Teaching Program Requirements

The following requirements are basic components of the Center for Creative Teaching (CCT) program of study, whether a student is pursuing the combined BA/MAT or the MAT:

Teaching Seminars: Students take a series of seminars to expand their capacities as teachers, learning from their reading, their colleagues, their students, and their own experience as students. These Teaching Seminars include Early and Adolescent Literacy, Teaching and Learning, Classroom Teaching, and Reflective Practice.

Practice and Reflection: Throughout the CCT program, students balance theoretical explorations with practical experimentation. Most of the teaching seminars include a fieldwork component that gives students the chance to test out in community schools the ideas they’ve developed in class. Students also spend a seven-week, off-campus internship in a public school to acquire practical expericne. In the last year of the program, students spend two full semesters student-teaching under the close supervision of state-certified master teachers in local classrooms and supervising teachers from the College.

Portfolios: Students complete two teaching portfolios during the course of the program, one before they begin their year of student-teaching, and one after. Through the process of creating portfolios, students reflect on the ways in which their various academic and field experiences have shaped their emerging identities and qualifications as teachers. While demonstrating professional and subject-matter competencies required for teacher certification, these portfolios give shape to each student’s distinctive philosophy of teaching and learning—his/her evolving ideas about what school is for, and what education should be. Portfolios consist primarily of written work, and often include materials in other media.

Standardized Exams: In order to earn their master's degree, candidates must fulfill the requirements of the CCT, the Vermont State Board of Education, and the Vermont Standards Board of Professional Educators. These requirements currently include that candidates receive passing scores on both the PRAXIS I and PRAXIS II exams. All Bennington CCT candidates for graduation have passed the required PRAXIS exams.