Maemester

The Maemester Boundary Crossing experience allows Albion College education students their first hands-on opportunity to live the day of a teacher.

During the spring term, junior-year students, all of whom have been admitted into the Fritz Shurmur Center for Teacher Education, teach their units over a three-week Maemester period. Students are able to apply theory, research, and pedagogical knowledge that they learned during their seminar to the real world.

They engage in thematic unit planning in Boundary Crossings in Elementary/Secondary Schools (EDUC 396/7). The purpose is to support children and youth as they:

• Consider their own ideas, and those of others
• Reflect on their experiences
• Value a shared understanding of how the world works

At the end of May, students display and discuss a portfolio of their work in an open-to-the-public Maemester Showcase in the Science Complex Atrium.

In the end, student teachers incorporate multiple sources of feedback on the unit, enhancing their abilities of critical reflection. This comprehensive process focuses clearly on developing prospective teachers’ strategies for learning how to learn.