Students from a variety of majors now can select secondary education as their concentration and become certified to teach grades 7 through 12.
Math, biological sciences, French, Spanish, physics, chemistry and English students will have to take EDCI 2001, “Education, Schooling and Society” along with three pairs of courses which combine curriculum and instruction class with courses in their major to receive their teaching certification.
These courses will focus on student development and diversity, classroom culture, curriculum and pedagogy. They also will provide field experience in area high schools.
Karl Roider, an alumni professor of history, said the new concentration was developed because of increased initiatives to improve the education program.
“The program was the College of Education’s response to the governor’s blue ribbon task force on K-12 education, which called upon the secondary education programs around the state to add more content in the subject areas,” Roider said.
Roider said this was reinforced by the federal “No Child Left Behind” act, which requires every teacher to be “highly qualified” in the subject area he or she is teaching.
In addition to the coursework, students must take the PRAXIS I, a standardized teacher’s exam.
At the end of their coursework, students must take the PRAXIS II exam to become certified.
Students majoring in history and English also will take capstone courses in both their major and in secondary education.
The history program is different from other programs; students who choose the secondary education concentration will be certified to teach history, as well as social studies.
Therefore, students must take 12 hours of courses in one field — choosing from political science, geography or economics — and nine hours in one of the other fields.
Karla Lemoine, College of Basic Sciences assistant to the dean, said because the process can be somewhat confusing, students in the college must make an appointment with an academic counselor to declare their area of concentration.
Students already majoring in one of the areas have the option of changing their concentration to secondary education.
However, Sarah Liggett, an English professor who helped design this new concentration for English majors, said students who wish to declare the new concentration should do so as soon as possible.
“The sequence of courses during the last four semesters is built on prerequisites, so it is important for students to opt for this concentration no later than the end of their sophomore year in order to graduate in a timely manner,” Liggett said.
Roider said the new concentration will prepare students in the areas they will be teaching.
Liggett said students who take courses in their major and secondary education will get hands-on teaching experience.
“In these courses, they learn strategies for designing, teaching and evaluating curricula and lessons, managing classrooms and working with students in groups as well as individually,” Liggett said.