Things I Need to Know

I read about four important things that UMF Secondary Education majors should know.

• In order to be a Secondary Education major, all students must pass all three parts of the Praxis I test

This affected me because I needed to take the Praxis I back in January, which is stressful, but I passed, so now I am all set.  I will also need to take the Praxis II for my content, but that is not required for Practicum.

• Students who wish to transfer into the Secondary/Middle Education major must have a GPA of 2.5 or better, must have passed the Praxis I tests, and must have a minimum grade of a C in an English Composition class

Although I am already in the Secondary Education major, it is good to know what requirements I would have been expected to meet if I were to transfer into the major.

• The Practicum block takes up a lot of time, and only one additional course may be taken at the same time as Practicum.  To qualify for Practicum, one must be a Secondary Education major, must have a GPA of 2.0, must have passed all three Praxis I tests, must have a grade of a C or better in ENG 100, as well as EDU 101 and SED 101

I need to know all of this because I will be taking Practicum in the Spring of 2011.  Because I tested out of ENG 100, I do not have to worry about that grade, nor do I need to take another class at the same time as Practicum.  I have already passed all three Praxis I tests, and received a grade higher than a C in SED 101, so those requirements have been met already.  I will need to make sure that I can keep my GPA above a 2.0, though I'm not particularly worried about it at this point in time.  I also need to make sure that I pass EDU 101 with a minimum grade of a C, again, something I'm not too worried about but will keep in the back of my mind.

• There are laptop requirements for all Secondary Education majors taking Practicum

Because I did not purchase my laptop through UMF, I will need to make sure that my laptop meets the software and hardware requirements prior to taking EDU 221.  If my laptop does not meet the requirements I will either need to purchase a new laptop or perform whatever upgrades are necessary to ensure that my laptop is suitable.