Education
Email: edcertification@sfc.edu
The Education Department at St. Francis College has a successful history of offering a teacher preparation pathway leading to initial certification in Childhood Education (grades 1-6), Adolescent Education (grades 7-12), and Physical Education (grades N-12).
Department Mission
The mission of the Teacher Education Program at St. Francis College is to prepare candidates with the professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for effectively teaching in the inclusive classroom. Through an academically challenging curriculum, and in a welcoming and affirming environment, the department prepares its candidates to embrace an ethic of care and a culturally sustaining pedagogy in their instructional approach and practice. The program of study also reflects a deep commitment to the Franciscan ideals of collegiality, compassion, human dignity, and service to others.
Student Learning Outcomes
In preparing its teacher candidates for certification, the Teacher Education Program draws on the In TASC Model Core Teaching Standards to shape its Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs). These standards outline the common principles and foundations of instructional practice that cross all subject areas and grade levels, and are believed to be fundamental criteria in advancing the educational outcomes for all learners. These SLOs include candidate knowledge, skills, and dispositions related to the unique needs of learners, content knowledge, instructional practice, and professionalism.
The Learner and Learning (INTASC 1-3)
SLO 1: Teacher candidates demonstrate the ability to recognize the range of individual differences in how students learn and customize instruction to accommodate such diversity.
SLO 2: Teacher candidates demonstrate the ability to develop culturally responsive curricula and instruction that draw on linguistic and cultural diversity, as well as family background and community values as assets that can be used to promote learning.
SLO 3: Candidates demonstrate the ability to maintain an inclusive learning environment that promotes positive social interactions, acceptance, collaboration, mutual respect, multicultural awareness, an appreciation of diversity, and a concern for others.
Content Knowledge (INTASC 4, 5)
SLO 4: Teacher candidate demonstrate a proficient understanding of the central concepts, principles, tools of inquiry, and structures of the disciplinary areas that they teach and create meaningful learning experiences to ensure learner mastery of the content.
SLO 5: Teacher candidate demonstrate the ability to make content knowledge relevant to learners by connecting it to local, state, national, and global issues.
SLO 6: Teacher candidates demonstrate the ability to align lessons with NYS curricular standards for college readiness and successful performance on state-mandated tests.
Instructional Practice (INTASC 6-8)
SLO 7: Teacher candidates demonstrate the ability to use a variety of instructional strategies to engage, motivate; promote critical thinking, self-directed learning, creativity, and collaborative problem solving in order to extend learners’ understanding of the content areas.
SLO 8: Teacher candidates demonstrate the ability to integrate new technologies across content areas to deliver instruction in meaningful ways and add value to the overall learning experience.
SLO 9: Teacher candidates demonstrate an understanding of the uses, strengths, and limitations of various forms of assessment practices to document learner progress and adjust instruction as needed.
Reflection, Professionalism & Ethical Practice (INTASC 9, 10)
SLO 10: Teacher candidates support the academic, social, and emotional development of all students through dispositions such as acceptance, empathy, caring, fairness, student advocacy, and the belief that all students can learn.
SLO 11: Teacher candidates demonstrate the ability to be self-reflective and use this knowledge to seek critical feedback, enhance their repertoire of teaching skills, and pursue professional development opportunities in the best interest of learners.
SLO 12: Teacher candidates demonstrate the ability to foster positive interactions and collaborate with professional colleagues and school personnel in support of student learning, development, and well-being.
Admission & Program Continuation Requirements
The quality of teacher candidates is monitored at transitional points during their tenure in the Teacher Preparation Program. These transitional points are also referred to as “gates” at which certain criteria must be met for admission, program continuation, approval for the clinical experience, and to merit a recommendation for licensure.
