The pathway below represents an efficient and effective course taking sequence for this program. Individual circumstances might require some changes to this pathway. It is always recommended that you meet with an academic counselor to develop a personalized educational plan.
The courses have been intentionally placed and should be prioritized in
the order
in which they appear. If you are unable to take all the courses in
a semester, you
should prioritize enrolling in the courses in the order below.
Some courses have
been noted as “Appropriate for Intersession” 
. Should you need (or want) to take
classes
in the summer and/or winter intersessions,
the program recommends these courses as appropriate for the condensed
schedule of
the intersessions.
Some pathways combine a “Certificate of Achievement” and an “Associate
Degree”. If
you are pursuing only the Certificate of Achievement, you are only
required to take
the courses marked “Program Requirement” 
.
All pathways include at least one “Gateway Course” 
which introduces you to the program and/or field of study and helps you
decide if you want to continue with this Academic and Career Path.
Most Associate degrees (though not Associate Degrees for Transfer)
require satisfying the SMC Global Citizenship requirement. If the Program
Requirements do not include a “Global Citizenship course” 
, be sure to select a General Education course that also satisfies Global Citizenship.
The cross-disciplinary courses that are part of this certificate serve as an introduction to the field of teaching. Courses seek to inspire and prepare future educators to teach in urban classrooms, to learn essential professional knowledge including professional teaching standards and ethics, to conduct fieldwork in order to learn how to meet the diverse needs of students and roles of the teacher, and to gain a foundation of knowledge across some of the disciplines that will be necessary for teaching elementary students. Students also develop critical reading, writing, and thinking skills that are pertinent to working in the era of standards-based classroom instruction.
Upon completion of the program, students will:
- Upon completion of the program, students will demonstrate critical thinking skills, specifically in relation to a liberal arts curriculum, and demonstrate an understanding of content from the CA Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and English Language Arts.
Icon Key
-
Gateway Course
-
Program Requirement
-
General Education -
Appropriate for
Intersession
-
Available Online -
Global Citizenship
Semester 1
9 Units
This introductory course in rhetoric emphasizes clear, effective written communication and preparation of the research paper.
- Prerequisite: ENGL 21B or
- Prerequisite: ENGL 22
- Prerequisite: ESL 19B or
- Prerequisite: Group A on the Placement Test
- 1A: English Composition
- A2 - Written Communication
- Area IV-A: Language and Rationality (Group A)
This course will examine the major developmental milestones for children, both typically and atypically developing, from conception through adolescence in the areas of physical, psychosocial, and cognitive development. Emphasis will be on interactions between maturational and environmental factors within a culturally sensitive framework. While studying developmental theory and investigative research methodologies, students will observe children, evaluate individual differences and analyze characteristics of development at various stages.
- Skills Advisory: Eligibility for English 1
- 4I: Psychology
- D9 - Psychology
- E - Lifelong Understanding and Self-Development
- Area II-B: Social Science (Group B)
This course introduces students to the concepts and issues related to teaching diverse learners in elementary school classrooms. Topics include teaching as a profession and career, historical and philosophical foundations of the American education system, contemporary educational issues, California's content standards and frameworks, and teacher performance standards. In addition to class time, the course requires a minimum of 45 hours of structured fieldwork in public school elementary classrooms that represent California's diverse student population, and includes cooperation with at least one carefully selected and campus-approved certificated classroom teacher.
- Skills Advisory: ENGL 1
Semester 2
9 Units
This course focuses specifically on Children's Literature, including the value of children’s books to child psychology and development, and the historical construction of childhood. It introduces representative works from major genres, develops students’ close reading and analytical writing skills, and promotes appreciation and critical understanding of the cultural, historical, and aesthetic qualities of literature.
- Prerequisite: ENGL 1
- 3B: Humanities
- C2 - Humanities
- Area III: Humanities
This is a course in public speaking for students learning to prepare and deliver platform speeches. Assignments include speeches of description, exposition, and persuasion. Techniques for controlling tension, building self-confidence, and effective listening are emphasized.
- 1C: Oral Communication
- A1 - Oral Communication
This course is designed for pre-service elementary school teachers. The course examines several content areas: numeration systems (historical development of numeration system, Hindu-Arabic numeration system, and place value systems); integers (structure, basic properties and computational algorithms); basic number theory (divisibility, primes and composites, prime factorization, Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic, greatest common divisor, least common multiple); rational numbers (structure and properties, ratio and proportions); real numbers (structure and basic properties, arithmetic operations, rational and irrational numbers, decimal representation, number line representation); problem solving (patterns, connections, modeling, reasoning and representations, strategies, inductive and deductive reasoning); and national and state curriculum standards for elementary school math including Common Core State Standards.
- Prerequisite: MATH 20
- Area IV-B: Language and Rationality (Group B) Option 1