Teaching Certification Requirements

This document is intended only as a summary. For complete information on requirements and procedures for certification, you should consult the School of Education website or contact the Teacher Education Program at: 734-615-1528 or via email.

1. General Description

The secondary teaching certificate program in English has four categories of requirements:

• General requirements for the certificate in any subject
• Required courses and credits in English
• Required courses and credits in Education
• Required courses and credits in a minor subject or field

The certificate enables you to teach the subjects of your teaching major and minor in grades 6-12. The secondary certificate may be earned either by remaining in LSA or by transferring to the School of Education after completing the first two years of undergraduate education. Whether you remain in LSA or transfer to the School of Education, you must apply for admission to the teaching certificate program. Click here for application information.

A minimum GPA of 2.5 is required for admission to the teaching certificate program, as well as junior standing (54 credits) by the time the admission would take effect. Applications are accepted and acted upon once a year. The deadline is February 1.

Transfers from other colleges and universities are subject to the same requirements as other University of Michigan students, though work done elsewhere may be counted toward the certificate if it has been evaluated by the Undergraduate Admissions Office's credit evaluators and hence appears on a University of Michigan transcript.

If you have a 3.5 or higher GPA, you may wish to apply to the English Department's honors programs. Interested students should contact Honors Director about the possibility of simultaneously participating in the Honors Program and receiving a teaching certificate.

2. General Requirements

The following courses are required for the teaching certificate program in any subject:

• English 125 or equivalent FYWR;
  
• An introductory course in psychology (Psychology 111 or 112; this is in addition to the Education School's course in Educational Psychology -- see section IV below).

A minimum of 130 hours of credit is required for graduation from the University with a teaching certificate. If you take courses in other non-LSA units besides the required Education courses, you will need even more hours for graduation from LSA to compensate for those non-LSA hours.

The requirements for the certificate itself are identical whether you remain in LSA or transfer to the School of Education. The only difference is that if you remain in LSA you fulfill that College's graduation requirements; if you transfer to the School of Education, you fulfill that School's graduation requirements. There are minor differences between the two including the fact that the School of Education does not specifically require proficiency in a foreign language. Also, the School of Education degree requires a full 12 hours in each of three distribution categories, including courses from two or more departments, which largely correspond to the LSA divisions of Natural Science, Social Science, and Humanities but vary in several specific ways. If you remain in LSA for your degree, and receive your certificate through the School of Education, you need to complete 8 hours in each category, including courses from two or more departments.  It is highly recommended that you discuss these requirements with both an LSA and SOE advisor.

3. Requirements in English

The requirements in English are basically the same as those for the General Program in English. However, in addition to the regular major requirements, students pursuing a teaching certificate must elect English 305, and a course in Peer Tutoring (Writing 300). Please remember, by taking Writing 300 you cannot apply any other upper-level writing course toward your major.

General requirements include English 298-Introduction to Literary Studies and 27 English credits. Courses are required at the three and four hundred level to include: one course in Pre-1642 literature, two additional courses in Pre-1900 literature, a course in American Literature, a course in Identity and Difference, and a course in Poetry.  No more than 6 total credits can be taken at the 200-level.

Adjustments in content, but not total hours, are made for students who wish to earn a teaching certificate while pursuing the English Honors Program. English Major in Secondary Education Checklist.

4. Requirements in Education

30-31 Education credit hours are required.

Other course requirements in Education include:

• EDUC 391 - Educational Psychology (3 credits)
  
• EDUC 392 - Education in a Multicultural Society (3 credits)
  
• EDUC 402 - Literacy in the Content Areas (3 credits) 
  
• EDUC 440 - Methods for Teaching of English (3 credits). 
  
• EDUC 307 - Practicum I and II (4 credits; 2 credits each semester prior to student teaching term)
• EDUC 302 - Directed Teaching in the Secondary School (10 credits)
• EDUC 304 - Seminar: Problems and Principles in the Secondary School (2 credits)
• EDUC 445 - Students with Exceptionalities (1 credit)
• EDUC 446 - Teaching with Technology (6-12) (1 credits; or EDUC 490 in previous term)

Student teaching is completed in the last semester before graduation; Education 391, Education 392, Education 402, Education 440, and both Education 307 courses are prerequisites to student teaching. All education courses must be completed with a grade of "B" or better.

View a sample Undergraduate Secondary Teacher Education Program Course Sequence

Notes:

• Courses used for distribution requirements may also be used toward the minor for LSA students. They are also double counted between the major/minor AND distribution if you transfer into the School of Education.
  
  

For more information contact the School of Education Teacher Education Program at te.program@umich.edu or (734) 615-1528 in 1228 School of Education Building.   You may also schedule an appointment with a School of Education Recruitment Coordinator.