This course provides a general introduction to human relations, cultural diversity and Indian cultures as these concepts relate to teaching and learning in the K-12 classroom. Emphasis is placed on providing the students with additional knowledge, expertise or skills in creating a classroom learning climate conducive to supporting differences in cultural, ethnic, racial and gender backgrounds. Special emphasis is placed on gaining as understanding of Minnesota and Wisconsin Indian cultures.

The initial focus of this course emphasizes historical, philosophical, and sociological foundations of education. Students examine connections between theory and practice on topics within the above mentioned areas. Topics include today’s students, teachers, school, teacher effectiveness, current issues, school reform, and professionalism. A second focus of the course is an extensive filed experience where students observe and participate in elementary, middle, and secondary classrooms. Throughout the course an emphasis is placed on developing skills in human resources and the use of reflective practice in teaching.

This course is a general introduction to the effects of substance abuse and provides basic familiarization with chemical and public health education programs in the school and community. The course is designed to meet the Minnesota statue for obtaining a teaching license.

This phase of the teacher education program focuses on the K-12 student as learner. The concept of learner is examined from a variety of applied areas in educational psychology. Principles of teaching and learning are developed in the context of learning theory, teaching effectiveness, learner differences, and child and adolescent development. Students engage in the central question: “What do highly effective teacher leaders know, think and do with respect to learning, development and learner differences?” Students also observe, participate and engage in a clinical field experience for five weeks in a single classroom translating theories of learning and development into methods of classroom practice while continuing to work on professional identity and dispositions.

This course is designed to prepare future teachers to utilize technology in the classroom as a tool for improving student learning. Pre-service teachers learn how to identify and apply technology resources to enable and empower learners with diverse backgrounds, characteristics and abilities in order to deliver instruction at different levels and paces and to stimulate advanced levels of learning. The courses focuses on management of technology resources within the context of learning activities and develops strategies to manage student learning in a technology-integrated environment.

Middle and secondary school philosophy, classroom management, motivation, and student developmental differences are examined. An emphasis also is placed on unit development, daily lesson planning, interdisciplinary planning, teaming, student advising, cooperative learning, exploratory learning and a variety of teaching strategies appropriate for grades 5-12. In addition, teaching to the needs of exceptional learners is examined in the teaching/learning context. An emphasis is placed on developmentally appropriate practices, integrating learning, and addressing diverse needs of learners. Students participate in guided teaching experiences at the middle/high school level.

This course is based on the premise that every teacher is a reading teacher, and that teaching students HOW to learn from textbooks is as important as teaching them WHAT to learn in specific disciplines. Major objectives of the course include learning about assessment of literacy, remediation of reading/writing deficits, effective instructional strategies for developing strategic readers and competent writers in all content areas, and planning processes necessary to meet the literacy needs of students.

The purpose of this course is to help students understand and apply assessment theory to real-world situations. Appropriate practices for the construction, analysis, and interpretation of teacher-made and standardized assessment instruments are examined. Methods of monitoring student progress, evaluating student work and grading are practiced through a variety of student activities.

This course surveys literature appropriate to the needs, interests and abilities of middle and secondary school students. It also focuses on the selection, effective presentation and the developmental value of currently available reading material based on specific developmental tasks, and identifiable characteristics, traits, special problems and reading interests of adolescents.

This course addresses curriculum, skills, and knowledge needed to teach social studies in grades 5 through 12. Topics studied include national and state social studies content standards for middle and high school, lesson and unit planning, and evaluation procedures. Classroom management, effective teaching strategies, and utilization of technology to enhance instruction are stressed.

The purpose of this course is to prepare pre-service teachers with methods for teaching successfully in the area of world languages in grades 5 through 12. Topics covered in the course include lesson and unit planning, national standards, and questioning skills. Classroom management, effective teaching strategies, and utilization of technology to enhance instruction are stressed.

The purpose of this course is to prepare pre-service teachers with methods for teaching communication arts and literature in grades 5 through 12. Topics covered include lesson and unit planning, national standards, and questioning skills. Classroom management, effective teaching strategies, and utilization of technology to enhance instruction are stressed.

The purpose of this course is to prepare pre-service teachers with methods for teaching mathematics in grades 5 through 12. Topics covered include lesson and unit planning, national standards, and questioning skills. Classroom management, effective teaching strategies, and utilization of technology to enhance instruction are stressed.

