The Teaching Major and Minor

The teaching major and minor in English are virtually interdepartmental programs, worked out between the Departments of Education and English. The total credit hours required (39 for the major, 27 for the minor) might seem large, but they in fact represent minimum state requirements for accreditation on the secondary level.

Students planning a teaching major or minor should declare in the sophomore year (or at the latest by the beginning of the junior year). Because one semester of the senior year (the "professional semester") is devoted to pedagogical subjects and student teaching, no other academic courses may be taken at that time. This leaves only three semesters of the junior and senior years to complete the subject area requirements. Since the Department cannot offer all required courses each semester, the student should plan to complete them at the first opportunity.

Teaching majors and minors who enrolled at VU before the 2004-2005 school year may choose to meet the requirements for the major and minor from earlier catalogs (that is, a 39-credit major that does not require English 400, and that allows for 6, rather than 3 elective credits in English, and a 24-credit minor that does not require English 400) provided that they adhere to that same catalog for all of their degree requirements.

Requirements, Teaching Major and Minor

Required Courses
Major
Minor
Engl. 200 Literary Studies
3
3
Engl. 400 New Literacies, Cultures, and Technologies of Writing
3
3
Engl. 408 Methods of Literary Criticism and Research
3
3
Engl. 401 or 402 (American Literature I or II)
3
3
Engl. 493 Seminar in English
3
--

Plus, elect from 3 credits of the following (majors) or 3 credits from either of the following two groupings (minors):

  • Engl. 409 Lit. of the Medieval Period
  • Engl. 410 Shakespeare
  • Engl. 420 Lit. of the 16th and 17th Centuries

Plus, elect from 3 credits of the following (majors) or 3 credits from either the following or the previous grouping (minors):

  • Engl. 430 Lit. of the Restoration and 18th Century
  • Engl. 450 British Lit. of the Nineteenth Century
  • Engl. 456 The Novel

Plus, elect from 3 credits of the following (majors) or 3 credits of the following (minors)

  • Engl. 321 Intermediate Composition
  • Engl. 431 Advanced Composition

Plus, elect from 3 credits of the following (majors)

  • Engl. 460 Twentieth Century Drama
  • Engl. 470 Twentieth Century Fiction
  • Engl. 475 Twentieth Century Poetry

Plus, elect from 3 credits of the following (majors) or 3 credits of the following (minors)

  • Engl. 441 History of the English Language
  • Engl. 442 Modern English Grammar

Plus, elect from 3 credits of the following (majors) or 3 credits of the following (minors)

  • Comm. 145 Interpersonal Communication
  • Comm. 243 Public Communication

Plus, take the following course (majors and minors)

  • Ed. 307 Media Education
  • Engl. 489 Methods of Teaching English

Plus, elect 6 credits from any other 300- or 400-level offering (majors).

Total credits (majors): 39. Total credits (minors): 24.