COURSE OF STUDY
Secondary Teaching Option in History
69 credit hours
Required History Courses 24 credit hours
HIST 1200/120 (Western Civilization to 1715), 1210/121 (Western Civilization since 1715),
1300/130 (U.S. History 1607-1876),
1310/131 (U.S. History since 1877), 2200/220 (Key Problems in World History), 2220/222
(Introduction to Historical Thought and Methods), 2470/247 (History of Illinois), and 3 hours selected from HIST 4030/303 (Renaissance and Reformation),
4100/310 (Women in the Middle Ages), 4270/327 (Ancient Near East and Greece), 4280/328
(World Civilizations 500-1500), 4290/329 (Roman Civilization),
4430/343 (Medieval World).
Elective History Courses 21 credit hours
9 hours of elective courses in American history; 12 hours of elective courses in European or world history. Required
Supportive Courses 6 credit hours HIST
0920/092 (Illinois History Teacher Certification Examination Review); ECON 1010/101
(Macroeconomics); POL 1010/101 (American National Government)
Required Geography Minor 18 credit hours
GEOG 1000/101 (Societies and Environments), 1400/131 (Introduction to Physical Geography); plus 3 hours from GEOG 2210/202 (Cultural Geography), 2230/204 (Geography of the World Economy), or
4500/316 (Urban Geography); plus 3 hours from GEOG
2410/211 (Fundamentals of Weather), 2420/212 (Climate, Soils and Biogeography), or 2430/213
(Fundamentals of Geomorphology); plus 6 hours geography electives at the 200, 300, or 400 levels.
Professional Education 30 credit hours
ELCF 1520/152 (Introduction to Teaching) and 2000/200 (History and Philosophy of American
Public Education); ED 4312/312 (Teaching with Technology); PSYC 2020/206 (Educational
Psychology); S ED 4301/301 (Characteristics of Exceptional Children) and 4303/303 (Teaching
Students with Exceptional Needs); ELCF 4500/353 (Principles and Practices in Secondary
Education); READ
4100/306 (Content Reading for Middle and Secondary School Teachers); HIST 4630/363
(Methods of Teaching Social Studies at the Secondary Level) and 4750/375 (Student Teaching);
CAS 2630/363 (Classroom Management).
The courses must be passed with at least a grade of C.
Undergraduate Catalog 2008–2010

PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Admission and Completion Requirements
Students must have at least a 2.5 grade-point average and successful completion of the Illinois
Test of Basic Skills to gain admission into the program. Students must obtain at least a “C” in all courses required in the program and must maintain a minimum 2.5 grade-point average in all coursework. In order to complete the program, students must also pass a state content area examination (114 Social Sciences), a second state examination that assesses teaching competence (APT or Assessment of Professional Teaching) and receive at least a “B” grade in student teaching.
Program Objectives
1.
To provide students with a quality education in the field of History and its major subfields, including U.S. History, Ancient and Medieval History, and Modern History.
2.
To ensure that students are well-prepared for a career in secondary education, particularly in the teaching of Social Studies with a focus on History, as well as for employment in other fields and for graduate study in History and related fields of inquiry.
3.
To extend opportunities for the development of leadership and service abilities through programs and extracurricular activities sponsored by the HPPS department.
Student Outcomes
1.
Students will demonstrate a high level of knowledge and skills in the Basic Skills subjects as specified by the College of Arts & Sciences General Education curriculum and the History –
Secondary Education major requirements.
2.
Students will acquire knowledge and skills necessary to understand the areas of U.S. History,
Ancient and Medieval History, and Modern History.
3.
Students will develop pedagogical knowledge and expertise to enable them to teach in the areas of Social Studies and History by understanding and using a variety of instructional techniques to encourage the learning of History and the development of skills in writing, speaking, critical thinking and problem solving, and by receiving training in diversity, classroom management and characteristics of urban schools.
Description of Assessment Plan
The classroom practices of the historians adhere to the College of Education’s vision of modeling best teaching practices, the creation of knowledge through research and scholarship, the development of critical thinking skills and service through community outreach. This results in the preparation of competent and well-informed secondary education teachers armed with the necessary content knowledge and pedagogical skills necessary to succeed in middle or high school. This aligns with the college’s mission to prepare effective education professionals.
The program shares the college’s philosophy by providing a caring and supportive classroom environment for its students that encourages scholarship, uses technology, demonstrates the importance and validity of assessment, both as a tool to gauge student performance and a way to determine teaching effectiveness. The program strives to foster democratic classrooms in which divergent points of view are accepted and offers classroom models that feature dynamic scholarship based on a respect for all cultures and direct connections to various organizations–

local, regional, national and even international–that facilitate and support research and scholarship.
In line with the college’s belief that students can succeed, the program prepares our teaching candidates to demonstrate outstanding content knowledge, understand and utilize local, state and national teaching standards, and create assessments that enable them to determine student learning and teaching effectiveness. We strive to model positive teaching practices while training our students to use the most current technology as a powerful tool to create knowledge. We expect that our teaching candidates demonstrate responsibility in the classroom and that they are civil in their dealings with students of different cultures and belief systems. Finally, we stress the importance of life-long learning and the continuation of inquiry and scholarship. In sum, the program strives to prepare all candidates to succeed, the PACTS acronym of the College of
Education.
The history program assesses its candidates in six criteria: Licensure, content knowledge, instructional planning, effective teaching practices, impact on student learning, and dispositions.
In our assessment practices, we use a variety of materials.

For licensure, we determine proficiency by the candidate’s performance on the three Illinois
State examinations (Basic Skills, Content Area, Assessment of Professional Teaching) required for licensure. The college’s goal is an 80 percent pass rate, but the program strives for a pass rate of above 90 percent.

Assessments for content knowledge in history include: an assessment examination administered in the course on Historical Thought and Methods (History 2220), which students typically take around the midway point in the program; an analysis of the grades students receive in the history core courses; an analysis of the quality of a primary source research paper written for a history class which students must submit by the completion of the program.

Assessments for instructional planning, effective teaching practices and impact on student learning include an analysis of the grades and performance on key assessment activities for pedagogy courses ELCF 1520 (Introduction to Teaching), Reading 4100 (Content Reading for Middle and Secondary School Teachers), Special Eduction 4303 (Teaching Students with
Exceptional Needs), and ELCF 4500 (Principles and Practices of Secondary Education); an analysis of the quality of lesson plans and teaching strategies and practices in the History
4630 (Methods of Teaching Social Studies) course and student performance in the classroom during History 4750 (Student Teaching). The assessments early in the program help us evaluate the candidate’s potential while the assessments in the methods course and student teaching enable us to transform the student’s theoretical knowledge into concrete teaching strategies and practices. We expect our candidates to receive “A” or “B” grades for these courses and for student teaching an “A” or “B” grade is required for successful completion of the course. All students must perform at or above an acceptable level on the scoring guide indicators.

Dispositions are assessed throughout the program. By evaluating classroom performance in the core courses we can identify problems with potential teaching candidates. In history courses, the history faculty assess the student’s tangible contributions: performance in written assignments and classroom discussion, regular attendance and adherence to deadlines. In the

History methods course these same factors are assessed along with lesson planning and delivery and assessment strategies. Also assessed are classroom demeanor, technological understanding, and the candidate’s tolerance for divergent views and basic understanding of other cultures and their differences. At the end of their program, the candidates are expected to develop a professional portfolio that reflects their teaching philosophy and demonstrates their teaching effectiveness.