Academic Programs

Summer Bridge Program

All students admitted to The Teacher Academy @ Brooklyn College for the fall semester are required to participate in our Summer Bridge program for six weeks starting in July. During the Summer Bridge program, you will begin your transition from students to teachers of mathematics and science through a series of carefully designed activities including team-building and professional-development workshops, hands-on scientific study and curriculum evaluation. You will spend approximately three weeks assisting with summer programs in our DOE host schools. You will also be enrolled in a credit-bearing college course, either pre-calculus or computer information systems over the six weeks. Your hard work will be rewarded for sure: Academy students take up to two trips during the Summer Bridge , to centers of education such as Fort Wadsworth , the American Museum of Natural History, and the National Parks of New York Harbor Education Center.

Four-Year Program

The Teacher Academy at Brooklyn College is a collaboration between the School of Education and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Teacher Academy students may major in Biology, Chemistry, Geology,Physics, or Mathematics at Brooklyn College. The Teacher Academy is a supportive learning environment, which helps students develop the necessary habits of study and time management and the problem solving skills essential for success. The faculties in education, mathematics, the sciences and the humanities have collaborated on program design.

Peer Assisted Team Learning

All students participate in Peer Assisted Team Learning (PAL) academic support groups for major gateway courses such as introductory calculus, biology, geology, chemistry and physics. In the Peer Assisted Team Learning Workshop Model, students who have done well in the class become guides and mentors to small groups of students. These peer-led groups meet weekly to work on carefully structured problems. PAL provides a supportive environment that helps each student build understanding and study skills.

The Humanities

In the freshman year, Teacher Academy students take special sections of English composition I and II, which focus on the unique nature of writing in mathematics and science disciplines. Students also practice writing in various modes, including personal reflection, objective observation and critical analysis; skills essential to educators, scientists and mathematicians. PAL workshops for English 1 provide a structure for success in writing-intensive science majors.

The program creatively integrates the newly revised Brooklyn College Core Curriculum. The new core curriculum includes lower-tier and upper-tier courses. Teacher Academy students participate in lower-tier courses in Arts and Literatures and Philosophical and Social Inquiry. Special sections of select core courses including; People, Power and Politics and Knowledge, Existence and Values, enrich teacher preparation from an interdisciplinary perspective. A special section of the upper-tier course, Exploring Global Connections in Education, will be developed for the Teacher Academy. Students may elect to take a second upper-tier course from offerings in Exploring Science or Exploring Literature. Teacher Academy students take calculus and introductory geology and chemistry rather than the lower-tier courses in Scientific Inquiry.

Education

The Teacher Academy is guided by the Conceptual Framework of the School of Education.

Beginning in the Sophomore year, Teacher Academy students take the three-year core sequence of courses required for New York State certification as teachers of grades 7-12. In the freshman year, they also take a two-semester sequence in teaching middle childhood which will allow program completers to apply for additional certification as teachers of grades 5-9.

Math and science teacher preparation programs at Brooklyn College are recognized by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the National Science Teachers Association.

Teacher Academy