In addition, the School of Education outlines the following courses for undergraduates seeking secondary teacher certification: Practicum in Teaching Methods I, Educational Foundations in a Multicultural Society, Reading and Writing in Content Areas, Practicum in Teaching Methods II, Methods for Social Studies, Educational Psychology and Human Development, Methods for History, Directed Teaching in the Secondary School, Seminar: Problems and Principles in the Secondary School, Teaching with Digital Technologies, and Students with Exceptionalities. That is another 11 courses in which to learn about all the other parts that go into the actual teaching new teachers will eventually provide to students in grades 6-12.
Only one of these 25 courses explicitly mentions the teaching of literacy skills in the discipline. Most major colleges and universities seem to follow this trend - just one semester focused on how to teach reading, writing, and other literacy skills to students in your content area. Sometimes, they do not even require that much.
If “all teachers are literacy teachers” as been emphasized and reiterated by leaders, legislators, and others, then why is it that this important focus, this goal for our teachers is only given one semester of preparation? When we have 66% of Michigan 8th graders testing below proficient in reading in 2015, and when that might be considered acceptable because it is roughly the same as the national average, why are our teacher education programs not focusing on this obvious need?
And the same can be said for our shocking lack numeracy skills and nonchalant acceptance of that failure. For some reason, it has become acceptable to freely and proudly admit, “I don’t get math.” Or to say, “Oh, that math is too hard. I give up.” When students (and their parents) struggle with a basic numeracy concept, it is accepted because “math is hard,” but if a student were to give up on learning to read or write, it would be an outrage. In 2015, 71% of Michigan 8th graders tested below proficient in math, which is below the national average. And yet, there is no proclamation that “all teachers are numeracy teachers” even when this problem may be even bigger and more challenging than our need for literacy teaching development. Furthermore, teacher education programs do not include a course called, “Teaching Numeracy in the Content Areas” - not even one semester of it. WHY?
As a young social studies teacher constantly striving to be better, I find myself wondering why. Why didn’t I get more training and focus in teaching literacy throughout my social studies courses? Why didn’t I even consider teaching numeracy skills until talking with my math teacher/statistician husband? Why aren’t these essential skills taught explicitly, emphasized consistently, and discussed frequently?
I wonder why, and yet, as a young social studies teacher, I also vividly remember the overwhelming feeling of the existing expectations of undergraduate work and teacher certification programs. The long list of required courses is daunting and leaves minimal options for other electives or exploratory classes that make college engaging and fun. Adding something to this existing list of demands for students training to be secondary students does not seem feasible or fair. Furthermore, we cannot take away the current requirements because that leaves new teachers at a disadvantage because they may not be marketable for the job market. For example, if you cut out the geography course, but a new teacher wants to apply to a geography position, he may miss out because he is not as prepared as others applicants.
Because we cannot realistically add to or take away from the existing requirements, I argue that we should be shifting our focus throughout teacher preparation programs and professional development opportunities. The importance of teaching literacy and numeracy in all courses must be emphasized early and often for teachers. Even more critically, there must be training in how to use those skills within and across disciplines and how to effectively teach those same skills to students. Some universities and teacher preparation programs are already doing this, but we need more. We need more opportunities to learn about literacy and numeracy across the disciplines, more examples of how these skills are already intertwined into the content we teach, and more time to think through what skills we’re teaching and how we’re teaching them to our students. We need to be better for our students now, and we need to step up and demand this training, focus, and time now.
Sources
Bachelor's secondary teacher certification requirements. School of Education at the University of Michigan. Accessed from http://www.soe.umich.edu/academics/bachelors_degree_programs/uste/uste_requirements/
Requirements for the bachelor of arts degree in history education. Office of the Registrar, Michigan State University. Accessed from https://reg.msu.edu/AcademicPrograms/Text.asp?Section=129#s10181
Secondary education social studies/history comprehensive major. Eastern Michigan University. Accessed from http://catalog.emich.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=20&poid=10400&returnto=4194
Michigan’s 2015 NAEP scores. Students First MI. Accessed from https://www.studentsfirst.org/state/michigan/pages/michigan%E2%80%99s-2015-naep-scores