Academics | Educational Studies
Educational Studies
Ripon College offers a major and minor in educational studies, and a minor in early childhood education.
The educational studies department at the College has two main goals: to promote the study of educational processes, institutions and thought; and to prepare highly qualified teachers for elementary and secondary classrooms. Courses and programs examine education as an essential and complex social process that occurs in formal and informal teaching-learning situations. While the department is dedicated to the preparation of effective teachers, we invite and encourage other students to take courses to develop greater understanding of educational issues and concerns.
Teacher education programs prepare students for licensure at the early childhood/middle childhood level (grades PK through 5), the middle childhood/early adolescence level (grades 1 through 8), and the early adolescence/adolescence level (grades 6 through 12). The educational studies department also offers PK-12 certification programs in art, foreign language (French, German, and Spanish), music, physical education, physical education and health, and theatre (pending program approval).
You can learn more below and in the Ripon College Teacher Education Handbook (PDF).
- Faculty
- Courses & Requirements
- Unique Opportunities
- Be A Teacher
- Title II Report
- Clinical Supervisors
Faculty
Unique Opportunities
Student Teaching
Student teaching usually is scheduled during spring semester of the senior year or during a ninth semester following completion of the degree program. Faculty from the College observe student teachers frequently and meet with them often to discuss their progress. A weekly student-teaching seminar provides a forum for discussion and a support group in which individuals can share the successes, demands and inevitable frustration of their first full-time teaching experience.
International Student Teaching
Ripon student teachers can complete the second nine weeks of their student teaching in another country. During this placement, student teachers will assist in English language support in public schools overseas. Students interested in exploring the possibilities for student teaching in another country should speak with Dr. Suzanne Katz.
The Chicago Center for Urban Life and CultureTeachChicago! Program
The Chicago Center for Urban Life and Culture sponsors the Teach Chicago! program located in Chicago, Ill. Ripon College students may complete their student teaching through this program. Students interested in completing an urban student teaching placement through this program should speak with Dr. Suzanne Katz.
Navajo Reservation Schools Student Teaching
Pending faculty approval, Ripon student teachers, in partnership with Indiana University, may complete their student teaching experience at Navajo reservation schools in Utah, New Mexico or Arizona. Students interested in completing student teaching placement through this program should speak with Dr. Jeanne Williams.
Ninth Semester Program
Students seeking teacher certification sometimes find it difficult to complete their programs in eight semesters, especially if they wish to include an overseas semester, a double major and/or a rigorous major/minor program. The College has a reduced tuition program for students who attend a ninth or later semester to complete their student teaching.
Maymester: Arts Integration for Teachers
Students can participate in a week-long exploration of how Chicago teachers and professional artists integrate theatre, music, art, and dance into classroom teaching. In the evenings, students will attend performances, gallery exhibits and other arts/cultural experiences in the Chicago area. Special consideration is given to learning about the neighborhoods and institutions of Chicago.
Clinical Experiences
Students enrolled in teacher certification programs at Ripon College complete 100 hours of clinical experience in schools and other educational settings prior to student teaching. Most of these clinical hours are completed in conjunction with specific education courses that students can observe and experience the various dimensions of teaching as they are learning about educational theory and practice.
Be a Teacher of Students
While it certainly is true that good teachers are always in demand, it also is true that changes in the economy, government funding for education, regional population shifts and family lifestyles affect employment trends for teachers. Ripon graduates have success finding teaching jobs, in part, because faculty work closely with students to help them plan programs and conduct job searches geared toward current employment trends.
Some Ripon graduates with teacher certification have elected to take advantage of opportunities for work abroad in the Peace Corps. Others are using their teaching skills in service and business settings. An increasing number of agencies and institutions seek teachers to staff their educational programs.
An additional career route for certified teachers is graduate school. Master’s degree-level programs enable students to add areas of certification such as special education, early childhood education and bilingual/bicultural education. Such specialized expertise often opens new opportunities for securing a teaching position.
Title II Report for Ripon College
Submitted to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction during spring semester of 2011. During the academic year 2009-2010, the Educational Studies Department at Ripon College had 59 students enrolled in major, minor and/or licensure programs. During that year, 26 students successfully completed their student teaching in a variety of school districts. One student completed student teaching but was not approved for licensure. Nine students taught beyond the department’s supervision service area, and each was observed by qualified supervisors from other colleges or universities. Our student teacher to staff ratio was 5.4 to 1; however, if the nine student teachers outside our service area were excluded from the calculation, the ratio would have been 3.6 to 1. Ripon College supervisors usually conduct a minimum of six observations of each student teacher; the state of Wisconsin requires four.
