Four Semester Sequenced Design: Teaching Methods Courses, Mathematics Courses for Secondary Teachers & Structured Field Experiences in Classrooms
The program design has evolved from the program faculty’s research agendas, best practices, input from former students, and data from prior years. Additionally, faculty have continuously improved courses, sequence, and sought feedback from graduates early in their teaching careers to create one of the most highly aligned programs in the United States to national recommendations of multiple professional organizations. Mathematics Education students all enroll in the same section of all these courses below as a cohort. The cohort will become your peer friends, peer colleagues, and peer mentors as your cohort learns and grows towards graduation to becoming a well-prepared beginning mathematics teacher! Ultimately, our graduates build a professional learning community among their peers that will last a lifetime and be very beneficial as an early career teacher support network! Watch the “voices from the field” videos here.
Fall – Semester 1
CSE 390– Instruction & Accommodation in Secondary Schools
- The course focuses on evaluating teaching and learning behaviors and on general teaching competencies. (Math & Science students are grouped into the same course section; Math students take this Fall only alongside CSE 401)
CSE 401 – Technologies for Teaching Secondary Math
- Examines and explores various existing and emerging classroom technologies for specifically teaching secondary mathematics topics including but not limited to spreadsheets, hand-held & computer graphing technologies, dynamic geometry software, computer algebra systems and data collection devices. Offered Fall only.
Math 403 or 503 – Algebraic Structures for Secondary Teachers
- Explore the interconnections between the algebraic, analytic, and geometric areas of mathematics with a focus on properties of various number systems, importance of functions, and the relationship of algebraic structures to solving analytic equations. This exploration will also include the development and sequential nature of each of these branches of mathematics and how it relates to the various levels within the algebra mathematics curriculum.
40-50 hour field experience in a local middle/high school math class Mentored by a Master Teacher (included as part of CSE390)
Note: Other courses are taken as well that are not math or math ed specific
Fall – Semester 3
CSE 483 or 583 – Mathematics Teaching Methods (Capstone Math Teaching Methods Course)
- The course presents primarily methods and instructional strategies of teaching mathematics, but necessarily includes a study of selected topics in mathematics. The course focuses primarily on planning for sequential instruction and assessment. Offered fall semester only. CSE406 is a prerequisite.
CSE 489 or 592 – Practicum in Secondary Mathematics Field Experience
- Observation and participation experiences in secondary schools, mentored by mathematics Master Teachers.
CSE 402 or 502 – Building Community in Secondary Classrooms
- A required course for candidates in secondary teaching programs that will focus on classroom management and building humanizing classroom communities in secondary classrooms. It will focus on aspects of engaged learning environments, positive responses to challenging behavior, classroom expectations and routines, building connections between home and school, and accountability and responsibility among learners.
BER 450 or 550 – Assessment
- Survey of teacher-made and standardized instruments for understanding students’ achievement and evaluating teaching. Field practicum in the schools is required.
100-120 hour field experience in local middle/high school math class Mentored by a Master Teacher (included as part of CSE489 and BER450)
Note: An additional course (or two) are possible that are not math or math ed specific
Spring – Semester 2
CSE 406 – Curriculum for Secondary Mathematics
- Future secondary mathematics teachers examine advanced concepts, structures, and procedures that comprise secondary mathematics. This course focuses on current issues and trends in the curriculum, teaching, and learning of secondary mathematics with an emphasis on the investigation and implementation of current reform efforts. Offered Spring only. CSE401 is a prerequisite.
Math 405 or 505 – Geometry for Secondary Teachers
- This course will give an overview of geometry from a modern point of view. Axiomatic, analytic, transformational, and algebraic approaches to geometry will be used. The relationship between Euclidean geometry, the geometry of complex numbers, and trigonometry will be emphasized. Math 403 is a prerequisite.
Math 409 or 509 – Advanced Data Analysis for Secondary Teachers
- Concepts and techniques of posing questions and collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data. Topics include: univariate and bivariate statistics, probability, simulation, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing.
50-60 hour field experiences in a local middle-high school math class Mentored by a Master Teacher (included as part of CSE406)
Note: Other courses are taken that are not math or math ed specific
Spring – Semester 4
CSE 497 or 597 – Student Teaching Internship
- Observing and teaching the entire semester in a secondary school mathematics classroom.
- Teacher candidates complete their edTPA portfolio during the first two months of the semester.
- Completion of all prior coursework is required.
- A passing score on the Praxis II math exam is required prior to the internship beginning.
CSE 566 – Math Education: Curriculum, Teaching, & Learning
- Master’s students complete an advanced teaching methods course during the student teaching semester.
Full-time student teaching, 15 weeks, in a local middle/high school math class and mentored by a Master Teacher