The English Education Program is offered to undergraduate and graduate students who wish to be certified to teach English in the middle school, junior high and senior high school. Undergraduates may begin in the second semester of their junior year, but most begin the certification process during their senior year. Teacher Preparation is designed to prepare secondary English teachers to be skilled, innovative and challenging. Students are required to create an exemplary portfolio that documents their experiences in the university English Education classes and secondary public school observations.
Students read and reflect on seminal texts.
Written responses can also be creative, originating from peer teaching presentations offered throughout the semester. At Stony Brook, teacher education programs enlist the talents of university scholars and experienced and insightful public school teachers, some of whom are alumni of our program. Throughout the certification program, students spend time in public schools learning how to observe the English classroom and asking meaningful questions about learning objectives and appropriate methodologies. Our students are exposed to the Folger Library Shakespeare Institute as well as the Teachers' Writing Project held every July for teachers and those students who have student taught. All this is done to prepare the students for their interviews for their first teaching positions.