In the 2021-2022 academic year, the English Department phased in a new set of requirements for the standard English major and the modified English major for students who wish to pursue a teaching license.
This page summarizes the new requirements for the English major with Communication Arts/Literature (CAL) Teaching Licensure. These requirements apply to all students who entered St. Olaf in the fall of 2021 or after.
Students who began their studies at St. Olaf prior to the fall of 2021 are likely to have the option of continuing with the prior set of requirements for the English major with CAL licensure. Changing to the new set of requirements for the English major with CAL Licensure may also require changing to the new OLE Core general education curriculum. Please consult with the Registrar’s Office for further information.
Students who are interested in pursuing a teaching license are urged to consult with Education Department faculty for further information and clarification of the requirements. It is important to do this as early as possible in your St. Olaf career, as there are a number of specific courses that you need to take. You can find more information about the Education Department and teaching licensure here.
Please see the college catalog for more information (here). The college catalog is the official record of the requirements for all majors.
Description of Requirements for the English Major with CAL Licensure
The English major with Communication Arts/Literature Teaching Licensure requires eight courses in the English Department and additional coursework in other departments. The eight required courses in the English Department are English 150, English 185, English 205, English 242, a Shakespeare course, a course in Anglophone literature, and two electives. Among the eight English courses required for the major, at least one must be a level III offering in literary studies. Independent research cannot count for a student’s level III literary studies requirement. Other required courses include Linguistics 250, Theater 120, and Media Studies 160. Students should consult the Education Department for further information and clarification of requirements.
| Four Core Courses |
| ENGL 150: The Craft of Creative Writing |
| Note: We recommend taking ENGL 150 during your first or second year. Class year limits are used to restrict most seats in ENGL 150 to first-year and sophomore students. If you need to take the course as a junior or senior, please contact the English Department chair or the instructor prior to registration. |
| ENGL 185: Literary Studies |
| Note: ENGL 185 is meant to help you build a foundation in literary studies. It does not necessary need to be your first English course, but we recommend taking it during your first or second year. Class year limits are used to restrict seats in the course to first-year and sophomore students. If you need to take the course as a junior or senior, please contact the English Department chair or the instructor prior to registration. |
| ENGL 205: American Racial and Multicultural Literatures (Offered annually in Fall) |
| ENGL 242: Children’s and Young Adult Literature (Offered annually in Spring) |
| One Shakespeare Course* |
| ENGL 256: Shakespeare and His Contemporaries |
| ENGL 260: Shakespeare and Material Culture |
| “Shakespeare and Material Culture” is a topics course offering. ENGL 260 courses that do not focus on Shakespeare will not fulfill this requirement |
| ENGL 272: Global Shakespeares |
| ENGL 380: Shakespeare |
| NOTE: On occasion, the English Department may offer additional courses that satisfy the Shakespeare requirement, such as topics courses at the 200- or 300-level that focus on Shakespeare. Please consult the English Department chair with questions about other courses that may qualify, as well as questions about fulfilling this requirement with transfer credit or during study abroad. |
| One Course in Anglophone Literature* |
| ENGL 201: Transatlantic Anglophone Literature |
| ENGL 204: South Asian Literature |
| ENGL 206: African Literature |
| ENGL 212: Literature of the Eastern Caribbean (abroad) |
| ENGL 347: Topics in Post-Colonial Literatures |
| NOTE: On occasion, the English Department may offer additional courses that satisfy the Anglophone literature requirement, such as topics courses at the 200- or 300-level with an Anglophone focus. Please consult the English Department chair with questions about other courses that may qualify, as well as questions about fulfilling this requirement with transfer credit or during study abroad. |
| Two Electives* |
| Any course taught in the St. Olaf English Department (with the prefix ENGL) can count as an English elective. Students who finish the entire Great Conversation sequence receive one elective credit toward the English major. ID 258: Theater in London also functions as an English elective. Please consult the English Department chair with questions about courses that may qualify as electives, as well as questions about fulfilling this requirement with transfer credit or during study abroad. Note that English elective credit is only given for courses that focus on literature originally written in English. This means that students will not earn elective credit for courses that focus on literature in translation or literature in another language. |
| *Of the above courses, at least one must be a Level III course in literary studies. This course could be a 300-level course taken to fulfill the Shakespeare requirement, a 300-level course taken to fulfill the Anglophone requirement, or a 300-level course taken as an elective. |
Description of Requirements for the Education Major for CAL Students
In addition to the requirements outlined above (the requirements for the modified English major for students pursuing CAL Licensure), all students who declare the modified English major with CAL Licensure must also declare a major in Education and satisfy a number of requirements associated with that program of study. The requirements for the education major for CAL students are as follows:
