Courses

MAT students in the Middle/High School concentration are in a four-semester program. See chart.

Secondary MAT courses include:

ED 264a Foundations of Education
Explores philosophical, sociological, historical, and political contexts of schools in the United States, including legal issues and concerns, teaching concerns, and current issues and trends.  Emphasizes curriculum theory and the link between the developing pre-adolescent or adolescent and instruction.

ED 157b The Psychology of Education
How do children learn?  Topics in this survey course include models of learning, cognitive and social development, creativity, intelligence, motivation, complex reasoning, and learning disabilities.  Course methods include contemporary research analyses, case studies, group projects, short lectures, and class discussions.

ED 267a Fundamentals of Teaching
Central seminar taught in conjunction with the fall pre-practicum (ED 265a).  Explores and evaluates approaches to instructional planning, formative and summative assessment, classroom culture and management, and emergent issues.  Also policy and regulatory issues at the national, state, and district level as they impinge on daily practice.  Reflective practice, inquiry, and critical colleagueship are themes.

ED 267b Fundamentals of Teaching 
A continuation of ED 267a.  Central seminar taught in conjunction with the Practicum or Internship (ED 265b).    Portfolio requirement.

**MAT students take four content courses in another department in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.  The fall content courses are individually selected to strengthen each student’s interests and content knowledge.  In addition, each Secondary MAT students takes a fall course in the pedagogy of teaching the content area: either ED 268a (Pedagogy of Teaching English), ED 269a (Pedagogy of Teaching History), ED 270a (Pedagogy of Teaching Science), or ED 271  (Pedagogy of Teaching Tanakh).  

ED 268a Pedagogy of Teaching English
This course prepares teachers of secondary English language arts to effectively plan for and assess student learning in three primary areas of instruction:  writing, reading, and speaking.  The following are emphasized:  methods of engagement with literature, content-specific assessment and discussion techniques, writing process instruction, reading strategy and vocabulary instruction, and methods for reaching a diverse group of learners.  An underlying goal of this course is for teachers to approach their chosen profession in a spirit of reflection, continuous improvement, and collaboration.

ED 269a Pedagogy of Teaching History
This course supports the aspiring secondary school history teacher as he or she prepares for the internship.  Emphasis is placed on building a content-specific personal resource library, planning for cohesive lessons and units, teaching a variety of history content to students of diverse personal backgrounds and academic abilities, and developing collegial relationships in the teaching profession.

ED 270a Pedagogy of Teaching Science
Provides students with an overview of the trends, issues, strategies, and resources specific to the teaching of secondary school science.  Focuses on the following key concepts as they relate to teaching secondary science:  inquiry, teaching for understanding, knowing students as learners, strategies and resources to support science teaching, successful laboratory activities, professionalism, and social justice.

ED 271a Pedagogy of Teaching Tanakh
This course is designed to provide opportunities to develop the intellectual and pedagogical skills needed for teaching Tanakh in Jewish day schools.

ED 265b Field Internship
Supervised teaching internship or practicum designed to help connect theory and practice.  Students gradually build proficiency in teaching, adding responsibilities and skills over time.  Students have guided opportunities to observe, plan, and teach core subjects, manage classrooms, get to know students and families, and participate fully in the life of the school.  Interns receive regular mentoring from school cooperating teachers and university field instructors.

ED 266a Teacher Research
Students design and carry out a systematic investigation addressing a question or problem arising in their practice.  Students explore principles and methods of classroom-based research and review examples of published teacher research.  Students present their inquiry projects to fellow students, mentor teachers, and faculty in a teacher research colloquium at the conclusion of their second summer session.