Middle School Teacher Education Major

Our Upside-Down Curriculum allows you to start taking courses in your Middle School Teacher Education degree program (and getting hands-on experience in the field) beginning in the first semester of your first year.

Why Middle School Teacher Education?

The passion of those who choose the Middle School Education major is to work with students during the stage of rapid intellectual and physical development, between 10 and 15 years old (think Ron, Hermione and Harry in J.K. Rowling's first four Harry Potter books).

At the beginning of middle school, education takes on new meaning and becomes more challenging—just as the students’ social and physiological life is changing at a radical pace. It’s an exciting time in the lives of these students and an awesome period in which to have a profound impact on someone’s life through excellent teaching.

Aside from being a rewarding and challenging teaching experience, middle school education represents great opportunity for today's education majors. More job openings exist for teaching middle school students than any other age group .

Why Middle School Teacher Education at Champlain?

As a Middle School Teacher Education major at Champlain, you'll get grounding in adolescent psychology and learning theory during your very first semester. You'll also dive deeply into curriculum design, learn specific strategies for integrating technology into the classroom, and begin to create your professional portfolio.

You'll complete supervised field experiences in area middle and high schools that correlate with each semester's coursework, and then spend the final semester of your senior year student-teaching under the support and direction of a classroom teacher and a Champlain College instructor.

Your course of study will depend on your subject matter interest. For licensure in Middle School English/Language Arts, you'll focus on literature, writing and drama courses.

For Middle School Social Studies, you'll focus on history, geography, economics and government. Because middle grade licensure requires two (18-credit minimum) concentrations, you are assured of mastery in a broad range of age-appropriate subject matter.

You'll graduate eligible for dual licensure in Middle School English/Language Arts and Middle School Social Studies in the state of Vermont. Because Vermont licensure is recognized by 47 other states, you'll have the flexibility to teach English/language arts and social studies in grades 5 through 9 nearly anywhere in the U.S.

As you learn teaching techniques in the college classroom, you immediately get to apply them in local middle school classrooms. You will start out having observation experiences and move on through tutoring, preparing lesson plans and giving individual class lessons, culminating in a full-time student teacher residency. By the time you finish Champlain, you will have had far more field experience than the majority of your peers from other education programs.
Gain invaluable international experience working with ESL and other students in Burlington's nationally recognized refugee resettlement communities, and at schools in other countries as a member of Champlain's Study Abroad program.
Tap into the 5,000-volume youth and children's literature collection in the Miller Information Commons, Champlain's extraordinary library.
Learn to use state-of-the-art technology in the classroom and create an electronic portfolio to showcase your work as you interview for teaching positions.
Get recommended for Vermont licensure: meeting requirements for Praxis I and II tests, earning a 3.0 GPA or higher and successfully completing full-time student teaching, will make you eligible for Vermont teaching licensure, which is recognized in 48 states.