Gate I: Prequalifications
- GPA of 3.00 or higher
- 24 credits
- Grade of B or higher in ED-1201 Foundations of Education
- Grade of B or higher in ED-2020 Educational Psychology
Gate II: Program Admission
- Application
- Recommendations (2)
- Declaration of Major
- Disposition Review
Gate III: Program Continuation
- GPA of 3.00 or higher
- Grade of B or higher in education coursework
- Grade of B or higher in concentration
- No grade lower than C- in any SFC course
- Pass Disposition Review
Gate IV: Admission to Student Teaching
- 100 hours of field experience
- Student teaching application
- Readiness for placement interview
- Disposition self-assessment
- Fingerprint clearance
- Mandated Workshops:
- School Violence Prevention & Intervention (SAVE),
- Identification & Reporting of Child Abuse,
- Training in Harassment, Bullying, Cyberbullying, and Discrimination in Schools (DASA)
Gate V: Student Teaching
- 300 hours of supervised clinical experience
Applications for admission to the Education Program may be submitted at any time. Completed applications will be reviewed prior to the start of the fall and spring semesters. All applications are submitted online, a link to which can be provided by visiting the Education Office (Room 5311). Incomplete applications will not be considered.
Students are notified in writing about the outcome of their application. In instances where admission is not offered, suggestions for strengthening the application for a future term may be requested.
Inability to meet the program continuation requirements may result in a probationary period lasting one semester. During this period, a student must meet the conditions of a corrective action plan for program continuation.
PROGRAM OF STUDY REQUIREMENTS
In addition to completing the General Core and prescribed pedagogical coursework, Childhood Education majors must complete a concentration in Biology, English, Mathematics, or Social Studies.
Adolescent Education majors must complete a concentration in Biology, Chemistry, English, Mathematics, or Social Studies.
In addition to the General Core and prescribed pedagogical coursework, Physical Education majors must complete coursework in Physical Education.
Student Teaching
All teacher candidates complete 300 hours of unpaid, supervised student teaching in an approved partner school specified by the Education Department. Partner schools are those with whom SFC, as the Educator Preparation Provider (EPP), has a collaborative, mutually beneficial relationship and that exemplify the following criteria:
- A desire for meaningful engagement with teacher educators to promote continuous improvement and excellence in educator preparation
- A commitment to equity, inclusion, justice, and respect for all peoples and cultures in its defining values
- A commitment to expanding both students’ perspectives and understanding of the world they live in as well as ethical and empathic decision-making
- Diversity initiatives
- The availability of technology to enhance teaching and learning
- Advocates of health, fitness, and integrated learning
- A supportive professional culture
As part of the student teaching semester, teacher candidates must also enroll in a weekly three-hour seminar.
- Adolescent Education (Biology), BS
- Adolescent Education (Chemistry), BS
- Adolescent Education (English), BA
- Adolescent Education (Mathematics), BS
- Adolescent Education (Social Studies), BA
- Childhood Education (Biology), BS
- Childhood Education (English), BA
- Childhood Education (Mathematics), BS
- Childhood Education (Social Studies), BA
- Childhood Special Education (Grades 1-6), MS
- Educational Studies, BS
- Physical Education—Initial Certificate (Grades K-12), BS
- Post-Baccalaureate Certificate-Childhood Education (1-6), CTF
Program of Study Requirements
In addition to completing the General Core and prescribed pedagogical coursework, Childhood Education majors must complete a concentration in Biology, English, Mathematics, or Social Studies.
Adolescent Education majors must complete a concentration in Biology, Chemistry, English, Mathematics, or Social Studies.
In addition to the General Core and prescribed pedagogical coursework, Physical Education majors must complete coursework in Physical Education.
Student Teaching
All teacher candidates complete 300 hours of unpaid, supervised student teaching in an approved partner school specified by the Education Department. Partner schools are those with whom SFC, as the Educator Preparation Provider (EPP), has a collaborative, mutually beneficial relationship and that exemplify the following criteria:
- A desire for meaningful engagement with teacher educators to promote continuous improvement and excellence in educator preparation
- A commitment to equity, inclusion, justice, and respect for all peoples and cultures in its defining values
- A commitment to expanding both students’ perspectives and understanding of the world they live in as well as ethical and empathic decision-making
- Diversity initiatives
- The availability of technology to enhance teaching and learning
- Advocates of health, fitness, and integrated learning
- A supportive professional culture
As part of the student teaching semester, teacher candidates must also enroll in a weekly three-hour seminar, the focus of which is on topics related to the SLOs listed earlier.