Education Dept courses – Professional Education requirements
EDUC 231: Understanding Substance Abuse (0.0 credit)
EDUC 272: Counseling and Communication in the Schools (.5 credit)
EDUC 290: Educational Psychology (HBS) (1.0 credit)
EDUC 291: Educational Technology (0.0 credit)
EDUC 330: Principles of Education (ORC) (1.0 credit)
EDUC 375: Differentiated Instruction for Exceptional Learners (0.5 credit)
EDUC 381: Senior Seminar (0.5 credit)
EDUC 382: Human Relations Component (0.0 credit)
EDUC 385: Human Issues in Education (0.5 credit)
EDUC 389: Student Teaching (3.0 credits)
One Interim: EDUC 378 (Multicultural Education in Hawaii; MCD; 1.0 credit)) OR EDUC 379: Urban Education Practicum and Seminar (MCD; 1.0 credit)
Education Dept courses – content area licensure requirements
EDUC 245: Teaching and Learning of English Grammar (0.5 credit)
EDUC 321: Teaching of Reading (.5 credit)
EDUC 345: Teaching of Communication Arts/Literature (1.0 credit)
Other courses – Content area licensure requirements
LNGST 250: English Language and Linguistics
THEAT 120: Public Speaking OR Carleton English 220: Arts of Oral Persuasion
MEDIA 160: The Media Landscape
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Additional Comments
The requirements outlined above are related to changes that were made to the standard version of the English major. Three of these changes are particularly significant. First, the revised major introduces a new set of categories for English major coursework–American literature, Anglophone literature, and British literature–that will replace our current categories: literary history, cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary, and genre. By doing so, we hope to provide our students with a more thoroughly global understanding of literature and culture. Second, our revised major includes a new requirement, the antiracism requirement, that will give students and faculty an opportunity to explore the ways in which antiracist pedagogies and practices are transforming a variety of subfields within literary studies and creative writing. Third, the revised major allows students to take courses to satisfy the category requirements (American, Anglophone, and British) and the antiracism requirement at either the 200- or the 300-level. We see this last change as a way to offer more flexibility to our students in charting a path through the major that reflects their interests.
In light of these changes, it made sense for us to revise our modified English major for students who elect to pursue a Communication Arts/Literature (CAL) teaching license as well. Most of the requirements for the English major for CAL students will remain identical to those that are currently in place: English 150, English 185, English 205, English 242, and a Shakespeare course (at the 200- or 300-level).
The changes to the requirements for CAL students are as follows:
- A requirement that CAL students complete a course in the Anglophone Literature category. As explained above, the English Department is replacing its previous set of categories with a new set of categories. The fact that CAL students are required to take English 205 and a Shakespeare course means that these students will, in effect, satisfy two of our three category requirements (American literature and British literature) and the antiracism requirement. The requirement that CAL students complete a course in Anglophone literature will mean that all CAL students will fulfill all three of our new categories. Note that in keeping with the rules governing our categories, CAL students will be able to fulfill the Anglophone requirement with 200- or 300-level courses.
- A reduction from two to one in the minimum number of 300-level courses in English. Several years ago, we raised the minimum number of 300-level courses in English for CAL students from one to two. We are now reducing this number back to one. CAL students are required to take a number of 300-level courses in the Education Department, and, in light of these 300-level courses in Education, one 300-level course in English seems sufficient.
- A requirement that CAL students take a minimum of one 300-level course in literary studies. For several years, we have required students who pursue the standard English major to take at least one 300-level course in literary studies (as opposed to creative writing). This change creates a uniform policy across our standard and modified majors on this issue.
- A reduction from nine to eight in the total number of English courses required for CAL students: Students who wish to pursue an English major and teaching license must complete a long list of required courses. These include Education Department courses in the area of professional education, Education Department courses in the relevant content area, and courses in linguistics, public speaking, and media studies. We believe that reducing the minimum number of English courses from nine to eight will provide CAL students with a robust education, while also giving them slightly more flexibility.
With this new set of requirements, six of the eight English courses that a student takes toward the English major with CAL licensure will be relatively restricted: English 150, English 185, English 205, English 242, a Shakespeare course, and an Anglophone course. If a student chooses to fulfill the Shakespeare requirement or the Anglophone requirement with a 300-level course, the two remaining courses would function as wide-open electives, enabling students to broaden or deepen their work in the English major according to their own priorities. If a student chooses to fulfill neither the Shakespeare requirement nor the Anglophone requirement with a 300-level course, then a seventh course would be relatively restricted (it would need to be a 300-level offering in literary studies), leaving one wide-open elective.