GE-Secondary Teacher
GE – Secondary Teacher
Do you have a passion for sharing your knowledge?
Do you know that new competency-based standards, known as the Common Core are being adopted across the nation?
Have you considered becoming a teacher?
For the last several years, newspaper headlines have emphasized teacher lay-offs, but those days of poor job prospects and unstable working conditions are now behind us.
The U.S. Department of Education predicts a national shortage of teachers within the next decade. Even in California, the K-12 student population is growing faster than the supply of new teachers. UC Riverside Dean Douglas Mitchell warns us that California is now facing a crisis – not enough teachers.
The U.S. Department of Education publishes a comprehensive listing of areas within the U.S. and its territories and possessions (including places like U.S. Virgin Islands!) and subject matters in which there are teacher shortages. The U.S. Department of Education also has a student loan forgiveness program if you took out federal loans to pay for your education and want to become a teacher.
With the introduction of the Common Core in California, we will need new, well-trained teachers to meet the demand!
Unique among all CSU campuses, CSULB’s secondary education credential programs are located in the disciplines: For the Social Science Credential Program, this means the Department of History. Our program offers a Social Sciences Subject Matter waiver course of study that complements the History major. The subject matter program provides just that training that the federal and state governments are demanding: Competency in the disciplines.
In fact, the American Historical Association just recognized Professors Tim Keirn and Eileen Luhr for their work in training highly-qualified teachers by awarding them the Gilbert Prize for the best essay in history pedagogy published this year.. As the award announcement noted, “’Keirn and Luhr not only report on the diminishing role of history departments in preparing students to teach history in the secondary school system, but also show that new teachers who have combined rigorous undergraduate training in history with traditional pedagogic training in history education do better in the high school classroom,’” noted Paul G.E. Clemens, the 2013 Asher Prize committee chair and professor of history at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.
Read the award-winning essay here .
See how you can double- and triple-count your waiver program courses, History B.A. courses, and General Education courses by downloading this form.
Also, remember: Becoming a secondary school educator is a two-part process. Students need to take the SSCP waiver + History B.A. courses + pre-credential education courses + education courses. You must take certain credential courses after you graduate with your B.A. See Professor Keirn or Professor Luhr for advising on how to best accomplish these requirements as an undergraduate and be ready to participate fully in the post-B.A. credential program once you graduate!
See what some of our recent credential graduates have to say about their training at CSULB.