Learn More and ApplyTeaching and Learning: World Language - Italian (MA or MEd)

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COE 2024 - Education Culture

The Department of Teacher Education prepares Urban Professional Multicultural Educators through an integrated program of courses and field experiences. Programs offered are designed for the preparation of future educators. The programs of study center around our commitment to excellence in teaching in today’s diverse society through the investigation of significant educational issues, inquiry into student learning and effective teaching practices, and the use of technology in teaching and learning. We engage teacher candidates in critical reflection upon their practice throughout the program. We foster engagement in schools through our Partnership Schools and other school and agency affiliations. Upon completion of the program, teacher candidates measure themselves against the values of our guiding conceptual framework through the completion of professional portfolios. Values that are part of this framework include: commitment to social justice, critical pedagogy, and positive educational transformation within the context of a Vincentian personalism that honors the dignity of each person.  

Students entering the program must be able and willing to devote themselves to a program requiring a minimum of 100-110 hours of daytime field experiences in schools. These school-based clinical hours are completed in conjunction with methodology courses that require students to spend daytime hours in schools. As students will be completing requirements to earn the IB Certificate, a majority of the 100-110 hours will be completed in International Baccalaureate Schools. In addition, the student must spend a minimum of 10 weeks in full-time student teaching.

The program includes five distinctive features:

  1. Becoming a teacher is viewed as a developmental process continuing at least through the first year of teaching
  2. Multiculturalism is infused throughout the curriculum
  3. Field experiences are an integral part of the curriculum
  4. Students are exposed to a variety of educational theories
  5. The program includes a research component as a basis for further professional development.  

Students lacking undergraduate requirements in the content area they will be teaching will have to complete those requirements prior to student teaching. Both a content area advisor and an academic advisor will guide candidates in planning their coursework.

The program in PK-12 education prepares students to teach children in a variety of urban and suburban educational settings, including public and private elementary and high schools. Students follow a general pattern of study for elementary and high school levels. In all cases, appropriate field experience plays an integral role. The program combines theoretical principles of education and field work with the student's choice of major. Graduates earn the Master of Arts or Master of Education degree and are qualified for PK-12 school licensure. Yet, not all graduates follow a career in teaching. A number of DePaul graduates in World Language work in diverse settings such as museums, corporations, media, and the arts.  

Licensure

Illinois Professional Educator License with endorsement in World Language Italian (preschool-grade 12), Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) approved program.

Program Requirements Quarter Hours
Degree Requirements (MA) 60
Total hours required 60
Program Requirements Quarter Hours
Degree Requirements (MEd) 56
Total hours required 56

Learning Outcomes: 

  • Understand and apply theoretical foundations of world language education to develop sound instruction and teaching approaches for world language learners.
  • Integrate theory and research on second language acquisition into praxis for world language learners.
  • Evaluate and understand history and policies of world language education and how historical and policy context affect the education of world language learners.
  • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of various assessment issues that affect world language learners, such as accountability, reliability, validity, bias, special education testing, language proficiency, language supports, and accommodations.
  • Understand and apply world language education (ACTFL) standards in unit/lesson planning and instruction.

Dispositions

The academic programs within the College of Education have set forth these dispositions as educational and professional expectations for all students.  Students should be aware that failing to abide by DePaul University or College of Education policies including, under certain circumstances, these dispositions, could result in adverse consequences for the student, including removal from his or her program, the College of Education, or the University. 

