Courses Offered at the Undergraduate Level
ED 100: Introduction to Education
From the syllabus: “Sessions orient to the field of education; explain, review and plan both the MAE program and the State of Missouri teaching/certification requirements; and introduce themes in the profession. The course will also address community-based education or that which in some fields is labeled ‘informal education.’ These are teaching functions outside public schools which may not require state certification.”
ED 388: Exploratory Field Experiences
From the syllabus: “ED 388 is an undergraduate course that supports future coursework in the Master of Arts in Education (MAE) graduate program. ED 388 has been designed to provide readiness in preparation for the ED 393 Clinical Experience in Education course by exploring the field of education through meaningful personal and field experiences. ED 388 is an introduction to observation, participation, and reflection in the classroom with three components – seminar, clinical, and field experiences. The seminar component provides students with an opportunity to discuss aspects of the MAE Program, process the exploratory field experiences, and reflect on their desire to be an educator. Clinical activities provide students with the opportunity to have outside experiences in a variety of areas in preparation for the field of education while focusing on diversity and technology. The field experience component of ED 388 provides students with the opportunity to explore the micro-society of the classroom composed of teachers, students, and content within the context of the school and the community by completing exploratory hours in their area of certification interest.
Teacher candidates spend 10 hours in a classroom setting. The classroom setting is not always in the Northeast Missouri area surrounding Truman State University. Teacher candidates may observe in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas. The field experience is intended to establish a teacher lens and for candidates to initiate connections with current professionals as well as certify their decision to pursue education as a career. This experience also provides insights to candidates about the various cultures that create community within a school. Often Truman’s candidates come from high performing schools or have taken advanced classes within their own schools that kept them somewhat isolated from other communities within their school. The initial field experience exposes them to other cultures beyond their own school systems.”
ED 389: Foundations of Education
From the syllabus: “This course is designed as an introduction to and exploration of education as a discipline of study, not as a professional practice. We will investigate the historical, philosophical, social, political, and legal aspects of education and further your understanding of the various issues that shape and impact our nation’s systems of public education. In addition, an understanding of these aspects will allow you to be reflective on your beliefs, knowledge, personal experiences, and philosophy of education, which you will be encouraged to share with your peers. The course is designed to challenge you to define: what should be the basis of education in the society, for whom education should be provided, and in what way that education should be sponsored. Most importantly, the course is designed to challenge you to accept the individual and group responsibility for public education of the generations in a democratic society as required under state constitutions.”
ED 393: Clinical Experiences in Teaching and ED 394: Experiences in Classroom Teaching
(These courses are gateways for admission in Special Education and Elementary Education MAE programs–students need to earn a grade of B or higher in ED 393 and a P in ED 394.)
From the syllabus: “ED 393 & 394 have been designed to provide readiness for teaching, preliminary to the Management of Instruction course. This course will focus on practical application and preparation of the student for the role of being a quality educator within the K-12 school setting, with three articulate components: seminar, clinical activities, and field experiences. The seminar component provides students with an opportunity to read and discuss relevant materials, as well as reflect upon their own assumptions about the nature of teaching, learning, students, and the content of schooling.
Clinical activities provide students with the opportunity to utilize materials and information in the Curriculum Library, become familiar with equipment and materials related to teacher technology, and analysis/reflection connected with mini-lesson teaching and the field experiences within the course. The field experience component (ED 394) provides students with the opportunity to explore the classroom setting and community and includes the required 45 hours of on-site experience in the school setting. The course is designed to provide a portion of a coherent program of professional education, which will give students a systematic understanding of how to structure knowledge and guide their students in the acquisition of knowledge and the development of understanding. Routines and procedures are derived from the research base of reflective practice, which leads to effective teaching.”
ED 410: Capstone: On Becoming an Educator
From the syllabus: “This course is designed to introduce the student to the role of graduate student and professional as distinct from the familiar role of undergraduate. Fifteen one-hour sessions will orient, explain, review and plan both the MAE program and the State of Missouri teaching/certification requirements. The course will also address community-based education or that which in some fields is labeled “informal education”. These are teaching functions outside public schools which may not require state certification. Sessions will position enrollees for their next professional steps. The course is composed of 15 hours of required experiences in the activities below including: Journal Club; teaching instructional technology; student organization leadership.”
ED 593: Psychological Foundations of Education
From the syllabus: “This course covers aspects of psychological theory and life span development applicable to teaching at all grade levels. We will focus on elements of social, emotional, and cognitive development, learning, motivation, student characteristics, critical thinking, and classroom management. Throughout the course you will be expected to be an active participant both as student and as teacher.”
Courses Offered at the Undergraduate/Graduate Level
ED 520G: Principles of Early Childhood Education
From the syllabus: “This course is designed to develop basic philosophical, planning, management, assessment, and implementation skills to support the development and learning of young children from birth to eight years of age. Developmentally appropriate practices for early childhood within the context of the school, family, and community will be addressed. An accompanying field experience of 60 hours in a prekindergarten/ kindergarten setting will be required. Students must enroll concurrently in ED521(G) Teaching Experience: Early Childhood Field Experience.”
