Mission Statement

The Department of Elementary Education at Utah State University serves the public interest by (1) developing professional educators who can meet students' diverse academic, social, and personal needs and (2) advancing knowledge in the field of education. This mission is accomplished through teaching, scholarship, and professional service, which are informed by continual reflection leading to program improvement.

Adopted 11/8/07

Philosophy of Teaching

Curriculum

  • Knowledge and appreciation of multiple perspectives inform our curricular decisions.
  • Content pedagogy and learning theories form the academic basis of our curriculum.
  • Curriculum enables students to participate effectively in our culturally-rich, global, and changing society.
  • Education addresses students' unique strengths, interests, and needs.
  • Students learn when they have opportunities to make rational choices and solve problems based upon knowledge, values, and accepting responsibility.
  • Assessment of students' knowledge, skills, needs, and abilities and societal and environmental concerns informs our curriculum and teaching.

Instruction

  • Effective teachers create humane environments that are safe, caring, cooperative, stimulating, and engaging, and that foster risk-taking and personal growth.
  • Effective teachers maintain a climate of intellectual rigor and creative problem-solving as they guide students to develop pedagogical content knowledge.
  • Effective teachers are reflective practitioners who examine their personal, professional, and civic roles and responsibilities in a global society.
  • Effective clinical experiences connect theory and practice to university coursework and are strengthened as we maintain and extend collegial relationships with public schools.
  • Effective teachers use research to inform and advance professional practice.
  • Effective teachers promote learning as a life-long process of acquiring knowledge, skills, and dispositions, all of which are built upon critical thinking, sustained practice, aesthetic appreciation, and respect for human dignity.
  • Effective teachers develop and implement culturally inclusive curriculum and instruction that prepares students to participate thoughtfully in democratic, multicultural, and global communities.

By implementing and modeling these beliefs, we prepare our students to become professional educators, scholars, and researchers.

Upcoming Deadlines

  • October 1
    Apply to the Teacher Education Program

  • October 1
    Apply for Student Teaching