Secondary Education Program Description

> See also Program Requirements

General Education | Teaching Field(s)
Additional Teaching Field(s) | Teacher Education

The secondary education program prepares you to teach in grades 6 through 12. Secondary educators teach in high schools, junior high schools, and middle schools. Secondary teachers prepare to teach in one or more content areas. A general description of the three parts of the 126 credit program is listed below.

General Education

Courses in communications, humanities, social sciences, quantitative sciences, and natural sciences provide you, the prospective secondary teacher, with broad content background. A teacher is, first of all, a well-educated citizen. The general education portion of the program is directed toward this goal.

Teaching Field(s)

In-depth preparation in one teaching field (subject/content area) is required as a part of your preparation to be a secondary education teacher. Ask the personnel in the Center for Student & Professional Services, 13 Bluemont Hall, for a list of required classes and the name of the faculty contact person for the teaching fields in which you are interested. Teaching fields for which preparation programs exist at K-State are:

• Agriculture Education
• Art (PDF)
• Biological Science (PDF)
• Business (PDF)
• Chemistry (PDF)
• Earth Science (PDF)
• English (PDF)
• English/Journalism (PDF)
• Family & Consumer Sciences Education
• Journalism (PDF)
• Mathematics (PDF)
• Modern Languages:
     French (PDF)
     German (PDF)
     Spanish (PDF)
• Music Education
• Physics (PDF)
• Social Studies (PDF)
• Speech/Theatre (PDF)

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Additional Teaching Field(s)

In today’s market, teachers prepared to teach in more than one subject area are in greatest demand. Therefore, it is highly advisable to prepare for a second teaching field. This is accomplished with the wise selection of general education electives and other free electives. You should work closely with an advisor to plan the additional teaching field. The Career and Employment Services Office at K-State can provide advice about which teaching field or combinations of fields are currently in greatest demand.

KSDE currently allows teachers licensed at the Secondary level to add another 6-12 endorsement by completing 50% of the required coursework, including the method course, and passing the Secondary PRAXIS content test. This policy will be reviewed by KSDE in June 2012. Please talk to your advisor for more information.

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Teacher Education

The teacher education portion of the secondary education program includes courses in teaching as a career, human development, educational psychology, methods of teaching, foundations of education, exceptional children, and multicultural and interpersonal relations. The use of microcomputers and other instructional media is included, along with ways to help students with reading in the content areas.

In addition to college class work, there are clinical experiences that enable you to practice teaching skills.

Student teaching occurs near the end of the program. With the guidance and support of a cooperating teacher and a college supervisor, you will gradually assume responsibility for planning and teaching in the secondary classroom for a full semester or more. Placement may be tailored to meet the needs of students preparing to teach in more than one area. For more information on your student teaching semester, please refer to Professional Semester (Student Teaching).