ED 521G: Teaching Experience: Early Childhood Field Experience
From the syllabus: “This course requires 60 hours of field experiences in a prekindergarten/kindergarten school setting. The on-site experiences/responsibilities will be in part determined by your mentor teacher and the setting demands of the school setting with the course intent being for you to have additional experiences in developing curriculum and working with/teaching young children.”
ED 550G: Introduction to Gifted and Talented
From the syllabus: “During this course, you will gain a broad overview of the field of gifted education including conceptions of giftedness, characteristics and needs of gifted learners, and options for programming. This course provides a foundation regarding the field of gifted education and the need of gifted learners. The course goals have been adapted from the 2013 NAGC/CEC standards. “
Courses Offered at the Graduate Level
ED 601G: Measurement and Evaluation
From the syllabus: “This course presents general principles of measurement and the evaluation of student achievement and teacher/program effectiveness as well as an introduction to research designs and action research. The major themes of the course are assessment, validity, reliability and utility. Emphasis is on the construction and the analysis of classroom measures and the interpretation of standardized measurement results, as well as the proper use of measurement for sound reflective decision-making. The use of measurement in various forms of research is introduced. Use of spreadsheets is required. Prerequisites: Admission to the MAE Program and STAT 190 or STAT 290 or their equivalents.
These course goals and objectives are directly aligned on State documentation provided by DESE. They are believed to be valid. The course goals and objectives that are specifically aligned are upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Apply sound educational and ethical reasoning in choosing and/or constructing assessment instruments appropriate for student assessment and/or action research
- Organize, interpret, and apply assessment results in a meaningful and ethical manner both for student assessment and/or action research purposes
- Clearly articulate the basis for decision-making in the selection, use, and interpretation of classroom assessment as related to improvement of instruction
- Explain the effects of the accountability movement as it relates to the use of large group assessment and addressing issues of diversity in groups and individuals”
ED 603G: Content Area Academic Literacy
From the syllabus: “This course examines theories of comprehension and retention and the application of strategies to be used with comprehension of expository and artistic prose writing. This class focuses on student participation and consists of three key components. The student will examine current practice and research findings in the text and outside readings and be able to apply the readings to their future practice. They will attend class when meeting and participate in all online class activities, discussions, presentations, etc. in a manner which well represents the dispositions of a professional educator. They will satisfactorily complete assigned readings, presentations, projects, activities, etc.”
ED 605G: Psychology of the Exceptional Child
From the syllabus: “An examination of the educator’s rights and responsibilities in educating students with exceptionalities – both gifted and those that may be considered to have disabilities, current philosophy and terminology in gifted and special education programs, and the programming implications of students from culturally diverse backgrounds.”
ED 607G: Applied Educational Psychology
From the syllabus: “This course examines learning, attitudes, motivation, and human relations as they apply to teaching. Taken concurrently with ED 609G: Teaching Internship.”
CML 608G: Management of Instruction
From the syllabus: “This course provides pre-service teacher candidates with best-practice foreign language (FL) and English as a second language (ESL) methodology, grounded in second language acquisition (SLA) research. This course provides students with the theoretical framework for understanding what language is and how it is optimally learned, practical skills for managing the classroom, strategies for planning curriculum and assessing learners, and pedagogical knowledge and skills to meet the needs of diverse K-12 learners. Emphasis is given to proficiency (task) based instruction and backwards-design curricular planning as developed by ACTFL, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages and to The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) for ESL learners.”
ED 608G: Management of Instruction
From the syllabus: “Development of basic philosophical, planning and implementation skills related to the preparation and teaching of curriculum for elementary school students. Content and processes from the fields of mathematics, social studies and science are the primary disciplines covered. Students will be provided with a systematic understanding of how to structure knowledge in the content areas in ways that such knowledge can be translated to and assimilated by elementary students. Technology is used to support the development and implementation of student learning experiences. Concurrent field experience (60 hours) in the public school classroom will give the teacher candidate practice in facilitating and impacting student learning. The course is a preparatory experience for the responsibilities of ED 618 and the internship in the Master of Arts in Education program (course description, 2019-2020 Truman General/Graduate Catalog). Prerequisite: Admission to the MAE Elementary program.”
ENG 608G: Management of Instruction
From the syllabus: “Together we will explore questions concerning what it is to teach and to teach well: Which approaches to teaching English language arts are most effective? What challenges face the English teacher in today’s schools? What constitutes compelling evidence that supports that we are effective in teaching and that our students are demonstrating growth? What kinds of research are valuable to us as individual practitioners and to our colleagues? We will give time to consideration of theory as well as praxis and will take up such varied issues and practical topics as lesson development, standards, assessment, differentiation, student motivation, classroom management, working effectively with colleagues and parents, researching in the classroom, and work/life balance. Because lesson planning is such an essential part of any teacher’s life, especially for an initial educator, we will give considerable time to development of plans for teaching key texts or topics. In addition to the unit plans, each of you will leave with plans for conducting classroom research. For many of you, this will provide a solid base for the research conducted during the internship.”
