What We Emphasize

• Engaging learning activities
• How to understand the learner and the learning process.
• How to apply your knowledge, skills, and competencies to manage a classroom, and measure/improve the intellectual progress of your students.
• How to balance the affective (emotional) and cognitive (mental) elements of teaching.
• How to provide effective educational experiences in a multi-cultural society.
• How to be especially effective in your area of specialization.
• How you can make a difference as a teacher in the classroom when you care about your students.

How We Teach

• Our faculty members have an average of 20 years of experience in every facet of education, including various disciplines, grade levels, and administration.
• The 1:15 teacher-student ratio makes it possible for us to take a very personal approach, and our emphasis is on involving you in the process.
• We emphasize applying what you've learned and using the latest tools of the trade.

What You Learn

• Augmenting our courses is an early field experience program which begins when you take Introduction to Education I and culminates the semester before student teaching.
• Your clinical experiences are carefully supervised by the faculty and provide opportunities to work in public school classrooms with real students and teachers.
• You will have the privilege of participating in an internship, which is required to complete our state-approved program. 
• Your internship is conducted in cooperation with the Polk County Public School system during the last semester of your senior year.

How You Benefit

• You will have have passed the Florida Teacher Certification Examination (FTCE) and received the college's professional endorsement.
• You will be eligible for initial certification in Florida and most other states.
• The majority of our graduates go immediately into teaching, and our first-year graduates do exceptionally well in the job market.
• You will have compiled a professional portfolio that documents your development of teaching competencies.
• You will have completed a wide variety of early in-field experiences ranging from observations, working with individual and small groups of students, to teaching a whole class lesson.
• You will have had the opportunity to develop computer skills and demonstrate competence in using instructional technology in a modern educational computing lab.
• Many of our graduates go on to graduate study and are readily accepted at many fine universities, such as Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, and Minnesota.