Professional Education Program (PEP)

A Message From The Director, Jean Inda

Professional Education Handbook Directory and Rubrics

Professional Education Handbook (pdf)

Dear Future Teacher,

You are embarking on a path that leads to one of the most personally rewarding and professionally challenging careers. There are thousands of young people waiting for a teacher who will truly make a difference in their lives. That teacher can be you!

Learning to be a teacher is a creative and complex lifelong journey in which you are continually shaping and reshaping your beliefs about what it means to be a truly effective teacher. It requires thoughtfulness, insight, caring, and good judgment. It takes time, energy, and hard work. And as illustrated in our Conceptual Model, it takes intellect and heart to do it well.

The knowledge you have acquired through prior experiences working with children and youth provides an excellent foundation upon which to begin your preparation for becoming a teacher. Please take every opportunity to continue those experiences.

Throughout your professional course work and field experiences, you will be asked to develop your powers of observation, critical judgment, and reflection. You will be asked to pay attention to yourself as a learner and examine your content knowledge and the development of your own particular skills and dispositions. You will be asked to look inward and to examine your mind and your heart based on your deepest beliefs about teaching and your hopes for becoming a teacher.

There is no magic wand to make each of you a wonderful teacher. The key to becoming a great or awesome teacher lies within each of you. Our hope is that we will provide you with many opportunities to foster and nurture a serious engagement with this enterprise of discovery.