Elementary Education (BS)

Summary

The Elementary Education program strives to prepare elementary teacher candidates for twenty-first century schools. Students in the program develop necessary skills, knowledge and dispositions to create socially just classrooms for all learners. A key part of the Elementary Education program is completion of several extensive field experiences in elementary classrooms, which culminate in a year-long student teaching experience. 

Catalog Year

2023-2024

Degree

Bachelor of Science

Major Credits

76

Total Credits

120

Locations

Mankato

Normandale

Accreditation

CAEP

Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation

This program satisfies licensure-to-practice standards for Minnesota and may satisfy standards for other states or US territories.

Licensure/Certification Disclosure

Update Your Major

Program Requirements

Required General Education

ART 225 offers art experiences with a focus on working with children. The class will be introduced to methods and materials that work best with these populations. The course includes an introduction to a broad scope of artists and artworks that reflect our culturally diverse country, as well as the global nature of our world. Visual Culture, work of fine art, museum analysis, installations, performances, video art, and graffiti will be discussed. Students will participate in hands-on art making activities through studio experiences, they will write and reflect on the outcomes, and they will participate in critiques and discussions.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-06, GE-07

This lecture and laboratory course investigates the world of chemistry, the nature of matter and our interactions with chemicals on a daily basis. This course is intended for non-science majors and is not a preparation for CHEM 111 or CHEM 201. Credit will not be given to students who have previously taken a chemistry course at or above Chem 111 and received a passing grade.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-03

Study of interpersonal skills, motivation and group skills. Applied to educational settings. Meets State of Minnesota human relations requirement for teacher licensure.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-07, GE-11

Diverse Cultures: Gold

Students in this course approach writing as a subject of study by investigating how writing works across a variety of contexts.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-1A

An introduction to Geography and its themes of study. The course will familiarize students with where places are located in the world together with their cultural and physical features. Students will be tasked to think critically and diversely about various cultures and features of the modern world.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-08, GE-10

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and flooding are three examples of naturally recurring events on the Earth that ultimately influence all of our lives. This course introduces the physical features and processes of the Earth that control these events. The course has a laboratory component.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-03, GE-10

This course is designed to provide an overview of America's political, social, economic, and cultural development from earliest colonization to 1877.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-07

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Addresses drugs and drug use from psychological, behavioral, pharmacological, historical, legal and clinical perspectives - while examining the effects of drug use on personal health and social functioning.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05

Concepts of algebra (real numbers, exponents, polynomials, rational expressions), equations and inequalities, functions and graphs, polynomial and rational functions, exponential and logarithmic functions, systems of equations and inequalities, matrices and determinants, conic sections, sequences and series, probability, and binomial theorem.

Prerequisites: Satisfy Placement Table in this section, or MATH 098 with grade of P.

Goal Areas: GE-04

Nature of mathematics from a problem solving approach using sets, relations, number systems through integers, rational numbers and discrete mathematics.

Prerequisites: Satisfy Placement Table in this section, or Grade of P in MATH 098 or "C" (2.0) or better in MATH 112 or MATH 115.

Goal Areas: GE-04

Performance scenes and exercises for the beginner.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-06

Communication General Education. - Choose 3 Credit(s).

A course designed to improve students' understanding in communication, including the areas of interpersonal, nonverbal, listening, small group and public speaking.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-1B

A course in communication principles to develop skills in the analysis and presentation of speeches.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-1B

Major Common Core

* Complete the five courses before starting the blocks.

Provides experience with a wide variety of biological laboratory exercises to prepare prospective elementary teachers. Emphasis is on building knowledge, skills, and confidence. The course will cover major biological concepts and environmental education through classroom-ready examples selected to illustrate each concept.

Prerequisites: none

This course provides students opportunities to: 1) understand the theories and contributions of major educational psychologists and theorists; 2) develop and demonstrate skills in educational technologies; and 3) develop context for the knowledge and skills described above through activities/field experience.

