The Learner and Learning -
Teacher candidates design and implement developmentally appropriate learning experiences and inclusive learning environments that enable each learner to meet high standards, are based on how students grow and develop, and recognize that patterns of learning and development vary individually within and across cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical areas. (InTASC 1, 2, 3; NCATE III, IV, V, VI)

• Create developmentally appropriate instruction that takes into account individual learners’ strengths, interests, and needs and that enables each learner to advance and accelerate their learning.
• Design instruction to address each student’s diverse learning strengths and needs and create opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning in different ways.
• Bring multiple perspectives to the discussion of content, including attention to learners' personal, family, and community experiences and cultural norms.
• Collaborate with learners, families/guardians, and colleagues to build a safe, positive learning climate of openness, mutual respect, support, and inquiry.
• Manage the learning environment to actively and equitably engage learners by organizing, allocating, and coordinating the resources of time, space, technology, and learners’ attention.

Application of Content -
Teacher candidates apply the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the disciplines he/she teaches to engage students in critical thinking, creativity and collaborative problem-solving, making the content accessible and meaningful to assure mastery. (InTASC 4, 5; NCATE III, IV, VI)

• Apply content knowledge by engaging learners in diverse perspectives that question and challenge assumptions and approaches in order to master content and foster metacognition, innovation, and problem solving.
• Evaluate and modify instructional resources and curriculum materials for their comprehensiveness, accuracy for representing particular concepts in the discipline, and appropriateness for their learners.
• Create opportunities for students to learn, practice, and master academic language in their content.
• Facilitate learners’ collaborative use of current technology, tools, and resources to maximize content learning in varied contexts and support learner’s growth in international and global perspectives.
• Develop and implement supports for learner literacy development across content areas.

Instructional Practice -
Teacher Candidates plan and implement instruction using a variety of instructional strategies and multiple methods of assessments that support every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context. (InTASC 6, 7, 8; NCATE III, IV, V)

• Select and adapt formative and summative assessments that minimizes sources of bias to support, verify, and document learning.
• Plan for instruction based on formative and summative assessment data, prior learner knowledge, and learner interest.
• Analyze assessment data to effectively provide feedback and inform future instructional practices.
• Select and create learning experiences and assessments that are appropriate for curriculum goals and content standards, aligned to learning objectives, and are relevant to learners.
• Select appropriate strategies, develop appropriate sequencing, and provide multiple ways to demonstrate knowledge and skill.
• Plan collaboratively with colleagues and other professionals who have specialized expertise to design and jointly deliver appropriate and effective learning experiences to meet unique learning needs.
• Guide learners in using a range of technology tools to access, interpret, evaluate, and apply information in content area learning and application.

Professional Responsibility -
Teacher candidates engage in ongoing professional learning and use evidence to continually evaluate and improve their practice, as well as seek appropriate leadership roles and opportunities to take responsibility for student learning, to collaborate with learners, families, colleagues, other school professionals, and community members to ensure learner growth, and to advance the profession. (InTASC 9, 10; NCATE III, VII)

• Engage in ongoing learning opportunities to develop knowledge and skills in order to provide all learners with engaging curriculum and learning experiences within the context of local and state standards.
• Reflect on personal biases and access resources to deepen understanding of cultural, ethnic, gender, and learning differences to promote ethical practice, build stronger relationships and create more relevant learning experiences.
• Work collaboratively with peers and school colleagues to build ongoing connections with digital and community resources to enhance student learning and well-being.
• Engage in leadership roles to advocate for meeting the needs of learners, strengthening the learning environment, and enacting system change.
• Uphold the expectations of the profession including codes of ethics, professional standards of practice, learner dispositions, and relevant law and policy.

Literature -
Graduates of Grand Canyon University’s BA in English for Secondary Education program will be able to explain the outlines of English-language literary history in its cultural context, as well as analyze the diversity and likenesses among works of literature from various cultures. Students will closely analyze texts, using standard disciplinary language, methods, and lenses of critical scholarship, to identify key language patterns, ideas, themes, and genres.

• Identify major literary periods and the historical, cultural, and political events that gave rise to them.
• Analyze representative works from a historical perspective to identify the influence of historical, cultural, and political events on their composition.
• Analyze global literature to interpret how authors express human diversity in literary works.
• Practice close textual analysis to identify key ideas, themes, and elements within a literary work.
• Analyze a text using the major stylistic conventions of its genre.
• Interpret a literary text through the lens of critical scholarship.

Rhetoric -
Graduates of the Bachelor of Arts in English for Secondary Education will have a basic knowledge of rhetorical theory and will be able to identify and analyze the rhetorical situation and use of rhetorical devices in a variety of texts. In addition, they will be able to write effective persuasive texts.

• Analyze the rhetorical situation for a given compositional task.
• Evaluate the rhetorical conventions used within a text.
• Use multiple rhetorical devices to compose persuasive messages.
• Apply strategies for analyzing a non-literary text.
• Use strategies of invention to conduct inquiry.
• Employ rhetorical theory in the creation of a persuasive text.

Composition -
Graduates of the Bachelor of Arts in English for Secondary Education will be able to write in a variety of genres (both print and digital) related to professional contexts and audiences; adapt to new and unfamiliar genres and audiences; conduct appropriate inquiry (including research and invention) for genres and contexts in which they write; argue effectively; use appropriate written conventions; and review, edit, and revise their own work (as well as the work of others) effectively.

• Produce written composition for a specific purpose and audience.
• Produce multi-modal compositions for a specific purpose and audience.
• Locate credible research sources to support the composition of a text.
• Create convincing arguments through the synthesis and integration of multiple sources.
• Use the conventions of Standard Written English when composing texts.
• Practice professional proofreading and editing skills.
• Revise a text to improve development, clarity, and organization.
• Evaluate and provide constructive criticism of another writer’s work.

English Methods -
Graduates of the Bachelor of Arts in English for Secondary Education will be able to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and methodologies needed to teach writing, grammar, linguistics, literature, and informational texts to middle and secondary students.

• Plan, design, and reflect on instructional strategies for teaching literature and the study of texts to adolescents.
• Plan, design, and reflect on instructional strategies for teaching the composition of texts to adolescents (e.g., oral, written, and visual ).