CGU’s Preliminary Credential + MA Program
Program Overview
Single-Subject Social Science Credential
This 36-unit program is designed to be completed in approximately 15-19 months.1 The
program is divided into three phases:
1. Phase 1: Pre-Teaching Phase (beginning in January/Spring or May/Summer);
2. Phase II: Internship/Residency Phase (spans Fall and Spring);
3. Phase III: Post-Teaching Phase (Summer 2).
Clinical Component Academic Component Phase 1 Spring+Summer or Just Summer 12 units EDUC 302a 2 units EDUC 302 4 units EDUC 320 3 units EDUC 353 3 units Phase II Fall 6 units Phase II Spring 6 units Phase III Summer 2 12 units EDUC 304a Or EDUC 304c 2 units EDUC 306a Or EDUC 306c 2 units EDUC 306 2 units EDUC 330 2 units EDUC 304 2 units EDUC 314 2 units EDUC 312 4 units MA course 4 units MA course 4 units 1
Candidates who start the program in Summer/May can finish in 15 months. Candidates who opt to start in Spring/January (and take TLP I in January) can complete the program in 19 months. Phase I: Pre-Teaching Phase (12 units)
Candidates choose to begin Phase I in either January/Spring or May/Summer. The academic and
clinical components of this phase collectively meet the requirements outlined by the California
Commission of Teacher Credentialing (e.g., Williams Law). Candidates are "internship or
residency eligible" when they successfully complete Phase I coursework and earn passing scores
on the CBEST and CSET in the appropriate area.
•
EDUC 302 Teaching Learning Process I - 4 units
Teaching and Learning Process I (TLP 1) is the first in a four part series taken by teacher
candidates in Claremont Graduate University’s Teacher Education Internship Program. It
is aligned with the California Teacher Performance Expectations (TPEs) and aimed at
preparing teacher candidates to successfully pass Teacher Performance Assessment
(TPA) Task 1; Subject Specific Pedagogy. It introduces teacher candidates to researchbased principles of teaching and learning with particular emphasis placed on the practical
implications for effective lesson planning and classroom management in diverse K-12
classrooms. In addition, candidates explore issues of equity, diversity and accountability
and complete Part A of their ethnographic narrative project to explore their own
educational values, experiences, and reasons for becoming a teacher.
•
EDUC 302a Pre-Teaching Experience - 2 units
This course focuses on methodology and application of instructional strategies across the
Social Science subject areas. There is specific emphasis on literacy for all students,
including English Learners and students with special needs. Course content includes:
systematic instructional strategies, monitoring student progress and providing feedback,
motivating students, establishing positive classroom communities, establishing classroom
expectations and procedures, instructional planning, and understanding child
development as it relates to behavior and learning. For three to five hours of the day, the
candidates will work with pupils in whole group and small group settings under the
tutelage of a master teacher.
•
EDUC 320 Literacy in the Secondary Math, Science & Social Studies Classroom – 3
units
Candidates in this class will explore the meaning of content area literacy and the various
strategies that can be used to teach and support literacy in a secondary content classroom.
Additionally, candidates will explore how content area standards, English Language
Development standards and the Literacy standards from the CA Common core work together to
ensure that secondary students master reading, writing, listening and speaking in a secondary
content classroom.
•
EDUC 353 Secondary Social Science: Content and Pedagogy – 3 units
This course is designed along the premise that this is only the beginning. As Luis J.
Rodriguez says, “A true warrior teachers and learns every day.” I classify teachers as
“true warriors” and also as “noble savages” (Walt Whitman). That said, this course
cannot and will not teach you everything that you need to know about learning theory,
lesson design, and lesson implementation. Hopefully, this course will whet your appetite
for pedagogical discourse and learning that will lead you on an incredible intellectual
journey and an amazing teaching life. Teaching is an amazing, passionate, life affirming,
underpaid, under respected, hard, difficult, demeaning, and beautiful existence. It is a
romantic and realistic profession that holds the future of the world in its hands but also
takes itself way too seriously. This course was created with the Accelerated Teaching
Model in mind (see the work of Dr. Hank Levin). By this I mean that everything that is
introduced is introduced purposefully and at a high level. So, in this sense, everything is
symbiotic, everything is connected, everything is necessary for everything else. So, the
things introduced on the first day are necessary to understand and engage in the things
built on the second day, and so on. So, there is a constant re-learning, re-examination and
re-application of everything learned in a purposeful re-visitation cycle. In a similar way
this course is designed around the theory of the Brunerian Spiral (see Dr. Jerome
Bruner). This means that as the Accelerated Model, everything from beginning to end is
connected, but the course also gets more rigorous and more difficult as time passes. In
short, the course builds upon itself.
The purpose of this course is to give students a firm footing on how to teach in a social
science classroom and beyond. It is the hope of the instructor that the learning of how to
teach well will continue long after this course and that this course is but a prelude to a
frenzy of individual research and scholarship. However, on the down side I must also
assume that this may very well be the last professional development you engage in that
has not been de-souled by the various powers beyond our control.
Phase II: Internship/Residency Phase (12 units)
Phase II spans two terms. The Fall term starts in August and ends in December. The Spring
term begins in January and ends in May. In the fall term of Phase II, general education
candidates complete 6 units. In the spring, they take 6 units.
Phase II coursework moves from the practical to the theoretical. During Phase II candidates
work in area schools during the week and take classes at CGU on Saturdays (10 sessions in the
Fall, 10 sessions in the Spring). A mentor from CGU (called a Faculty Advisor) helps bridge the
clinical/practical and the academic/theoretical by instructing the candidates' university-based
classes and providing on-site support in their clinical settings. Candidates are either "interns,"
employed as fully-responsible, fully-salaried teachers or "residents" working under the tutelage
of a CGU Master Teacher.
