Information About Minor Teaching Endorsements

This page is intended for:

• English majors interested in earning a minor in another subject;
• Non-English majors interested in earning a minor in English;
• Elementary education majors interested in earning a Pre-endorsement in English.

Contents: 

Academic Minor and Minor Teaching Endorsements

Minor Teaching Endorsements for English Teaching majors

Minor Teaching Endorsements in English Teaching for non-English majors

English Pre-Endorsement Area Requirements for Elementary Education Majors

 

Academic Minor and Minor Teaching Endorsements

An Academic Minor is a university term for a student's second area of study, usually around 21 credits in the field.  The minor is listed after your major on your diploma and transcript when you graduate.  Minor requirements are listed in the catalog.

A Minor Teaching Endorsement is a teaching certificate by which the state grants you the right to teach a school subject in addition to your major subject.  You can earn any number of minor teaching endorsements.  You may earn them while you are earning your major certificate, or you can earn them after you start teaching.  You must complete a major teaching endorsement before you can teach with any minor endorsements.  It is possible, but not automatic, that you could earn both the minor teaching requirement and an academic minor, but check requirements carefully.

 

Minor Teaching Endorsements for English Teaching majors

Even in a subject like English, in which many secondary school teachers find full-time teaching assignments in their discipline, it is a good idea for students to complete a minor teaching endorsement in another field.  Not only are such minor studies educationally beneficial, but students with multiple qualifications are potentially more versatile in teaching roles and able to apply for more jobs.  Minor teaching endorsements are listed in the Teacher Education section of the college catalog; most require 20-25 credits.  Most common among English majors are minor endorsements in reading, communications (speech or journalism), theater arts, a foreign language, or history, but minor endorsements may be completed in any discipline, including high-demand areas like mathematics or special education. 

You must also pass the Praxis II in any additional endorsement areas you wish to teach (e.g. minor endorsements), meeting the same qualifying score as majors in the subject.

 

Minor Teaching Endorsements in English Teaching for non-English majors

Students who wish to earn a minor teaching endorsement in English must follow the requirements specified in the BSU Catalog under English Minor Certification Endorsement. 

Praxis II: The state now requires you to pass the Praxis II test #0041 "English Language, Literature, and Composition: Content Knowledge" with a score of at least 158 even for a minor endorsement. 

Current requirements are:

          Survey of British Literature (3 credits)

          Survey of American Literature (3 credits)

          Introduction to Literary Studies (3 credits)

          Intro to Linguistics (3 credits)

          ENGL 301 Teaching Composition

          ENGL 481 Lit. for Jr. and Sr. High

          Writing courses 200 or higher (6 credits)

 

Before 2004-2005, catalog requirements were:

·         Survey of British Literature (3 credits)

·         Survey of American Literature (3 credits)

·         Introduction to Literary Studies (3 credits)

·         Intro to Linguistics (3 credits)

·         ENGL 301 or 381 methods course*

·         Upper-division English and/or linguistics (3 credits)

·         Writing courses 200 or higher (6 credits)

*We strongly recommend you take ENGL 301 Teaching Composition.  The state considers the teaching of writing important enough to include in their specific requirements.  ENGL 301 is taught concurrently with another course, ENGL 481 Literature for Junior and Senior High.  We strongly advise you to take 481 as well since it directly applies to teaching that you may be doing.  In the old requirements, ENGL 481 may be used as the upper-division English course.

ENGL 381 is the English teaching methods content course.  Its focus is on instructional planning in English, and in this course you will write a unit plan for English.  This is a block II course, so most students in the class also have a block II internship.  This course assumes that you have already taken ENGL 301 and 481.  If you elect to take this course, it is best if you take it during the same semester that you are doing your block II internship in your major field.  That way, you will be working in a school and have that experience to bring to class discussions, as well as access to a school in which you might be able to do a little work in English as well as in your major subject.

 

Think Beyond the Minimum

The requirements for the minor teaching endorsement in English represent the minimum preparation possible.  Consider that if you earn a minor endorsement in English, you probably will teach English part of the time.  You cannot say to your English students, "well, English is just my minor-so you're out of luck this year."  You will be those students' English teacher, minor or not.  So we encourage you to go beyond the minimum requirements and to take enough course work so that you will feel comfortable and confident in teaching English as well as your major subject.

 

 

English Pre-Endorsement Area Requirements for Elementary Education Majors 

• ENGL 267, 268, 277 or 278 Survey of British or American Literature (3 credits)
• ENGL 275  Introduction to Literary Studies (3 credits)
• Upper-division literature course (3 credits)
• English writing courses numbered 200 or higher (3 credits)

Elementary Education Pre-endorsement areas are intended to give future elementary teachers a semblance of enhanced subject-matter knowledge in one academic subject.  We encourage future elementary teachers who wish to build their knowledge and preparation in language arts to go beyond the minimum requirements listed above, if possible.