LSU's Secondary Holmes Program Introduces Students from Other Majors to Teaching

08/31/2011 01:50 PM

BATON ROUGE – While a lot of LSU students enjoyed a relaxing summer, students in the College of Education’s Secondary Holmes Graduate Program have been hard at work since early June.

The Secondary Holmes Graduate Program is LSU’s premier initial teaching certification program offered at the master’s level. Located in the College of Education’s Department of Educational Theory, Policy and Practice, this one-year program is designed to meet the needs of students with content-area bachelor’s degrees.

“As an English major, I knew I wanted to go into teaching, but during my undergraduate studies, I learned little about the mechanics of education,” said Morgan Rainey of Gonzales, La. “Luckily, I was aware of the Holmes Program, so I knew I could focus on my subject area during my four years of undergrad, and learn how to teach it during a fifth year in the Holmes Program. Just in these first few weeks, I’ve learned about lesson plans, classroom management and research projects.”

The Holmes Program is designed to allow future teachers to gain a stronger content knowledge of the subjects they will eventually be teaching. By earning a bachelor’s degree in majors such as English, mathematics or history rather than in general education, Holmes students are able to gain an in-depth knowledge of their subject area.

Once in the program, Holmes students are divided into subject-based cohorts where they learn effective teaching tools, complete year-long research projects and student-teach.

“Students will have two student-teaching placements in the coming year – one in high school and one in middle school,” said Steven Bickmore, instructor of the Holmes Program introduction to research course and assistant professor in the LSU College of Education. “This offers them a range of experience that exposes them to a large range of adolescent needs and learning situations.”

On Monday, July 25, students presented research project proposals that they will pursue for the coming year. The proposals are peer-reviewed and each student is given constructive feedback on expanding and improving his or her project. Students are advised to choose research topics of interest within their subject areas.

Rainey, for example, will compare and contrast the benefits, downfalls and reasons behind English teachers teaching “The Canon” versus Young Adult Literature. “The Canon” consists of classic literature written by authors such as Shakespeare, Dickens and Hemingway, while Young Adult Literature includes popular titles such as The Harry Potter series, The Hunger Games and The Outsiders.

“I’ve learned so much already in the Holmes program and I am absolutely confident that this program will give me the tools I need to be an effective and successful teacher,” said Rainey.

Graduates of the Holmes Program receive a Master’s of Arts in Education and a Louisiana Teacher Certification in biology, chemistry, English, mathematics, physics or social studies.

For more information about the Secondary Holmes Graduate program, visit www.lsu.edu/coe/holmes.