Curriculum for Education Major

Become an educator and learn the skills to teach the next generation of leaders through hands-on learning opportunities and field work. Study Education at Champlain College.

Education Major Curriculum

Our Upside-Down Curriculum allows you to begin taking your Education classes beginning in your first semester. This gives you an exceptional amount of time to gain critical firsthand experience, allowing you to take concepts directly from your Champlain classrooms into your student-teaching classrooms.

Depending on your preferred grade levels and subject areas, you may be able to choose more than one concentration. You’ll work closely with your Faculty Advisor to explore your interests, choose your concentration(s), and create the ideal pathway into the teaching career you envision.

Early Childhood Education
Elementary Education
Middle & Secondary Education
Middle Grades English Language Arts
Middle Grades Mathematics

Middle Grades Social Studies
Secondary Level English
Secondary Level Mathematics
Secondary Level Social Studies

For students interested in educational technology, we strongly suggest a minor in Computer Science, or seek out a technology specialization with many paths, including Game Design.

Learning Outcomes for Education

First Year
Fall Semester
- EDU 110 Foundations of Learning and Teaching
- EHS 100 Making Connections
- PSY 125 Child and Adolescent Psychology
- XXX Concentration Course
- COR 101 Navigating Higher Education
- COR 102 First Year Inquiry: Reading, Writing, &
Spring Semester
- EDU 112 Integrating Technology
- MTH XXX Math Elective
- XXX Concentration Course
- COR 103 Navigating Your Information Landscape
- COR 104 First Year Inquiry: Making, Doing, &
Second Year
Fall Semester
- EDU 230 Content Literacy —OR— EDU 265 Literacy and Language Development
- XXX Concentration Course
- XXX Concentration Course or General Elective
- COR 201 Core Foundations: Making Meaning Through Science
- COR 202 Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Spring Semester
- EDU 233 Teaching Diverse Learners
- XXX Concentration Course
- XXX Concentration Course or General Elective
- COR 203 Core Foundations: Making Meaning Through Culture
- COR 204 Theoretical Perspectives
Third Year
Fall Semester
- EHS 210 Social Justice Intensive
- EDU 270 Service Learning to Connect Schools and Society
- XXX Concentration Course
- XXX Concentration Course or General Elective
- COR 301 Core Foundations: Connecting Place and Identity
- COR 302 Field Methods
Spring Semester
- SCI XXX Science Elective
- XXX General Elective
- XXX General Elective
- COR 303 Core Foundations: Connecting Past and Present
- COR 304 Digital Methods
Fourth Year
Fall Semester
- EDU 425 Reflective Practices in Education
- XXX Concentration Course
- XXX Concentration Course
- XXX Concentration Course
- XXX Concentration Course or General Elective
- XXX Concentration Course or General Elective
Spring Semester
- CCC 410EDU Student Teaching Capstone
- EDU 490 Integrated Curr & Student Teaching

Students will examine contemporary learning theories, models, and research-based practices in education which have evolved from historical and psychological perspectives on human development and learning. Working from these theoretical frameworks and approaches students will develop plans for student learning in inclusive, prosocial learning environments using a variety of instructional strategies. Students will explore community-based professional educational contexts.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Students will meet together in an interdisciplinary, seminar-style setting to build a foundational understanding of integrative thinking and learning and to begin to make connections among the various elements of the Champlain College student-experiences and competencies. Students will take part in a real-world community awareness or service experience as a class and then examine the experience from the perspectives of social work, criminal justice, the law, environmental policy, education, and psychology.

Prerequisites
Credits	1

Students examine how learners grow and develop, recognizing that patterns of learning and development vary individually within and across the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical areas, and designs and implements developmentally appropriate and challenging learning experiences. Given an understanding of child and adolescent psychology and development, students will design and implement developmentally appropriate and challenging learning experiences.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Why go to college? What does it mean to be educated? In this course you'll begin to answer these questions. We'll explore the academic expectations of higher education, college as a diverse community, and the significance of education around the world. By examining how these issues are negotiated and implemented at Champlain and elsewhere, you'll gain perspective on your own education and a deeper understanding of the ways that the college experience can be both liberating and transformative.

