Teacher preparation majors are theory based rather than just technique driven. Primary, middle grades and secondary preparation students must be actively involved in their own learning, participating in a variety of interactive classes and seminars on campus and in P–12 classrooms. Most courses include labs and fieldwork, and the major includes a professional development component.
During their first course, students observe in the classrooms of local schools. Throughout their course work they participate in a variety of teaching experiences, including a four-week May term practicum that allows them to spend full days in a P–12 classroom. This hands-on approach is capped by a semester of student teaching completed in a public school during the senior year. Many of these opportunities are made possible by Transylvania’s location in downtown Lexington, which puts students in close proximity to both public and private elementary, middle and high schools.
If you're not interested in teaching but rather the discipline of education and knowledge, you may find the educational studies major a good fit. The major appeals to students who plan to study educational philosophy or policy studies at the graduate level and serves as a good second major for pre-law, psychology or sociology majors, among others.
