The Major in Elementary Education

Overview
Candidates for teaching in elementary schools (grades 1-6) take an Elementary Education Major in the Weekend College. The education department offers a sequence of professional courses that allows prospective teachers to gain general and specialized knowledge about past and current theories of education, develop a thorough knowledge of child growth and development, and develop the appropriate skills for effective class-room teaching. During the teacher internship, students work full time in the schools with a mentor teacher in close consultation with college supervisors. Upon completing this internship, students must demonstrate entry-level competence in the full range of professional abilities required to make a strong start in any classroom.

Facts of Interest
Maryland, as a member of NASDTEC and the Interstate Contract, qualifies all its graduates for certification in all member states.

Mount St. Mary’s University uses the INTASC Principles (Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium) as the framework for the teacher education program. These performance based standards are recognized by the Maryland State Department of Education.

Students will develop a portfolio to demonstrate their proficiency of the INTASC Principles Upon graduation, students in the elementary education program will be certified to teach in grades 1-6.

Upon graduation, students in the elementary education program will be certified to teach in grades 1-6 and middle school.

A cumulative GPA of at least a 2.5 (including four MSM courses) is required for admission to and retention in the teacher education program.

Although the professional education courses are designed for the Weekend College, most of them will require that you spend some time in field experiences observing and teaching in an elementary school.

MSDE (Maryland State Department of Education) requires 100 day internships. Mount St. Mary’s University requires that the Internship be taken at a PDS (Professional Development School) sites. Students will need to be available full-time for their 100 day internships.

Praxis Exams
The Maryland State Department of Education requires successful completion of the exams in the Praxis series as one of its criteria for initial teaching certification. Students are fully accepted into the program only after successful completion of the Praxis I: Academic Skills Assessments. Praxis I should be taken after completion of 60 credits and must be taken prior to teacher internship. These assessments are designed to measure reading, writing, and mathematical skills. The assessments are available in two formats, each measuring the basic academic skills vital to all teacher candidates. Teacher candidates will also need to complete the Praxis I exams prior to taking 300/400 level courses.

The Praxis II: Subject Assessments measure your knowledge of the subjects you will teach. This is usually taken just before or during the teacher internship semester. All candidates must complete Praxis I & II and pass with qualifying scores and complete all coursework in the Elementary Education Major in order to receive initial certification from the Maryland State Department of Education.

Coursework
Our teacher education program requires more coursework to build depth and breadth of knowledge needed for successful elementary education teachers. Therefore, education majors will be required to take the following courses in addition to the college core courses:

Additional courses

• Math (3 hrs)
• Biological Lab Science (4 hrs)
• Physical Lab Science (4 hrs)
• Total 11 hrs

Professional Education Courses
Some of the professional education courses are offered by Frederick Community College (FCC) and the others by Mount St. Mary’s. Following is a list of required courses:

Course Descriptions

EDUC 100 Foundations of American Education (3)
Students will examine some of the historical, philosophical, sociological, and cultural foundations of American education. Curriculum content and organization and basic teaching competencies are introduced and discussed in their relation to the changing mission of schools.

EDUC 303 Behavior Management (3)
This course will focus on the study of teaching methods and classroom management techniques for a regular education classroom. Several management techniques will be modeled and presented. Students will be expected to observe, reflect upon and put into practice classroom management strategies discussed in class.

EDUC 313 Instruction of Reading (3)
Emphasizes the fundamentals of developmental literacy instruction (i.e., reading, writing, speaking, and listening), including the effective use of teaching strategies in the elementary classroom. Shows how to use a balanced program of graphophonics, semantics, and syntactics in teaching reading.

EDUC 316 Technology in the Classroom (3)
This course will prepare pre-service teachers to integrate technology with the teaching/learning process. Students will explore, incorporate, and evaluate the use of computer software, CD-ROMs, the World Wide Web and multimedia classroom instruction. Field experience is required.

EDUC 329 Teaching Mathematics in Elementary Schools (3)
Presents instructional techniques used to teach mathematics to children. Emphasis on manipulatives, task analysis, assessment, computer and calculator technology in math. Block field experience is required. Prerequisite: 6 credits of math.

EDUC 330 Teaching Science in Elementary Schools (3)
This course presents methods, techniques, strategies, and materials of teaching science that will enable the intern to stimulate children to wonder, to be good observers, to make predictions, and to offer explanations. It will help students to construct their own knowledge of scientific principles and concepts.

EDUC 331 Teaching Social Studies in Elementary Schools (3)
Acquaints the prospective teacher with typical elementary social studies curriculum content and methods effective in teaching that content. The course includes review of research on effectiveness, design of activities, practice teach-ing, and assessment of student learning. Integration of multicultural issues into regular curriculum is included.

EDUC/SPED 410 Reading Assessment and Intervention (3)
A course concerned with diagnostic techniques and prescriptive procedures use-ful to the elementary classroom teacher for planning individual and small group instruction. Shows pre-service teachers how to use state, local, and classroom assessment data to make ongoing instructional changes. Prerequisite: EDUC 313

EDUC 418 Teacher Internship (10)
This course provides the student the opportunity to participate in observation and supervised student teaching in the professional development school. Internship fee applies.

EDUC 421 Professional Seminar (3)
This course is a companion to and is taken concurrently with Teacher Internship. It provides opportunities to share, examine, and reflect upon internship experiences and to revisit the theories and practices of teaching as they apply in the real world of the interns' specific classroom placements. Interns also will focus on career planning and development, resulting in the preparation of a resume, a philosophy of education, a portfolio, and a videotape.

*The Maryland State Department of Education requirement for completing 12 credits of approved reading courses may be satisfied by taking two courses in reading at FCC or MSM (the “Materials for Teaching Reading” and “Processes and Acquisition of Reading”). The remaining reading courses (EDUC313 and EDUC410) must be taken at MSM.

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