College of Education - ResourcesWelcome to GSU's Secondary Education Program for Biology, Chemistry, English, and Mathematics
The College of Arts and Sciences, in cooperation with the College of Education, offers students four programs that include the option of earning teacher certification in secondary education. We are proud to claim state and national accreditation.
New Student Orientation/Advising Sessions
All new students to the Secondary Education program at GSU must attend an orientation/advising session before enrolling in courses.
Next Sessions
Please confirm your attendance at dgalante@govst.edu
- Wednesday, June 20, 2012
- 3-4 p.m.
- Room to be determined
Please confirm your attendance at (to be determined)
- Tuesday, July 17, 2012
- 6-7 p.m.
- Room to be determined
Please confirm your attendance at tpantuso@govst.edu.
Resources for New and Continuing Students
Advising Checklist
College of Education Library Activity Room - D2421
For Technology Assistance (including assistance with LiveText™) in D2420 contact Bharadwaj Keesari:
Hours:
- Monday 2p.m. -7 p.m.
- Wednesday 2p.m. -7 p.m.
- Thursday 2p.m. -7 p.m.
- Friday 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
To reserve D2421 for study/project groups contact Dr. Linda Geller:
LiveText™
What is LiveText™?
It is a program into which courses, assignments, instructors, and students are entered each semester. Students can create documents, such as lesson plans and unit plans, in LiveText™ that they submit for the assignments. In LiveText™, GSU templates are often available for students to use. Files such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel, PDF can be uploaded to the LiveText™ documents. Image files such as .jpg, .png, and .gif (included animated .gif files) can be uploaded into LiveText™ documents. Assignments are graded using LiveText™ generated rubrics. Once graded, students can view the graded rubrics along with any comments made by the instructor. The rubrics are tied to learning and accreditation standards. Accreditation bodies can view data generated by the graded rubrics to award accreditation. LiveText™ will be used in all Secondary Education Methods courses, as well as for Student Teaching. All students will create a Program e-Portfolio in LiveText™ for their specific Program content area (see directions below to view sample e-Portfolios).
What are some benefits for students of using LiveText™?
- LiveText™ acts as a depository for files, complete with a file manager, that can be accessed through the students’ secure accounts.
- LiveText™ has a feature, called Smart Labels, which allows files to be easily organized. It can be used to organize documents by course number. It can be used in the teaching profession to organize lesson plans by subject area, grade level, and AP or Honors distinctions.
- Complete sets of standards are available so that students can select standards to insert into documents. The standard numbers appear in the document, along with the complete wording of each standard. The standards don’t have to be typed.
- Students can create Professional e-Portfolios that they can use to showcase their work to potential employers. Students can create a visitor pass that can be used to view selected documents.
- LiveText™ has video resources available called Learn360® that includes video clips on various topics and of varying lengths.
- LiveText™ provides students with the ability to create their own grading rubrics. These can be created as stand-alone assessment documents, or as part of a lesson or unit plan document.
- Students can share documents with their peers so that several students can collaborate.
Secondary Education Students: If you need assistance with LiveText™, you can contact Melinda Elliott at melliott@govst.edu or call 708-235-7593 Monday – Friday, 8:30 to 5:00 or Bharadwaj Keesari at bharadwaj.keesari@gmail.com.
To view sample Secondary Education e-portfolios and a LiveText™ tutorial, go to www.livetext.com. At the visitor pass prompt (not the user ID/password prompt) enter the following visitor pass: 18D8717D. Note: you do not need a LiveText account to use this code. There are two sample e-Portfolios. They showcase the difference between simply attaching files to the portfolio versus placing the words directly into a LiveText™ document.
GPA Calculators
Calculate your own Core GPA, Professional Education Course GPA, and Program specific General Education GPA to see if you are qualified to apply for student teaching:
Open the Excel spreadsheet for your program as a "Read Only" file. Once the file is open, choose "save as" and rename the file under another name. Changes can then be saved to the renamed file.
