Special Education (K-8)

This course focuses on individual and family use of resources, including time, energy, material possessions, and environment. The roles of the church and Christian community are discussed, and students engage strategies for assessing and maximizing the influence of these resources.

Students identify and discuss how parents teach, guide, and influence children and adolescents, as well as the changing nature, dynamics, and needs of the parent-child relationship across the lifespan. Topics include significant childcare, work, media, and community issues, as well as communication techniques, values clarification, learning principles, disciplinary techniques, family dynamics, diverse family forms and functions, and a theological perspective on parenting children.

This is a study of the theory of abnormal psychology and how this relates to Human Services. Focus is on how to determine the identified pathology in an individual, couple, family or a larger system, and includes the use of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and other assessment tools. The meaning of “abnormal” thought, affect, behavior, and related concepts are examined within biblical, historical, and cultural contexts.

Students develop knowledge and skills needed to teach writing, spelling, handwriting, and study skills. Students employ appropriate practices to promote effective communication, expression, and reflection in all subject areas. Students become more aware of the interactive nature of the language arts.

This course explores two areas of significance and potential difficulty for the beginning teacher: effective classroom management and successful organization of the inclusive classroom. In this course, participants study management theory and teacher style and explore a variety of strategies for developing a plan for classroom management based on Christian principles. They also gain an understanding of the special needs of the mainstreamed child and ways to meet these needs within an effective inclusive setting.

This methods course includes in-depth study of methods of teaching reading in early childhood, elementary, and middle grades classrooms. Students come to know, understand, and use appropriate practices for promoting and developing beginning literacy skills for integrating reading instruction across all subject areas and for enabling all children to become proficient and motivated readers. Students begin to develop skills in applying explicit approaches to support student acquisition of phonemic awareness, decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

This course introduces students to the complexity of human language. It is designed to introduce material in three interrelated units, including the nature of language, the grammatical aspects of language, and the applied areas of language. The course focuses on issues such as how the brain and language are related, how language sounds are produced and formed into words and sentences, and how those words and sentences are used to convey meaning. The course also addresses applied areas, such as dialects of English, pragmatics, bilingualism, language acquisition, and language instruction. While covering these various aspects of language, the ways in which the content relates to education are addressed.

This course discusses the principles of inclusion, how to work with students with disabilities in an inclusive setting, the role of the special educator in an inclusive setting, and ways to team teach with the general education teacher. Theories of inclusion will be discussed.

Students will explore the content, materials and methods of all areas of the curriculum, except reading and language arts, giving special attention to meeting the needs of the student with disabilities.

Emotional, behavioral characteristics, assessment and intervention strategies, and theories will be examined with particular reference to the needs of the mildly and moderately disabled student.

Students will explore special education legislation regarding the rights of persons with disabilities and the effect on our educational system and society. Consideration will be given to major current problems and issues concerning persons with disabilities and those with learning problems. Specific attention will be given to those with severe challenging behaviors. The class will guide students into developing a model for appropriate interaction with persons with disabilities informed by Christian principles, values, and dispositions.

This course examines the ways to diagnose errors and reading problems and then offers students tools to remediate these problems.

This course examines the particular nature, needs, and development of the gifted student. Pertinent issues such as creativity, cultural differences, gender, and underachievement are examined. The history of gifted education is explored, as well as how to recognize and identify giftedness in the classroom. Students also examine characteristics of the teacher of the gifted.

This course provides learners with an understanding of the instructional needs of gifted students and the resources available to teach and enrich the education of the individuals. Emphasis is placed on curricular models, teaching strategies of differentiated instruction, and processes for learning.

This course gives students an initial experience teaching in an elementary school setting. Students study principles of education with an emphasis on aiding struggling readers, assessment, and lesson planning. They implement these principles as they engage in a one-to-one tutoring session with an at-risk child. The course is made possible through a partnership between Mooreland Heights Elementary School and Johnson University.

This course examines the development of Christian education through the ages and philosophies that have influenced it. Major educational philosophers and schools of philosophy are discussed, and students are encouraged to apply insights to their own educational philosophy.

This course surveys the field of children’s literature. It includes an examination of effective ways to use literature with students in primary and intermediate educational settings. It is designed to enable students to become familiar with many books, authors, and illustrators.

This course includes a study of the physical, social, emotional, and mental development of the child from birth to adolescence. This includes the role of preschool through eighth grade teachers as they work with these children. Observations and assessments of children are included in this experience. Special attention is directed to working with students with emotional and family problems in early childhood, elementary and middle schools.

This practical field experience is designed to acquaint entry-level students with a variety of schools and classrooms in the Knoxville area. Students examine various aspects of the classroom environment, management, and teaching methods in the classrooms they visit. This information is shared in written and oral form with their classmates and the faculty supervisor at regular meetings. This course is a prerequisite for other field experiences.

This course is a one-on-one tutoring session with an at-risk child in partnership with Mooreland Heights Elementary and Johnson University.

This course is a semester-long experience spent in a classroom for moderately disabled students. It is a thirty-hour experience. It also includes a weekly meeting with the field experience coordinator to discuss their experiences and complete assigned tasks.

This course is a term-long experience for 30 hours in a Christian school classroom. Students observe classroom teacher instruction, prepare weekly lessons, reflect and discuss experiences with a field experience coordinator, and complete assigned tasks.

This course is a term-long experience spending 40 hours in a public classroom with mainstreamed ESE students. Candidates observe classroom teacher instruction, prepare weekly lessons, reflect and discuss experiences with a field experience coordinator, and complete assigned tasks.

This course is a semester-long experience in special education. Students will spend time in RTI2 Tier II and Tier III. They will gain experience working with students with an IEP in a regular classroom and also in a pull-out situation. This is a 30-hour experience where students reflect and discuss experiences with the field experience coordinator and complete assigned tasks.

The course is a 40-hour field experience in a local public school taken with EDUC 4111 Reading Methods. Students will observe and practice what they are studying in their course in the public-school classroom.

American History I
This is a study of the social, political, economic, religious, and cultural developments of the United States from the era of exploration and settlement through the Civil War. It focuses on events and processes involved in the expansion of the United States to the Pacific Ocean and leading to the Civil War.

American History II
This course presents the development of the United States from the post-Civil War Reconstruction to the present time. Its focus is on America’s modernization and emergence into a world leadership role.

This course examines the global history of humanity from paleolithic times to the present. This will be accomplished by focusing on three interrelated topics: the relationship between human beings and the environment; the development of religious ideas and institutions; and the development of political, racial, economic, and gendered structures.

This is the first class of a two-semester study of the basic concepts of elementary mathematics, including the nature and structure of the real number system, number theory, whole numbers and integers, and rational and irrational numbers. Basic concepts of algebra, geometry, and measurement are studied, including applications of percent, metric conversions, probability, data analysis, and statistics.

This is the second class of a two-semester study of basic concepts of elementary mathematics, including the nature and structure of the real number system, number theory, whole numbers and integers, and rational and irrational numbers. Basic concepts of numeration systems, algebra, geometry, and measurement are studied, including applications of percent, metric conversions, probability, data analysis, and statistics.

Terms and constructs used in describing and interpreting test results will be studied with the uses, purpose, nature, and procedures of formal and informal tests. A brief history of psychometric testing will be presented. The student will learn to transform the assessment data into programmatic guidelines for instructional objectives.