Mid-Atlantic Christian University

Freshmen complete general studies, Biblical studies, pre-requisite courses and take Foundations of Education in the fall semester to help them understand what it means to be a teacher. In their spring semester, first year students take Using the Arts in the Classroom, where they learn to write and teach lessons.

In the second year, students prepare for and take Praxis Core unless they have qualifying ACT or SAT scores. They also have their first of four experiences in a public school classroom. Students apply to the Teacher Education Program before the end of their second year. 

The focus during year three is on specialty area course work and the second of four classroom placements in local schools. Students also complete a course in classroom management during the spring of year three.

During their fourth year, students complete methods courses and work closely with education faculty as they complete the third and fourth classroom placements. These placements give them an opportunity to experience the beginning and the end of an academic year in a public school.

Hands-on experience is a critical part of teacher education—that is why MACU students have four different placements in classrooms to give them opportunities to observe, learn, practice and collaborate with classroom teachers.

The first experience is 30 hours of observation and reflection completed during the sophomore year. The second experience is 90 hours or about six hours per week. During this placement, students teach a lesson. The third experience is four half-days per week for a semester for a total of about 320 hours over the semester. The final experience is student teaching.

Mid-Atlantic Christian University prepares teachers to teach at home and abroad believing that all children deserve an education and every child can learn.

Our students begin in ED 128: Arts in the Classroom by designing lesson plans that reach different learners. They teach their lessons to each other and are coached by their professor and each other to find ways to meet the needs of all children. Teacher candidates must take and pass ED 432: Principles of Differentiating Instruction, ED 433:Special Needs Children, and LI 321: TESOL Materials and Methods.

Teacher candidates receive mentoring and coaching during each semester since our class sizes are generally 10 or fewer students. Candidates receive one-on-coaching during Practicum II (spring of junior year) as they complete a practice pedagogy exam (PPAT).

Once candidates graduate, they receive regular emails with resources to help them in their teaching. They also receive encouragement from the Director of Teacher Education and personal inquiries about how their experiences are going. This keeps graduates in close communication with MACU Teacher Education.

The MACU Director of Teacher Education stays abreast of changes in education policies and the latest research in education by attending NC Department of Public Instruction webinars, attending the forums of the North Carolina Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators (NC-ACTE), continuing membership in the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), attending webinars that provide information that can impact teacher education, following Teaching of English as a second or Other Language (TESOL) updates, and keeping up with new information about teaching mathematics through the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).

A strong partnership with partner schools in local districts enables our candidates to form a supportive network in their public school placements. Our Teacher Education Advisory Council includes members from surrounding school districts and includes student participants. The feedback of all participants helps us to make changes that benefit our candidates and our school partners.