Future teachers to hone skills in Liberty schools

Education majors from Northwest’s College of Education and Human Services will take part in a first-of-its-kind program this spring when they participate in a three-week residential teaching practicum in cooperation with Liberty Public Schools.

In the past, practicums for students in Northwest’s education college have taken place on the Maryville campus in Horace Mann Laboratory School, where future teachers spend about two hours a day working in the classroom over seven or eight weeks.

The residential practicum, by way of contrast, places Northwest students in the classroom about five hours a day working with children who are enrolled in the district’s early childhood program or attending kindergarten through fourth grade.

“This is a culminating course for students who have completed their curriculum in reading and language arts or in early childhood,” said Dr. Barbara Crossland, chair of Northwest’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction. “It allows them to acquire hands-on experience in real school classrooms so they can put what they have learned from their professors into practice under the supervision of certified teachers.”

While observing and helping teach at either the district’s Franklin Elementary School or its Early Childhood Center, the Northwest juniors and seniors will live in an extended-stay hotel a short drive from both facilities and the Northwest Kansas City Center, which is located in an office building adjoining the Liberty High School campus.

On school days, a large van will transport ten practicum participants to Franklin Elementary and six early childhood education majors to the ECC. In the afternoons, both groups will take part in seminars at the center, where they will discuss and evaluate their experiences.

In addition to observing and critiquing the in-service teachers to whose classrooms they are assigned, the practicum students will formulate lesson content, write learning objectives, assist with assessment and help create teaching unit instructional plans. They will also participate in home visits and compile a portfolio containing examples of their work and reflections on the practicum’s impact on their professional development.

As the practicum progresses, Crossland said, the students will do less observing and take more responsibility for actual classroom instruction.

The residential practicum is being partially funded through a Northwest Culture of Quality grant. Participating students, who will prepare most of their own evening meals, are paying $185 each to help defray the cost of room and board.

For more information, please contact:

Anthony Brown,
News Bureau Manager
E-Mail: abrown@nwmissouri.edu
Phone: 660.562.1704
Fax: 660.562.1900

Northwest Missouri State University
219 Administration Building,
800 University Drive
Maryville, MO 64468

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