Prerequisites	Take Cor-102 concurrently.
Credits	3

Inquiry is about learning how to ask the right kinds of questions, and figuring out how to answer those questions through discussion and reflection. This course introduces you to the types of inquiry necessary to succeed at Champlain and beyond. You will explore the intersections of reading, writing, and thinking by focusing on a specific topic or theme. You will approach that focus through the interrogation of relevant texts and analysis that draws upon multiple analytical frameworks. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-one

Prerequisites	Take COR-101 concurrently.
Credits	3

Students will learn to facilitate the integration of technology skills and concepts through designing supporting curriculum, identifying and evaluating software, and developing and practicing methods for technology use. Students will design lessons and learning opportunities using the ISTE standards for middle/secondary level students. This course prepares education students to develop their professional portfolio.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

What makes an argument good or bad? What counts as evidence in our post-truth world? How can you understand and assess the truth value of a claim when you're not an expert? In this course you'll learn rhetorical strategies about how to examine arguments and types of evidence in different disciplines and fields of study. To help learn these strategies, you will do close readings of texts from a variety of disciplines in the liberal arts and sciences, popular culture, and social media.

Prerequisites	Take COR-104 concurrently.
Credits	3

This course introduces you to interdisciplinary inquiry using applied, project-based, and/or experiential methods. Regardless of the specific course focus, you'll have opportunities for making and doing interdisciplinary knowledge creation through a variety of approaches and activities. You will collaborate with other students, iterate on ideas, and work to develop a project. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-one

Prerequisites	Take Cor-103 concurrently.
Credits	3

Students will learn to construct a framework for supporting and teaching reading in the content area. We will focus on developing research-based methods, strategies, and procedures for designing instruction that supports literacy in each of the core disciplines: Math, Science, English, and History. We will develop skills in assessing reading levels and teaching vocabulary development and reading strategies. Students spend two hours a week in a field experience.

Prerequisites	Take EDU-110
Credits	3

Examines the development of language skills - listening, speaking, reading, writing - and appropriate activities to enhance such skills. A holistic approach to beginning reading will be emphasized. (Fall only)

Prerequisites	EDU-125
Credits	3

Science holds an elevated place in society. The knowledge and meaning that science makes are seen as having a particular and special value. This course explores knowledge and meaning making in order to allow a thoughtful analysis of, and then engagement with, science as a way of knowing, and then engages with the methods and theories of the sciences themselves, to understand the analytical, creative, and generative possibilities of science.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

While each section of COR 202 addresses a different problem, issue, or topic, they all focus on interdisciplinary research. You will collect, analyze, and assess information from different disciplines in order to recognize patterns, contextualize arguments and synthesize ideas while collaborating on a project. Emphasis will be placed on helping you translate and apply what you learn about interdisciplinary research to other professional contexts. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-two

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

Course provides students with an understanding of children and youth with disabilities and other special needs. Students learn about the community services, educational programs, and services designed to help children with special needs reach their maximum potential. Emphasis is on the characteristics of various disabilities, their effect on children and their families, strategies for effective intervention, and special needs and strategies that promote the acceptance of diversity in the classroom. Best practices for inclusion including curriculum adaptations and accommodations, and effective strategies for collaboration among professionals will be discussed. (Spring only)

Prerequisites	Complete EDU-110
Credits	3

Culture impacts everything we do, experience, and learn, but what is culture? Where does it come from, how does it form, and why does it have such a wide and deep impact on people's lives? This course explores culture as a system of meaning and meaning-making in order to allow for a more thoughtful analysis of, and then engagement with, cultural texts and media using different methodological approaches.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

In this course, you will go in depth about a theoretical perspective that asks you to interrogate systems of power and power relationships. You will learn about the history of that perspective, including how it too was shaped by multiple contexts and compares with other viewpoints. You will use that perspective to analyze a specific topic, collection of texts, or cultural phenomena. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-two

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

Students will meet together in an interdisciplinary, seminar-style setting to build a greater understanding of integrative thinking and learning and to add a focus within a social justice context. Students will participate in an off-campus service learning project and critically examine the experience from the perspectives of social work, criminal justice, the law, environmental policy, education, psychology, and additionally consider their experiences in Core, and LEAD.