Thank you for choosing to assist the Ripon College Educational Studies Department in preparing effective teachers for 21st-century students. We realize the time and effort you put into this task and appreciate your contributions.
To assist you in providing oversight for clinical students and/or student teachers, please refer to the information below. You will find general information about Ripon’s Department of Educational Studies as well as specific information pertaining to each clinical experience. Each box includes:
1. Expectations for the experience. 2. Appropriate evaluation forms. 3. Department contact information.
Again, thank you for your assistance in educating tomorrow’s teachers!
Sincerely.
Ripon College’s Educational Studies Faculty
EDU 250 Clinical Experience
The links below lead to the the evaluator’s assessment form for the EDU 250 Clinical Experience in the Psychological Foundations of Education and to the Evaluation of Teaching Dispositions form. Please do the following at the end of the placement experience:
1. Print off the document and fill it out.
2. Place the completed document in a sealed envelope with your name signed along the seal.
3. Return the envelope to the Ripon College student in your classroom on the final day of his or her placement.
The clinical student in your classroom should ask you for this form. No placement hours will be logged for this student until the forms are returned to the Educational Studies Department Office.
EDU 250 Clinical Experience Evaluator’s Assessment Form
Teaching dispositions are the attitudes and beliefs an individual holds about the teaching-learning process, students, schooling and their own professional development. Beliefs and attitudes cannot be directly measured, but behaviors and patterns of behavior do provide evidence of the intellectual and emotional frameworks that inform a teacher’s work with children and adolescents. Thus, a teacher who believes that all students will learn from the same type of instruction is unlikely to consistently adapt classroom learning activities to meet the needs of diverse learners. The pattern of behavior reveals the underlying disposition. This evaluation instrument is constructed to assess the patterns of behavior that indicate teaching dispositions that will support effective teaching and continual professional growth and development.
The dispositions assessment process requires faculty and cooperating teachers working with licensure candidates to file a Dispositions Deficiency Report whenever they observe behavior that indicates a problem in development of the dispositions the department has identified as supportive of effective teaching. If you notice a behavior that falls within this category, please follow the link below to the report, print it, fill it out and return it with the evaluator’s form.
Evaluation of Teaching Dispositions
Thank you for assisting the development of future teachers by opening your classroom to a Ripon College student.
EDU 260 Human Diversity Clinical Information
In the EDU 260 Clinical Experience, also known as the Human Diversity Clinical, students must spend at least 30 hours observing and working with children from different cultural, language, SES and ability backgrounds. Specific information pertaining to the breakdown of hours and expectations for this clinical can be found by following the link below:
EDU 195 Human Diversity Clinical Information
All students are required to submit an evaluator’s form upon completing this clinical. Please follow the link below to the form, print it, fill it out and hand it to the clinical student in a sealed envelope on the final day of his or her experience with you. The clinical student should ask you for this form as no clinical hours will be awarded to the student unless it is submitted to the Department of Educational Studies.
EDU 260 Human Diversity Clinical Evaluator’s Form
Teaching dispositions are the attitudes and beliefs an individual holds about the teaching-learning process, students, schooling and their own professional development. Beliefs and attitudes cannot be directly measured, but behaviors and patterns of behavior do provide evidence of the intellectual and emotional frameworks that inform a teacher’s work with children and adolescents. Thus, a teacher who believes that all students will learn from the same type of instruction is unlikely to consistently adapt classroom learning activities to meet the needs of diverse learners. The pattern of behavior reveals the underlying disposition. This evaluation instrument is constructed to assess the patterns of behavior that indicate teaching dispositions that will support effective teaching and continual professional growth and development.
The dispositions assessment process requires faculty and cooperating teachers working with licensure candidates to file a Dispositions Deficiency Report whenever they observe behavior that indicates a problem in development of the dispositions the department has identified as supportive of effective teaching. If you notice a behavior that falls within this category, please follow the link below to the report, print it, fill it out and return it with the evaluator’s form.
Evaluation of Teaching Dispositions
Thank you for opening your doors to our clinical students. We appreciate the time and effort you take in your work with them.
EDU 270 Clinical Experience
The links below lead to the the evaluator’s assessment form for the EDU 270 Clinical Experience in Differentiated Instruction and the Evaluation of Teaching Dispositions form. Please do the following at the end of the placement experience:
1. Print off the evaluation document and fill it out.
2. Place the completed document in a sealed envelope with your name signed along the seal.
3. Return the envelope to the Ripon College student in your classroom on the final day of his or her placement.
The clinical student in your classroom should ask you for this form. No placement hours will be logged for this student until the evaluator’s forms are returned to the Educational Studies Department Office.
