Teacher Education Unit at Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD, USA

Striving for being unique and heard

I was curious of how future teachers are educated outside of Finland. Having been given a chance to visit Maryland I contacted a few randomly picked universities in Baltimore area, Morgan State University among them. Apparently, it should not have been done on such a short notice, which makes it even more valuable that the Chairperson of  Teacher Education and Administration Dr. Iola Smith warm-heartedly invited me to visit their unit and meet some of their educators and students. 

Morgan State University is an equal opportunity affirmative action institution of higher education. What it means in practice, is that the "qualified individuals have equal access to opportunity and are given a fair chance to contribute their talents and abilities" regardless of their gender, race, age, religious beliefs, colour, national origin, possible disabilities and so on.

Educational institutions in the USA are proud of their compliance with the equal employment opportunity legislative acts and civil rights regulations in all educational programs. They view it as a certain challenge, of course, but they continue to address societal problems, particularly those prevalent in urban communities, taking into consideration the underserved citizens.


Dr. Iola Smith, who has worked at Morgan for 47 years by now shares her view of the major problems the Department and the University are currently experiencing. She mentions the Common Core State Standards Initiative which  is a U.S. education initiative that seeks to bring diverse state curricula into alignment with each other by following the principles of standards-based education reform. 

listen to ‘Morgan State University Professor about challenges in the US system of Education ’ on Audioboo

The University has been one of a few HBCU's (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) in MD with the purpose of providing more studying opportunities for the state's black citizens. It now offers a comprehensive range of academic programs through the doctorate as well as educates future K-12  teachers. They are planning to elevate from Doctoral/Research University to RU/H (research University with a high research activity).

listen to ‘How Research Efforts are Promoted at Morgan’ on Audioboo

The Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree program is designed for students who have a bachelor's degree in an academic discipline of the Liberal Arts and who desire professional preparation for teaching. The MAT program will prepare students for teaching certification including the elementary, middle school, and high school levels.
Teachers possess excellent qualifications, some come from Columbia University, like Dr. Thurman Bridges. An associate professor of teacher education in the School of Education and Urban Studies, Dr. Bridges has recently received acceptance for presentations at several national conferences.

listen to ‘Dr. Thurman Bridges about embedding technology into his teaching’ on Audioboo

Read more about Maryland Technology Literacy Standards here.

Program of Study

The MAT Program requires the completion of 43 graduate credits, including a full semester of supervised teaching to qualify for the degree.

The program of study consists of the following course requirements:

Introduction to Teaching (3 Credits)
Cognitive Basic for Instruction (3 Credits)
The Exceptional Child (3 Credits)
Introduction to Educational Research (3 Credits)
Effective Utilization of Computers (3 Credits)
Action Research in the Classroom (3 Credits)
Teaching Reading in Content Areas (3 Credits)
Socio-Cultural Context of Schooling (3 Credits)
Elective (3 Credits)
Electives
Methods of Teaching/Content Areas (3 Credits)
Student Teaching (Internship) (12 Credits)
Pro-Seminar (1 Credit)

Another talented Teacher Educator, Dr. Nira Taru, speaks here on how she challenges her students to make the curriculum more versatile experience.

listen to ‘Curriculum vs. Field Experience of Teacher Students’ on Audioboo

See a Video About My Russian Course to Be

Honestly About My Recent Experiences

Having been looking back over my shoulder for almost 4 years by now.

Guess what? I learned that it is in fashion and is viewed as Reflecting.

All in all, my self-analysis was aligned with trying to identify what brings me true satisfaction and leads to personal development and liberation.
Mysterious things have happened, I cannot refer to them otherwise. My friend recalls that while staying off-teaching I was confiding on her that I was dreaming to get self-employed and self-determine my career as a tutor. Myself, I somehow erased that from my short-term memory. But anyway it is good to listen to myself, so I decided to make a U-turn and release entrepreneurship spirit from an oil lamp :)

So chronologically:

1997 - Graduated from Ivanovo State University where I was given a chance to try my hand on lecturing on World Literature, conducting seminars, group-teaching English as a third foreign language to students of the Department of Germanic and Romance Languages.

1997-1999 Post-graduate studies and teaching World Literature

1999-2002 Very exciting career of an interpreter at a large earth-moving machinery manufacturing plant

2002 - moved to Belarus and continued to work for business and trade

2009 - tried my hand as a luxury Spanish real estate seller. It did not go like in the movies, I got downsized so I bravely pulled out from the curb to the direction of further self-development. It came as an insight that teacher career is what I like to pursue. No dull lectures, down-to-earth, creative solutions for an effective language teaching.

2013 - teacher studies to implement the desired.