INSTRUCTION IN INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENTS/FE IIIB S/PORTFOLIO (EDSP 355) - Teacher candidates spend 75 hours actively engaged in a fully inclusive classroom or a special education classroom with support from a mentor teacher and a college supervisor. This field experience allows pre-service teachers to have some responsibility for meeting the instructional, behavioral, and other appropriate needs of individual PreK-4 learners with both high and low incidence learning differences. The weekly seminar addresses the four domains of effective teaching: Planning and Preparation, The Classroom Environment, Instruction, and Professional Responsibilities. Strong emphasis is placed on synthesizing learning theories with actual classroom practice.
SENIOR SEMINAR IN EDUCATION (EDUC 498) - In seminar format, students explore areas of current interest and research not included in structured courses. This course is designed to facilitate group discussions around educational research as well as to support independent research and development of a formal research paper. Students will have the opportunity to present their research in a professional oral presentation as well as in the formal written paper.
CLINICAL FIELD EXPERIENCE/STUDENT TEACHING/STAGE IV PORTFOLIO (EDSP 420) - This course provides qualified students with a semester of practical teaching experience in a PreK-4 classroom that includes students with special education needs and/or in a special education class combined with time in a general education classroom PreK-4. Students will spend each day of the 14-week semester at the school site. The student teacher will work under the guidance of a mentor teacher and the college supervisor. Student teaching is the capstone of your education courses, providing the opportunity to integrate and apply the knowledge and skills gained in education courses to the design and implementation of effective instruction and assessment.
>>For all course descriptions for this major, SEE SCHOOL OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES CATALOG
Requirements/Prerequisites:
The following requirements are mandated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education for formal acceptance into an Education Program:
- Pass a basic skills assessment (PAPA or CORE or SAT/ACT exempt or qualifying combination)
- Minimum of 48 credits with a GPA of 2.8 (conditional acceptance)
- GPA of 3.0 required by 60 credits
- Other requirements as listed in Education Handbook found on the portal
