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51������ the Major

Elon students with a major in middle grades education (grades six through nine) study the intellectual, social and emotional development of students at this pivotal stage in life. They learn about current education research, inclusive and culturally informed pedagogies, and how to collaborate with colleagues and families as they work to provide a stimulating educational environment for all students.

Jobs in Middle Grades Education

• Classroom teacher
• Private tutor
• Curriculum developer
• Instructional designer
• Education researcher

Past Elon Middle Grades Education Internships

• Western Alamance Middle School
• Brown Summit Middle School
• Turrentine Middle School
• Southern Alamance Middle School

Related Majors

• Elementary Education
• Elementary Education & Special Education
• Middle Grades Education & Special Education
• Outdoor Leadership & Education
• Secondary Education

‘Student-first’ teaching style helped new middle school educator through pandemic

One of the most valuable pieces of advice Zoe Grove received as a middle grades education major at 51������ was the importance of being there for her students above all else — above the curriculum, above the assignments, above the testing. Little did she know that the advice would become critical when she entered the profession in early 2020.

Just two months into Grove’s student teaching experience her senior year, the world shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. After graduation, her first full-time job, as a middle school mathematics teacher, was fully online to prevent the spread of the virus. It wasn’t an easy time for anyone, but Grove knew first and foremost what she needed to do thanks to her Elon education.

“One of the biggest lessons I was taught was that students come first, content comes second,” she said. “And I think — especially during COVID and post-COVID — that has been really helpful. … Elon did a really good job of making sure that I’m prioritizing my students’ mental health and their social-emotional learning. And making sure that I’m there for my students, not just there to push content.”

I think Elon did a really good job of making sure we saw all different styles of teaching so we could figure out what worked best for us outside of Elon.

Of course, content is important, said Grove, an eighth-grade mathematics teacher at West Lake Middle School in Wake County. But students can’t learn without first feeling safe and supported.

Grove chose Elon for its excellent education program and renowned study abroad opportunities. She knew before entering college that she wanted to be a middle school math teacher, despite having struggled with the subject when she was a student. It was, in fact, that struggle that made her more passionate about teaching it.

“Growing up, I had always loved math, I’d always been interested in numbers and enjoyed being in math class, but I was never good at it,” she said. “So I went in wanting to create a space for my students where it was OK to not be great at first, that what mattered was continuing to try.”

She chose middle grades education because of how formative those years are for students.

“It’s really exciting for me to see students find their passions and shape themselves into the people they want to be and start creating opinions of their own,” she said. “It’s a really important age for students.”

Elon gave Grove many opportunities to teach, to work one-on-one with students and to observe different kinds of classrooms and teaching styles. As early as her first year, she was placed in classrooms at local schools, which made her education courses more relevant.

“Sometimes I would have multiple classes in a semester that each had a [classroom] placement, so I could really apply what I was learning in those classes to those specific placements,” she said.

In addition to observing North Carolina classrooms, Elon’s study abroad program gave Grove the opportunity to visit New Zealand, where for five weeks she was placed in sixth-, seventh- and ninth-grade math classes.

“That opened my eyes to different types of teaching,” she said. “I think Elon did a really good job of making sure we saw all different styles of teaching so we could figure out what worked best for us outside of Elon.”

Grove, who was a North Carolina Teaching Fellow, was also a mathematics tutor at Elon in the Koenigsberger Learning Center, which allowed her to work one-on-one on a specific subject a person was struggling with. And she was a teaching assistant for the Elon 101 introductory course for three years. In that once-a-week class, she would help first-years figure out their major, work on a four-year plan and share the different resources available to them on campus. The job gave her experience planning and organizing lessons.

Though her student teaching semester was interrupted by COVID, the experience wasn’t a loss. Because Elon pairs student teachers with their clinical teacher at the beginning of their senior year, they have an entire semester to get to know the class where they’ll be solo teaching in the spring.

“That was really helpful because the students got to know me a little bit before I took over that class and was the primary teacher, which I think helped build relationships with the students and also helped them buy into the idea that I was now their teacher,” said Grove, who taught five eighth-grade math sections at Turrentine Middle School in Burlington.

Even though all schools — including colleges — were thrown into navigating an unpredictable time, Grove said her mentors were very helpful when the pandemic shut down schools.

“No one knew what was happening, and no one really knew what to do about it, but I think they were really helpful, trying to give us ideas and trying to talk through different situations that we were going through,” she said. “Talking to my professors about, what should I be doing, what shouldn’t I be doing, what’s the best path, I think it was Dr. [Scott] Morrison who told me, ‘Well check in with your students first, make sure they are OK,’ because a lot was happening. They gave me really good advice, really good feedback, and even before we went online, when we were still in the building, they would come in and watch me teach and sit with me afterward just discussing how it had gone and giving me really good constructive feedback that I could apply the next time.”

Today, Grove tries to offer the same kind of support to her own students. And her teaching style has been recognized. In 2021, she was named the winner of Wake County’s 2020-21 Diane Kent-Parker First-Year Teacher Award for middle school and was one of 27 finalists for the North Carolina Beginning Teacher of the Year Award. In the fall of 2022, she became head of her school’s math department.

To those students considering a middle grades education major at Elon, she offers advice that was imparted by her own mentors at the university:

“You are going to do everything you can to be an incredible teacher, and that is more than enough — just showing up daily for your students and letting your students know that you care is more than enough,” she said.

Curriculum & Degree Requirements