Adolescence Education
] Study of basic principles, instructional practices, and necessary competencies in effectively teaching in the adolescent classroom. Emphasis is on learner-centered approaches and encouraging pro-social behaviors.
Study of the necessary competencies to promote students' higher-order literacy development in the content areas. To that end, the emphasis of the course content is on the linguistic skills and productive language functions students need to develop in order to interact with, comprehend, and evaluate a range of complex texts and multifaceted information across disciplines.
Study of basic principles, instructional practices, curricular trends, and necessary competencies in effectively teaching secondary school English.
The teaching of mathematics in grades 7 through 12; procedures, techniques and materials; opportunities for student presentations; and discussion of diagnostic instruction. Use of instructional technology. Addresses commencement standards. Offered in conjunction with the Mathematics department. Planning, supervision, and guidance are provided jointly by the Mathematics and Education departments. Includes 15 hours of field experience.
Study of basic principles, instructional practices, curricular trends, and necessary competencies in effectively teaching secondary school social studies
Study of basic principles, instructional practices, curricular trends, and necessary competencies in effectively teaching secondary school biology.
Study of basic principles, instructional practices, curricular trends, and necessary competencies in effectively teaching secondary school chemistry.
Two full-time placements in an elementary school, middle school, or high school (as appropriate to the student's teaching level) in the student's senior year. Includes a bi-weekly seminar at the College. Restrictions apply regarding the number of other courses that may be taken during this semester. Course fee.
Independent work in an area of special interest. Special project, report, or term paper.
Childhood Education
Study of basic principles, instructional practices, and necessary competencies in effectively teaching in the inclusive classroom. Emphasis is on developing learner-centered approaches and encouraging pro-social behaviors.
Study of basic principles, instructional practices, curricular trends, and necessary competencies in effectively teaching science in the elementary classroom.
Study of basic principles, instructional practices, curricular trends, and necessary competencies in effectively teaching mathematics in the elementary classroom.
Study of basic principles, instructional practices, curricular trends, and necessary competencies in effectively teaching writing in the elementary classroom.
Study of basic principles, instructional practices, curricular trends, and necessary competencies in effectively teaching social studies and geography in the elementary school classroom.
Study of basic principles, instructional practices, curricular trends, and necessary competencies in effectively teaching beginning reading.
Two full-time placements in an elementary school, middle school, or high school (as appropriate to the student's teaching level) of the student's senior year. Includes a bi-weekly seminar at the College. Restrictions apply regarding the number of other courses that may be taken during this semester. Course fee.
Independent work in an area of special interest. Special project, report, or term paper.
Education
Through a human rights-based approach, this course provides a powerful and coherent toolkit of frameworks, skills, and model activities to support educators in every field to be reflective teachers, trainers, and leaders in the community and the business world who can empower people to understand and respond to problems in schools, businesses, communities and the world with effective strategies for change.
This course provides students with a knowledge base of the historical, cultural, social, economic, and political contexts in which North American schools have developed. Among the number of important threads to be examined throughout the course, emphasis will be placed on the social movements that have made improvements in equitable educational access, opportunity, achievement, and teaching towards democratic ends.. Students are encouraged to develop analytic frameworks and critical perspectives on education so that they may gain balanced understandings of current educational policies and practices in order to be able to make informed decisions about them as both educators and citizens. All students enrolled in the course are required to complete fifteen hours of fieldwork in a K-12 classroom setting. The course is open to all majors. This course is a prerequisite to the professional course sequence in Teacher Education. A grade of B or higher is required for admission into the teacher education program. Field Experience: 15 hours.
Surveys research related to theories of cognitive development, student diversity, information processing, motivation, and classroom management in order to provide an introduction to effective instruction in the 21st century classroom. A grade of B or higher is required for application to the Teacher Education Program. This course includes 15 hours of field experience. 3 credits.
Study of the basic principles, key measurement concepts, and practices of formal and informal assessment techniques to support educational needs in the classroom.
