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BYU Home Route Y Admissions Services College & Student Profiles Michelle Ransom

College & Student Profiles

Meet Michelle Ransom

David O. McKay School of Education

Michelle Ransom

HOMETOWN: Aurora, Colorado
MAJOR: Elementary Education
FAVORITE MUSICIAN: Bob Marley
FAVORITE COLOR: Electric blue

The fact that her grandma, mother, aunt, and sister were all teachers had convinced Michelle Ransom that she would be different. "I spent a lot of time visiting my mom's elementary class, and education was the one thing I said I wasn't going to major in when I came to BYU," she says. But Michelle changed her mind when she discovered that teaching—and learning—could literally take her where she wanted to go.

"When I was growing up, there were two places I loved reading about and always wanted to visit: England and China. Being here at BYU, I've had the opportunity to study or teach in both countries."

Traveling through the university's Study Abroad Program, Michelle discovered first-hand the power of participation in the learning process. "In London it was amazing to study the city's history while actually being there. I read about the building of the Tower of London in history, and the next day I went to explore the Tower," she relates. "One of my favorite things was seeing in person many of the great paintings I studied in my humanities classes. I especially liked the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. I remember thinking, 'Wow, the Renoirs, Monets, and Degas—they are so much better in real life.'"

As a student teacher of English at a private Chinese school a year later, Michelle came to appreciate even more the importance of interaction in learning and the joy that peoples and cultures bring to education. "I think the humanities—art, music, and literature—are the heart of each culture. They are the universal language, communicating ideas and feelings that spoken words cannot. In China I loved the ability we had to communicate with each other in spite of the language barriers. We could even communicate our liking for each other. I hope I can convey that feeling to my young students."

David O. McKay School of Education

UNDERGRADUATE MAJORS
(Specific emphases are indented)

• AUDIOLOGY AND SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY


• EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION*


• ELEMENTARY EDUCATION*
• EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION*


• SECONDARY TEACHING-ENGLISH*


• SECONDARY TEACHING-HISTORY*


• SECONDARY TEACHING-PHYSICAL SCIENCE


• SECONDARY TEACHING-SOCIAL SCIENCE

*Limited enrollment major. Students who select these majors must make application and/or complete prerequisite courses to be admitted into the specific major program.

PUBLIC SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP

The BYU–Public School Partnership with five local school districts is one of the largest and most successful partnerships in the nation. Sixty schools collaborate with teacher education and the arts and science faculty to provide classrooms where BYU students can observe and practice new techniques in teaching. The Center for the Improvement of Teacher Education and Schooling (CITES) coordinates partnership activities beyond student teaching, such as professional development, research, and assessment.

STUDENT TEACHING AND FIELD EXPERIENCES

The culminating experience for students in teacher education is a student teaching assignment in a public school classroom under the supervision of cooperating school teachers and university supervisors. In addition to local opportunities, students may elect to teach in an urban setting for a semester in Salt Lake City; Washington, D.C.; or Houston.

One unique feature of the teacher education program is the variety of field experiences available to students for their practicum locally, nationally, and internationally. Students in elementary education may chose to complete one semester of the program studying literacy in Auckland, New Zealand; and student teaching placements are available in Mexico, Fiji, Samoa, Kiribati, Tonga, and China.

INTERNSHIPS

Internships are available as an alternative to student teaching in some majors. Those who qualify for internships are interviewed by the local partnership districts, and many are hired as teachers of record in their own classrooms. A master teacher in each intern school has released time to mentor interns for the full school year. Interns receive half a beginning teacher salary and full benefits.

The principal purpose of undergraduate education in the David O. McKay School of Education is to prepare teachers for public and private schools. Each program within the School of Education maintains a high placement rate for graduates.