Middle Grades Education & Special Education Major
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About the Major
This unique program is one degree with two majors — middle grades education (grades six through nine) and special education. Students collaborate with Elon faculty and teachers from local schools to learn the best ways to meet the needs of students with learning differences. Veteran instructors offer guidance as participants discover the special legal and developmental challenges that students and their families face.
Jobs in Middle Grades Education & Special Education
- Classroom teacher
- Resource teacher
- Self-contained teacher
- Inclusion teacher
Past Elon Middle Grades Education & Special Education Internships
- Western Middle School
- Graham Middle School
- Woodlawn Middle School
- Clover Garden School
Related Majors
Classroom placements early in her college career has given student hands-on experience in special education
Lily Cohen struggled with reading comprehension when she was young. Diagnosed with a processing disorder, she was always two grade levels behind in reading. And because she was pulled out of class to get specialized attention, she fell behind in her other subjects. Then, in seventh grade, one teacher changed the trajectory of her education.
“She gave me the time and effort and saw potential in me and worked with me, and I was on grade level again,” Cohen said. “It really takes that one teacher to see your potential, and that’s what inspired me to want to become a special education teacher. She totally changed my life. I want to be able to help kids like she helped me.”
Cohen chose Elon University to make that a reality. She was attracted to Elon because it offered her the chance to pursue many pathways in education: Set to graduate in 2028, she’s double-majoring in middle grades education (with a focus on mathematics) and K–12 special education; she’s also pursuing minors in early childhood development and business.
“I’m able to do a lot and get a lot done in the School of Ed, and I really like that,” she said. “Also, I like that I’m in the classrooms.”
Elon’s education program places its students in local schools as early as their freshman year. Students like Cohen get the chance to observe teachers and work in primary and secondary school classes years before their peers at other universities do.
In class, we would learn about different techniques and activities we could do with students, and I was able to directly apply those lessons to my students even the next day or later that week.
Cohen found that out in the summer of 2024 when she went home to New York and got a job as a substitute teacher in the final month before local schools let out for summer break. She had just completed her sophomore year at Elon but had the credentials to sub: the minimum credit hours and classroom experience.
“I talked to other subs who are [also in college], and just hearing how they talk about their schools, I’m always like, ‘Wow, I picked the right school,’” Cohen said of Elon. “They’re subbing because they don’t get time in the schools, and they want that. So I’m beyond grateful for all the time I do get to spend in the schools.”
Cohen’s first school placement was in the winter term of her freshman year, when she was placed in a fifth-grade classroom that was heavily populated with students with learning disabilities. She considers it the best first placement she could have received because it gave her the chance to see what North Carolina schools were like from a special education point of view. There wasn’t always a special education teacher in the classroom, unlike when Cohen was in school, so she had many opportunities to work with the students, helping with assignments and leading small group work. She continued that placement into her spring semester.
“I floated around the room and made sure everybody was on task,” she said. “And I had one student in particular who I worked with one-on-one a lot just because he struggled staying on task. I would sit next to him, encouraging him to do his work and answering questions.”
The classroom placement she had during the spring semester of her sophomore year was helpful in that she was able to take the lessons she was learning in an Elon literacy studies course and apply them while working with two students at a local elementary school.
“In class, we would learn about different techniques and activities we could do with students, and I was able to directly apply those lessons to my students even the next day or later that week,” said Cohen, who, for example, brought in a mirror to show her students the correct placement of the tongue when pronouncing certain sounds.
Also during that placement, Cohen was able to monitor the progress that her students made over the course of the semester. She gave them an assessment in the beginning to see where they were, created lesson plans to focus on specific weaknesses, and then gave them the same assessment at the end of the semester. “It was really exciting to see the progress they made,” she said.
Not all of her classroom placements have been hands-on — sometimes they are meant to be used to observe different teaching styles or how students perform — but she’s found lessons in each of them.
Cohen has also been able to take advantage of other opportunities at Elon, including undergraduate research. She was concerned that she wouldn’t have time to focus on research — in addition to the demands of an education degree, she is a member of Elon’s Cheer Team — but when presented with the opportunity, she jumped.
While taking an introductory special education course, in which students learned about assisted technologies that are commonly used for students with learning disabilities, Cohen talked to her professor, Stephen Byrd, about how artificial intelligence might play into such accommodations.
“I like brought up how we could use AI as a technology for students with special needs, but we never dug deep into it in class, and he was like, ‘Wow, that would be a really good topic for undergrad research,’” said Cohen, who has begun working on the research — AI Technology and Special Education for Preservice Teachers and Teachers — with Byrd and one of her peers. They plan on surveying teachers about how they incorporate technology into their lesson planning and how they feel about AI.
Cohen said Byrd and her other School of Education mentors have been invaluable as she proceeds through her coursework. She also has enjoyed the small Elon class sizes — particularly for her majors, as it builds camaraderie.
“Because my major is so small, I get to know everybody,” she said, “and it’s nice to be with them, like we’re sticking together throughout all of it.”
Did You Know?
- The initial teacher preparation programs pride themselves on a student-oriented, evidence-based philosophy of teaching, early and continuous field experiences, and national accreditation. The program emphasizes practical hands-on experience in classrooms as well as educational theory and pedagogy.
- A Bachelor of Arts degree with majors in middle grades and special education meets the coursework requirements for middle grades (6-9) licensure and special education licensure (K-12) in North Carolina. Other licensure components (testing, edTPA) are required for licensure referral.
- Candidates in the teacher education program participate in a variety of clinical experiences in diverse school settings throughout the community. Early clinical experiences may include tutoring, observing, classroom assistance and small group instruction. The culminating clinical experience for teacher candidates is a full semester of student teaching in the teacher candidate’s licensure area.