Prerequisites: none

Introduction to authors, genres, illustrations, and works of literature published for elementary age children. Current and classic works.

Prerequisites: none

A continuation of MATH 201, including rational and real number systems, informal geometry and measurement, statistics, and probability.

Prerequisites: MATH 201, with "C" (2.0) or better or consent

For prospective teachers in elementary schools. Topics include weather, weather forecasting and record keeping, simple machines, electricity, chemistry, sound, light, and others. May not count as a physics elective. Not available for P/N grading.

Prerequisites: none

Blocks

Block 1

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.

Students learn to use a variety of developmentally appropriate, motivating techniques to disrupt predictable patterns of achievement and to advance children¿s: oral and written language, knowledge of phonemic awareness, phonics, and concepts about print within a balanced literacy framework. Additionally, the interdependent nature of reading, writing, listening, and speaking, stages of spelling development, and role of vocabulary and fluency in reading comprehension are addressed.

Prerequisites: Admission into Professional Education and the Elementary Education program

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

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

Block Two

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

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

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

This course will provide elementary teacher candidates with the knowledge and skills necessary to: (a) Identify concepts to be explored through scientific investigations, and then design and conduct investigations of those concepts, using appropriate scientific apparatus and mathematical tools to improve their investigations; (b) know and apply basic concepts in the physical, biological and earth sciences; (c) know and apply appropriate pedagogies to foster inquiry the elementary classroom; (d) identify and mitigate their students¿ science misconceptions; and (e) understand and apply guidelines for proper procedures and safety practices while teaching science.

Prerequisites: Admission into Professional Education and the Elementary Education program

Block Three

This course will explore the incorporation and extension of physical education and the arts into the elementary curriculum to strengthen subject matter learning, support artistic expression, and promote physical fitness.

Prerequisites: none

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

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

In this course, teacher candidates will deepen their knowledge of both the English language and the instructional and assessment strategies effective for meeting the linguistic needs of multilingual/multidialectal learners, while enhancing the learning of all students. Teacher candidates will investigate the functions of phonology, lexis, grammar, and discourse used for listening, speaking, reading, and writing within K-6 classrooms. Teacher candidates will analyze classroom and academic content-area language, identify those linguistic structures needed to access and utilize subject-area content, employ effective strategies for teaching to the varying academic-language needs of their learners, and develop lessons integrating language and content across disciplines.

Prerequisites: none

Block Four

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

4-Year Plan

The 4-Year Plan is a model for completing your degree in a timely manner. Your individual 4-Year plan may change based on a number of variables including transfer courses and the semester/year you start your major. Carefully work with your academic advisors to devise your own unique plan.
* Please meet with your advisor on appropriate course selection to meet your educational and degree goals.

First Year

Fall - 15 Credits

First Year Seminar supports the development of student success skills, such as reading, writing and speaking; helps students gain intellectual confidence; builds in the expectation of academic success; and provides assistance in making the transition to the University.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-12

Students in this course approach writing as a subject of study by investigating how writing works across a variety of contexts.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-1A

Performance scenes and exercises for the beginner.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-06

An introduction to statistical concepts and methods that is applicable to all disciplines. Topics include descriptive measures of data, probability and probability distributions, statistical inference, tests of hypotheses, confidence intervals, correlation, linear regression, and analysis of variance. The use of statistical software will be emphasized. Prereq: ACT Math sub-score of 19 or higher, successful completion of MATH 098 or appropriate placement scores (see Placement Information under Statistics) Fall, Spring, Summer GE-4

Prerequisites: Satisfy Placement Table in this section, or MATH 098 with grade of P.

