Teacher Education / Middle Level Education (Grades 5-9) B.S.Ed.
The organizing theme of the Middle Level Education program is “Education for High Achievement and Personal Efficacy.” The program provides a minimum of four supervised internships whereby university students participate in the most highly successful middle level school programs that are within reasonable commuting distance.
Students who satisfactorily complete the program earn a minimum of 120 credits of study across four areas: General Education, Content Concentration, Professional Studies, and Fieldwork. This design ensures that each student achieves a balance of academic and professional preparation to meet the expectations and challenges associated with teaching at any level. During the students’ first year, faculty guide them in devising an eight-semester plan that is balanced across four areas of study. Those four areas are briefly described below:
General Education
Students earn credits in liberal arts and sciences from an array of disciplines such as: English, mathematics, social science, history, political science, humanities, diversity, and art. Most of these courses are generally completed during the first three to four semesters and, since students sometimes transfer from one program to another, these credits easily transfer to other degree programs in the College of Education and Social Services as well as other colleges within the university.
Professional Studies
Courses that concentrate on the professional work of teaching span all four years. These studies are grounded in theory, research and policies associated with the very best practices in middle level education. Courses on young adolescent learning and development, learning theory, special education, and teaching culturally and linguistic students are taken in the first two years as pre-professional requirements. These courses include a minimum of one field placement with a middle level team of teachers. More heavily field-linked courses in curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, team organization, literacy, mathematics, and evaluation and assessment are taken the last two years.
Dual Content Concentration Areas
Students in Middle Level Education complete two Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT) content areas (English, mathematics, social studies, science). The students must work closely with their advisor to determine the two content areas and sequence of courses.
Fieldwork
The faculty is committed to providing students as many field experience as possible and deemed practical during a four-year course of study. Five courses (EDML 024, EDML 056, EDML 261, EDML 171, EDML 285) are primarily field-based and, while taking these courses, students will enjoy working with teachers on up to four different teaching teams. Emphasis is placed on high levels of integration between campus-based learning and field experience to ensure that students are sufficiently oriented and prepared for the real work of exemplary middle level schools.
The Middle Level Education program is designed to prepare teachers to create curriculum and learning environments that are responsive to the needs of students in grades 5-9. As such, all of our classes center on teaching that is specific to young adolescents. In keeping with the middle school model, great emphasis is placed on concepts such as collaborative teaming, interdisciplinary teaching, challenging and relevant curriculum, student voice, and teaching for equity.
Finally, like all teacher education students at UVM, participants in this program use authentic assessment to demonstrate their growth over time in relation to specific teaching skills. Over the course of their program of study, students will curate samples of their professional work, reflect on their learning, and ultimately create an evidence-based portfolio in their senior year. Students will refine this portfolio of work in conjunction with their student teaching experience and ultimately submit it for review as part of the licensure process. This evidence-based portfolio in turn becomes a valuable resource for seniors as they begin their job search.
Middle Level Education
UNIVERSITY GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS | ||
Diversity | 6 | |
D1 - Race and Racism in the U.S. (ECLD 056) | ||
D2 - Diversity of the Human Experience (EDSP 005) | ||
Writing and Information Literacy | 3 | |
Sustainability | 3 | |
Any course with a "SU" designation | ||
Quantitative Reasoning | 3 | |
Any course with a "QR" designation | ||
CESS GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS | ||
Fine Arts | 3 | |
Humanities | 3 | |
ARTH, ASL, CLAS, EDLT 236, PHIL, REL, WLIT, World Language | ||
Science | 3 | |
ANPS, ASTR, BIOL, CHEM, ENSC, ENVS, FOR, GEOL, NR, PBIO, PHYS | ||
Social Studies | 6 | |
PRE-PROFESSIONAL REQUIREMENTS | ||
EDSP 005 | D2:Iss Aff Persons W/Disabil | 3 |
EDML 056 | Teachers & Teaching Process | 3 |
EDML 024 | Foundations of Middle Level Ed | 3 |
EDFS 002 | School and Society | 3 |
or EDFS 203 | Soc, Hst & Phil Found of Educ | |
ECLD 056 | D1:Lang Policy Issues,Race&Sch | 3 |
Praxis Core Requirement | ||
PROFESSIONAL COURSEWORK | ||
Choose one of the following courses: | 3 | |
Mid Level Teaching Practicum I | ||
Special Topics (Place-Based Teaching in the Middle Grades) | ||
EDML 177 | Young Adolescent ELA Methods | 3 |
EDSC 157 | QR:Intro to Teaching Math | 3 |
EDML 260 | Teaching Young Adolescents | 6 |
EDML 261 | Mid Lev Teaching Practicum II | 3 |
EDML 270 | Middle School Org & Pedagogy | 6 |
EDML 286 | Internship Support Seminar | 3 |
Choose one of the following courses: | 3 | |
Content Literacy in Mid Grades | ||
Contemporary Issues (Social Justice Education) | ||
EDML 285 | Middle Level Student Teaching | 12 |
Praxis II Requirement |
Concentration Areas
Students must complete two of the following four areas of concentration.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS CONCENTRATION
Select 2 courses from the following options | 6 | |
FW: Written Expression | ||
FW: Written Expression: Theme | ||
The Art of the Essay | ||
Intro Topics in Composition | ||
Intro to Creative Writing | ||
Topics in Writing | ||
Creative Nonfiction | ||
Poetry | ||
Choose 1 course from each of the following sets | ||
Multicultural Literature | 3 | |
Multicultural Children's Lit | ||
D1:Race&Ethnic Lit Stds:Intro | ||
D1:Race & Ethnic in Lit Stdies | ||
D1:Topics 20C Afr Am Lit & Cul | ||
D2:Colonial/Post-Col World Lit | ||
Survey Literature Courses | 3 | |
British Lit II | ||
American Lit I | ||
American Lit II | ||
Structure of the English Language Courses | 3 | |
Introduction to Linguistics | ||
Structure of English Language | ||
Structure of English Language | ||
An elective from ENGS, LING or WLIT | 3 |
MATH CONCENTRATION
MATH 015 | QR: Elementary School Math | 3 |
MATH 030 | QR: Algebra for Educators | 3 |
MATH 040 | Geometry for Educators | 3 |
MATH 019 | QR: Fundamentals of Calculus I | 3 |
MATH 161 | Development of Mathematics | 3 |
STAT 141 | QR:Basic Statistical Methods 1 | 3 |
EDSC 257 | QR:Tchg Math in Sec Schls | 3 |
SCIENCE CONCENTRATION
BIOL 001 | Principles of Biology | 4 |
or BCOR 011 | Exploring Biology | |
BIOL 002 | Principles of Biology | 4 |
or BCOR 012 | Exploring Biology | |
CHEM 023 | Outline of General Chemistry | 4 |
or CHEM 031 | General Chemistry 1 | |
GEOL 055 | Environmental Geology | 4 |
PHYS 011 | Elementary Physics | 4 |
ASTR 005 | Exploring the Cosmos | 3 |
SOCIAL STUDIES CONCENTRATION
POLS 021 | American Political System | 3 |
GEOG 050 | D2:SU:Global Envmnts& Cultures | 3 |
HST 009 | D2: Global History to 1500 | 3 |
or HST 010 | D2: Global History since 1500 | |
HST 011 | US History to 1865 | 3 |
HST 012 | US History Since 1865 | 3 |
EC 011 | Principles of Macroeconomics | 3 |
or EC 012 | Principles of Microeconomics |