Early Childhood Education

Discusses the historical and contemporary bases of major political, economic, legal, sociological, and psychological issues affecting public school systems. Students review current issues in education and write a personal philosophy statement.

3 CreditsSCorequisite: ED111.

Provides a classroom experience for freshmen and students who are interested in education to explore teaching as a career and observe the application of multiple philosophies, theories, and teaching strategies.

1 CreditSCorequisite: ED-110

Provides an in-depth introduction to child development, cognition, behavior, and learning from conception through middle childhood. Using an ecological approach, students examine characteristics of physical, social, emotional, cognitive and language development at each age; identify typical and atypical development; compare and contrast major theories of development and learning; and explore diverse issues in child development and early education, including gender, culture, language, ability, family, social policy, educational setting, and the influence of heredity and environment. Assignments include readings, research, presentations, and direct observation of young children.

3 CreditsS 

Introduces the culture of exceptionalities within the public special education system. Historical, philosophical, educational, and legal perspectives will be presented. Students will learn the categories of exceptionalities, general characteristics of individuals with exceptionalities eligibility criteria, and the referral process for special education services. Professional and community resources, inclusion and other current issues will be discussed.

3 CreditsSPrerequisites: ED-110 and ED-111 and either ED-120 or ED-130.

This course provides an in-depth view ofthe relationship between families, schools, and communities. While exploring their own beliefs and values, students examine family diversity and the impact of socioeconomic status, culture, language, lifestyle, and ethnicity on child development. Discussion will focus on building effective partnerships with families, schools, and community members through development of strategies that establish culturally sensitive and nurturing relationships. In addition, best practices related to trauma informed instruction will be integrated throughout course content.

3 Credits

Teaching for social justice will focus on competencies, current issues, and best teaching practices used in early childhood social studies curriculum. Emphasis will be placed on social justice and an interdisciplinary approach to learning for PreK-4 learners. Discussion will focus on marginalized groups to raise awareness for diverse perspectives. Students will engage in building critical cultural awareness for social change in early childhood classrooms.

3 Credits

Provides an overview of research-based models of language acquisition, both typical and atypical in children. Topics include theories of language acquisition, neurological bases of speech and language, cognitive, perceptual and motor bases of early language and speech,social and communicative bases of early language and speech, language learning and teaching, relationship of language to literacy acquisition, language differences in diverse learners.

3 CreditsSPrerequisite: ED-120

Extends and enhances learning in ED312 Language and the Developing Brain. Through participation in classroom settings, students will be able to observe and interact with young children in Kindergarten through Grade 2 and public education professionals, apply knowledge and understanding of language development and theory, analyze and assess language development using formal and informal assessment tools, monitor student performance, and adapt instruction and interactions to meet individual needs, scaffold learning, and guide behavior.

1 CreditSPrerequisite: ED-120. Corequisite: ED-312.

Focuses on the historical, legal, and cultural issues pertaining to meeting the educational needs of English language learners. Students are be introduced to research based best practices in instruction and assessment strategies for working with English language learners in the general education classroom setting.

1 CreditSPrerequisite: ED120 or ED130.

This course provide in depth knowledge of and skills in assessment as it pertains to students with disabilities, the special education system, and Pre-K through grade 4 education. Historical perspectives as they relate to contemporary assessment practices are highlighted. Focus is placed on selection and administration of assessment tools, scoring, and interpretation of data for early intervention and special education eligibility. Students will be required to write an Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP) and an Individual Education Plan (IEP).

3 CreditsSPrerequisites: ED110, ED111, and ED240, and either ED120 or ED130.

The purpose of this course is to develop skills for the development and management of effective inclusive learning environments at the Pre-K through Grade 4 level. Content will focus on the strategies necessary to create an instructional and social environment that communicates challenging expectations to students while utilizing and modifying research based instructional strategies/resources/technologies to address individual learning needs. Focus is placed on strategies for establishing positive relationships with students, parents, and professionals.

3 CreditsSPrerequisites: ED-120 and ED-240. Corequisites: ED-400 and ED-401.

This course is for Education students seeking certification in the Pre-K-Grade 4 program, and is the third in a series of three courses intended to address the learning needs and best practices for teaching math, science, and technology to Pre-K-4 students in the 21st century classroom. The primary focus of this course will be in the sciences but will include the integration of math, technology, and engineering. Get ready for an exciting, fast paced course as we explore science and the process of teaching science to elementary students using student's natural curiosity. The main vehicle of exploration will be an inquiry approach as we discover STEM learning the way we want our students to experience it. 

