DRAFT - Elementary Education, Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

Lauren Day, a senior in the Elementary Education Program 

"I always knew I wanted to be a Terp and I always knew I wanted to be a teacher, but the first time I met all the College of Education faculty and staff at my orientation, I knew I made the right choice. Everyone was so incredibly friendly and helpful, and I instantly knew that everyone was on my team. Ever since becoming an EdTerp, I have felt the support of a strong network of staff, faculty, and classmates that all share the common goal of creating the next generation of incredible teachers.

The most important part of my EdTerp experience so far has been the relationships I have developed with my professors. I know that my professors want me to succeed and were always more than willing to take time out of their busy schedules to talk to me or answer any questions I had.

Here in the College of Education, I am far more than just a number. I have been able to develop relationships with my professors that I will cherish for the rest of my career.

The most exciting part of starting my teaching career is that now I am in the position to inspire my students to aim high and achieve their goals, the same as my amazing teachers who got me here in the first place. I cannot wait to see my future students grow up and change the world, and I am honored to be a part of helping that change happen."

Allison Schmimmel, a senior in the Elementary Education Program 

"Back when I was in high school, I knew I wanted to be an educator. I loved working with kids- I was a camp counselor and I felt so lucky to make an impact in a child's life in some way. It was not until I was applying to colleges however that I realized I wanted to be an EdTerp. The College of Education at UMD stuck out to me; I know that attending the University of Maryland would present me with opportunities and experiences that would be unmatched. Being an EdTerp has introduced me to experiences that have solidified my ambition to becoming an educator.

The College of Education operates under the notion that the most crucial factor to becoming an educator is that first-hand experience.

I was placed into a classroom first semester of my sophomore year. Since then, I have had many other opportunities presented to me which has allowed me to see a clear future as an educator, and shown me just how capable I am. I am most excited to bring all the skills I have learned in my 4 years with me into the education field! Every class I have taken has provided me with knowledge that will make me the best teacher I can be."

Amy Green (Director, Center for Science and Technology in Education)

Dr. Green currently serves as the Director of the Center for Science and Technology in Education (CSTE) where she coordinates and oversees innovations and partnerships to advance teacher education in science, technology, and STEM. This includes coordinating the M.Ed. in STEM Teacher Leadership program, which was established in 2015 to support in-service elementary and middle school teachers to advance STEM leadership in school communities. 
Amy first joined the University of Maryland as an undergraduate, graduating with a degree in Elementary Education in 2002. She went on to teach elementary school in Montgomery County Maryland for nine years before returning to UMD to pursue her graduate degrees. She graduated with her Ph.D. in Science Education in 2017. Her dissertation is titled The 'Next Generation' of Constructivist Reform in Science and STEM: Case study explorations of the practices of students and the perspectives of teachers.

Jennifer Turner (Associate Professor)

Dr. Turner is Associate Professor in Reading Education at the University of Maryland, College Park. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with a specialization in Literacy from Michigan State University. Dr. Turner’s scholarship centers on two interrelated domains: a) Black youth futures, which amplifies the dreams (e.g., career aspirations, life goals, societal transformations) that Black youth determine for themselves despite societal barriers, structural inequalities, and personal obstacles; and (2) equity pedagogies, or literacy instructional approaches that celebrate Black youths' cultural knowledges and racialized identities while cultivating their freedom dreams/dreaming.
Dr. Turner's research projects have been funded through numerous grants, including the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Education Research Conference Award; the William T. Grant (Inaugural) Writing Fellowship; the Elva Knight Research Grant from the International Reading Association; the Global Awareness in Teacher Education (GATE) fellowship from the Longview Foundation/UMCP; and through the Maryland Institute for Minority and Urban Education (MIMAUE), the Graduate School, and the Qualitative Research Interest Group (QRIG)/Consortium on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity at the University of Maryland. Dr. Turner’s scholarship appears in leading academic journals, including Teachers College Record, Research in the Teaching of English, Race Ethnicity and Education, Journal of Negro Education, Action in Teacher Education, and Literacy. With a strong commitment to praxis, Dr. Turner also publishes in practitioner journals including Theory into Practice, The Reading Teacher, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Language Arts, and English Teaching: Practice and Critique. Her book, Change is Gonna Come: Transforming Literacy Education for African American Students (with Patricia A. Edwards and Gwendolyn McMillon) won the 2011 Edward Fry Book Award from the Literacy Research Association. 
Dr. Turner’s current line of research blends critical multimodal literacy and arts-based research methods to theorize and visualize the futurities of Black youth. In this work, she hosts "freedom dreaming sessions" where Black youth creatively compose drawings, digital collage, and photography to design their own futures, envisioning possible professional work, life goals, and racially-just societies. An example of a career dream drawing created by Jihanna (Pseudonym; age 10) appears below and in Dr. Turner's 2020 article "Freedom to Aspire: Black children's career dreams, aspirational supports, and Africentric values" in Race, Ethnicity, and Education.

Program Faculty

Undergraduate edTerps complete five consecutive field placements in a Maryland public school.  During your senior year, you are paired with an expert mentor teacher and become the lead teacher of the class, this yearlong residency is the capstone experience of the program. 

Visit our main Elementary Education, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) page to apply and contact us.