This introductory course examines national, state, and local curriculum standards. Through the use of technology, students will create standard-based lesson plans. Students will also be introduced to LiveText and various organizational technological methods to facilitate organizational and planning skills.

Course Hours: 3

This course examines national, state, and local curriculum standards. Through the use of technology, students will create standard-based lesson plans. Students will also use LiveText and various organizational technological methods to facilitate organizational and planning skills.

Course Hours: 3

Addresses developmental stages within the context of major learning theories. The psychology of learning includes motivation, humor, strategic learning, anchored instruction, mediated learning, metacognition, brain research, classroom organization, management, climate, and communication for effective teaching

Course Hours: 3

Models of assessment are examined to determine measures of student performance. These include authentic assessment, competency-based assessment, assessment instruments, and assessment reports. Emphasis is given to accountability, data-driven instruction, and current trends in assessment.

Course Hours: 3

Designed to provide an overview and an awareness of issues and trends related to special education that will assist regular education teachers in meeting the needs of all students in their classrooms, especially those who are at-risk or may have disabilities. General characteristics and the educational impact of various disabilities across age and severity will be explored. Information concerning educational services and current research about students with disabilities will be discussed. Students will actually explore a variety of methods, strategies, and tools that will help them acquire the instructional skills to identify, create interventions, participate in the special education process and make classroom accommodations and/or modifications for students that may have disabilities.

This course examines public school law and educational policy as they affect teachers' rights and legal responsibilities to students and their families. Content will include an examination of students' legal rights and ethical parameters of teaching and common sense practices to direct/inform the teacher. Content to build cultural competency including but not limited to English learners, race and ethnicity, and gender will be studied and applied. Applicable state, federal, and case law affecting schools is reviewed from organizational, historical, and professional dimensions.

Course Hours: 3

Provides a proactive program of classroom management that has demonstrated increases in student appropriate and on-task behavior and in student achievement. The primary goal is to help teachers improve their overall instructional and behavioral management skills through planning, implementing, modeling, and maintaining effective classroom practices for both experienced and beginning teachers.

This lab is designed to assist students in increasing their competence in elementary mathematics. The lab is an online experience that students can work through at their own pace to achieve mastery of each skill. All mathematical topics taught in elementary schools are included, from place value and whole number operations to data analysis, geometry, and integers. $90 fee charged.

This course is a survey of research and theory in reading education with a focus on research-based instructional practice. Diagnostic, corrective methods are included. Alternative strategies for special needs students in the regular classroom are examined. Writing skills are also addressed. Hands-on experiences will be a part of this course. Meeting the reading/literacy needs of students with special needs, including English language learners, will be addressed. This course is also designed to acquaint the prospective teacher with various approaches to the teaching of reading in grades kindergarten through six. Included is an overview of areas pertaining to research and theory in reading education with a focus on research-based instructional practice. Emphasis is placed on best practices in reading including strategies relating to methods and techniques, alternative strategies, resources, use of technology, special learners, and evaluation of reading.

Focuses on current trends, strategies, and materials for teaching science in grades K-5. The constructivist approach to teaching science is emphasized, along with inquiry-based learning and the guided discovery method.

Focuses on current trends, strategies, and materials for teaching mathematics in grades K-5. This constructivist approach to teaching math is emphasized, along with hands-on learning and conceptual understanding of math concepts. A field experience in a K-5 setting is required.

An interdisciplinary approach to social studies instruction is presented identifying the contributions of the six social science areas; integrating the various elementary subjects; and aligning the national, state, and local curriculum standards in lesson planning and instructional formation. The course analyzes current trends in instructional strategies to accommodate differing learning styles, abilities, and interests and apply learning theories and principles of child development to instructional planning that includes long and short-range goals appropriate for students. Methods to assist the learning of social studies by students with special needs, including English language learners, are included. An emphasis is placed on student participation in lessons, higher-order thinking, visual and performing arts, technology, language arts, inquiry based models, authentic assessment, and project based learning. The course also requires involvement with the professional community through various experiences.

The candidate must have taken and passed all Praxis tests required by the State Department of Education for licensure prior to enrolling in clinical practice (student teaching). Clinical Practice (student teaching) includes a 15-week, semester-long professional practice experience in two diverse school settings at different grade levels and a seminar component for processing the application of knowledge and the analysis of teaching skills, lesson and unit planning, classroom management, and other professional issues. Successful completion of the seminar is required in order for the candidate to receive a passing grade in clinical practice (student teaching).

Provides a proactive program of classroom management that has demonstrated increases in student appropriate and on-task behavior and in student achievement. The primary goal is to help teachers improve their overall instructional and behavioral management skills through planning, implementing, modeling, and maintaining effective classroom practices for both experienced and beginning teachers.​

Addresses teaching reading and writing in the various subject areas at the secondary level. It stresses skills of vocabulary building, comprehension, and writing as well as skills and methods of motivating students to read and write. Classroom observation and analysis in a secondary school is required.

Methods and Tools for Secondary Teachers

This course analyzes current trends in instructional strategies for 7-12 students. During the course, candidates will research a content area and align instructional strategies pertaining to that content area to national, state, and local standards. Using research-based instructional practices this course explores teaching secondary subjects through hands-on experiences, student participation, higher order thinking, visual and performing arts, technology, inquiry-based models, authentic assessment, and project-based learning.

This course explores methods for designing courses for secondary students through non-traditional methods. Students learn and practice how to design a course online, which includes setting up the course in an online platform, creating lessons and assignments, providing feedback in a variety of modalities, assessing, and setting up a gradebook. How to flip a classroom to get middle and high school students more involved in their own learning is another method that is examined. Emphasis is placed on students’ chosen content areas as they create lessons, assignments for each course design.

The candidate must have taken and passed all Praxis tests required by the State Department of Education for licensure prior to enrolling in clinical practice (student teaching). Clinical practice (student teaching) includes a 15-week, semester-long professional practice experience in two diverse secondary school settings at different grade levels and a seminar component for processing the application of knowledge and the analysis of teaching skills, lesson and unit planning, classroom management, and other professional issues. Successful completion of the seminar is required in order for the candidate to receive a passing grade in clinical practice (student teaching).​