3 CreditsSPrerequisites: ED110, ED111, and either ED-120 or ED-130

ED401 is a comprehensive field experience offered as a co-requisite to ED400 and ED343. Students complete at least 4 hours/week of field experience in two different sites. One site is an inclusive preschool where they complete assignments from ED400 and work with teachers, directors, professionals, and children who are enrolled in the TIU Early Intervention Program or the Juniata College Early Childhood Education Center Program. The second placement is an inclusive or special education classroom in a public school setting where they work with special and general education teachers and students with disabilities.

1 CreditSPrerequisites: ED-120 and ED-240. Corequisites: ED-400 and ED-343.

Math is all around us and an early start in conceptual mathematics will promote understanding and problem solving for young learners. This course is designed to introduce appropriate teaching strategies that highlight both NAEYC and NCTM standards for the mathematical development of the child (Prek-6).

3 CreditsSPrerequisite: ED-120

This course provides an in-depth review of the literature concerning language-based learning disabilities. The course will address assessment and intervention strategies for struggling readers and writers in early and middle childhood. Formative, summative, benchmark, and diagnostic measures will be addressed as they relate to classroom intervention. Research-based intervention strategies will be analyzed within the perspective of meeting the needs of learners with diverse learning profiles and etiologies for their language-based academic difficulties. Topics included are early identification, research-based assessment and intervention, authentic assessment strategies for diverse learners and ELL's, technology to support instruction.

2 CreditsSPrerequisites: ED-120 or ED-130

This formal experience requires pre-service teachers to participate in an after school reading clinic for children in grades K through five who are identified as at-risk or struggling readers. Formal and informal assessment tools will be applied and used in decision making for research-based interventions. Communication with in-service teacher mentors and parents will be emphasized. Pre and post measures of achievement will be applied. A formal case report will be completed.

1 CreditSPrerequisites: ED-212 and either ED-120 or ED-130. Corequisite: ED-411.

Three themes are woven throughout the course: helping students develop as strategic readers and writers; research-based best practices in teaching; and managing the classroom and curriculum for literacy instruction. The course will begin with a review of the reading and writing process and the principles of effective teaching of reading, based on the IRA/NCTE Standards for the English Language Arts. Emphasis is placed on meeting the individual learning needs of all the children and on application of the PA Academic Standards for Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening standards.

3 CreditsS, CWCorequisites: ED432 and ED433.

Students complete two half-day practicum visits each week in their upcoming spring semester student teaching placements and meet for a one-hour seminar each week to discuss current issues. Assignments include but are not limited to a weekly reflection journal, orientation to your school packet, observation reports, attendance, and participation.

3 CreditSPrerequisite: ED-310. Corequisite: ED-430.

An introduction to the study of literary forms, including poetry, drama, short story, novel, novella, and essay. Students will read texts from a wide variety of genres and historical periods, to examine how litereay forms developed and gain/lost popularity over time. Students will learn the vocabulary and technique of literary analysis.

3 CreditsH 

Utilizing Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, World War Z, and other popular works of fiction for class, this introductory course will engage students in the fundamental terms and approaches needed to analyze, appreciate and discuss works of fiction at the college level. Students will study introductory elements of literary theory, emphasizing using various social and theoretical perspectives, as a means of learning how to identify cultural and literary meaning within texts.

4 CreditsH 

Studies literature by and about women; looks at the rich history of women's literature and the variety of traditional and non- traditional approaches women have used to describe their experience, from poetry, plays, and novels to letters and diaries; explores the effect of culture on women's writing.

4 CreditsH 

Studies works of African, Asian, Latin American, South American,Caribbean and Native American literature. Discussions focus on ways literature reveals cultural perspectives and philosophies.

3 CreditsH, I 

Theodore Sturgeon, science fiction writer of the mid-twentieth century, famously said: " 90% of everything is crap. " He was right, too: there's a lot of crap out there. And we'll be reading some of it in this class. But-what do we mean when we say literature is " crap " ? Isn't it just a matter of taste? And if it isn't, how can we tell crap from genius? And who decides? And if 90 percent of everything is in fact crap, does the crap serve any useful function in society? All of these questions and many more, as we enter the wonderful world of bad literature.

3 CreditsH 

In this course we will examine the ways in which specific novels, short stories and films explore various perspectives on nightmarish or ideal societies through alternative political and social ideologies. The class will introduce various literary theories (including Marxism, approaches to feminism and New Historicism) as well as the genre and history of utopian and dystopian literature. V for Vendetta, Sir Thomas More's Utopia, Plato's Atlantis writings, Children of Men and other works will be covered during the semester.