Designed to instruct teacher candidates in the application of technology in support of instruction and learning across the P-12 curriculum. The objectives of the course are based, in large part, on the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for learning, teaching, and leading in the digital age.
This course is designed to introduce students to the concept of multicultural education as an ongoing process of school reform for the purpose of creating an equitable learning environment for all students. Multicultural education is viewed as ingrained in all aspects of the school environment: curriculum, instructional strategies, interactions among students, teachers, and families, as well as a school's overall vision of teaching and learning. Topics will include the impact of educational laws and learning standards, structural and organizational issues in schools, critical pedagogy, antiracist teaching, multilingualism, the school-to-prison pipeline, and restorative justice.
This course is designed to provide students with both a historical overview of education within densely populated, large metropolitan areas, as well as the opportunity to analyze contemporary educational inequalities. As it locates urban education at the intersection of both geographical and socioeconomic characteristics, this course will explore topics such as poverty, school segregation, under-resourced schools, and the ways in which these issues and conditions affect children within the educational system. This course will focus on the ways in which African American and Latino students are disproportionately affected by inequality in funding as rates of school segregation increase along with a lack of qualified teachers or updated materials and facilities, making connections to the school-to-prison pipeline. As the course emphasizes the impact that federal budgetary decisions have on city schools, it also focuses on how children can be taught more effectively in various contexts, with all of the existing issues.
In this course students are introduced to the political dimensions of schooling and the contested educational reform debates in the local and national context. Emphasis is placed on engaging students through dialogic teaching and learning so that they can acquire the analytic tools for understanding how politics shape educational policies, as well as the participatory role educators can play in the policy arena.
In this course students develop an awareness of the ideological and structural inequities in various educational settings and concrete and sustaining ways to promote educational equity and social justice to maximize the potential for all students to achieve educational outcomes.
In this course students are introduced to a collaborative, socially conscious form of inquiry known as action research designed to identify a contemporary phenomenon and/or diagnose a problem in a classroom, school, school community, or educational organization and design a practical plan of action that leads to improvement or impacts positive change for those affected.
Designed to prepare teacher candidates with the necessary competencies for meeting the instructional needs of linguistically diverse learners in the inclusive classroom. Topics to be explored include stages of language acquisition, language development, styles of communication, as well as strategies and instructional practices to help English Language Learners develop proficiency in all domains of language development-listening, speaking, reading, and writing - so that they may achieve academic success.
Travel study of the history, art, and culture in Florence through a department-sponsored tour. The course demonstrates the im-portance of art instruction for literacy development in both childhood and secondary education. Preparation classes and papers are required.
Two full-time placements in an elementary school, middle school, or high school (as appropriate to the student's teaching level) of the student's senior year. Includes a bi-weekly seminar at the College. Restrictions apply regarding the number of other courses that may be taken during this semester. A portfolio must be completed during the student teacher semester. Course fee.
Independent work in an area of special interest. Special project, report, or term paper.
This capstone course for all Educational Studies majors provides a platform for educational inquiry across areas of specialized interest and for a range of education stakeholders including activists, administrators, paraprofessionals, policymakers, or informed citizens. While designed to develop the individual interests of seminar participants, particular emphasis is on expanding the habits of mind developed in prerequisite courses and exploring issues of historical and current educational topics. To that end, seminar participants will undertake an inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon and/or diagnose a problem in an organization, community, school, or program and discuss interventions and practical plans of action that impact positive change for those affected. Collaborative learning and critical peer review are essential aspects of the seminar. A capstone project is required.
Physical Education
Theory, instruction, and practice in the fundamentals of team sports and games; techniques in soccer and volleyball, including coaching techniques.
Theory, instruction, and practice in the fundamentals of team sports and games; techniques in basketball, softball, and baseball, including coaching methods.
Theory, instruction, and practice in individual and dual sports techniques in badminton, racquetball, and tennis, including coaching methods.
This course is designed to teach the students how to participate in the sport as well as teach the elements involved with badminton which includes the skills, various practice activities and the official rules. After the completion of this course the students will have the confidence to apply their abilities and their knowledge of Badminton to the teaching field and/or a recreational play environment.
