EDUCATION
Department Profile
Mission Statement
The Dordt College teacher education program prepares students for service in diverse settings, equipping them with God-centered reflective and transformative skills, knowledge, and dispositions for teaching, learning, and leading.
Program Strengths
- Strong professional and personal relationships between professors and students
- Faculty who have more than 200 years of combined experience in every grade and subject level from PK – 12
- A teacher education program that combines theory and practice; students receive 80-100 hours of classroom experience prior to their student teaching semester
Learning Objectives
Dordt education students
- understand the central concepts, tools of inquiry, structure of the subject areas taught, and principles that guide the learning process
- understand how students learn and develop; and provide learning opportunities that support the students’s development
- demonstrate an understanding of how students differ and are able to meet students’s learning needs
- understand curriculum construction and instructional strategies
- understand the nature of assessment and uses formal and informal assessment strategies appropriately
- shape a positive and purposeful learning environment that promotes active engagement in learning and self-motivation
- use a variety of verbal, nonverbal, and media communication techniques to foster purposeful learning and positive community climate in the classroom
- articulate and demonstrate an understanding of educational philosophy, the history of education, and current educational trends and issues
- understand and are committed to professionalism
- use appropriate technology for communication and instruction
