Online MAEd – Senior High Education Licensure

This course is an introduction to the teaching profession. Topics covered include historical, philosophical, contemporary, and ethical perspectives on education as well as social and cultural expectations in teaching. In this introductory course, students are informed on the appropriate role of technology; state and national standards; policies governing education at the national, state, and local level; and careers and organizations related to teaching and education. This course also introduces students to state licensure requirements.

An advanced study of the psychological aspects of human behavior and development applied to the teaching and learning process. Topics include an understanding and function of brain development as it affects behavior and learning, neuropsychological aspects of school related problems, learning styles, attention span, information processing, short term and long term memory, encoding and retrieval mechanisms, categorization, and problem solving. Candidates will develop a positive classroom discipline model as part of this course.

This course covers an examination of the issue of diversity with emphasis on the social, political, and cultural dimensions of school settings. Students will apply findings on this issue to their own classrooms and community contexts. Consideration will be given to the needs of ESL, bilingual, and bicultural students and the ways in which teachers respond to their needs. Legal requirements and funding issues will be addressed. Teacher certification candidates will develop a philosophy of diversity statement as a component of this course.

Basic principles of instruction for middle grades and senior high schools including analysis of teaching and learning experiences, organization for instruction, and assessment of students work.

This course introduces students to research based instructional strategies along with basic principles and practices of classroom assessment. Special attention will be given to differentiated instruction, maximizing student engagement and learning, formative and summative assessment practices, and the use of data in classroom decision making.

This course introduces candidates to the basic principles of unit planning and lesson design with special emphasis on the School of Education lesson plan template. Planning principles are aligned with the Danielson Framework for Teaching, the edTPA, Illinois Learning Standards, and national content area standards. Strategies for supporting the needs of diverse learners are addressed.

The purpose of this course is to extend your knowledge of reading/writing, instructional strategies, methodology, and assessment procedures used in middle grades and senior high. We will explore the following content areas: evaluation of instructional materials, comprehension instruction, learning vocabulary, reading and writing across the curriculum, assessment of student progress, diversity in the classroom, and current approaches to content reading and writing.

Specific methods and materials for teaching middle grades and senior high school subjects: topics and problems of general instructional media. Basic principles of instruction, preparing for teaching experiences and organizing for instruction. Regular and special populations are included. Music education majors must register for MUS 3408 and 3409 in place of this course.

Survey of the psychology of the identification of, and the methods of instruction for the exceptional child, including the learning disabled, with special emphasis on characteristics and methods of instruction for cross-categorical special education students.

Mini teachers meet regularly with School of Education faculty to share and reflect on the experience and prepare for the edTPA. There will be a minimum of 35 hours of mini teaching in a local school in connection with methods courses. The student must meet the required grade point average and have a receipt by the School of Education of meeting the Illinois basic skills requirement.

As the capstone course in the teacher education program, this course enables students to create personal syntheses of the educational experiences as graduate students and as prospective educators. Students will examine selected philosophies of education in order to develop their own. Candidates will assemble professional portfolios, prepare for teacher licensure, and outline future areas of inquiry for further professional development.