Well, first of all, Cleveland State has been the best decision I've ever made in my entire life.
When I decided to become a teacher
I didn't know which university I wanted to go to,
and immediately in my first semester
I was placed inside of elementary schools,
and every single semester I was in a brand-new school,
developing relationships with students, and teachers and principals.
So, there are three rotations that students go through.
In special education the first rotation is focused more
on learning about the foundations of education,
learning about the role of the school in society,
learning about how schools work logistically in communities.
The second rotation really digs into the practical aspects of teaching.
So there's a course on assessment and a course on instruction.
And the third rotation is about
spending a lot of time in the field
and really fine-tuning things before you go into student teaching,
which is a much more independent experience.
The biggest benefit of having the hands-on experiences
that they provide us with at Cleveland State
is that you develop confidence in yourself
as a professional and as a teacher.
So, when you start off,
even if you love students,
you might not know if you're going to be a great teacher.
But then you start exploring yourself as an educator,
you start playing with the students
and feeling comfortable,
and making those friendships and connections with them.
And I would say that those experiences,
more than learning the content that you would in a classroom setting,
in terms of a college classroom setting,
those experiences have made me the teacher
that I am now and that I will be in the future.
It is extremely beneficial
to have as much time as you can in the classroom,
actually applying what you're learning
to working directly with students as soon as possible.
I think that what we're trying to do
is move more towards an education model
that a lot of occupations have used for a long time,
more towards closer to apprenticeship.
You see it a lot in the medical field, for instance.
It helps people figure out
exactly what group that they want to be working with in the future,
helps them choose what age they're most interested in,
what subject matter they really enjoy teaching.
And it helps them, kind of, not form bad habits,
to get the right habits from the start.
I would say our professors at Cleveland State
are not only passionate leaders,
but they are experts in education.
Every single professor I've had I look up to as a mentor,
and I've developed relationships with them
that I will continue to have.
People who go through this program,
who have more time with students
before they get into a student teaching experience,
are gonna be a lot more successful in their first try,
and therefore get to try a lot more advanced skills,
cause they're not bumping through learning the basics.
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