Course

Course Summary

Credit Type:

Course

ACE ID:

OOSL-0118

Organization's ID:

ECE101

Organization:

StraighterLine

Location:

Online

Length:

75 hours (14 weeks)

Dates Offered:

Credit Recommendation & Competencies

Level	Credits (SH)	Subject
Lower-Division Baccalaureate	3	Early Childhood Education

Description

Objective:

Upon the successful completion of this course, students will be able to consider what it means to be an educator in the 21st century. It puts learners in a place to analyze the current issues surrounding teaching as a career. Topics that will be explored include theories of emotional and multiple intelligences and the growth mindset as well as the historical and philosophical underpinnings of how the American Educational system has taken root and become what it looks like in its current form. Learners will engage in activities that require them to apply their understanding of the educational system and reflect, compare, and analyze how our schools currently look and ways they can be improved. Learners will reflect about the varying contexts of how community members, administrators, teachers and students function within this educational dynamic and how resources play a large role in how successful or unsuccessful schools can be. Learners will also be able to unpack the variables that impact schools’ overall success and what helps to create schools where students excel. Finally, the role of the teacher, the nature of curriculum and assessment, and the method of instruction will be explored. In this way, learners can discern how the profession functions and whether this is a path they want to travel down and help to make a difference with future youth.

Learning Outcomes:

Understand what it means to be in the teaching profession and how teacher preparation has changed over the years.
Engage in a reflective discussion about how teachers can foster students’ growth mindsets and help students develop their EQ while meeting the needs of learners with exceptionalities.
Apply how unconscious bias influences life in the classroom and how deficit, expectation, and cultural difference theories explain dissimilar academic performance among various racial, ethnic, and cultural groups.
Critically consider how the history of education (including the Colonial period, Common School movement, and the education of under-represented groups) contextualized the way education in America was formed and then how the educational system evolved as a result of reform efforts, federal programs, and influential educators.
Engage in information discovery and analysis regarding some of the major philosophies of education in the United States today and identify some of the psychological and cultural factors influencing education.
Compare the parameters of educational equity and educational adequacy and understand how school boards and superintendents manage schools within confines of budgets and broader community constraints.
Create an outline for how school reform options have impacted public schools and for the role of teachers, community members, and students within those efforts.
Identify the formal and hidden curriculum taught in schools today and the cultural and political implications resulting from current reform efforts like the Common Core State standards and how technology is being integrated.
Demonstrate how teachers navigate their classrooms, set a stage for learning, and support effective instruction in a multitude of ways using different models of instruction.