Elementary Education
The NDMU School of Education strives to prepare teacher candidates to respond to the supply and demand of the teacher education workforce and endeavors to prepare candidates who are highly skilled and equipped to teach children regardless of learning style, differentiated or special needs, and racial or socio-economic status. As such, candidates are encouraged to pursue certification in more than one content area or specialization; e.g, Certification in Biology and Special Education; or in English and TESOL; or in Elementary Education and Early Childhood Education. In some cases, candidates can even obtain three or four certifications (e.g, elementary, special education, early childhood education and/or TESOL).
Having more than one certification yields several benefits: 1) Most important of all, candidates are exposed to specific content and instructional strategies that may be unique to targeted individuals or groups of students (e.g, second language generation students whose parents speak only in their native language). 2) Candidates acquire a deeper, richer background in the vast variety of instructional strategies that one might employ, irrespective of the student's classification (e.g, a student in a Gifted and Talented class might respond just as readily to a 'reward and praise' technique as would a student with special needs). 3) Candidates find that, when seeking employment, they are more marketable because principals are afforded greater flexibility in assigning them to teaching positions that fit the needs of their school and student population (e.g, if given two equally qualified candidates from which to select, a principal is more likely to hire a candidate who has more than one certification, thereby giving them more flexibility to assign highly qualified teachers to classrooms based on that certification).
In essence, the teacher candidates enter the education profession with a larger and more diverse skill set of instructional strategies and content knowledge to better meet the needs of the school system, where employed, and the children whom they are entrusted to teach.
Pathways to obtain dual, triple, or even four certifications are outlined in the following tables, based on professional courses needed, content areas, programs and degrees.
Course Matrix for CAUS Elementary Education BA Degrees
|
Required Professional Courses |
Bachelor of Arts Degrees** - Elementary Education |
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|
Elem Education |
Elem & Special Education |
Elem & Early Childhood |
Elem & TESOL |
Elem, Special, and ECE |
|
|
EDU-300 Technology for Instruction and Management |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
|
EDU-303 Elementary Reading Materials |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
|
EDU-357 Processes & Acquisition of Reading |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
|
EDU-252 or 253 or SPE 373 Clinical Field Experience |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
|
EDU-301 Educational Psychology |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
|
EDU-307 Social Studies in the Elementary School |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
|
EDU-308 Issues in ESOL |
(3 credit) |
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|
EDU-309 Instruction in Reading |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
|
EDU-310 Mathematics in the Elementary School |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
|
EDU-312 Science in the Elementary School |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
|
EDU-315 Curriculum Methods/Mat. for the Young Child |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
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|
EDU-346 Methods and Materials ESOL |
(3 credit) |
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|
EDU-347 Assessing Second Language |
(3 credit) |
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|
EDU-360 Techniques of Teaching Reading & Writing to Students with Limited English Proficiency |
(3 credit) |
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|
EDU-402 American Education in Historical Perspective |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
|
EDU-409 Internship: Teaching ESOL K-12 |
(6 credit) |
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|
EDU-410 Internship: Teaching in Early Childhood Educ. |
(6 credit) |
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|
EDU-411 Internship: Teaching in the Elementary School |
(16 credit)* |
(10 credit) |
(10 credit) |
(10 credit) |
(10 credit) |
|
EDU-440 English Grammar for ESOL Teachers |
(3 credit) |
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|
EDU-460 Assessment of Reading |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
|
PSY-203 Child and Adolescent Development |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
|
SPE-326 Special Education for the Classroom Teacher |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
|
SPE-337 Communication Skills for the Special Educator |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
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|
SPE-321 Methods of Teaching Students with Special Needs |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
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|
SPE-344 Assessment in Special Education |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
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|
SPE-421 Elementary Curriculum Design and Adaptation |
(3 credit) |
(3 credit) |
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|
SPE-475 Student Teaching in Special Education |
(6 credit) |
(6 credit) |
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|
TOTAL |
45 credit |
67 credit |
58 credit |
67 credit |
70 credit |
*16 credits for Women's College, 12 credits for CAUS
** Some programs may require coursework during the summer and/or winterim.