The purpose of this course is to prepare pre-service teachers with methods for teaching physical science in grades 5 through 12. Topics covered include lesson and unit planning, national standards, questioning skills, discrepant events in science and demonstrations supporting them, and science classroom safety. Classroom management, effective teaching strategies, and utilization of technology to enhance instruction are stressed.

The purpose of this course is to prepare pre-service teachers with methods for teaching the life sciences in grades 5 through 12. Topics covered include lesson and unit planning, national standards, questioning skills, discrepant events in science and demonstrations supporting them, and science classroom safety. Classroom management, effective teaching strategies, and utilization of technology to enhance instruction are stressed.

This course examines the characteristics of disabilities and their impact on learners’ education and social lives. The foundations of special education are discussed including identification, modifications and requirements for receiving special education services. The following special needs are addressed in this course: learning disabilities, cognitive development delays, speech disabilities, language disabilities, ELL, physical disabilities, autism spectrum, emotional/behavioral disabilities, other health impairments and talented and gifted. Special emphasis is placed on how teachers can effectively meet the needs of all learners in the 5-12 classroom.

While working closely with a cooperating teacher, the student begin to assume the role of teacher in an actual classroom setting, gradually becoming fully responsible for planning, organizing, and teaching lessons, maintaining a conducive learning environment, and becoming acquainted with school routines and practices. The pre-service teacher is expected to demonstrate development of professional dispositions of a well organized, effective, and reflective instructor. Students student teach for 13 weeks in the Winona vicinity, or for ten weeks in the Winona vicinity and three to five weeks at a student teaching abroad program site.

This course provides teacher education students with mentoring in a largely self-directed experience revising their professional portfolios. The experience is designed to assist teacher education candidates in integrating their professional identity along program-based dimensions of theory and practice. Reflection and consolidation of personal understanding is accomplished through position statements, personal evaluation and goal setting within a professional portfolio to be used as a tool for employment and personal professional growth.

First-Year Seminar provides new students at Saint Mary’s University with an integrated, initial academic experience that enables them to successfully begin the process of developing a Lasallian identity as educated and compassionate adults committed to ethical participation in our global society. To facilitate a practical transition from high school to college, emphasis is placed on developing the academic skills and attitudes necessary for students to think critically about those questions that help shape their identity as young adults: who am I?, what can I become? and how can I become that person?

This first-year seminar provides an initial university experience that enables students to begin the process of developing a Lasallian identity: educated, compassionate, and engaged in their local and global communities. To facilitate a successful transition to Saint Mary’s University, emphasis is placed on developing critical academic skills and attitudes, learning about our Lasallian mission and Winona's natural environment, and forming a community of honors students. Students encounter foundational heroic myths and sacred narratives from several cultural traditions, including those unique to the Upper Mississippi River region and to Lasallian education. The life of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, the epic poems Gilgamesh and Homer's Iliad, selected books from the Hebrew scriptures, and other texts both ancient and modern, serve as points of departure for understanding our intellectual, environmental, and spiritual traditions. This course also includes an Artscore component; students' attendance at several performances at Page Theatre allows the students to reflect on the nature and value of music, theatre, dance, and visual art in human culture.

This senior-year colloquium provides a capstone experience in which students explore the four spheres of adult life: citizenship, work, marriage and the family, and faith. Students are challenged to engage these themes through close reading and discussion of texts, reflection on their education in the Lasallian Honors Program, and service learning. The purpose of this course is to prepare students to live out the Lasallian charism in the contemporary world. Texts used in the course may include Tocqueville's Democracy in America, Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, essays by Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton, and short stories by a variety of American authors. The course includes a service-learning component, in which students work at the Catholic Worker houses in Winona. One of the central questions of the course is whether Dorothy Day's response to the needs of homeless people, which is gathered from the gospel imperative to bear witness to Christ by doing the works of mercy, provides a leadership model for the role that service can play in students' own lives as citizens, workers, and people of faith.

General Psychology provides an overview of the methods, fundamental principles, and major perspectives which define the discipline of psychology. Intrapersonal and/or interpersonal psychological processes involved in the biological basis of behavior, sleeping and dreaming, conditioning and learning, cognition, lifespan human development, abnormal psychology, and psychological treatment. Classical and contemporary research and perspectives including the biological, cognitive, behavioral, psychodynamic, humanistic, sociocultural and evolutionary perspectives are explored. Students are actively involved through application, interactive exercises, simulations, and projects.

This course prepares students to make effective informative and persuasive presentations incorporating audio-visual enhancements, and to utilize active listening techniques. The responsibilities of both the speaker and the listener are stressed. Practical experience in preparation, delivery/participation, and evaluation are provided.