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BSEd Program Phases

Teaching, Learning, and Leading with Schools and Communities (TLLSC)

Whether you aim to teach early childhood, elementary, middle grades, secondary, bilingual, or special education, you will move through three phases of field-based sequences and modules across your four years of study.

Phase 1: Exploration

(3 semesters: Sequence 1-3)

During the first three sequences (semesters) of the program, students engage in a range of experiences across contexts and settings with birth to grade 12 children. Students take a series of modules (courses) in each sequence that gradually orient them to the fundamental concepts of teaching and learning and the importance of understanding the role that communities play in the education of children. Students will be in school and community placements working with university faculty, teachers, and community professionals supporting the development of students and exploring the many facets of education. At the core of these experiences is a commitment to social justice in education and the School of Education’s guiding principles as expressed in our conceptual framework. 

Sequence 1: Introduction to Teaching, Learning and Leading with Schools and Communities

  • TLSC 110: The Profession and Our Program (TLLSC)
  • TLSC 120: Bringing Learning and Developmental Theory into Practice
  • TLSC 130: Community Immersion
  • TLSC 300: Professional Learning Community

Sequence 2:  Exploring Schools as Learning Environments and Communities

  • TLSC 140: Teaching, Learning and Leading for Social Justice
  • TLSC 150: Developing Constructive Learning Environments
  • TLSC 160: Analyzing Culturally-Responsive Classroom Instruction
  • TLSC 300: Learning Community

Sequence 3: Policy and Practice in Urban Classroom

  • TLSC 210: Educational Policy: Then and Now
  • TLSC 221: Individualizing Instruction and Assessment for Diverse Student
  • TLSC 222: Authentic Assessment and Instruction for Bilingual Learners
  • TLSC 300: Professional Learning Community

Phase 2: Concentration

(3 semesters: Sequence 4-6)

In the second phase of the program students choose a concentration – Early Childhood Special Education, Elementary Education, Bilingual Elementary Education (Spanish), Middle Grades, Special Education or Secondary Education. In their fourth semester of the program they delve deeply into that concentration and begin to develop the knowledge and skills needed for that area of specialization within teaching and learning. In the fifth and sixth semesters of the program, students continue to hone their knowledge, skills and dispositions of teaching and learning at their specific grade or age level and within particular content areas. They learn the importance of teaching reading and literacy skills across grade levels and content areas and how to use data to inform instruction. Students also broaden their scope of teaching to incorporate a global framework and engage their students in service to the local community as they make global connections.

Sequence 4: Specializing in an Area of Teaching and Learning

  • TLSC 300: Professional Learning Community
  • Modules vary by area of specialization

Sequence 5: Literacy and Data Use

  • TLSC 310: Foundations of Classroom Reading Instruction
  • TLSC 320: Using Classroom Data in a Collaborative Environment to Advance Student Achievement
  • TLSC 330: Teaching and Assessing Literacy in Discipline Specific Contexts
  • TLSC 300: Professional Learning Community

Sequence 6: Integrating Content, Cultures and Communities

  • TLSC 340: Teaching and Learning in an Area of Specialization
  • TLSC 350: Teaching and Learning with a Global Framework
  • TLSC 300: Professional Learning Community

Phase 3: Specialization

(2 semesters: Sequence 7-8)

In the final phase of the program students participate in a year-long internship (sequences 7 and 8) in a single school. In the first semester, students spend up to three days in the school and in the second semester they are in the school five days a week. This allows them to become immersed in the school, classroom instruction, and day-to-day operations during the first semester. Students then take on full-time responsibility for the classroom(s) in the second semester. This offers a unique opportunity for students to make an impact on the lives of children and their families at this early stage in their career. 

Sequence 7: Putting It Together: Developing and Implementing Rigorous and Relevant Instruction and Assessment

  • TLSC 360: Developing Rigorous and Relevant Instruction and Assessment: Teaching Performance Assessment Preparation
  • TLSC 370: Designing and Implementing Rigorous and Relevant Instruction and Assessment: Teaching Performance Assessment Preparation
  • TLSC 300: Professional Learning Community

Sequence 8: Mastering Teaching, Learning and Leading

  • TLSC 380: Teaching, Learning and Leading with Schools and Communities Internship: Student Teaching
  • TLSC 300: Professional Learning Community