Bachelor of Science in Secondary English (Grades 6-12)

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Learning Through Literature
Your students won’t know what it’s like to live as a Jewish man, woman or child evading discovery by police in Nazi Germany, but they can read heart-wrenching accounts of families who have. Your students may not understand why Black men abused during the Jim Crow era would want to fight for America abroad, but through literature, your students can gain insight into the lives and reasoning of these men and people from other walks of life.

As a Secondary English Education major at Southeastern, you will learn how to teach sixth- through 12th-graders to become critical readers and thinkers, and effective writers and speakers. Your students’ ability to appreciate and analyze literature can give them knowledge of different cultures, empathy for other people, and a critical perspective on themselves. Through English study, students also build strong communication skills, which will enhance their relationships and boost their performance in school today and on the job tomorrow.

From Curriculum to the Classroom
Southeastern’s secondary English program begins with our Christ-centered liberal arts (general education) core curriculum, where you develop an understanding and appreciation of God and His creation, human creativity and reason, and our place of responsibility as stewards in the world God has made. As you forge links between what you’ve learned in the core and the more specialized courses in your major, our hope is that you also begin to relate all that you learn to your life and your faith.

Within the secondary English program itself, you’ll read classic works of British and American prose and poetry as well as contemporary and adolescent literature. You’ll also learn both lecture and peer discussion techniques to teach this literature and other selections drawn from the social and cultural environments of your students. Most importantly, as a secondary English major at Southeastern, you can practice analyzing literature through the lens of your Christian faith. This discipline will enable you to share with your students moral insights woven into literature.

Southeastern will arrange for you to spend significant time in local middle and high school classrooms where you will observe topnotch English teachers, teach lessons, and be mentored. Your training will culminate with student teaching, a 14-week assignment to a classroom where you’ll plan and teach the curriculum, and manage and assess learners.