Goal Areas: GE-02, GE-04

Addresses drugs and drug use from psychological, behavioral, pharmacological, historical, legal and clinical perspectives - while examining the effects of drug use on personal health and social functioning.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05

Spring - 16 Credits

This lecture and laboratory course investigates the world of chemistry, the nature of matter and our interactions with chemicals on a daily basis. This course is intended for non-science majors and is not a preparation for CHEM 111 or CHEM 201. Credit will not be given to students who have previously taken a chemistry course at or above Chem 111 and received a passing grade.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-03

This non-lab gateway course introduces geospatial thinking, scientific theories and cutting-edge technologies in Geospatial Science (GISc) through lectures and hands-on activities. It focuses on field data collection, space and ground based sensors, satellite imagery, aerial photography, LiDAR, digital mapping, data visualization, and geoanalytics. It prepares students for higher-level courses such as Cartography, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing, and the Global Positioning System (GPS). Students will learn how to solve problem with a variety of geospatial science methods. Topics include interrelationships between environmental, economic and cultural systems, social and ecological dimensions of health, and natural resource issues.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-03, GE-10

Nature of mathematics from a problem solving approach using sets, relations, number systems through integers, rational numbers and discrete mathematics.

Prerequisites: Satisfy Placement Table in this section, or Grade of P in MATH 098 or "C" (2.0) or better in MATH 112 or MATH 115.

Goal Areas: GE-04

This course is an introduction to Native American history from creation to 1900 in North America. It introduces students to the continuity of social, cultural, political, and economic diversity amongst Native American peoples and focuses on adaptions to intertribal and colonial relationships during this time period.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-07

Diverse Cultures: Purple

ART 225 offers art experiences with a focus on working with children. The class will be introduced to methods and materials that work best with these populations. The course includes an introduction to a broad scope of artists and artworks that reflect our culturally diverse country, as well as the global nature of our world. Visual Culture, work of fine art, museum analysis, installations, performances, video art, and graffiti will be discussed. Students will participate in hands-on art making activities through studio experiences, they will write and reflect on the outcomes, and they will participate in critiques and discussions.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-06, GE-07

Second Year

Fall - 15 Credits

.This course will introduce students to the ¿Courageous Conversations¿ protocol designed to facilitate healthy conversations about race, racial equity and social justice. Students will be introduced to the five tenants of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and learn how to isolate race, as they reflect on their own personal life experiences. Students will read relevant articles, discuss current events and examine common historical practices within the United States. Students will actively engage in dialogue focused on the role race and racism have in perpetuating social disparities between dominant and marginalized racial groups, and actively engage in small and large group discussions.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-07, GE-09

Diverse Cultures: Purple

A continuation of MATH 201, including rational and real number systems, informal geometry and measurement, statistics, and probability.

Prerequisites: MATH 201, with "C" (2.0) or better or consent

Study of interpersonal skills, motivation and group skills. Applied to educational settings. Meets State of Minnesota human relations requirement for teacher licensure.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-07, GE-11

Diverse Cultures: Gold

Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and flooding are three examples of naturally recurring events on the Earth that ultimately influence all of our lives. This course introduces the physical features and processes of the Earth that control these events. The course has a laboratory component.

Prerequisites: none

Spring - 14 Credits

Exploration of human service professions serving and interacting with individuals with disabilities.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-07, GE-09

Diverse Cultures: Purple

The course purpose is to increase students' knowledge of international children's literature that is written in English or translated into English. Students will be introduced to individual books, authors, and methods of responding to literature. This course studies children's literature set in countries such as Afghanistan, WWII Germany,and the Dominican Republic.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-06, GE-08

Diverse Cultures: Purple

This course provides students opportunities to: 1) understand the theories and contributions of major educational psychologists and theorists; 2) develop and demonstrate skills in educational technologies; and 3) develop context for the knowledge and skills described above through activities/field experience.

Prerequisites: none

Introduction to authors, genres, illustrations, and works of literature published for elementary age children. Current and classic works.

Prerequisites: none

Third Year

Fall - 16 Credits

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.

Students learn to use a variety of developmentally appropriate, motivating techniques to disrupt predictable patterns of achievement and to advance children¿s: oral and written language, knowledge of phonemic awareness, phonics, and concepts about print within a balanced literacy framework. Additionally, the interdependent nature of reading, writing, listening, and speaking, stages of spelling development, and role of vocabulary and fluency in reading comprehension are addressed.

