Education MNCAPS is one of the new addition to the MNCAPS Pathways and is a great way to learn about teaching and all it has to offer. 

I’m a member of this new pathway, and I’m excited to tell everyone about it! In the education pathway, we get to experience firsthand what it’s like to be a teacher. We get to visit classrooms for the grades we’re interested in.  In addition to going into our grade level of choice, each month we go to either the nature preschool at Jeffers Pond or Edgewood Preschool to experience the early childhood level. 

Working in a classroom, we have many different opportunities to teach. Some students work with smaller groups of kids and even work one on one with them. Sometimes, their cooperating teacher might let them read a book to the kids or even teach a lesson. 

Cooperating teachers also become mentors. Students ask them questions and ultimately get to learn from an experienced teacher who is there to guide them through this journey. I love the flexibility of the Education Pathway. It’s all about exploration, so if you don’t like the grade level you job shadow in the first semester, you can switch in the second semester to try out a different age level. Being able to have these hands-on experiences is a great way to find out if teaching is for you. 

The Education Pathway offers much more than experiences in the classroom. In the actual MNCAPS building, the curriculum for education students includes Psychology, English, and Ed. 101. Normally, all three of these subjects are embedded into our assignments. 

We spend lots of time learning how to prepare lesson plans and present lessons. We have also had multiple projects called mini-lessons where we prepare a lesson and teach in front of our peers. 

Learning how to deal with difficult situations that might happen as a teacher is also an important skill, so we spend time understanding the students and being able to show we care. Education MNCAPS is an amazing program and is a great way to find out if teaching is the right career for you.