  • Reflects on progress and identifies strengths and weaknesses, including evaluating strategies for success, finding alternatives for inappropriate strategies, and modifying future practices
  • Is receptive to faculty feedback and acts meaningfully and professionally upon suggestions
  • Values critical thinking, including engaging theoretical and philosophical frameworks and shows evidence of critical thinking through discussion and writing (e.g., journals, response to prompts)
  • Understands the importance of and is committed to communicating clearly orally and in writing both in traditional and in new and emerging digital formats
  • Values and is committed to continually developing strong content area knowledge and/or knowledge of the professional field, including pedagogical content knowledge
  • Takes initiative, uses imagination and creativity, and seeks out information using a variety of human and material resources and technology to inform his or her teaching
  • Is aware of the role of classroom environment and uses management procedures that reflect respect and care for learners and concern for their emotional and physical well being
  • Takes the time and effort needed to understand how students learn, including discovering their interests and experiences and determining how to shape teaching acts (using technology as appropriate) that engage learners meaningfully and actively
  • Values and is committed to using assessment to evaluate and ensure the continuous intellectual, social, emotional, and physical development of the learner
  • Respects and considers cultural contexts in order to determine how to be responsive to learners and to proactively promote all students' learning
  • Values and is responsive to diverse learners' academic, emotional, and social needs through teaching acts (including careful instructional planning, implementation, and differentiation) and through everyday interactions with students
  • Is committed to collaboration with colleagues, families, and communities in order to promote all students' learning and development
  • Recognizes and fulfills professional responsibilities and habits of conduct (e.g., dress, language, preparedness, attendance, punctuality, etc.)
  • Demonstrates collegiality, honesty, good judgment, courtesy, respect, and diplomacy
  • Balances self-confidence and assertiveness with respect for others' perspectives
  • Respects the requirements, expectations, and procedures of both the College of Education and of our field partners and appreciates the issues of trust, fairness, and professionalism involved  

Licensure Tests

All individuals licensed by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) are required to complete licensure tests specific to their teaching license.  Each test has a state mandated timeline by which to pass the test.  The Academic Success Center can provide help through tutoring, workshops, and online resources to help each student succeed.

Field Experiences

Each student seeking licensure from the College of Education / Professional Education Unit must complete supervised field experiences in appropriate settings in conjunction with education courses. The field experiences must include a variety of grade levels, multicultural experiences, and a minimum of 15 hours in special education settings.  All field experiences must be completed prior to final approval for student teaching.  Field experience hours should be entered by the student into the FEDS system when completing courses with field experience requirements.    

Endorsements

An endorsement is a statement appearing on a license that identifies the specific subjects or grade level that the license holder is authorized to teach.
  
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) issues endorsements in various subject areas.  To view the full list and requirements, visit the ISBE website. 
  
Please note that the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) may change the state licensure and endorsement requirements at any time and without prior notice. Individuals are bound by the requirements in place when applying for the license or endorsement, not the requirements in place when beginning the program.

Student Teaching Requirements

Student Teaching is the culminating clinical experience in the student's program. All students in teacher preparation programs must meet the following requirements before applying for student teaching:

Academic Requirements:

  • Completion of all Education, Content Area, and Graduate level Content Area courses
  • Overall cumulative G.P.A. of 3.00 or better
  • Meet all other program requirements  (e.g., residency requirements) 
  • Meet designated program standards 
  • Pass the required Illinois licensure content area test

Clinical Requirements:

  • Completion of all required field experiences
  • Three satisfactory evaluations in field experiences
  • Three satisfactory faculty recommendations
  • Attendance at mandatory meeting for student teaching
  • Application for student teaching, resume, transcripts, and writing sample (check deadlines)
  • Review and approval by Student Teaching Committee of the College of Education

Student Teaching Timeline and Deadlines:

  • Attend a Mandatory Meeting approximately 1 year prior to expected quarter of student teaching.
  • Submit application for student teaching after attending Mandatory Meeting, approximately 1 year prior to student teaching. 
  • Academic requirements must be passed one quarter before expected quarter of student teaching. 
  • Content area tests must be passed prior to Student Teaching (deadlines apply).
  • Clinical requirements are completed as course requirements.  Field experience hours are entered by the student as coursework is completed. 

Online Faculty Evaluations are entered by the instructor of relevant courses.  All data must be entered in the Field Experience Documentation System (FEDS) due one month prior to student teaching. 
  
Individual childcare agencies and public and private school districts may have additional requirements (application, training, background check, etc.). 

Degree Conferral and Graduation

The awarding of a degree is not automatic. You must submit an application to be considered for the degree. DePaul awards and posts degrees at the end of each regular academic term (autumn, winter, spring, summer).

