Active Course List

To research an area related to education to provide understanding and experience with scholarly inquiry. Students will discover content and practice skills related to scholarly inquiry and their academic subjects.

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

The middle school concept, curriculum, and teaching methods.

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

For teachers of students whose dominant language is other than English.

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

Teacher candidates will think critically about the context in which all students learn and will learn about historical and current patterns of inequitable education that marginalize students who have been minoritized according to race, culture, language, or ability. The course will focus on research-based practices that teacher candidates can use to create identity-safe classrooms and how they can work with families and communities using an asset lens.

Prerequisites:

Admission to Professional Education and the Elementary Education program.

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

In this course students learn to use a variety of developmentally appropriate, evidence-based instructional practices and assessments to disrupt predictable patterns of achievement and to advance children¿s: oral and written language, phonemic awareness, phonics, and concepts about print. Additionally, the interdependent nature of reading, writing, listening, and speaking, stages of spelling development, and role of vocabulary and fluency in comprehension are addressed.

Prerequisites:

Admission into Professional Education and the Elementary Education program

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

This course is designed to prepare teacher candidates with the understanding and application of concepts related to human diversity and interactions, structures of power, the identity of individuals and communities, and explicitly connects social studies concepts with their influence on educational experiences of diverse learners.

Prerequisites:

Admission into Professional Education and the Elementary Education program

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

This course introduces elementary teacher candidates to areas of exceptionality in learning. Teacher candidates within the course will analyze elementary instruction within the general education classroom and learn to develop antiracist instruction that builds on students¿ assets and cultural capital with consideration of individual differences.

Prerequisites:

Admission into Professional Education and the Elementary Education program

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

The focus of this course will be providing teacher candidates with strategies and tools in providing daily instruction for diverse learners in terms of race, gender, ethnicity, nationality, language, religion, sexuality, social economic status and class. The course will focus on learners with complex and multiple disabilities that requires a variety of materials, strategies, and differentiation. The teacher candidates will have an opportunity to implement their plans in the classroom during field experience while closely working with a classroom mentor teacher and university mentor.

Prerequisites:

Admission into Professional Education and the Elementary Education program

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

This course will engage teacher candidates in critically analyzing children¿s texts. Teacher candidates will learn how to integrate diverse literature across the elementary curriculum and meet objectives and standards in math, literacy, social studies, science, and the arts. Teacher candidates will learn how to guide students in developing their literacy identities in order to promote reading engagement and students as independent and collaborative readers.

Prerequisites:

Admission into Professional Education and the Elementary Education program

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

This course is centered around three goals to help prepare teacher candidates to enact practices that develop learners¿ mathematical proficiency. The first goal is to explicitly teach skills for disrupting patterns of injustices and inequities that often get reproduced within the context of elementary mathematics classrooms. The second goal is to develop professional skills for the high-leverage practices of eliciting and interpreting students¿ thinking and leading a group discussion. The third goal is to gain the mathematical knowledge needed for engaging learners in inquiry-based instruction for number sense & operations, place value, computation, and rational number concepts in grades K-6.

Prerequisites:

Admission into Professional Education and the Elementary Education program

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

Elementary teachers must know and understand the fundamental concepts and practices in physical, life, earth and space sciences, as well as how technology, engineering, and math are integrated into this subject matter, in order to plan and implement meaningful and engaging inquiry learning experiences for students. This course will provide a foundation across all science domains through a hands-on, inquiry-based approach that will introduce teaching strategies that allows science to be accessible for all learners. This course provides the necessary content knowledge, pedagogical methods, and resource materials for teacher candidates to develop effective science instruction in the elementary classroom.

Prerequisites:

Admission into Professional Education and the Elementary Education program

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

Presents strategies for teaching reading and writing knowledge, attitudes and skills in the various teaching content areas.

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

This course will explore the integration of the arts, physical, and health education into the elementary curriculum to enhance student learning; support children¿s creative expression, self-esteem, and emphasize fine and gross motor development. Practical strategies to promote healthy physical and emotional well-being will be explored. This is designated a writing intensive course.

Graduation Requirements:

Writing Intensive

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

This course will explore practical information, assessment tools, instructional ideas and activities for effective implementation of an inquiry-based approach in elementary curriculum. Teacher candidates will focus on developing inquiry-based methods and strategies on improving students learning outcomes while linking one or more elementary content areas in a progressive way.

Prerequisites:

Admission into Professional Education and the Elementary Education program

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

This course is intended to provide a co-teaching mentorship between the teacher candidate and mentor teacher. Teacher candidates will use this semester to focus on co-teaching, and establishing a relationship with the district, school, and classroom environment. Candidates are expected to develop and demonstrate, through performance assessment, integrated knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to become committed professionals in education.

Prerequisites:

Admission into Professional Education and the Elementary Education program

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

This course focuses on teacher candidates' integration and reflection of inclusive and effective elementary teaching practices that they have learned throughout the program. Using the context in which their student teaching will occur, including district, school, and classroom demographics, curriculum and assessment, they will plan literacy instruction and assessment across content areas throughout the program. Teacher candidates will apply differentiation strategies and anti-racist pedagogy to address all learners' needs and promote their development and engagement in the classroom.

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

This course provides hands-on experiences through which students learn the basics of engineering. Topics include the engineering design process, reverse engineering, and engineering fields/professions. The course focuses on the engineering strand of the K-6 Minnesota State Science Standards.

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

Programs:

Elementary Education STEM (CERT)

Student teaching is the capstone field experience for the teacher education programs at Minnesota State University, Mankato. The purpose of the experience is to provide an opportunity for Teacher Candidates to experience fully the role of the professional educator and demonstrate their ability to successfully enter the induction phase of teaching. The Teacher Candidate uses this opportunity to produce evidence of their teaching competency in four domains: planning and preparation, the classroom environment, instruction, and professional responsibilities.

Prerequisites:

Admission into Professional Education and the Elementary Education program

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

Elementary education teacher candidates will study the technology skills needed in order to become effective STEM teachers.

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

Programs:

Elementary Education STEM (CERT)

The practicum consists of a minimum of four weeks during which candidates teach in the specific academic subject for the new licensure field. Those holding a license at the elementary level complete the experience with students in grades 7 or 8. Those who hold a license at the secondary level complete the experience with students in grades 5 or 6. The focus is on applying the standards of effective practice in teaching students, demonstrating both knowledge of the academic subject and students as well as the pedagogical skills required at the middle level.

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

This course provides students with familiarity in regard to emerging topics of importance in elementary STEM education.

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

Programs:

Elementary Education STEM (CERT)

In this pedagogy course, elementary teachers will learn to integrate the four disciplines of STEM; science, technology, engineering, and math.

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

Programs:

Elementary Education STEM (CERT)

Field experience focusing on the struggling reader and instruction in an integrated approach to teaching science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

Programs:

Elementary Education STEM (CERT)

Student teaching in a second content area for a full-day, half-semester, in a middle school setting. For elementary students student teaching in middle school.

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training

Provides clinical experiences for pre-service teachers; extends laboratory experiences for those who have completed pre-student teaching experiences.

Areas of Interest:

Education and Training