3 CreditsHPrerequisites: EN110 or EN109.

Pennsylvania is a rich and storied landscape featuring a large rural area bookended by two historic cities, all serving as the backdrop for this course. Using literature and film, as well as articles, musical selections, and local engagement activities, this course will examine stories portraying various cultures, lifestyles, and people in Pennsylvania. This course will also consider how many of the different communities and peoples that make up the Keystone State have been represented historically and in fiction. Students will also explore some of the complex social, political, and economic contexts that have shaped the state's history as well as the lived experiences of its people.

4 CreditsH,SW-USPre-Req: FYC-101 or EN-110 or EN-109.

Students will consider ways in which sports literature written over the last eighty years reveals the developing and shifting American ideologies concerning subjects such as race, gender, sexuality, and justice, over that same time period. Students will also develop an understanding of the genres and purposes in various forms of sports literature, including newspaper articles, magazine feature articles, short stories, and novels.

3 CreditsHPrerequisite: EN110 or EN109.

In this course students will read a variety of novels and review media that inspires and reflects our cultural fixation with zombies. Through critical thinking, analysis, and discussion, students will explore the intersections between fictional zombies and actual cultural practices that reflect the mindlessness of a zombie culture.

4 CreditsCA, HPrerequisites: EN110 or EN108 & EN109.

This course explores the experiences of men and boys as represented through works of fiction and analyzed via cultural, economic and social contexts. The course considers " maleness " as a social construct and how perceptions within American society influence men's actions and the ways in which they perceive themselves, other men, women, and social situations.

3 CreditsH 

This course considers how various texts portray individuals with disabilities. Via short stories, novels, theoretical articles, films, and memoirs we will explore ways that stereotypical portrayals can stigmatize and discriminate against people with disabilities. The class will also examine narratives and voices that question the definition of 'normal' as well as reinterpret traditional representations of disability. We will consider key concepts such as ableism, justice, access, and the medical and social models of disability. The course will also introduce some of the ways that disability intersects with other aspects of identity such as gender, sexuality, race, and class.

3 CreditsH 

An examination of works of literature that have been labeled obscene. Using examples from the comedy of Aristophanes to the poetry of Allen Ginsberg, the course looks at why and how serious writers deploy scandalous and offensive elements in their work.

3 CreditsH, CW 

Applying various cultural and theoretical perspectives, students will view and read works from Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, Kurt Vonnegut, Salman Rushdie, David Foster Wallace and others to examine ways that consumerism, technology, social institutions and other facets of modern culture and society shape identities and influence the human condition. 

4 CreditsCAPrerequisites: EN110 or EN109.

The United States has always been a violent nation, and American writers have used that violence to explore questions of justice, truth, and human nature. This course will examine the portrayal of violence in writers from Poe to Cormac McCarthy.

3 CreditsH 

A survey of African American literature from the mid-18th century to the present, with emphasis on both the vernacular/oral and written traditions of African American literature and attention to the historical and cultural contexts in which the literature was created. Readings include folktales, slave narratives, autobiographies, poetry, stories, novels, essays, sermons and speeches, hymns and spirituals, as well as blues and gospel music and works by such writers as Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Dubois, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Gwendolyn Brooks, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Amiri Baraka, and others.

3 CreditsCA, HPrerequisites: EN110.

The personal autobiographies of American slaves are the foundational works of the African American literary tradition, and they have influenced generations of American authors. Originally written as a means of promoting the abolition of slavery, contemporary writers have taken this historical form and transformed it to reflect upon the past and engage with problems of the present. Neo-slave narratives are a reminder that, as Faulkner writes, " The past is never dead. It's not even past. " In this course, we will read a variety of original slave narratives and put them in dialogue with contemporary fictionalized slave narratives. In doing so, we will explore topics such as the boundaries between fact and fiction, the political uses of literature, the afterlife of slavery, and many others.

4 CreditsH, CWPrerequisites: EN110 or EN109.

Deaths. Betrayals. Loves lost. Falls from grace. These calamities, and those that suffer them, have captivated dramatists, novelists, philosophers, and theoreticians since the first tragedy was staged in ancient Athens over 2,500 years ago. This course will explore how literary cultures have understood and expressed notions of tragedy in different historical periods. By examining the ways in which we inflict and endure suffering, we will consider how literary tragedy informs our understanding of the human condition.

