Program Information

PIE is based on a cohort model.  This means that while you have all of the resources of a large university such as a world-class library, when you enter the PIE program you become a member of a small community of learners.  Most of your classes are with the same 30 student teacher colleagues and you will have three or four of your classmates assigned to the same student teaching school site with you.  This is a critically important aspect of the program, because your colleagues will become an integral part of your support system and of your learning while you are in the program.

The PIE is a rigorous program and will take two semesters to complete.  In the fall semester, your class schedule will be intense and your mornings will be spent at either a middle or high school where you will do some student teaching.  In the spring, the SDSU PIE class demands will decrease, but your time at a new student teaching school site will increase.  You will complete one semester of your student teaching at a middle school and one at a high school.  This will provide you with the needed experience to teach in grades 7-12.  In addition, in order to earn the required CLAD designation on your California Teaching Credential, at least one of your student teaching placements will be at a school that serves English Language Learners.

PLEASE NOTE:  Because of our partnerships with the La Mesa/Spring Valley and Grossmont districts, we follow the district calendars, not the SDSU calendar.  This means that the PIE fall semester classes begin several days prior to the first day of school in the distrits (often as early as August 16) and end in mid January.  The spring semester begins on the first day of the spring semester in the districts and you will be required to continue student teaching until the last day of school in the district where you are placed (often mid June).  A calendar of class meetings for August 2008 can be found by clicking on Current Students and then Calendar. For more information on the district calendars including winter and spring break dates, please visit the district websites.

 

Hear about the guiding principles of the PIE program

For more information on these guiding principles, please see Kroll, L., Cossey, R., Donahue, D., Galguera, T., LaBoskey, V., Richert, A., and Tucher, P. (2004). Teaching as Principled Practice: Managing Complexity for Social Justice.Newbury Park: Sage Publishing.

Hear what past students have to say about the PIE program