Founded in 1925, Colorado Mesa University is a comprehensive, public liberal arts university situated in Grand Junction in the Western Slope of Colorado.
With over 11,000 students, the Colorado Mesa University is the regional hub for professional, technical, and liberal arts training at the bachelor’s, associates, and graduate level. With a roster of noted scholars who serve as faculty, Colorado Mesa University creates an environment designed to foster a dynamic exchange of ideas and to prepare its students for success in today’s interconnected world. By focusing on regional and national employment needs and trends, students at Colorado Mesa University gain the skills necessary to find meaningful work upon graduation and beyond.
For students already holding a bachelor's degree (or higher) from an accredited college or university and desiring to pursue teaching, this program develops their expertise in educational best practices, state content standards, and student teaching to meet Colorado licensure requirements. This program aims to prepare students for a number of subject areas and specialties and to prepare them for leading classrooms through field training in the 14-county region of the Western Slope of Colorado.
Students at Colorado Mesa University have reduced the cost of their program using these methods. Check with Colorado Mesa University to see if you can, too!
Elementary Education (K-6) English Language Arts (7-12) Mathematics (7-12) Music (K-12) Physical Education (K-12) Science (7-12) Social Studies (7-12) Visual Arts (K-12) World Languages—Spanish (7-12)
Program Semesters/Steps Overview
Students begin in May and spend the summer in hybrid online and face-to-face courses and prerequisites.
Students spend fall and winter semesters with their cohort gaining field experience in regional schools during the educational partner's academic year. During this period, students continue to engage in coursework and seminars both online and face-to-face.
This process results in licensure and a graduate teaching certificate but students may choose to pursue additional graduate courses to fully complete their Master of Arts in Education.
Program Hallmarks
Field experiences are a critical component of the Colorado Mesa University (CMU) Teacher Education Program. These experiences give teacher candidates the opportunity to relate principles and theories to actual classrooms and schools by creating meaningful learning experiences. The culmination of these experiences is the teaching internship where teacher candidates fully participate in a team-teaching approach in the classroom. As teacher candidates gain experience and knowledge, they transition into the lead instructor position (expected by mid-semester).
The Center for Teacher Education at Colorado Mesa University prepares future teachers to work with diverse populations with unique needs, including students in poverty and students with different racial, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds. All CTE students must take and pass courses which prepare them for this type of classroom experience. Required courses like Teaching to Diversity are comprehensive courses that prepare students to reflect on their own worldview, and to plan and differentiate their instruction to meet the diverse needs of students.
The Center for Teacher Education follows a team-teaching model. This model fosters collaborative efforts and draws on the strengths of each partner in the development of curriculum and the practice and implementation of effective teaching strategies. The key components of the team-teaching internship model include collaborative teaching approaches, reduced student-teacher ratios, peer support groups at host schools, and increased professional development opportunities.
The Center for Teacher Education adheres to the Colorado Teacher Quality Standards by focusing on overlapping performance goals for students. The CTE focuses its education areas on the student’s knowledge of the subject matter, their professional skills, and by fostering a passion for innovation in education. The planned sequence of courses and field experience ensures students are exposed to and are accountable to achieving these standards.
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