Students will also be exposed to a variety of early childhood programs. A major aspect of this course is the legal foundation of special education within early childhood programs. The focus of this course is on principles and practices in early adolescent education. The prospective middle grades classroom teacher will be introduced to research on the preadolescent youngster and how the demands of physical growth, the search for identity, the expansion of intellectual horizons, and the definition of life values enter the middle grades classrooms daily. Prospective teachers will learn how to provide a classroom context that supports and extends developmental issues of preadolescents.
Early adolescence is a challenge for youngsters as well as their parents and teachers.
This course will also provide prospective teachers with a way of communicating with parents of middle grades youngsters about their unique characteristics and how these characteristics impact learning. There will be a 40 clock hour field and clinical requirement for this class. Prospective early childhood teachers will be introduced to the methods of teaching letter-sound relationships in the English language to help beginning readers develop a repertoire of skills to help them pronounce unfamiliar words while using their context to develop meaning. Students will help students develop phonological awareness, learn beginning and ending consonant sounds, the use of digraphs, blends and vowel combinations and their sounds. There is a ten hour clinical experience required for this class.