3 CreditsH 

Students will read & analyze a variety of literature from the Young Adult Lit category. Students will engage in class discussions and make presentations based on individual research.

3 CreditsH 

In this course, we will explore the use of literature as a means of protesting social injustice throughout U.S. history. How have American authors used novels, poems, stories, and essays to illustrate social problems, create empathy, and advocate for social change? What are the boundaries between art and politics? How might literary aesthetics inspire social action? How has literature shaped social progress and vice versa? Questions of literary form, merit, and content will guide our search, as will questions of representation, politics, and economics. Though topics will range widely (but often intersect), we will ask how each literary work engages with the foundational statement of American dissent, " The Declaration of Independence. "

4 CreditsSW-USPrerequisite or corequisite: FYC-101 or EN-110 or EN-109.

This course will explore how film communicates the myths of a various societies to its members. By combining theoretical approaches to myth with film analysis, we will explore the ways in which cinema both influences and reflects the way we think, what we value, fear, and aspire to achieve. Focusing on some of the most prevalent themes in this genre, students will be introduced to Classical and contemporary adaptations of myths and their historical and cultural contexts, examining how those narratives provide meaning today via cinema.

4 CreditsHPrerequisites: EN110 or EN108 and EN109.

Students will examine the various functions revenge plays in human culture by tracing its role as a literary device from the bloodbaths of popular Greek tragedies to the more psychological retaliation of contemporary works. Engaging in a focused study of the historical and cultural influences that have shaped human notions of revenge over centuries, students will contemplate the often complicated distinctions humans make between perceptions of retribution and justice.

4 CreditsHPrerequisite: EN110 or EN109.

When talking about the canon in literature, we are usually gesturing towards the classics-works of art that have stood the test of time as culturally significant. How did those books become classic in the first place? We will study the histories of canon formation before debating what works to include in a self-designed literary anthology.

4 CreditsH 

Examines historical moments, cultural perspectives, and theatrical constructs that shaped the writing, acting, and reception of Shakespeare's comedies, tragedies, and history plays.

3 CreditsHPrerequisite: EN110 or EN109.

By applying queer theory frameworks to a variety of texts, we will examine literary representations of LGBTQ identity. Readings will include works by James Baldwin, John Rechy, Audre Lorde, Leslie Feinberg, Tony Kushner, and others. Topics will include: biological essentialism vs. the social construction of gender and sexual identity; authenticity and performance; social and legal forms of identity categorization and boundary maintenance; the role of literature in social reform; and more.

4 CreditsCA, HPrerequisites: EN110 or EN109.

Heroes-yay! Villains-hiss! All our lives we've learned to think in terms of good guys and bad guys. But why do we think in those categories? And what exactly do we mean by good guys and bad guys? And should we even be in the business of separating good guys from bad guys? This course will take a detailed look at heroes and villains in literature, movies, and television, and ask you to think about the whole duality, and what it means for the stories we tell.

3 CreditsHPrerequisites: EN110 or EN109.

This class will examine the many meanings of " border crossing " in 20th- and 21st-century literature about immigration to the United States. Using critical race theory, this class will put works of fiction and autobiography in historical context to better investigate the influence of immigration law on U.S. national literature. Beginning with short texts from the turn of the twentieth century, we will focus primarily on contemporary works dealing with the post-1965 (or " new wave " ) immigrant experience. Topics will include: " American Dream " mythology, social mobility, generational conflict, acculturation and assimilation, hyphenated identity, nativism, barriers to full citizenship, and more.

4 CreditH,CW,SW-USPrerequisites: FYC-101 or EN-110 or EN-109

Student teaching is the capstone experience for students preparing for certification to teach in their content area(s). Students synthesize and apply knowledge of developmental theory, content, and teaching methodology as they design, implement, and evaluate learning experiences in an intensive internship in the classroom. Corequisite: ED451 and completion of all clearances and requirements. Note: A special fee is assessed. Secondary level student teaching is in the fall semester; PreK-4th, and foreign language education student teaching is in the spring semester. Students must have access to reliable transportation.

14 CreditsS,SW-LE 

In conjunction with student teaching, students attend weekly seminars that are led by the college supervisors. These meetings focus on professional topics and allow students to reflect upon and share their student teaching experience. In addition, students develop interviewing techniques, become familiar with employment seeking strategies, and develop a portfolio that includes but is not limited to a resume, a philosophy of education statement, lesson plans, and documentation of professional experiences.

1 CreditSCorequisite: ED450.