5 Things You May not Know About Elementary Education

Student Ambassadors

10 hours ago

2 min read

Rachel O'Malley

McKay Student Ambassador

Elementary Education

Being an Elementary Education major at the McKay school is exciting and I am always learning something new. This post will discuss five things you may not know about Elementary Education!

You don’t just learn how to teach reading and math but you learn ALL the subjects.
BYU Elementary Ed majors prepare to teach all subjects in grades K–6, including science, social studies, writing, math, and literacy. You get to take specific Art, Physical Education, Early Childhood, Special Education, and Coding/Technology classes. My favorite was taking ARTED 326 where I was able to teach a group of second graders art projects each week and learn more about how to use art in the classroom. I had a lot of fun learning how to use paint, pastel chalk, draw with shading, and even making a clay instrument.
You spend a LOT of time in actual elementary classrooms.
The program includes hands-on practicum experiences before your final student teaching experience. In EL ED 200, and CPSE 300 you are required to spend at least 10 hours volunteering in Elementary and special education classrooms. During PETE 212 you will teach several PE classes and in ARTED 326 you teach students art lessons in person. You also do two different practicum experiences where you spend 4 weeks total in the semester being in a classroom all day, day every, teaching lessons and working with a mentor teacher.
Elementary Education students have the opportunity to do an Internship.
After you have finished all your classes and have gone through two semesters of practicum, you will be able to choose between student teaching and an internship. During your student teaching experience you will be assigned a mentor teacher and you will be working in their classroom, teaching lessons, and learning from your mentor. An internship allows you to have your OWN classroom with your own students where you are by yourself teaching but can still use resources for support. It is a great opportunity because it counts as your first year of teaching, and you will get paid half teacher salary. Student teaching can take place in either fall or winter semester but internships have to start in the fall and go a full year. I choose to do student teaching because it worked best for the graduation date I wanted and I wanted more experience with a mentor teacher.
You learn how to teach students who are learning English.
Even if you are not participating in the TESOL or TEML minor, your classes will still spend time discussing how to help students who speak other languages, which is crucial to creating a fair and equitable class environment that helps ALL students.
You learn how to assess students—not just give tests.
Throughout your classes, and specifically in EL ED 310 - Planning & Assessment 1, you will go over how important proper assessments are and the vastly different ways you can check student's knowledge.