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Campus Review
July 3, 2013
Changing the World, One Classroom at a Time
Teacher Education is All About
Experiential Learning at Clayton State
Teacher Ed Graduate
Finds Employment at
Walnut Creek
Elementary
By Samantha Watson, University Relations
“I have always wanted to teach, my poor
sisters had to endure my ‘summer school’
sessions over every summer break grow-
ing up,” comments recent Clayton State
University graduate Ashley Rice of
Stockbridge, Ga.
Realizing this was her dream early in life,
she got right to work after high school,
enrolling in Clayton State and working hard
to complete her B.A. in Middle Grades
Education. She made the Dean’s List three
Clayton State’s Teacher Education Program:
Giving Students a Comprehensive
Understanding of Education
by Lauren Graves, University Relations
Teaching by doing is a central component
in teacher education at Clayton State
University. Learning revolves around the
interplay between engagement in the col-
lege classroom and real-world experien-
tial preparation. Teacher candidates sit
behind the desk as the educated, stand in
front of a class as the educator, and grad-
uate with a comprehensive understanding
of education.
“We’re not holding off on dessert,” says
Dr. Ruth Caillouet, department chair of
Teacher Education at Clayton State.
“Instead of saying, ‘wait until you gradu-
ate,’ experiential learning shows them a
tangible reason for what they are doing,
and the future is very clear for what they
will become.”
What they will become depends on the
education program chosen by the candi-
date. Undergraduate candidates earn a
Bachelor of Arts in Middle Grades
Teacher Education (grades four through
eight) or a bachelor’s in a specific disci-
pline (English, History, Music or
Mathematics) with an emphasis on teach-
ing secondary education (grades six
through 12). The music education pro-
gram leads to a bachelor’s degree and K-
12 certification.
Graduate level candidates pursue a Master
of Arts in Teaching – English or a Master
of Arts in Teaching – Mathematics. For
undergraduates, the road to the classroom
begins as early as the sophomore year.
Candidates tutor, observe and teach short
lessons two days a week at their assigned
metro-Atlanta school. By spring semester
of their senior year, candidates spend all
day, every day, at the internship site with
a mentor teacher. During that last semes-
ter, the candidate teaches full-time for six
weeks – an invaluable class act.
“It is only through the experience of being
in the classroom that one can truly know
what it looks, feels, and smells like to be
a teacher,” shares Clayton State class of
2011 alumna Chiara Browning, recipient
of the Georgia Power New Teacher
Assistance Grant and Social Studies
department head at Hapeville Charter
School. “I look at the experiential learning
aspect as baptism by fire with a safety net.
We are put into the classroom environ-
ment, but have a mentoring teacher
there…. Having her there gave me the
confidence to try things that I may not
have if I had been alone.”
In addition to a mentor teacher, candidates
pursuing an emphasis in teaching receive
input from a Clayton State faculty super-
visor within their discipline. Twenty fac-
ulty members from across mathematics,
English, science, history and music devote
a portion of their time to teaching the can-
didates in the Clayton State classroom and
observing the candidates in the field.
“We have faculty going out to work with
students and watch them teach,” says
Caillouet. “It’s a more complete process
than folks usually get to see. Often you
don’t see the professional that the student
becomes, but we get to see it a lot sooner.”
Clayton State University is all about
dreams made real. And, a major aspect
of making those dreams real is through
experiential learning.
As Clayton State President Dr. Thomas
Hynes likes to point out, the
University’s mission statement reads in
part, “Clayton State University culti-
vates an environment of engaged,
experienced-based learning, enriched
by active community service that pre-
pares students of diverse ages and
backgrounds in their lives and careers.”
Nowhere at Clayton State is that truer
than in the teacher education unit,
where experiential learning not only
thrives, but is the key to both the suc-
cess of the program’s graduates, and
the students they go on to teach.
Indeed, it is the experiential time
“doing” teaching that makes the out-
come of a Clayton State teacher educa-
tion degree a dream made real for
everyone involved in the program.
Teacher Ed Program, cont’d., p. 9
Experiential, cont’d., p. 12
Rice, cont’d., p. 11