EDU 270 Clinical Experience Evaluator’s Assessment Form
Teaching dispositions are the attitudes and beliefs an individual holds about the teaching-learning process, students, schooling and their own professional development. Beliefs and attitudes cannot be directly measured, but behaviors and patterns of behavior do provide evidence of the intellectual and emotional frameworks that inform a teacher’s work with children and adolescents. Thus, a teacher who believes that all students will learn from the same type of instruction is unlikely to consistently adapt classroom learning activities to meet the needs of diverse learners. The pattern of behavior reveals the underlying disposition. This evaluation instrument is constructed to assess the patterns of behavior that indicate teaching dispositions that will support effective teaching and continual professional growth and development.
The dispositions assessment process requires faculty and cooperating teachers working with licensure candidates to file a Dispositions Deficiency Report whenever they observe behavior that indicates a problem in development of the dispositions the department has identified as supportive of effective teaching. If you notice a behavior that falls within this category, please follow the link below to the report, print it, fill it out and return it with the evaluator’s form.
Evaluation of Teaching Dispositions
Thank you for opening your classroom to a Ripon College student.
EDU 320 Clinical Experience
The EDU 320 Clinical Experience, also known as the Clinical Block, serves as Ripon College’s final classroom clinical before student teaching. This 50-hour practicum pairs students with a supervising teacher in the declared area of licensure. During the clinical, students are expected to gain both teaching and classroom management skills as well as learn to enact the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards in the planning and execution of lessons. While evaluations are completed by the supervising teacher, a Ripon College representative also will come to your classroom, observe and provide feedback to the clinical student.
By following the links below, you will find the supervisor’s observation form for the EDU 320 Clinical Experience, a final evaluation form, and an evaluation of teaching dispositions form. Please complete at least two observation forms and one final evaluation form during the time the clinical student is in your classroom. The evaluation of dispostions docuement need only be completed if you notice behaviors that are inconsistent with effecting teaching. A descriptor of these behaviors can be found on the form itself.
At the completion of the clinical, please print, complete and hand the forms in a sealed envelope to the clinical student. The student should ask you for these forms as no clinical hours will be logged by the College until it is submitted to the Educational Studies Department.
EDU 320 Clinical Observation Form (Fill out two per semester.)
Final Clinical Evaluation Form (Fill out one at the end of the semester.)
Evaluation of Teaching Dispositions (Please read criteria in the document but fill out only if needed.)
The Clinical Block is a significant commitment on behalf of both the Ripon College student and the supervising teacher. We thank you for the time and effort you put into this experience.
Student Teaching
Thank you for serving as a cooperating teacher. We appreciate the time and effort you put into helping develop effective teachers for future classrooms.
Below, you will find links to the documents cooperating teachers need when they have a Ripon College Student Teacher in their classroom. We also have included some helpful reminders concerning when and/or how many times each form should be used. If you have questions, please contact us at the department e-mail on the left side of the screen, through your student teacher’s college supervisor or by phone.
Student Teaching Handbook This guide contains general information and policies concerning qualifications for student teaching, objectives for the clinical experience, and the roles and responsibilities of all participants including the student, the cooperating teacher and the college supervisor. Attendance, scheduling, evaluation and requirements for eventual licensure also are covered.
Observation Form Please fill out at least three of these during the time the student teacher is in your classroom. Make three copies of the completed observation report: one for your records, one for the student teacher and one that will be submitted to the Department of Educational Studies.
Unit Plan Verification Form Please fill out this form one time during the semester to document that the student teacher has successfully planned, taught and assessed a complete unit plan.
Evaluation of Teacher Dispositions This evaluation instrument is constructed to assess the patterns of behavior that indicate teaching dispositions that will support effective teaching and continual professional growth and development. Please complete this form along with the Final Student Teacher Evaluation only if the student teacher demonstrates behaviors that are inconsistent with expectations defined in the document.
Final Student Teacher Evaluation Please fill out this form once at the end of the student teacher’s placement in your classroom. It is helpful to have this document completed for the final triad conference between you, your student teacher, and his or her college supervisor, but it is not required.
All forms will need to be submitted to the Department of Educational Studies at the end of the student teacher’s placement in your classroom. This can be accomplished in a number of ways. Student teachers are allowed to hand-carry the documents back to the College. If you are more comfortable subitting the documents on your own and you are located close to campus, you may drop them off at the office of the Department of Educational Studies, Room 306 of Todd Wehr Hall on Ransom Street in Ripon. Finally, you also may choose to mail the documents to us at:
Department of Educational Studies Ripon College PO Box 248 Ripon, WI 54971 ATTN: Susan Hill
Again, thank you for the work you do as a cooperating teacher.
Mailing Address:
800-947-4766
Physical Address: