Martin Methodist announces new special education teacher licensure program

Martin Methodist College (MMC) and the Grace Grissom School of Education are pleased to announce the new Special Education (SPED) Interventionist Kindergarten-8th grade licensure program, beginning fall 2021.

“For many years, MMC’s partner school districts have communicated their need for SPED teachers,” said MMC’s Education Chair Dr. Grace Meier. “The Grissom School of Education is pleased to provide highly-qualified instructors for the region.”

“The addition of the SPED licensure program at MMC will provide an exceptional opportunity to our local educators who want to advance their licensure and enhance their career opportunities,” added Giles County Director of Schools Dr. Vickie Beard. “There is a growing need for SPED teachers, so this announcement couldn’t come at a better time.”

SPED candidates will be placed with as highly a diversified cross-section of students as possible in the Southern Middle Tennessee partnership counties that MMC serves. The SPED major will prepare SPED candidates for teaching in the classroom by helping them grow in the areas of using technology, interacting with students, assessing student learning, managing a diverse culture, appreciating multicultural and exceptional children, and focusing on strategies that engage students in cooperative and collaborative activities

SPED teacher candidates will work to achieve the following three expected outcomes: demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to succeed in careers within the field; complete an undergraduate degree or post-baccalaureate program including a 15-week clinical practice and seminar course which incorporates an edTPA SPED portfolio, required for an Interventionist teaching license in Tennessee, in the last semester of their senior year; and pass all appropriate exams.

“I am very excited about this addition to MMC’s Grissom School of Education,” said Pulaski Mayor and MMC Business Instructor Pat Ford. “The need for SPED teachers not only in our community but also our surrounding regions is overwhelming. Having worked with the SPED youth for almost 30 years as an active leader in the local Special Olympics, I’ve garnered an understanding of their needs, and I think this new licensure program will produce exceptional teachers in Special Education.”

Martin Methodist College, founded in 1870, is a private, liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Martin Methodist offers baccalaureate degrees in 39 programs of study that include English, religious studies, music and dramatic arts, mathematics and natural sciences to business, social sciences, education, criminal justice, and nursing. Still changing lives after 150 years.