Prerequisites: Admission into Professional Education and the Elementary Education program

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

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

Spring - 16 Credits

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

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

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

This course will provide elementary teacher candidates with the knowledge and skills necessary to: (a) Identify concepts to be explored through scientific investigations, and then design and conduct investigations of those concepts, using appropriate scientific apparatus and mathematical tools to improve their investigations; (b) know and apply basic concepts in the physical, biological and earth sciences; (c) know and apply appropriate pedagogies to foster inquiry the elementary classroom; (d) identify and mitigate their students¿ science misconceptions; and (e) understand and apply guidelines for proper procedures and safety practices while teaching science.

Prerequisites: Admission into Professional Education and the Elementary Education program

Fourth Year

Fall - 16 Credits

This course will explore the incorporation and extension of physical education and the arts into the elementary curriculum to strengthen subject matter learning, support artistic expression, and promote physical fitness.

Prerequisites: none

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

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

In this course, teacher candidates will deepen their knowledge of both the English language and the instructional and assessment strategies effective for meeting the linguistic needs of multilingual/multidialectal learners, while enhancing the learning of all students. Teacher candidates will investigate the functions of phonology, lexis, grammar, and discourse used for listening, speaking, reading, and writing within K-6 classrooms. Teacher candidates will analyze classroom and academic content-area language, identify those linguistic structures needed to access and utilize subject-area content, employ effective strategies for teaching to the varying academic-language needs of their learners, and develop lessons integrating language and content across disciplines.

Prerequisites: none

Spring - 12 Credits

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

Transfer Pathways

A Transfer Pathway is a partnership between the Minnesota community colleges and Minnesota State University, Mankato. The Pathway suggests a plan for students with a specific associate degree to complete the last two years for a designated bachelor’s degree.

Students who are transferring to Minnesota State Mankato from a Minnesota community college should meet with an advisor in your college advising office to ensure the Pathway is an appropriate option for completing your degree.

More information on Transfer Pathways is available at https://mnsu.edu/pathways/about/

Third Year

Fall - 16 Credits

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.

Students learn to use a variety of developmentally appropriate, motivating techniques to disrupt predictable patterns of achievement and to advance children¿s: oral and written language, knowledge of phonemic awareness, phonics, and concepts about print within a balanced literacy framework. Additionally, the interdependent nature of reading, writing, listening, and speaking, stages of spelling development, and role of vocabulary and fluency in reading comprehension are addressed.

Prerequisites: Admission into Professional Education and the Elementary Education program

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

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

Spring - 16 Credits

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

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

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

This course will provide elementary teacher candidates with the knowledge and skills necessary to: (a) Identify concepts to be explored through scientific investigations, and then design and conduct investigations of those concepts, using appropriate scientific apparatus and mathematical tools to improve their investigations; (b) know and apply basic concepts in the physical, biological and earth sciences; (c) know and apply appropriate pedagogies to foster inquiry the elementary classroom; (d) identify and mitigate their students¿ science misconceptions; and (e) understand and apply guidelines for proper procedures and safety practices while teaching science.

Prerequisites: Admission into Professional Education and the Elementary Education program

Fourth Year

Fall - 16 Credits

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

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

In this course, teacher candidates will deepen their knowledge of both the English language and the instructional and assessment strategies effective for meeting the linguistic needs of multilingual/multidialectal learners, while enhancing the learning of all students. Teacher candidates will investigate the functions of phonology, lexis, grammar, and discourse used for listening, speaking, reading, and writing within K-6 classrooms. Teacher candidates will analyze classroom and academic content-area language, identify those linguistic structures needed to access and utilize subject-area content, employ effective strategies for teaching to the varying academic-language needs of their learners, and develop lessons integrating language and content across disciplines.

Prerequisites: none

Spring - 12 Credits

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