Theory, instruction, and practice in the fundamentals of team sports and games; techniques in hockey and team handball, including coaching methods.
Theory, instruction, and practice in the fundamentals of team and individual sports; techniques in football, track and field, and golf; includes coaching techniques.
Teaching practices for physical activity and fitness concepts appropriate for children and adolescents in school, sport, and recreation programs. Physical Best certification will be offered. One lecture and one hour of lab per week.
Students will learn and perform Olympic style lifts including the snatch and clean & jerk. Assistance exercises and program development for lifetime fitness will be taught and practiced.
Students will learn how to become a Personal Trainer by studying topics in weight loss, program design, toning, strength, power, endurance and flexibility. This course helps prepare students for personal training certification.
Students will learn the components of dance choreography which include creativity, purpose, structure and organization. They will also analyze dance performances in their appropriate social, cultural, and historical context. Finally students will create and present their own original dance number.
Introduction to the history and principles of physical education; current trends and problems in physical education are analyzed and evaluated.
An introduction to the study of human movement. Sub-disciplines of kinesiology will be introduced and will include but not be limited to, exercise physiology, sports psychology and biomechanics.
Methods and procedures used in performance-based assessment of learning in physical education; introduction to rubrics as assessment tool; standards-based learning; authentic assessment; higher-order thinking skills; application vs. recall of knowledge.
An introduction to kinetic and kinematic principles applied to sports and human movement. Topics include the study of the structure and functions of the body using the principles of physics and engineering. Lab fee.
A survey course designed to provide physical education students with an overview of the essential concepts and major areas that constitute knowledge and skills in physical education. Four subareas examined: physical fitness and health, lifelong movement activities and sports, personal growth and development, and the physical education program.
Emphasis on organization and administrative policies and procedures; purchase and care of equipment and supplies; public and professional relations; structural and functional aspects of a school program in physical education, athletics, and intramurals.
This course provides students with an overview of how physical training affects the human body. Topics include weight training, principles of training, as well as aerobic and anaerobic changes that occur from a training stimulus.
Training methods to improve strength, endurance, power, flexibility and overall fitness and conditioning.
introduction to teaching and learning sport skills from a motor learning perspective. Open and closed loop information processing systems are used to describe and explain sports skill, reaction time, and motor skills. Theory and concepts learned will be applied to the everyday practical aspects of teaching and coaching sport.
Relates basic legal concepts to sport and physical education environments. Includes torts, contract law, constitutional law, negligence, and Title IX issues.
An in-depth look at curriculum models, instructional strategies, and teaching styles for physical education in grades K-12. Management, discipline, motivation, and professional development for the physical educator will be discussed.
This course is designed to develop the abilities of preservice physical education teachers to implement literacy instruction within physical education instruction in grades P-12. In addition to exploring the role of more traditional literacies, this course will also include a focus on discipline-specific literacy skills, including interpreting visual diagrams related to physical education, analyzing and evaluating live as well as recorded sports performances, and interpreting digital fitness data.
An introductory course designed to provide pre-service physical education teachers with the knowledge and tools to successfully include students with disabilities in a quality physical education program, grades K-12. Topics include: least restrictive environment; IEP; legal mandates for physical education services: IDEA, Section 504, AD; unique characteristics of specific disabling conditions; various modifications to allow for individualizing instruction and for the inclusion of students with disabilities in games and activities.
Observation and supervised experience of at least 100 hours in an area of the student's expressed professional interest.
Introduction to psychological concepts applied to sport and physical activity. The effects of thoughts, feelings and beliefs on athletic performance; various behavioral interventions for performance enhancement; peak performance state; team dynamics; team cohesion; coach leadership style and decision making; motivation; arousal control; concentration and attention control; anxiety-performance relationship.
The final, supervised clinical component of the teacher preparation program in a partner elementary, middle, or high school, as appropriate to the program of study. The experience supports theoretical and practical applications of contemporary curricular frameworks.
Independent study and readings in an area of specialization in the discipline of physical education. Conferences, report, special project, or term paper.