2021-2022 Academic Catalog

ELM-Grades 4 thru 8 Education

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Course Descriptions By Program

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ELM200 - Introduction to Middle Level Education (Grades 4 to 8)

This course is an introductory overview course in which teacher candidates are exposed to many topics that they will explore in depth in future specialization courses for the program. In the course, students will gain first-hand experiences with professional behaviors expected of middle level teachers. Thirty hours of field experiences are required, fulfilling the initial field requirement of the Early, Middle, and Special Education department. Course objectives, course outline, and the performance assessments reflect the ten standards for beginning teachers’ licensing and development, written by the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC), as well as the seven standards of the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE).

ELM220 - Instruction and Assessment in Grades 4-8

This course is designed to provide teacher candidates with the theoretical and practical background necessary to develop instruction and assessment activities that meet Pennsylvania Department of Education Academic Standards as well as the standards set forth by the Association for Middle Level Education. This course includes topics such as developmentally appropriate practices, grade 4-8 curriculum models, constructivist instructional strategies, and assessment of student learning. Through various teaching and learning methodologies, teacher candidates will learn how to plan for and utilize strategies based on evidence-based research. Planning for instruction will be evidenced through development of lessons and/or unit plans, which reflect utility in inclusive and diverse settings.

ELM301 - Reading Methods, Assessments, and Interventions (Grades 4-8)

This course is designed to build upon a scientific base to the practice of teaching literacy to middle level students from grades four to eight, with an emphasis on comprehending a variety of texts in the content areas. Teaching strategies are based on theoretical and research-based assumptions that readers construct meaning as they decode, using what they know about print and the world to understand written text. Candidates learn how to assess, make instructional decisions, and provide interventions that will meet the needs of a diverse classroom population. The course is standards-based, supported by the Pennsylvania Department of Education standards for teacher preparation, as well as the International Reading Association (IRA), the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI), the Interstate New Teacher Assessment Consortium (INTASC), and the National Middle School Association. Teacher candidates participate in university classroom and field experiences that provide them with the knowledge, pedagogy, and dispositions needed to teach literacy to middle school children in a variety of classroom settings.

ELM302 - Language Arts: Methods, Assessments, and Interventions

This is one of two courses that examine the development of literacy in children and adolescents from grades 4-8. Candidates are taught how to develop reading writing, listening, speaking and visually representing skills, with an emphasis on the development of writing skills, using an integrated approach that includes a wide variety of literature, as advocated by the Association for Middle Level Education, and consistent with the constructivist theory of teaching and learning. Theoretical orientations to literacy instruction, with a focus on writing, are introduced, analyzed, and evaluated. Practical implications of these theories are examined in detail, and students are expected to demonstrate strategies through the use of formal and informal assessment, lesson planning, presentations, and mini lessons. A performance assessment project that includes a field experience will be required.

ELM311 - Math Methods Assessment and Interventions

This course will allow students to develop the understanding, knowledge, and skills necessary to teach mathematics to young adolescents. Students will become proficient in the problem-solving process and will come to understand mathematical reasoning in order to teach problem-solving and mathematical reasoning to young adolescents. Lastly, students will plan, implement, and reflect on standards-based mathematics lessons which will be taught to young adolescents in a local middle school.

ELM321 - Teaching Children Science: Grades 4-8

This course provides teacher candidates with the science education knowledge, skills and dispositions expected of beginning Grade 4-8 teachers in discipline specific classrooms. The course provides an overview of the nature of science, scientific inquiry and focuses on science process skill teaching strategies. Candidates learn and practice science teaching skills such as: creating a classroom environment conducive to scientific inquiry, designing science instruction, assessing student attainment of academic standards, and using the local community as a location and topic of classroom science instruction. The course assignments introduce students to the professional community of science education professionals and resources. Teacher candidates participate in university classroom and field experiences that provide them with the knowledge, pedagogy, and dispositions needed to teach in a variety of educational contexts.

ELM331 - Social Studies Assessment and Interventions

This course is designed to build upon a scientific base to the practice of teaching social studies to children from fourth to eighth grade. The foundations of the social studies are examined with an emphasis on the standards and themes sanctioned by the National Council of Social Studies. Candidates learn research-based best practices that promote the two main goals of the social studies; social understanding and civic awareness. Instructional strategies and resources for the constructivist social studies classroom will be discussed and demonstrated. Attention will be given to current trends and the present status of elementary social studies. The course is standards-based, supported by the Pennsylvania Department of Education standards for teacher preparation, as well as the National Council for Social Studies (NCSS), the Association for Middle Level Education, and the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC). Teacher candidates participate in university classroom and field experiences that provide them with the knowledge, pedagogy, and dispositions needed to support social understanding and civic awareness to middle school students.

ELM360 - Environment, Ecology and Nature-Study Education

This course explores educational strategies, practices and ethics for use when teaching people about the environment, ecology, and natural history of their local community. Course activities examine the complex relationship between humans and their environment from multiple perspectives. Historical, current and research-based approaches to public school student and citizen education provide the focus for an in-depth examination of the individual’s role in contributing to the health, sustainability and mutual dependence between natural communities and human communities.

ELM411 - Field Experience 4-6

The candidate receives background and experience in working with children in grades 4 through 6 through on-site field experience in a public school classroom. Each candidate will work with a school-based mentor teacher while also concurrently participating in campus-based seminar sessions. These combined experiences will provide candidates with multiple opportunities to further explore instructional strategies as they develop and teach formal lessons and conduct an individual case study of a young adolescent’s instructional needs.

ELM412 - Field Experience 7 – 8

The candidate receives background and experience in working with children in grades 7 through 8 in the classroom setting. University classroom and school-based classroom teaching experiences are combined to give the candidate an opportunity to expand upon their knowledge base and apply methods that they have learned in university methods courses.

ELM415 - Middle Level Field Experience

This course is designed to provide students with practical experiences in a classroom in the middle school (grades 4-8). Pennsylvania Department of Education Field competencies, Level 3, provide the objectives of this course. Students are required to complete these competencies with 30-45 hours of observation and teaching under the guidance and observation of a mentor teacher in a Grades 4-8 classroom. Current teaching technology and strategies to meet the needs of young adolescents in Grades 4-8 will be researched, observed and discussed. Students will complete an Impact on Learning research project, in which they assess learners in a Grades 4-8 classroom.

ELM461 - Student Teaching and School Law (Grades 4-8)

This course is the capstone experience in CALU’s teacher education program. Teacher candidates engage in a fifteen-week placement in a 4-8 classroom with increasing levels of responsibility for planning, classroom environment, instructional delivery including diverse learners, and assessment while maintaining high levels of professional conduct. Teacher candidates complete an action research project where they will determine a target group of students, consult the literature, analyze student-learning data, create instructional plans, and reflect on impact on student learning. In addition, teacher candidates participate in practicum sessions that focus on research-based strategies.