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Our fully online Secondary English Education program provides a traditional pathway to teacher licensure. If you work as a paraprofessional or adjunct teacher, we will work with you and your school to integrate eligible field experiences into your current employment while you complete your degree and licensure requirements.
Tutoring
A Year of Learning With Youth: Writer to Writer
Our future English teachers spend a year learning alongside young people in grades 6–12. We begin from a simple belief: young people and future teachers enter as readers, writers, and people with knowledge and experiences worth bringing to the page. We read together. We write together. We learn from published authors and from one another. Across two workshops, future teachers develop the craft of teaching while youth develop and publish writing of their own.
Workshop 1, Fall
What does it mean to read like a writer? Future teachers join youth in a workshop built around short genres—poems, essays, stories, and other texts we can experience together. We ask: Why are we reading this? What is worth reading? What can writing do for our hearts and minds? What does this author have to teach us? Writer to writer, we notice how authors make meaning and try those possibilities in our own composing. Reading becomes a way to encounter another writer, understand ourselves and others, and discover what our own words might do.
Workshop 2, Spring
What Does It Mean to Write for Publication?Future teachers and youth become writing partners for a sustained journey from possibility to publication. The young writer chooses what they want to create, and both writers study the genre, compose, confer, revise, and make decisions with readers in mind. We ask: Who might encounter our words? What do we want our writing to offer them? Writing can delight, care for, represent, question, witness, and connect. Together, writers learn what changes when our words leave our hands and enter the lives of others.
Secondary Education English Success Stories
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Lauryl Bennington: High School English Teacher - Jones High School
My journey to success began when I transitioned into the Secondary Education: English program at OSU. Throughout my time in the program, my professors provided invaluable guidance and support, helping me achieve an almost perfect PPAT score, the prestigious Geraldine Burns Award for English Excellence from OKCTE, and secure a rewarding teaching position immediately upon graduation. Since earning my degree in 2021, I have been serving as a high school English teacher at Jones High School. This role has not only brought me immense fulfillment but also fostered positive relationships and opportunities for personal and professional growth. I firmly believe that OSU’s Secondary Education English program is among the best in the state of Oklahoma, and this state truly deserves outstanding educators.
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Adam Fraser: English 2 Teacher Edmond - Santa Fe High School
After joining the College of Education at OSU, I discovered my true calling — to make a meaningful impact in education, both inside and outside the classroom. OSU helped shape that vision by providing invaluable field experiences and observation opportunities. I had the chance to learn from exceptional teachers and diverse classrooms across Oklahoma, and those experiences were instrumental in my growth. The education program opened doors I never imagined, fueling my passion for learning and leadership. I’m excited to continue this journey as I return to school next year to pursue a master’s degree in educational leadership!
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Riley Hazel: English Language Development 6th-8th - East Central Middle School
The Secondary English Education program gave me the tools and skills to engage in meaningful work in every aspect of being a teacher. Because of strong mentorship and the continued support, I’ve received, I have experienced myself what impact a strong positive relationship can have on a student's education and future. I strive to be like my professors who showed me what it truly means to be an educator in every sense of the word.
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Emily Ware: Language Arts Teacher - Centennial School District in Portland, Oregon
My success story: After graduating from OSU with my degree in Secondary Education English, I’ve found many successes! I’m currently in my 4th year teaching. I began my teaching career in 2020 in Stillwater, where I started as a behavior support staff member and then was later hired on as an 8th/9th grade ELA teacher. I taught there for a year before I decided to make a big move and moved to Portland, Oregon. Since then, I’ve been teaching 7th grade ELA in a smaller district in a suburb of Portland. Now, as a 4th year teacher, I’m on my district’s equity team, my school’s leadership team, and I am my school’s computer resource teacher. My students and coworkers are the best and I’m so thankful to be where I am today!
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Jordan Young: 9th grade English 1 Honors/ On-level teacher - Braswell High School, Denton ISD
There are lots of success stories about the students who I teach. Since I teach a state tested subject, we do spend the majority of our year preparing for it. I will never forget last year after getting the test scores back and having 90% of my students pass! I had students pass who had never passed a state test before! I was so proud! (I actually cried) but I will say one thing I am most proud of is being able to make the wonderful connections that I do with my students.
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Cait O'Hara: High School English Teacher and Coach - Guthrie
Oklahoma State's Secondary English Education program has helped to shape me into the teacher I am today. The program's culture gave me what felt like one one-on-one teaching in every class with the best and most knowledgeable mentors. It also gave me lifelong friendships with other teachers in the program who still support me to this day. This program gave me what I needed and even gave me what I didn't know I needed at the time. I couldn't be more grateful!
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Maria Risley: English I teacher and Yearbook Advisor - Deer Creek High School
Oklahoma State's Secondary Education program prepared me for curriculum development and so much more. After getting handed a book unit this semester that needed revamping I’ve been able to use the knowledge gained from this program to support my team and my students' learning. I’ve introduced fishbowls, reading groups, and more. By asking students where the hurt or harm is in a short reading passage, I’ve been able to watch some beautiful dialogue between students unfold as they dive into the deeper meanings of a text and how it connects to our current world. OSU’s Secondary Education English program prepares its students to be kind, creative, and intentional teachers.
Collaborative writing projects
EBook: Paper Rockets / Stories Taking Flight
Paper Rockets shares the writing of Oklahoma State University’s Secondary English education preservice teachers and writing workshop students who enrolled through the Randall and Carol White Reading and Math Center. These pieces emerged during an online semester-long literacy partnership focusing on genre-based, process-oriented writing.
EBook: Mosaic of Minds
Mosaic of Minds shares the writing of Oklahoma State University’s Secondary English education preservice teachers and writing workshop students who enrolled through the Randall and Carol White Reading and Math Center. These pieces emerged during an online semester-long literacy partnership focusing on genre-based, process-oriented writing.
Ebook: Garden of Voices / Growing Inspiration in Writing
Garden of Voices contains the writing of Oklahoma State University’s Secondary English education preservice teachers and writing workshop students who enrolled through the Randall and Carol White Reading and Math Center. These pieces emerged during an online semester-long literacy partnership focusing on genre-based, process-oriented writing.