Phase II Fall Term (6 units)
• EDUC 304A Single Subject Internship Teaching - 2 units or
EDUC 304C Single Subject Residency Teaching - 2 units
In Phase II, single subject Social Science candidates are either “interns” employed as fullyresponsible, fully-salaried teachers in area schools or are “residents” working under the tutelage
of a CGU Master Teacher. EDUC 304A (for interns) or EDUC 304C (for residents) is the
clinical class that accompanies the Fall classes of Phase II. Both “interns” and “residents” are
mentored by CGU Faculty Advisors who provide on-site guidance, support, and evaluation of
the candidates at their clinical settings.
•
EDUC 304 Teaching Learning Process II (TLP II) - 2 units
The second in a four-part series, this course is designed to prepare students for working
within the K-12 school system. The general education Science candidates in
Teaching/Learning Process II learn effective classroom management (i.e., classroom
procedures and expectations) and teaching strategies. They apply different theoretical
and pedagogical orientations to standards based lessons modeled and designed during
class. Candidates understand and apply unpacking of content standards to develop
learning objectives to enhance quality of instruction and student learning. Candidates
learn specific instructional strategies in reading, writing, math, and communication skills
to effectively access standards-based curricula and address goals and objectives.
•
EDUC 314 Meeting the Academic Needs of English Learners and Students with
Special Needs – Theory and Practice - 2 units
The ability to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of diverse learners is the
foundation of good teaching. As such, this course is designed to provide candidates with
critical theoretical and practical information on why and how teachers differentiate
instruction for two key groups of learners, English language learners and students with
special needs. Candidates will learn language acquisition theory and the research-based
strategies known to cultivate academic success for English Language Learners and
students with special needs. Topics include the history and policy that affects the
instruction of English learners, language acquisition theories and their relationship to
practice; California English Language Development Standards to design curriculum and
instruction that address English language development; accessing core content through
the use of SDAIE (i.e., Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English) strategies;
assessments available to assess language, literacy and content for English learners; and
the linguistic and cultural aspects that impact schooling for English
learners. Additionally, candidates will learn effective strategies for working with students
with special needs, including those with identified disabilities. Candidates will learn
characteristics of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and understand effective
strategies for meeting the needs of students with disabilities in their classrooms. Phase II Spring Term (6 units)
•
EDUC 306 Teaching/Learning Process III (TLP III) - 2 units
The third in a four-part series, this course is designed to further prepare students for
working within the K-12 school system. TLPIII deepens the candidates understanding of
the cultures of school and community, and how both influence the success of students in
their classrooms. Developing meaningful interactions with families and ways they
contribute to their teaching. Candidates will additionally deepen their understanding of
assessment measures, specifically curriculum-based measurement, progress monitoring
and apply their understanding to a variety of situations to effectively meet the individual
needs of students in their classroom. Students will develop skills for addressing conflict
within the classroom and school.
Students will have the opportunity to hone their
leadership and collaboration skills as they continue to work within multi-disciplinary
teams. •
EDUC 306a Single Subject Internship Teaching - 2 units or
EDUC 306c Single Subject Residency Teaching - 2 units
Internship and Residency teaching continues during the spring term as candidates
continue to progress per the California TPEs. Candidates’ growth is usually strongest
during this semester as multiple aspects of teaching come together. Occasionally it is
determined that a candidate is not sufficiently progressing towards competency per the
TPEs and, accordingly, an Individual Program Plan is drafted that allows the candidate to
receive additional CGU support in the academic year to come. It should be noted that
most students who take this path are highly successful in their second year. As such, this
option is not seen as a failure but instead as an opportunity to ensure each candidate is on
the path to becoming an outstanding teacher.
•
EDUC 330 Innovative Technology in the Classroom - 2 units
This course is designed to meet the Multiple Subject Program Standards for the use of
technology in the classroom. The course will examine the role of computers and other
emergent technologies in K-12 education with an emphasis placed on the integration of
technology to enhance and/or complement research-based instructional practices. This
course provides hands-on experience for integrating such tools into linguistically and
culturally diverse learning environments to enable all students to gain knowledge in ways
not previously possible. We embrace the concept that technology should become an
integral part of how the classroom functions and that technology should be as accessible
as all other classroom/learning/teaching tools. In addition, candidates are introduced to
appropriate instructional materials and technologies, including assistive technologies, to
meet the needs of students with special needs.
Phase III: Post-Teaching Phase (12 Units)
Phase III begins in mid-May and concludes at the end of July. Education specialist candidates
complete 3 courses during this time.
•
EDUC 312 Teaching/Learning Process IV (TLP IV): Advanced Pedagogy and
Content Knowledge in the Social Science Classroom - 4 units
This course is designed to get teachers to think conceptually about the discipline they
teach. While the state of California credentials teachers in a "single subject" it is more
accurate to say that your credential covers a multitude of subjects ranging from academic
disciplines to interdisciplinary studies. This course will help you identify your own
professional preferences, locate resources to support your professional development and
ground your craft in a larger discussion of the nature of teaching history/social sciences.
•
Candidates selected two 4-unit MA courses (totaling 8 units) from the School of
Educational Studies (SESs) course offerings. (Note: If the General Education
candidate decides to go “straight to clear,” he/should would likely only take one 4-unit
MA course in the second summer.)