Academic Success

Penny Zink

Elementary Education Program Coordinator

Welcome to UNM’s Professional Program in Elementary (K-8) Education!

In this rigorous and challenging program, we expect pre-service teachers to do the following:

• exhibit ethical and caring behavior toward all students
• develop academic and classroom skills that reflect competency in the areas of content knowledge, social and cultural understanding, and the art of pedagogy
• complete the established professional sequence as outlined in the program

In this program, you also have the opportunity to work in cohorts to form a learning community that builds lasting bonds – where genuine care and rigor matters as you learn to teach K-8 students. In your cohort, you will also have access to passionate faculty, supervisors, and cooperating teachers, who exhibit sincere interest in your personal development.

While you take your first two semesters of professional licensure classes with your cohort classmates, you also have the opportunity to apply your knowledge to classroom teaching for two days/week, before starting your final semester of full-time student teaching.

In your final semester, you will have opportunities to be creative in your teaching and will be expected to work toward taking over full-time instruction in that classroom for three weeks.

At your school site, you will also participate in community and program sponsored activities, and you learn to become an advocate and ambassador for education.

The UNM faculty and staff are excited to support you through this gratifying journey!

Dr. Sherry Jones

Secondary Education Program Coordinator

Do you enjoy working with adolescents and young adults in grades 7-12?

Are you interested in teaching in one or two academic subject areas such as: Mathematics, Social Studies/History, Sciences, Language Arts, or World Languages? If so, becoming a Secondary Education teacher in Middle or High Schools might be a good fit for you!

While learning to become a Secondary Education teacher is complex and challenging, it is also a rewarding profession that permits talented adults to share their content-specific knowledge with capable youth.

Student teaching is an apprenticeship that straddles two places to learn — a working classroom and the university. Like an apprentice, Preservice Teachers gradually become more involved in a classroom over the course of the year. In the fall semester, student teachers develop basic skills about teaching while spending 10 or more hours/week in the Cooperating Teacher’s classroom.

During this experience, student teachers gain experience, observe, assist, and they also deliver their first solo lessons. In the spring semester, student teachers will be present at the host school full time and assume greater responsibilities.

During the spring semester, student teachers, with the support of the Cooperating Teacher, take over planning and instruction for a minimum of 1⁄2 of the Cooperating Teacher’s course load.

By the end of the year, preservice teachers who have met the requirements for licensure as New Mexico Secondary Education teachers, will be equipped to assume full responsibility for their own classrooms.</