It is your responsibility to initiate the graduation application (degree conferral) process by submitting an online application.  Submitting an application means you intend to finish your degree requirements by the end of the term for which you have applied. 

Graduate students must be approved for student teaching and complete student teaching, seminar, and induction courses to be cleared for the degree.  Student must submit graduation application for the quarter you are completing the final course (student teaching is considered a course).

After you submit the application, you cannot register for any term after the one selected in the application.

To apply for graduation (degree conferral), log on to Campus Connect.  Select the Academic Progress tile, then apply for Graduation.  On screen instructions will take you through the application process. 

Provided that all requirements and financial obligations are met, degrees are posted 30 days after the official end of the term. Official dates are listed on the Academic Calendar.

DePaul holds one commencement ceremony each year in June. If you intend to participate, you must first apply for graduation (degree conferral) for the current academic year and then submit a cap and gown order.  Honors are not announced at the ceremony for undergraduates completing their final courses in spring quarter because a final GPA is not available at the time of the ceremony.  Eligibility for the June Commencement ceremony is limited to individuals that complete the entirety of their program (including student teaching) within the same academic year (prior to the ceremony).

Additional information about degree conferral and graduation can be found on the College of Education website.

Licensure

Requirements for licensure include completion of the full licensure program and all licensure tests (including OPI for world language majors).  A bachelor's degree is required; a master’s degree is not.

Individuals must submit an application directly to the Illinois State Board of Education after completion of requirements and after DePaul has submitted notification to ISBE.  Application requirements include application form, application fee, official transcripts, and registration fee. 

All individuals must meet ISBE requirements in place at the time of application for the license.  Requirements are subject to change per the discretion of ISBE. 

Individuals seeking additional endorsements after applying for the license must contact ISBE directly for an evaluation request.  ​

Teacher Licensure​

Sept 1, 2015 begins the implementation of a new requirement for any individual seeking teaching licensure in the State of Illinois. The new requirement is the Teacher Performance Assessment (“edTPA”), which is mandated by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) for anyone that completes student teaching in Fall 2015 and beyond.  EdTPA is an assessment conducted during the student teaching experience. For this assessment, teacher candidates are required to create video clips of instruction, lesson plans, student work samples, analyses of student learning, and teacher candidate reflective commentaries for a learning segment and submit these components using an electronic portfolio to Evaluation Systems an outside agency that is a group of Pearson Publishing.  The portfolio will be independently evaluated by a panel of trained reviewers hired by Pearson.  For this service a fee is charged. The panel of scorers of edTPA are selected and trained by Evaluation Systems. DePaul University is neither affiliated with Evaluation Systems nor Pearson Publishing and by ISBE regulation cannot be involved in edTPA registration, submission of portfolios, or scoring of individual teacher candidate portfolios. Institutions of higher education are required by the Illinois State Board of Education to provide teacher candidates with information to prepare for edTPA; however, the process of edTPA is external to DePaul University and is not monitored by DePaul University’s College of Education.

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Degree Requirements

Content Area Courses

All students need to have sufficient knowledge of the subject they will be teaching. Illinois State Board of Education requires a minimum of 48 quarter hours (32 semester hours) in the content area subject. Students should meet with their designated Content Area advisor at the beginning of their program for an official written content evaluation and provide a copy to your academic advisor. Requirements can be satisfied by undergraduate coursework or courses taken elsewhere. Content courses must be completed before student teaching.

Requirements for World Language Education Italian

All coursework in the content area must earn a grade of C or better and a minimum of 18 quarter hours (12 semester hours) must be coursework at an undergraduate upper level or graduate level.

  • Advanced Italian I
  • Advanced Italian II
  • Advanced Italian III
  • Advanced High Italian I
  • Advanced High Italian II
  • Advanced High Italian III
  • Literature/Culture Elective
  • Literature/Culture Elective
  • Literature/Culture Elective
  • Literature/Culture Elective
  • Literature/Culture Elective
  • Literature/Culture Elective

Course Requirements

Education Courses: 40 quarter hours required, grade of C or better required.

