On June 19, 2020, the faculty of the Ohio Wesleyan Department of Education wrote an open letter to the president of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education urging the association to challenge the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) policy that requires teacher education programs use standardized exams as a measure of academic proficiency when determining admission to teacher education programs. We believe these tests have a history of bias, disadvantaging students of color, students from low-income families, and students with disabilities.
Please read the letter here.
Introduction to the DepartmentOhio Wesleyan has been educating teachers for more than 100 years. This experience confirms our belief that the most creative and effective teachers are prepared at strong liberal arts colleges such as ours. Our program emphasizes a solid theoretical base and practical experience.
Department Features
OWU’s teacher preparation program in Elementary Education is committed to helping you become a knowledgeable, caring, competent professional who is dedicated to nurturing the intellectual, social, and aesthetic growth of children. Your knowledge will be deepened by many opportunities to work directly with children in a wide variety of field and student teaching experiences.
The dual licensure program in Inclusive Elementary Education is committed to helping prospective teachers become knowledgeable, competent, caring professionals who are dedicated to nurturing the intellectual, social, and aesthetic growth of children in both traditional and inclusive PK-5 classroom settings.
Special education teachers can make a real difference in the lives of their students, and they must have commitment, compassion, focus, and exceptional organizational skills. OWU’s major in special education allows you to earn a Multi-Age (grades K-12) Intervention Specialist teaching license.
This program develops the intellectual, personal, and professional competencies, skills, and dispositions necessary to teach students in grades 4-9 by requiring preservice teachers to successfully complete general liberal arts courses and professional education courses. To provide flexibility and further enhance the teacher's grasp of the interdisciplinary nature of knowledge, two areas of concentration are required. Areas of concentration may be chosen from language arts, mathematics, science, or social studies.
Increasingly, school districts need science teachers who are highly qualified to teach across the science curriculum. Students who complete OWU’s Integrated Science major will be eligible to earn Adolescent to Young Adult (AYA) Integrated Science Licensure, qualifying them to teach a broad range of science subjects in grades 7 through 12. When you major in Integrated Science for Teachers, you complete classes in life sciences (biology, microbiology, zoology); chemistry; geology and geography; physics and astronomy; and mathematics – along with your education and general course requirements.
Individuals with undergraduate degrees may earn a teaching license by taking courses full time in one of OWU's undergraduate teacher licensure programs. It typically takes four or five semesters to complete the licensure requirements, including a semester of student teaching.
Integrated Language Arts
Integrated Mathematics
Integrated Social Studies
Drama/Theatre
*Foreign Language, Spanish
Music
Visual Arts
*If interested in pursuing licensure in French, German, or Latin, contact the Education Department Chair.
Professor White says, “Everywhere I've taught, my starting place is always trying to meet students where they're at and then stretching them to where I want them to go with the course.”
“The OWU Education Program has made me the educator I am today. The professors were outstanding role models and took me to educational conferences as an undergraduate. They are the reason that I became the president of the Ohio Council of English Language Arts and that I earned the 2010 Ohio English Teacher of the year award.”
Professor McClure says, "Teachers can meet the mandates of testing and standards by sharing engaging, challenging books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry with their students, then creating interesting lessons that require students to dig deeply into all kinds of literature.”
“College was a chance to start over after a difficult youth, and the opportunities in and outside the classroom were endless. Once at OWU, I joined the House of H.O.P.E. (Helping Others Pursue Education) and after that, I never looked back.”
“I often think about how well the Early Childhood Program at OWU prepared me for this career. My experience at OWU set me up to be a reflective and flexible teacher. I learned how to create an environment in which all students grow into life-long learners. In my few years of teaching, I’ve learned that education is ever evolving. I look forward to all the learning my students and I have to do!”
“I knew I had received a great education when I left OWU, but I had no idea how good until I started teaching. My education classes prepared me with the skillset to become a successful teacher. However, I also developed an ability to think critically, create dynamically, and reflect thoughtfully. OWU showed me to teach is not just a job, it’s a mission worthy of one’s lifework.”
“With the training I received in education classes at OWU, I am freer than ever…What we learn in our education classes at OWU is important, meaningful and applicable. Opportunities do not stop once one chooses a major that is directly related to a profession, like education.”
“Through the education program at Ohio Wesleyan, I had opportunities to speak with school district personnel, OWU alumni who took time out of their breaks to visit, and OWU professors who truly cared for students. I owe who I am today as an educator to the experiences, professors, and friends I made at OWU.”
“The Middle Childhood Education program at OWU exemplifies the finest qualities of any private university. The small classroom sizes, personal relationships with my professors, and challenging—but rewarding—courses prepared me to be an expert beginning teacher.”
A Good Start School is a five-week, literacy-rich, summer program that helps children adjust to a school atmosphere and learn skills and concepts to help them succeed in kindergarten. With one adult teacher for every five children, students are part of a caring, inviting, and safe learning community. A Good Start School is offered free of charge to eligible families.
Through an OWU-sponsored Theory-to-Practice Grant, Education Majors Ali Phillips '16 and Whitney Weadock '16 traveled to Costa Rica to attend the Association for Childhood Education International Conference Spring 2016. They attended sessions about synergy, social innovation, and sustainability inside the classroom while meeting, talking, and learning with educators from around the world. They look forward to connecting their future classrooms to others around the world in order to help their students better understand global citizenship and other cultures.