Teacher Certification in Biology Application Instructions
Application Period
Applications to the Teacher Certification Program in Biology at NIU should be submitted during the spring semester. The recommended application period begins in January and extends through May 30. While applications may be taken after this period there is no guarantee of available space or placement in the required clinical experience.
The 2 year certification cycle of professional education courses begins in the fall. Certification candidates that have been accepted into the program begin their professional education coursework in the fall semester only. Certification candidates complete the program at the end of a spring semester when the majority of jobs are available.
- Complete
the application page.
Provide all the requested information above the line. The Biology Certification
Coordinator will check off the items when the required information has
been received.
- Obtain
and send copies of all your undergraduate transcripts from all accredited
institutions you have attended to the Biology Teacher Certification
Coordinator. Transcripts need not be official at this time.
- Complete
the self evaluation page and mail it to the Biology Teacher Certification Coordinator. Be honest.
The purpose of the self evaluation is to force you to honestly examine
whether teaching is a career in which you can be both successful and
happy. Teaching is not for everyone. The Teacher Certification Program
in Biology would like you to avoid spending two years of your life and
thousands of dollars only to find out that you are not a teacher or
teaching is not for you.
Send each of the three items described above to the Biology Certification
Program Coordinator at the address listed below.
- Make four
copies of the letter
of recommendation page. Keep the original. Print your name on the
line at the top of each of the pages. Select three people (not your
spouse and mother) who you feel would honestly evaluate your teaching
characteristics. It would obviously help if they had seen you in a setting
in which you were doing something related to teaching. Examples of such
settings would be working with either Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts, teaching
in church or synagogue, volunteer work, tutoring, swimming lessons,
or coaching sports, etc. If you honestly feel you would be a successful
teacher, it can only be assumed that some evidence of a positive experience
exists to support that idea.
Give the three people the letter of recommendation form with your name
on it and a self addressed stamped envelope. Instruct them to complete
the form, write their signature across the seal on the back side of
the envelope and mail it to:
Dr.
Jon S. Miller
Department of Biological Sciences
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, Illinois 60115
For more
information, contact Dr. Jon Miller, Coordinator of teacher certification
in biological sciences.
Biology
Certification
biologycert@niu.edu
(815) 753-782
