auburn professor.

“I was able to see what areas I needed to improve on in my teaching style and get the feel of being a ‘real teacher’ for consecutive days,” McNeel said about her “two week” teaching experience.

What makes Auburn students in the College of Education different from other majors is part of their learning experience is actually doing what they have been taught for four years. They are able to take the knowledge and skills they have learned in the classroom and put them into real life experience.