Luke Pratt '18 is a music teacher for the Elmwood School District.
Music Education major road map
Below the typical four-year road map to becoming a music teacher licensed in the state of Illinois to teach grades PK-12, and check out the academic plan(opens in a new tab) that your advisor will use to help you plan your classes each semester.
Years 1 and 2 (before admission to the Teacher Education Program)
Take foundational courses in Educational Studies (with the EDST prefix), which focus on big questions about the purpose and history of education.
Take foundational courses in Music (with the MUSI prefix), which will give you knowledge of different aspects of music.
At the end of year 2, apply for official admission into the Teacher Education Program.
Apply for admission to the Teacher Education Program (end of sophomore year)
Toward the end of your sophomore year, you will apply to be admitted into the Teacher Education Program.
Criteria:
A cumulative Monmouth College grade point average of 3.0 or greater.
A cumulative Educational Studies (EDST) core grade point average of 3.0 or greater. A grade of C or above must be earned in each EDST course used for admission.
A positive dispositional record, assessed by the Educational Studies and Music faculty.
A statement of reflection explaining your lowest Monmouth College grade.
Optional: Documentation of ACT/SAT for academic advising purposes.
Years 3 and 4 (after admission to the Program)
In your junior and senior years, you will take courses that will help you learn HOW and WHAT to teach (with the MCTE prefix and the MUSI prefix). While taking those courses, you will work in the area schools, mentored by Monmouth College faculty and area teachers (many of them graduates of Monmouth College!). We will place you in a variety of settings and grade levels in Monmouth and in the surrounding areas so that you are well prepared, no matter what teaching position you land after graduation!
Apply to the Student Teaching experience (end of junior year)
At the end of your junior year, you will apply to student teach in your senior year.
A cumulative Monmouth College grade point average of 3.0 or greater.
A cumulative Monmouth College grade point average of 3.0 or greater for all courses required for major and licensure.
No In-Progress or Incomplete grades
Completion of all required coursework used for licensure with a grade of C or better.
Completion of at least 100 recorded hours of successful field experiences (working in the area schools).
Submission of favorable recommendationforms from Educational Studies and Music faculty members.
A positive dispositional record, assessed by Educational Studies and Music faculty.
Student teaching (typically last semester before graduation)
Most students complete their student teaching experience in the spring of their senior year, but some students prefer to student teach in the fall.
Once you have been approved for student teaching, you have two options for student teaching:
We will place you with a mentor teacher at a school within a 60 mile radius of Monmouth College. Your mentor teacher will give you feedback to help you become a better teacher. Additionally, one of your professors from the Educational Studies Department will visit your classroom regularly to give you feedback.
If you would like to student teach in an urban environment, you can apply to student teach with the Chicago Semester program. Dr. Lisa Hensey, Student Teaching Program Director for Chicago Semester, will place you with a mentor in a Chicago school and she will visit your classroom regularly to give you feedback. Read this blog post about student teaching with Chicago Semester by our alumna Emilee Livesay ’18.
During your student teaching semester, you will complete a national assessment called the edTPA that will evaluate your ability to plan, instruct, and assess—in other words, your ability to teach!
Once you have finished your student teaching and your edTPA, we’ll help you apply for your Illinois teaching license (known as an “initial professional educator’s license”). If you want to teach in another state, we’ll help you apply for a license there, too.
For more specific information about applying for admission to the Teacher Education Program, please contact Dr. Tom Sargent, Director of Teacher Education.
Many of our students are Golden Apple Scholars. This state-funded program isa teacher preparation and tuition assistance program for high school seniors, and first- and second-year Illinois college students who have the determination and drive to be excellent teachers in Illinois schools-of-need.
The TEACH Grant is a federally-funded program that provides up to $4,000 a year in grant assistance to a student who agrees to serve for at least four years as a full-time teacher in a high-need field in a public or private elementary or secondary school that serves students from low-income families.
The State if Illinois sponsors a scholarship for students of designated minorities who are pursuing teaching as a career through the Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship Program. In exchange for the $5000/year scholarship, students agree to serve for at least three years as a teacher in a school of 30% minority. enrollment,
Monmouth is the only college in the United States to have formal partnerships with two national organizations – the Teton Science Schools (TSS)and the Rural Schools Collaborative (RSC). These partnerships have allowed our Educational Studies Department to create a rural teacher corps program (TARTANS) and provide place-based education opportunities at local schools (PLACE). If you have longed to be a teacher who has a dynamic vision of change and wants to give back to others, then find out more about Monmouth’s distinctive program designed to revitalize rural schools and communities by contacting professor Craig Vivian.
We want you to have a range of experiences that will prepare you best for your teaching career. Therefore, we want to place you in a setting for your student teaching that will broaden your experiences. We typically do not place people in districts where they went to school. We place students in schools that are within a 60-mile radius of Monmouth, or students can student-teach with the ChicagoSemester program. This is the time to try something new and challenging!
Many of our students are Golden Apple Scholars. This state-funded program isa teacher preparation and tuition assistance program for high school seniors, and first- and second-year Illinois college students who have the determination and drive to be excellent teachers in Illinois schools-of-need.
The TEACH Grant is a federally-funded program that provides up to $4,000 a year in grant assistance to a student who agrees to serve for at least four years as a full-time teacher in a high-need field in a public or private elementary or secondary school that serves students from low-income families.
The State if Illinois sponsors a scholarship for students of designated minorities who are pursuing teaching as a career through the Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship Program. In exchange for the $5000/year scholarship, students agree to serve for at least three years as a teacher in a school of 30% minority. enrollment,
Monmouth is the only college in the United States to have formal partnerships with two national organizations – the Teton Science Schools (TSS)and the Rural Schools Collaborative (RSC). These partnerships have allowed our Educational Studies Department to create a rural teacher corps program (TARTANS) and provide place-based education opportunities at local schools (PLACE). If you have longed to be a teacher who has a dynamic vision of change and wants to give back to others, then find out more about Monmouth’s distinctive program designed to revitalize rural schools and communities by contacting professor Craig Vivian.
We want you to have a range of experiences that will prepare you best for your teaching career. Therefore, we want to place you in a setting for your student teaching that will broaden your experiences. We typically do not place people in districts where they went to school. We place students in schools that are within a 60-mile radius of Monmouth, or students can student-teach with the ChicagoSemester program. This is the time to try something new and challenging!
Yes! We have had many graduates who earned their teaching degree at Monmouth and then moved to another state upon graduation. Often states’ requirements differ slightly, so you will likely be granted a provisional license for your first year while you take any classes that might be required (typically only one or two). After you have completed those requirements, you will be granted a full teaching license in the other state. For more information, contact professor Tom Sargent.
Yes!The educational studies major is designed for students who feel a connection to education and who want to learn about the teaching and learning process, but they are not interested in pursuing an Illinois teaching license at the moment.Contact professor Brad Roweor see our educational studies major/minor page.
