• CI 3901, 2 credits (3 credits starting spring 2025)
  • Faculty Coordinator: Jehanne Beaton Zirps
  • Curriculum & Instruction: Education and Human Development
  • U of M Requirement(s) Fulfilled: Meets U of M degree credit requirements, such as departmental major or minor requirements or elective requirements
  • Teacher Applications: Apply to Teach a Course

U of M Catalog Description

University Catalog Link

This course enables students to explore the history and culture of teaching, student learning, community contexts for learning, and sociocultural, historical, and political influences on teaching, learning, and schools. Students will participate in service learning experiences in area schools. They will attend class, make presentations, engage in online and in person analytical and reflective discussions, collaborate with peers and begin their journey towards becoming teachers.

Class size limit: 25

Sample Syllabus

Other Considerations

CI 3901 is a prerequisite for CI 3902. Students do not need to take both courses.

Exploring the Teaching Profession cannot be taught on a normal trimester or block schedule, but schools may be able to alter their schedule to offer the course. Unless applicants are planning to teach the course over a full 15-week semester or longer, they should contact the faculty coordinator before submitting any part of their application to confirm that their high school’s schedule will work.

Field day participation in CI 3901 is required to provide Entry Point students with an opportunity to visit a university campus.

Recommended Course Description for High School Registration Guides

This course provides an opportunity for students to explore teaching as a profession. For full-time University of Minnesota students accepted into the DirecTrack to Teaching Program, the courses facilitate participation in the College of Education and Human Development and offer preferred admission to the post-baccalaureate licensure programs. For CIS students, the courses provide an in-depth look into the important and complex work teachers do.

In CI 3902, students begin their teacher identity journey. Students examine the ways in which their own intersecting identities inform their dispositions and decisions about teaching, and then critically consider the ways their future students' intersecting identities must inform teaching, classrooms, and schools.

Students in CI 3902 work collaboratively to lead a mini-lesson for their peers, volunteer in area schools through community-engaged learning to support students and teachers, and reflect deeply through in-class discussions and written essays. Community-engaged learning experiences are central to course learning, and along with course texts, provide the basis for discussion and reflection.

Student Qualifications

Junior or senior who meets at least ONE of the additional qualifications:

  • 3.0 GPA, or
  • Class rank of 50% or above, or
  • Recommendation from a teacher, or
  • Interest in working with kids, demonstrated through interview with CIS instructor.

These courses are part of the Entry Point Project. Sixty percent of the students must belong to one or more of the targeted audiences for the Entry Point Project:

  • Multilingual/ELL students
  • Members of racial or ethnic minorities
  • First generation college-bound students and/or
  • From families of low to moderate income
  • Between the top 50% and top 20% of their class

Student qualifications may change after the first year, based on input from teachers participating in the pilot.

Instructor Qualifications

Instructors apply and are selected by faculty in accordance with the U of M policy governing Academic Appointments with Teaching Functions. Once approved, an instructor is appointed as a Teaching Specialist 9754 (University Job Title and Code) in the College of Continuing and Professional Studies. Instructor qualifications are determined by the sponsoring University department.

Visit the Apply to Teach a Course page for course-specific qualifications and application steps.

Textbooks

Shalaby, C. 2017. Troublemakers: Lessons on Freedom from Young Children in Schools. NY: The New Press.

Slater, D. 2023. Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed. NY: Farrar Straus Giroux.

Additional readings provided by instructor.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are the texts and readings specified or mandated by the University of Minnesota? If not, what are some of the choices? 
The text and readings are required, but may be augmented by the instructor. Readings may change after the pilot year based on feedback from participating teachers.

Do teachers have choice in assignments? Are there required assignments? 
Teachers must use all of the same assignments as the on-campus version of the course. Assignments and weights may change after the pilot year based on feedback from participating teachers.

Who creates the exams? 
There are no exams in this course.

Is there a training and mentoring system for teachers new to CIS? 
The faculty coordinator welcomes phone or email check-ins with individual teachers during the term to supplement the workshops during the school year and summer. A cohort listserv facilitates easy communications. New teachers also benefit from an orientation to College in the Schools that will familiarize them with the support available through CIS as well as prepare them for administrative tasks such as registering students and posting grades.

High school class schedules vary; can a teacher in the block system teach the courses? 
Exploring the Teaching Profession cannot be taught on a normal trimester or block schedule, but schools may be able to alter their schedule to offer the course. Unless applicants are planning to teach the course over a full 15-week semester or longer, they should contact the faculty coordinator before submitting any part of their application to confirm that their high school’s schedule will work.

What happens at typical teacher workshops? 
CIS teachers attend professional development workshops each term and in the summer to stay current with U of M curriculum and the CIS program, to learn about innovative research and developments in the field, network, and share materials. Workshops serve as faculty meetings with course and program development discussions with special attention dedicated to content, pedagogy, and assessment of the college courses.

What happens at your typical student field days? 
Student field days provide an opportunity for CIS students to meet their peers, practice skills they have learned in class, and explore the Twin Cities campus. Teachers typically help to plan and evaluate field day activities.

High Schools Offering This Course

  • Century High School (Rochester)
  • City Academy (Saint Paul)
  • Forest Lake Area High School
  • Highland Park Senior High School (Saint Paul)
  • John Marshall High School (Rochester)
  • Johnson Senior High School (Saint Paul)
  • Mayo High School (Rochester)
  • Minnetonka High School
  • Mora High School
  • North High School (North Saint Paul)
  • Richfield High School
  • Somerset High School
  • Spring Lake Park High School
  • Tartan High School (Oakdale)
  • Two Rivers High School (Mendota Heights)
  • Washington Technology Magnet School (Saint Paul)