Prerequisites	EHS 100 is a prerequisite for EHS 210, except for the following circumstances: 1) Student taking EHS 210 is a non-EHS student. OR 2) Student taking EHS 210 is a transfer student who came in as a sophomore or junior.
Credits	1

Students will learn how to use collaborative educational models such as service learning as a strategy to connect schools and the society within which they exist. Through field experiences students will participate in one or more service-learning project(s). Emphasis placed on engaging learners in interdisciplinary critical thinking, creativity, and collaborative problem solving related to authentic local and global issues.

Prerequisites	Complete EDU-110
Credits	3

Where we are shapes how we understand ourselves and each other. In this course, we will dig into the relationship between place and identity. We will learn how to think spatially, recognizing how one's identity is situated within and constructed through movement through different spaces--be they natural and built environments, rural and urban, or actual and virtual. COR 301 will help us understand the complex meanings of identity in a world defined by movement and change.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Field methods are a collection of practices used in the sciences, arts, and humanities to understand phenomena in situ or as it is happening in a specific time and place. In this course, we will apply one or more field methods to research a topic, theme, or question that varies by section. We will learn practices associated with research in the field including but not limited to participant observation, data collection, and experimentation in order to navigate an uncontrolled environment. We will also examine the power dynamics between the researcher, informant, and subject matter to help us understand how, if not practiced ethically, field methods can create or reinforce biases rather than helping us learn with and make sense of the world around us. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-three

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

By learning from the past, we can make sense of the present and prepare for the future. In this course, we will learn how the 21st century has been and continues to be shaped by past social practices, ethical frameworks, power relations, and discourses. COR 303 is a course about how we know what we know about the past, and the ways different narratives about the past shape the present. Making connections between past and present will help us better understand how to live and make decisions in a globalized world defined by constant change.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Digital methods are widely used forms of inquiry that employ technological tools to interrogate research questions important to the humanities and sciences (including the social sciences). Some examples include digital archiving, data mining, and story mapping. In this course, we will use one or more digital methods or tools to research a topic, theme or question that varies by section, with the express purpose of critiquing and reflecting on its application. This includes an examination of the values, flaws, and impacts of the methods or tools we are using, paying particular attention to their ethical implications and power dynamics. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-three

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

In preparation for completing their final licensure portfolio students will gain practice demonstrating proficiency in education program, Vermont licensure, and national level standards. Students will identify evidence that exhibits proficiency in specific practice behaviors for each standard. Students will describe and analyze the context and rationale for choosing artifacts that demonstrate meeting a standard, analyze the evidence in terms of proficiency of the standard and the theoretical frameworks informing practice, and finally, reflect on how they will continue to develop in each area.

Prerequisites	Education major senior level status or permission of the program director.
Credits	1

Students will describe, analyze, and reflect on their student teaching experiences and develop a portfolio for state licensure by bringing to bear their professional skills and knowledge and their liberal, interdisciplinary learning. Students will analyze and apply professional ethics and best practices to current and emerging issues in the profession of education.

Prerequisites	Must also enroll in EDU-490. Must complete all 300 level EDU program requirements and all Core requirements. Or receive permission from the program director.
Credits	3

Students will spend four and one-half days each week as a student teacher in a kindergarten through sixth grade classroom. Lesson plans and a two-week thematic unit will be developed and taught under the supervision of the cooperating teacher and college supervisor. Lesson and unit plans will be linked with the Vermont Standards. Weekly seminars will provide opportunities for students to share learning and teaching experiences as well as to share information on teacher licensing, final portfolio development and job placement. (Spring only)

Prerequisites	EDU-312 and EDU-313 (Elementary Ed) or EDU-335 (Middle and Secondary Ed). Must complete 90 credits, pass the Praxis I exam and have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better to enroll in this course.
Credits	9

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