Course Title Quarter Hours
TCH 403CONCEPTIONS OF HEALTHY ADOLESCENCE4
or SCG 401 ADVANCED LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT
T&L 404INTRODUCTION TO ELEMENTARY EDUCATION4
or TCH 402 INTRODUCTION TO MIDDLE GRADES AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
Select one of the following:4
SCG 408
EDUCATION AND SOCIETY
SCG 409
SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION
SCG 411
PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION
BBE 560SECOND, WORLD AND HERITAGE LANGUAGE ACQUISITION4
BBE 570LANGUAGE, LITERACIES AND CULTURES4
BBE 526THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF TEACHING ESL AND WLE4
T&L 449STANDARD AND CONTENT-BASED METHODS OF TEACHING WORLD LANGUAGES K-12 (Secondary)4
T&L 575MULTILINGUAL PROGRAMMING IN SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES 4
BBE 407EQUITY ISSUES IN ASSESSMENT OF LANGUAGE LEARNERS4
SER 446PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION OF THE EXCEPTIONAL CHILD4

Education Elective Course: 4 quarter hours are required, grade of C or better required.

Open elective credit also is required to meet the minimum graduation requirement of 60 quarter hours. Choose an Education course in consultation with the Academic Advisor or Content Advisor. Courses must be approved by the WLE Program Director prior to registration and requires graduate level registration.

  • Elective Course

Graduate Level Content Area Courses: 4 quarter hours required, grade of C or better required.

Either a course in Italian at the graduate level or an education language course is required; either course must be approved by the WLE Program director. Courses must be taken before student teaching if pursuing degree (not required for individuals pursuing licensure only). Courses must be approved by the WLE Program Director prior to registration and requires graduate level registration.

  • ITA 300-600 level Italian course

Student Teaching: 8 quarter hours required

Registration in student teaching requires completion of all requirements and procedures listed in the college core section. EDU 95 indicates to the Illinois State Board of Education that all field experience hours are complete.

Course Title Quarter Hours
T&L 592WORLD LANGUAGES STUDENT TEACHING (grade of B- or better required)6
T&L 593WORLD LANGUAGES SEMINAR (grade of C or better required)2
EDU 95CLINICAL EXPERIENCE WITH CHILDREN AND YOUTH (non-tuition, PA grade required)0

Master of Arts (MA) Option Degree Requirements: 4 quarter hours required

This is a Master of Arts degree requirement only. A master’s thesis is written to fulfill the requirements of this course. An oral examination on the thesis is required.

Course Title Quarter Hours
T&L 589THESIS RESEARCH IN TEACHING AND LEARNING4

Licensure Tests

All individuals licensed by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) are required to complete licensure tests specific to their teaching license. World Language Education Italian majors must complete the following tests:

  • Foreign Language: Italian Content Area Test (test #255) – assesses knowledge of the Italian language and culture. Test is required before Student Teaching (deadlines apply).
  • OPI Test (see below).
  • EdTPA - assessment conducted during the student teaching experience including video clips of instruction, lesson plans, student work samples, analysis of student learning and reflective commentaries. Students will submit an electronic portfolio to an outside agency for independent evaluation and a fee will be imposed by that agency as part of the assessment.

Field Experiences​​

Each student seeking licensure from the College of Education/Professional Education Unit must complete supervised field experiences in appropriate settings in conjunction with education courses. The field experiences must include a variety of grade levels, multicultural experiences, and a minimum of 15 hours in special education settings. All field experiences must be completed prior to final approval for student teaching. Field experience hours should be entered by the student into the FEDS system when completing courses with field experience requirements. For details on requirements, expectations, documentation, & courses in your program that require hours, visit the College of Education website.​

Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) Test

Pursuing licensure in the teaching of a foreign language (Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian, or Spanish) requires the oral proficiency test – an Interview – before you begin student teaching. You must earn a rating of "intermediate high" or better on the test. It is recommended that the OPI be taken during the first year in the program and in consultation with the WLE content advisor in Modern Languages.

For additional information about the OPI and a link to the test, please consult the OPI section of the College of Education website.​