Program Description

    The CLASS (Collaborative Learning And School Success) Professional Development School (PDS) is a rigorous, non-traditional teaching program for students looking to become educators.  It consists of four and a half years of hard work and dedication.  Students are placed in partner schools immediately and partnered with a mentor teacher, so that they may begin to understand the everyday experiences of teachers and students.  These early placements allow for students to develop a beginning understanding for the field of education.  The partner schools for the program are Sherwood Heights Elementary School  and Auburn Middle School, both in Auburn, ME.  

      Students in the CLASS program will develop their philosophies of education and ideas on pedagogy. They will learn about children and their development through courses such as Human Growth and Development and Literacy Acquisition. Traditional methods courses are replaced with Learning to Teach courses in math, literacy-reading, science, and social studies. CLASS students have a choice of majors offered at LAC. They include Natural and Applied Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Arts and Humanities.  Throughout the program, CLASS students are gaining experiences and collecting materials that are bound together as a professional portfolio. The portfolio is a constant work in progress which can later be incorporated into their professional career.

The CLASS program consists of an application and an interview process in which the students meet with teachers from two partner schools and program leaders. The interviewee answers a series of questions, which will help determine their eligibility for the program. After the interview the student is then asked to write an essay on a topic the panel decides upon.

The program is energetic, fun, dedicated, and full of hard work but for those students who stick with it, it is well worth it.

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For more information about the CLASS PDS program
at Lewiston/Auburn College contact:

Jim Bradley
Administrative Assistant
51 Westminster Street
Lewiston, Me 04240
(207) 753-6618
jbradley@usm.maine.edu

William "Bumper" White
Director of CLASS PDS
51 Westminster Street
Lewiston, Me 04240
(207) 753-6590
wwhite@usm.maine.edu