Core Content Course GPA:
ETS Test
The ETS examination is required for all students in the following programs:
- BA Early Childhood Education
- BA Elementary Education
- BA English with Teacher Education
- BA Mathematics with Teacher Education
- BS Biology with Teacher Education
- BS Chemistry with Teacher Education
Test Dates:
- Wednesday, February 15, 2012 - 3 p.m. - Room B1215
- Saturday, March 24, 2012 - 9 a.m. - Room B1215
- Wednesday, April 18, 2012 - 9 a.m. - Room B1215
Please pre-register for this test at the following link:
Note: Post-Baccalaureate Certificate students should select the Undergraduate option when registering for this test. Unfortunately, there is no option for Post-Baccalaureate Certificate students.
College of Education - Resources
Test Administration Guidelines:
- Accommodations are available for students who have a documented disability. Contact Robin Sweeney, Coordinator of Student Disability Services, 708.235.3968.
- Check-in for testing will begin 30 minutes prior to the scheduled test times above.
- Only those whose names appear on the ETS Proficiency Profile pre-registration list will be admitted to the testing session.
- You must have a photo ID in order to be admitted to the exam session.
- Testing will begin promptly at the published times. There will be no admission to the testing room once testing has begun.
- Use of dictionaries or other books, pamphlets, slide rules, compasses, rulers, pens, or papers of any kind is prohibited during the test. The only materials permitted to be on the desk during the test session are: the test booklets, answer sheets, pencils, and erasers. Scratch paper is not permitted. You will be permitted to use the margins or blank pages in the test booklets only (you may not use any portion of the answer sheet for scratch paper.) Students may use a 4-function non-graphing calculator.
REMINDER: You will not be admitted to the examination room once testing has begun.
If you have questions about the ETS exam and how it fits into your plan of study, please contact your advisor.
ICTS Tests (Basic Skills, Content, APT)
Link to ICTS Home Web Page
Link to test dates
Three workshops to help prepare candidates to take the Illinois Test of Basic Skills have been added to the schedule. GSU will be hosting 3 workshops in Winter and Spring as follows:
Dates for Basic Skills Test Preparation Workshops
Test Date: Feb. 11, 2012
All workshop sessions will be held on Saturdays, from (9:00 – 1:00 PM)
Session: 5: Feb. 4, 2012
The topics will be Reading, Language Arts/Writing, Math, and Test Taking and Relaxation Strategies. You will not be expected to come to the sessions that focus on topics you have already passed.
The specific topics for each date have not yet been assigned.
Test Date: April 14, 2012
All workshop sessions will be held on Saturdays, from 9:00 – 1:00 PM.
Session 1: March 10, 2011
Session 2: March 17, 2012
Session 3: March 24, 2012
Session 4: March 31, 2012
Session: 5: April 7, 2012
The topics will be Reading, Language Arts/Writing, Math, and Test Taking and Relaxation Strategies. You will not be expected to come to the sessions that focus on topics you have already passed.
The specific topics for each date have not yet been assigned.
Test Date: June 3, 2012
All workshop sessions will be held on Saturdays, from 9:00 – 1:00 PM
Session 1: April 28, 2011
Session 2: May 5, 2012
Session 3: May 12, 2012
Session 4: May 19, 2012
Session: 5: May 24, 2012 4:00 -7:00PM This is a Thursday before Memorial Day Weekend.
The topics will be Reading, Language Arts/Writing, Math, and Test Taking and Relaxation Strategies. You will not be expected to come to the sessions that focus on topics you have already passed.
The specific topics for each date have not yet been assigned.
Registration forms for each of these options can be found online at www.govst.edu/coe.
Student Teaching
Applications are to be submitted to your advisor--not to Sara Acton.
When turning in your Student Teaching application, you must include all of the following:
- The fully completed Student Teaching Application (Final draft approved by Advisor)
- A copy of Basic Skills results
- GPA calculators for general education courses, professional education courses, and core content area
- A copy of completion of Criminal Background check
- A copy of your GSU transcripts
- A copy of the Updated Study Plan
Please include a copy of the Content Exam results if it has been taken prior to submitting the Student Teaching application.
Illinois Troops to Teachers
Veterans call toll free 1-866-372-3157 or email to troops.teachers@illinois.gov.
Illinois Troops to Teachers
