Teaching
Excellence
8
Graduate Education Program
Promotes Lifelong Learning
By Karla Pennington ‘00
“Teachers are also learners” underlies the graduate
teacher education program at Siena Heights. The
master’s degree program promotes an environment
in which professors and graduate students interact
for mutual understanding and appreciation for each
other.
One of the
most respected
teacher education programs
in Michigan,
Siena’s graduate
program attracts
teachers from
throughout the
Midwest. Locally, the impact
of the Siena
Heights graduate
program “far
surpasses
typical graduate
education for teachers because of the cooperative
ventures with the Lenawee Intermediate School
District and Adrian Public Schools,” according to
program director Peggy Treece Myles.
“We impact thousands of K-12 students in Lenawee
County. I would say there is at least one Siena
master’s program graduate in each school building
in the county. Some graduates even come back
to teach in our master’s program,” Myles said. At
any given time, there are about 75 Lenawee County
teachers taking graduate teacher education courses
at Siena Heights.
About 90 percent of Siena’s graduate education
students are certified and / or practicing teachers
who desire to learn more about the education field
and to become better teachers, Myles said. Some
are completing master’s degrees, while others are
meeting the State of Michigan requirement of six
credit hours of study every five years to maintain
teaching certification. Still other program particicontinued next page last column
years. “My cooperating teacher helped me
develop the integrity I brought to the classroom. Each child is unique and deserves to
be treated as such. I had to teach them to
listen and to pay attention because what I
was teaching was crucial to their development.”
the new Performing Arts Center from
cramped quarters in Sacred Heart Hall.
“Besides our surroundings changing,”
Griffin recalls, “we adjusted our teaching methods from a lecture format to a
curriculum that involves the full learning
experience.”
Mary also learned that “learning should be
fun!”
When Griffin first came to Siena Heights,
she taught the elementary education
courses while the late Sister Eileen
Rice, OP ‘68 handled the secondary and
vocational courses. Sister Eileen taught
the undergraduate and graduate education courses simultaneously until the two
programs were separated in 1988.
Changing opportunities in the ‘70s
In the 1970s, Siena Heights updated education requirements and course work due
to new demands for teacher certification
from the Michigan Department of Education. Both the elementary and secondary
teaching programs mandated that students
complete liberal arts studies, an academic
major and a minor, plus professional preparation. The elementary teaching program
offered an option for three minors instead
of a major and a minor. The college also offered occupational teacher certification for
students who transferred to Siena Heights
with an associate’s degree in allied health,
wage-earning home economics, or trade
and industry, and for students who were
teaching at vocational technical schools but
desired certification. All teacher education students took part in seminars and
workshops in education, learned curriculum trends, and discovered how to handle
children with learning problems.
The stringent 1980s
In the 1980s, teacher education requirements at Siena Heights again became
more stringent. Applicants had to
participate in one clinical experience,
pass all college competencies and obtain
recommendations from three faculty
members, all prior to acceptance into the
program. Reflecting the program’s arts
affiliation, teacher education participants
were required to audition for three theatre
presentations and work on one stage
crew as well as taking part in two nonschool teaching experiences and gaining
30 hours of observation before student
teaching. The observation requirement
was later increased to 100 hours and now
stands at 250 hours.
Until the late 1970s,
the teacher education
Astounding placement rates, Siena Heights
continues to supprogram was housed
in the college’s applied superior instruction, and port teaching as a
constantly changing
science division with
Today’s
business and criminal
the high expectations of art form:must attend
students
justice majors and concentrated on manageveryone involved in the 10 Siena arts events
and participate in
ing the classroom. In
1978, teacher educaprogram seem to guarantee three theatre department workshops.
tion became part of a
new arts and education the continued strength of the Today’s candidates
for the teacher
division, and began
program
focusing on a broad
teacher education program education pass the
also must
view of education—
Michigan Test For
how informal settings, at Siena Heights.
Teacher Certificaformal institutions,
tion’s basic skills
social experiences and
test and provide two
the business world all
impact learning. Students were encouraged letters of recommendation. Two more
letters from Siena faculty members