ES 608G: Management of Instruction
From the syllabus: “This course investigates the techniques of effective teaching and relationships between teacher and learner. The course is designed to allow the pre-intern teacher in the Masters of Arts in Education to gain practical knowledge and experience necessary for becoming an effective instructor of physical education and health. The purpose is to provide students with an understanding of how to systematically structure learning experiences in physical education and health. Students will develop practical skills and procedures to plan for effective management and instruction.”
LING 608G: Management of Instruction
From the syllabus: “Together we will explore questions concerning what it is to teach and to teach well: Which approaches to teaching ESOL are most effective? What challenges face the ESOL teacher in today’s schools? What constitutes compelling evidence that supports that we are effective in teaching and that our students are demonstrating growth? What kinds of research are valuable to us as individual practitioners and to our colleagues? Much of the work of the class will consist of working with at least one English Language Learner. However, students will have readings pertinent to teaching in general, teaching English in terms of their content area, and working with ELLs. interests or focus specifically on the ELL(s) they work with. We will give time to consideration of theory as well as praxis and will take up such varied issues and practical topics as lesson development, standards, assessment, differentiation, student motivation, and effectively with colleagues and parents. Because lesson planning is such an essential part of any teacher’s life, especially for an initial educator, we will give considerable time to development of plans for teaching key texts or topics arising from students’ clinical placement.”
MUSI 608G: Management of Instruction
From the syllabus: “Development of basic philosophical, organizational, and performance skills, which are implemented in the teaching of instrumental and vocal music concepts in the public schools. This course is a preparatory experience for the responsibilities of the MAE internship.”
SED 608G: Management of Instruction
From the syllabus: “Students learn to plan and implement effective strategies for meeting instructional needs, promoting academic achievement, supporting social development, and managing classroom behaviors of elementary and middle school level students with disabilities.”
SSTE 608G: Management of Instruction
From the syllabus: “The purpose of this course is to help prepare students to teach social studies in the secondary school setting. We will explore the philosophy and rationale of social studies, social studies curriculum development, unit and lesson planning, teaching and evaluation strategies, and most importantly, each student will have the chance to take part in a direct clinical experience. The course will be run as an interactive class in which the entire group will learn from each other. Through the clinical portion of the course and through class interaction, students will begin the process of reflecting on all actions they take as teachers and reflecting on the training they will take into their internship. Ultimately it is the instructor’s hope that each member of the class will walk away with solid, practical, and creative ideas that can be utilized throughout a career of reflective practice.”
STEM 608G: Management of Instruction
From the syllabus: “This course leads to the development of basic philosophical, planning, and implementation skills related to the design and teaching of the concepts of the STEM disciplines to secondary school students. The course is a direct preparatory experience for the responsibilities of the internship.”
ED 609G: Teaching Internship
From the syllabus: “The internship is the capstone experience of your professional teacher preparation program. To ensure that program requirements are met, professional assistance is provided during the internship by the administrator, mentor teacher, and University representative. MAE students’ grades in courses are one indicator of success in meeting program requirements; another is professional deportment. MAE students who do not demonstrate professionalism necessary for success in the internship, as determined by supervising faculty and mentor teachers, may need to complete additional supervised experiences prior to the internship.”
ED 624G: Instructional Interventions for Secondary Students (Grades 6-12) with Reading Deficiencies
From the syllabus: “The purpose of the course is to prepare secondary pre-service teacher education candidates to provide evidence-based reading instruction to students with disabilities in an inclusive setting with a focus on literacy assessment techniques and interventions for middle and high school students with special literacy needs. An emphasis is placed on the results of research and proven methods of instruction for teaching reading to adolescents with reading deficits with a study of the causes of reading disabilities, assessment procedures and methods of correction. The course stresses a behavioral approach to teachings, as well as the development and implementation of intervention strategies for various populations of adolescents with exceptionalities in inclusive settings. Additional topics include modifications and adaptations of materials, effective teaching, learning strategies, lesson planning, assessment, and individualized education programs.”
ED 632G: Research/Applied Educational Psychology
From the syllabus: “This course examines research methodologies, designs, collecting and analyzing data, and writing and presenting findings through completion of an action research project. Online participation is required. Taken concurrently with ED 609G. This online course enhances your knowledge about research methodologies, designing research questions, collecting and analyzing data, and presenting your findings in formal and informal manners. Students will add to the field of education on a current issue by completing an action research project. Students will also participate in an online discussion group regarding action research and other professional issues within their internship as well as submit a professional development plan.”