Middle School Education
Language Arts/Social Studies (5th-8th Grade)
The Middle School Education—Language Arts/Social Studies (5th-8th Grade) major provides preparation and practical experience for teaching language arts and social studies curriculum in the elementary and middle schools. It focuses on producing concerned and clear-thinking teachers. It also develops the ability to generate fresh, original lessons without undue dependence on structured teacher's manuals.
Curriculum Highlights
- Freshman
- Composition & Rhetoric
- Introduction to Education
- Composition & Literature
- Physical Science
- Biological Science
- Sophomore
- Advanced Composition & Rhetoric
- Educational Psychology
- United States History
- Classroom Communication
- Fundamentals of Geography
- Adolescent Psychology
- Junior
- Instructional Technology
- Principles of Microeconomics
- Middle School Curriculum & Organization
- Teaching English (5-8)
- Teaching Social Studies
- National Government
- Teaching Techniques (5-8)
- Senior
- Adolescent Literature
- Structure of Modern English
- Directed Teaching
- Introduction to Exceptional Learners
For further details see complete major information:
Middle School Education Personal Opportunity Profile
You may also contact Admissions (1.800.BJ.AND.ME) to receive a printed copy of this information.
Key Courses
Instructional Technology This course has been evaluated by our graduates as one of the most practical they have taken at BJU. You will compare and evaluate various methods and teaching techniques for the middle school grades. This course also affords you opportunities to learn how to prepare lesson plans, teach lessons, and be videotaped and evaluated by an experienced instructor. You will also get "hands on" experience in the University's well-equipped media center, where you will learn how to operate and use state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment.
Methods and Content Courses—Teaching English and Teaching Social Studies are two methods courses that help you learn how to prepare lessons and what activities you should use to teach middle school students. These methods courses combined with dozens of content courses will give you all the basics you will need for teaching in the middle school. You will take courses like Adolescent Literature, Advanced Composition and Rhetoric, National Government, and Principles of Microeconomics. These courses will provide you with the academic content needed to be a successful middle school teacher.
Middle School Curriculum/Organization This course gives you an overview of the entire middle school including cooperative learning techniques, how to work collaboratively with other teachers, classroom management, and counseling.
Directed Teaching Here you will have a chance to "try your wings" by teaching under the supervision of an experienced teacher. You will begin gradually and work into handling a teacher's normal load.
Career Opportunities
You will have at least three good teaching opportunities to choose from as you look for a place to teach. (We receive over three times as many requests for teachers as we have teachers to fill those requests.) And, in the future, this ratio is going to increase as we, as a nation, face a national teacher shortage. You will be qualified to help meet this need and train young people both in the states and abroad.
A major in middle school education is also unique preparation for parenting. The middle school years are a time of change and maturity; with this training, you can help your own child through this exciting time of life. If you choose to teach your child at home, you will be very thoroughly prepared to be the teacher of your home school. Middle school education will also train you for teaching either your own or other children on the mission field.