Elementary Education

What is meant by education as a profession? Which key components should all Indiana teachers understand about becoming a professional in this field? How will future teachers demonstrate expertise as professional educators? How does knowledge of technology impact teaching and learning? All of these questions are answered within the learning experience of this course.

EDUC 500 will provide you with a foundational understanding of the professional standards associated with high-performing instructional knowledge, skills, and dispositions; the Model Code of Ethics; international technology standards; and Indiana new-teacher tools, resources, and professional certification information.

In this course, you will investigate biological, genetic, neurological, psychosocial, cultural, and environmental factors of human growth and development, with a focus on implications for teaching and learning. You will utilize technology to research, review, and reflect on (synthesize) key concepts and theoretical perspectives to effectively enhance your learning.

EDUC 520 is designed to convey a broad understanding of basic facts and theories used to understand human development, from infancy through adulthood. Additionally, it covers the interdependent sequences of development in the social, emotional, cognitive, moral, and physical domains as well as the impact of culture and context on teaching and learning.

This course was developed to provide the tools necessary to manage your classroom and to create a safe learning environment. Your instructor will detail best practices in classroom and behavior management—from organizing time, materials, and classroom space to strategies for managing individual and large-group student behaviors, transitions, and lab activities in general and special education.

EDUC 540 covers basic federal and state laws as they pertain to the legal procedures for all teachers, including instructors of students with disabilities and English Language-Learning students. This course will prepare you to feel confidence in, fully understand, and effectively fulfill your professional and legal responsibilities not only on the first day of school, but for the entire school year.

As your first elementary-specific course, EDUC 560 is designed to provide a foundational understanding of the relationship between planning, implementing, and assessing student learning. You will practice processes essential for success in content-specific related methodology courses.

This course is anchored in the assumption that the best teachers critically consider what to teach, how to teach, and how to assess student learning. These teachers are equipped with a well-developed and thoughtful intellectual framework that consistently informs their instructional decisions. The learning activities in this course will help you conceptualize and develop a method of grading, analyzing, and interpreting evaluation data for all types of learners in a multicultural society, including English Language Learners and students with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and other related learning disorders.

Literacy is vitally important and a core focus of Road2Teach. Throughout this course, you will gain a working knowledge of literacy/language instruction for young learners, theories and philosophies, assessment, instructional strategies, parent involvement, and other components of language acquisition.

EDUC 580 is designed to confer a broad understanding of language and literacy development, along with the teaching of reading and writing, to young English Language Learners (ELLs). This course involves critical examination of how to help children read and write, particularly in ELL contexts. You will have opportunities to examine various issues related to teaching literacy to young children, including oral/written language development, emergent literacy/bi-literacy, reading fluency, reading comprehension, phonics and vocabulary development, early writing acquisition, differentiation of instruction, children’s literature, assessment in early literacy, effective reading/writing strategies, parental involvement, and reading-writing connections. Theories and philosophies regarding children’s language/literacy development, as well as developmentally appropriate practices, will be examined and integrated throughout the course.

Building upon EDUC 580, this course imparts a fundamental understanding of the development and assessment of reading and writing in young children. Concepts include phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, invented spelling, writing traits, process and development, and practical methods and materials for developing reading/writing strategies in reading instruction for diverse learners.

EDUC 600 was created to promote a broad understanding of the theoretical foundations of reading/writing development, effective reading instruction grounded in scientifically-based reading research, and how reading, literacy and cognitive processes are developed for all students, including those with exceptional needs and English Language Learners.

In close alignment with state-specific standards, EDUC 620 hones in on the methods behind elementary curriculum planning and pedagogical modeling. The focus is on the humanities: social studies and language arts. Your instructor and materials will integrate basic content skill development with creative learning strategies, preparing you for licensure exams and the elementary classroom.

Specifically, EDUC 620 will provide practical knowledge for blending content areas to maximize student learning and to prepare teachers to meet the needs of all students across the curriculum. The course is concentrated on the knowledge, understanding, and usage of major concepts; principles, theories, and research related to the development of children and young adolescents; and the ability to construct learning opportunities that support individual development, knowledge acquisition, and motivation. The integration and application of knowledge for instruction, adapted to diverse students, promote the development of critical thinking and problem-solving. This course pairs with EDUC 640, which focuses on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

Like EDUC 620, this is a methods-based curriculum planning and pedagogical modeling course. The materials are concentrated on science, technology, engineering, and math. Your coursework will ensure that you are equipped for licensure exams and to teach the content in your own classroom once hired. Study exercises, along with abundant opportunities to see pedagogy modeled, are included.

Notably, both EDUC 620 and EDUC 640 include several assignment types: written Pedagogy Asynchronous Module Reflections, Content Area Study Logs, and a Lesson Plan that you create using strategies covered in class. For EDUC 640, content areas include earth, life, and physical sciences; algebraic and geometrical concepts; data, statistics, and probability, and other key STEM concepts.

What educational trends will impact teaching and learning in the future? How will the policy issues of today affect “schooling” for the next generation of leaders and learners? How might artificial intelligence alter the field of education? What are the impacts of educator and student well-being on the workplace? Will learning truly become more personalized, and how do we make this happen? What role will politics play in the future of public education? These are crucial questions, and EDUC 660 will provide a safe place for you to examine them.

This course instills a fundamental understanding of future trends in teaching and learning, student and teacher well-being in the workplace, artificial intelligence and educational technologies for personalization, promotion of teachers and the education profession, political and public policy impact, equity in learning experiences for marginalized student populations, and the impact of family/community partnerships. You will research, review, and reflect on these important issues in EDUC 660.

As a pre-service teacher candidate, you will apply what you have learned in your Foundational Courses and Elementary-specific coursework to a classroom setting. You will work closely with a mentor and supervisor in a teaching situation, for a minimum of twelve (12) full weeks of instruction. A Road2Teach Intern Supervisor will guide you throughout this process to achieve the internship goals, which include: