Early Childhood Education Program
Degree: Bachelor of Arts (126-134 hours)
The Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education degree program leads to the State of Illinois Teaching Certificate (Type 04) in Early Childhood (Birth to Grade Three). Candidates must complete all program requirements of the College of Education to be eligible for licensure.
General Education Requirements:
A non-Western course in the Humanities or Social/Behavioral Sciences
* May be counted as a Non-Western course
Communication (9 hours)
ENG-1100 English Composition or any IAI: C1 900 course
COM-1100 Speech Communication or any IAI: C2 900 course;
ENG-2000 Writing About Literature or any IAI: C1 901 course.
Mathematics (6 hours)
MAT-1411 Math Concepts I
MAT-1412 Math Concepts II or any IAI: M1 900 course
Natural Science (8 hours) one laboratory course required
NSCI-1110 Concepts in Biology and Chemistry
NSCI-1120 Concepts in Physics and Earth Science
Humanities and Fine Arts (9 hours)
Required
HIS-1500 History of the American People or any IAI: H2 904 course
HUM-1970 Arts and Ideas or any IAI: HF 900 course
Select one or two courses from the following:
ART-1100 Introduction to Visual Arts or any IAI: F2 900 course;
ART-1210 Two-Dimensional Basic Studio
ART-1310 Three-Dimensional Basic Studio
ART-4100 Western Art: Pre-History to Renaissance or any IAI: F2 901 course
ART-4140 Survey of Non-Western Art*
HIS-1110 Survey of Early Modern Europe
HIS-1120 Survey of Modern Europe
HIS-1315 Survey of The World to 1350*
HIS-1325 Survey of World History (since 1350)*
HIS-3210 History of Illinois or any IAI: H2 900 course
MUS-1503 Exploration of Music or any IAI: F1 900 course
MUS-2203 Survey of Western Music
MUS-2243 Music of World Cultures* or any IAI: F1 903N course
MUS-2253 History of Jazz
THR-1100 Introduction to Theatre or any IAI: F1 907 course
THR-3500 Oral Interpretation of Literature
THR-4210 Contemporary Theatre
Any Philosophy Course or any IAI H4 900 course
Any Foreign Language Course or any IAI: H1 900 course
Social/Behavioral Sciences (9 hours)
Required:
HIS-1500 History of the American People or any IAI: H2 904 course,
if not taken above
SBS-1970 Diversity in American Society or any IAI: S9 900 course
Choose one or two courses from the following:
ATH-2020 Cultural Anthropology* or any IAI: S1 901N Course
ECO-1100 Introduction to Economics
ECO-2100 Microeconomics
ECO-2200 Macroeconomics or any IAI: S3 900 Course
GEO-1100 Geography of North America
GEO-1200 World Geography* or any IAI: S4 901 Course
GEO-1300 The Developing World* or any IAI: S4 902N Course
POS-1100 American Government or any IAI: S5 900 Course
PSY-2000 General Psychology
SOC-2010 Introduction to Sociology or any IAI: S7 900 Course
Required:
IDS-1970 Freedom and Responsibility (transfer students are exempt)
IDS-4970 Values and Virtues
Theology required for Lutheran Teacher Education (21 hours)
THY-2010 Introduction to the Old Testament
THY-2210 Introduction to Lutheran Theology
THY-3105 Introduction to the New Testament
THY-3210 Christian Life
THY-3310 History of Christian Biography
THY-4410 World Religions
THY-4500 Spiritual Nurture of the Young Child
Theology required for Public Teacher Education Students (6 hours)
Choose one from area 1 (3 hours)
THY-1100 The Bible
THY-2010 Introduction to the Old Testament
THY-3105 Introduction to the New Testament
Choose one from area 2 (3 hours)
THY-1210 Introduction to Christianity
THY-1310 History of Christianity in America
THY-3320 Survey of Church History
PES-1000 Fitness and Wellness (2 credits)
Professional Education Core (15 credits)
EDUC-1050 Introduction to American Education (or)
EDUC-1060 Introduction to American Education for
Public and Lutheran Educators (LTE Candidates)
EDUC-1070 Media and Technology for Classroom Teachers
EDUC-2020 Human and Cognitive Development
EDUC-2050 Teaching in Diverse Classrooms
EDUC-2090 Characteristics and Instruction of Exceptional Learners
Professional Early Childhood Education Program
(Must be admitted to Teacher Candidacy to enroll in the professional methods coursework.)
The professional coursework sequence focuses on the professional formation of the teacher. Coursework contains clinical work in schools to connect coursework with early childhood school classroom experience.
EDEC-2700 Linguistics and Language Development for Diverse Learners (3 credits)
EDEC-3200 Home, School and Community Relations (3 credits)
EDEC-3300 Theoretical Foundations for Teaching ESL Students (3 credits)*
EDEC-4200 Curriculum & Instruction for Early Childhood (3 credits)
EDEC-4300 Classroom Management and Assessment for the Bilingual Student (4 credits)*
EDEC-3500 Emergent Literacy (3 credits)*
EDEL-3000 Foundations of Literacy (3 credits)
EDEL-4400 Literature for Children and Adolescents (3 credits)
PSY-4101 Developmental Psychology: Infancy and Early Childhood
Early Childhood Methods Block I— To be taken together in the same semester (8 credits)
EDEC-4801 Content & Methods for Early Childhood Art (2 credits)*
EDEC-4802 Content & Methods for Early Childhood Music (2 credits)*
EDEC-4803 Content & Methods of Play in the Early Childhood Classroom (2 credits)*
EDEC-4804 Content and Methods for Teaching ESL (2 credits) *
Early Childhood Methods Block II—To be taken together in the same semester (8 credits)
EDEC-4805 Content & Methods of Early Childhood Social Studies (2 credits)*
EDEC-4806 Movement and Activities of Early Childhood Math (2 credits)*
EDEC-4807 Content & Methods of Early Childhood Science (2 credits)*
EDEC-4808 Content & Methods of Caring for Infants and Toddlers (2 credits)*
*Revised program offering beginning Academic Year 2013-14
The Student Teaching Internship is supervised experience in two levels of school settings (birth to Kindergarten and Grades 1-3 classroom) every day for the 16-week semester under the guidance of a classroom cooperating teacher and university supervisor.
Candidates must meet the requirements for:
Transition Point Two: Admission to the Student Teaching Internship Semester to begin the internship. Subsequently, candidates must meet the requirements for:
Transition Point Three: Completion of the Student Teaching Internship Semester. Attendance at scheduled seminars is required.
The Student Teaching Internship Semester Handbook provides details and guidelines for the meeting the criteria for successful completion of the Internship Semester and the process for obtaining the Illinois Teaching Certificate.
Endorsements for Early Childhood Education
Special Education Endorsement
English as a Second Language Endorsement