University Bulletin (2021-2022)

• Minors
• Major (BA)
• Master of Arts in Teaching

The Education Program offers several different undergraduate and graduate programs. Undergraduate students are able to select a path to pursue either education studies (major or minor) or teacher education (minor in preschool, elementary, middle, or high school teaching). For students who have already earned an undergraduate degree, the Brandeis Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program offers concentrations in elementary teaching (public or Jewish day school) or secondary—middle or high school—teaching in one of our approved subject matter areas. For a more complete description of the education program, please consult the program's Web site, www.brandeis.edu/programs/education.

Any undergraduate at Brandeis may begin fulfilling requirements of the major or minor at any time, without formal admission. However, it is strongly recommended that students who are considering the education program meet with an education program advisor during their first year in order to plan for program requirements. Permission, which is required to enroll in the education studies major or minor and the teacher education minor, should be sought no later than when a student has completed two education courses.

Undergraduate Education Studies Major

The education studies major is designed for students interested in the social, historical, and cultural contexts of education and the role of education in shaping policy, practice, learning, and identity. This major encourages students to think critically about such questions as: How do various political, economic, historical, psychological, and social forces shape education and public expectations for school? What does school teach us about society? How do K-12 schooling and higher education shape individual and communal identities and life opportunities? How can we better understand and guide learning in and out of school? What kinds of learning, schools, and teachers do young people need and deserve?

A Brandeis graduate with an education studies major will be prepared to pursue:

• education policy, legislative, or nonprofit work;
• careers in education-related fields such as school psychology, higher education, informal education, museum education;
• graduate study and a career in teaching; and/or
• graduate study and a scholarly career in education.

In addition to developing skills and habits of inquiry, critical thinking, and analysis associated with a strong liberal arts education, education studies majors will acquire a historical and comparative understanding of schooling, a deeper understanding of teaching and learning, educational research skills, and an understanding of the ethical dimensions of education.

Because candidates for the education studies major must complete nine courses, including a senior seminar, students should consult with an education studies advisor no later than the beginning of the junior year about the program requirements. No course for the major may be taken on a pass/fail basis. Students must receive a grade of C or higher for any course to be counted as part of the education studies major.

Please note that the education studies major does not lead to a teaching license. Students interested in becoming licensed as teachers need to enroll in the teacher education program.

Undergraduate Education Studies Minor

This minor gives students a chance to explore the impact of political, historical, psychological, economic, and social forces that shape education and public expectations for schools. The minor's interdisciplinary approach is suitable both for students interested in the broad social and cultural contexts of education and for those interested in educational careers.  

Students must receive a grade of C or higher for any course to be counted as part of the education studies minor.  Please note that the education studies minor does not lead to a teaching license. Students interested in becoming teachers need to enroll in the teacher education program.

Undergraduate Teaching Minor

The Teacher Education minor is designed for students who want to become pre-school or elementary school teachers or secondary school teachers of biology chemistry, physics, general science, mathematics, English, history, French, Spanish, or Latin and classical humanities. It includes the study of learners and learning, school and society, and general and subject-specific pedagogy. Teachers need deep and flexible subject matter knowledge; thus, students who minor in Teacher Education choose a compatible liberal arts major. Coursework on campus is integrated with field experiences in area schools which culminate in a semester of supervised student teaching. Those interested in this minor should meet with an education program advisor during their first year to develop a plan for teacher education courses which begin in the sophomore year and other required courses. Please see the education program Web site for specific course requirements. This minor is also valuable for those planning careers in related fields, such as special education.

Four central themes define the Brandeis teacher education programs. These themes are woven throughout our courses:

Knowing Students as Learners

Teacher Education students understand their pupils as individuals and members of communities and know how to shape instruction that builds on their interests, strengths, and needs as thinkers and doers.

Teaching for understanding

Teacher Education students learn how to make academic content a resource for inquiry and a means of giving pupils wider access to the world. They explore ways to teach to ambitious standards for all children, and learn principles and practices of assessment aligned with those standards and purposes.

Inquiry

Teacher Education students learn to promote curiosity, and they make inquiry a central part of their professional practice as teachers.

Social Justice

Teacher Education students create classrooms in which pupils practice respect, fairness and decency and learn to contribute to the development of a just society.

Candidates for the elementary or secondary teaching license must achieve a grade of at least B- in all required undergraduate teacher education courses. Satisfactory grades and permission of the elementary education program advisor (preschool and elementary) or director of teacher education (secondary) are required in order to proceed to the final semesters of the program (Proseminar ED 101a and b and ED 111e for elementary; a 200-level pedagogy class, Proseminar and ED 110e for secondary; or ED 112e for preschool).

Students who successfully complete the elementary, middle, or high school teacher education program, including the requirements set by the state of Massachusetts (passing appropriate Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure), are recommended by Brandeis for initial licensure to teach in Massachusetts. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has reciprocal licensing arrangements with the other states and the District of Columbia. Information on licensure requirements may be found on the education program website www.brandeis.edu/programs/education

Of the students who completed the Brandeis teacher education program and took the MTEL tests between 2016-2017, 98 percent passed the Communications and Literacy Skills test, and 93 percent passed the Subject Matter Knowledge tests.

Master of Arts in Teaching

In the MAT program, we conceive of teaching as practical intellectual work dedicated to enlargement of human capacity at the individual and societal level.  Successful completion of the program leads to the degree and the initial license to teach in Massachusetts, which has reciprocity agreements with the other states and the District of Columbia. This is a four semester (summer, fall, spring, summer), full-time masters program.

The MAT in elementary education features a full-year student teaching internship in a public elementary or Jewish day school. The MAT in secondary education offers a choice of concentrations in: biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, general science; English, Chinese, French, Spanish, Latin & classical humanities; history, mathematics, and political science/political philosophy. In all concentrations, a coherent one-year/four-semester course of study integrates sustained guided-teaching practice in area schools with challenging course work and analysis of educational problems and issues at macro and micro levels. In each concentration, a small cohort of students works closely with peers, mentors, and faculty in an atmosphere that is collegial and open to risk-taking. Inquiry is a theme across the year.  As the culminating project, students design, conduct, and report on a classroom-based, research project. All graduates are expected to demonstrate strong conceptual and practical command of the field; commitment to children as learners and thinkers; and habits of reliance on reason, evidence, and values in pedagogical decision making.

One exceptional feature of the MAT is the early career induction support provided to graduates who teach in the greater Boston area. Social support, reflection on teaching challenges, and individual advising are offered in monthly meetings and in one-on-one conferences.

Brandeis Teacher Leadership Program

The Brandeis Teacher Leadership Program recognizes that the most important change agents in education are our classroom teachers. Teachers change lives day after day, and the influence of many extends beyond their classrooms, schools, and communities. This hybrid program brings together cohorts of experienced and talented teachers to learn skills essential to becoming effective Teacher Leaders. Focusing on both instructional and institutional policy, the program helps teachers improve their teaching and the teaching of others; foster a collaborative culture to support educator development; improve student learning and strengthen their school; understand the school as an institution and organization; and use their voices to have an impact on education policy. Students have two options to pursue: Advanced Graduate Studies (AGS) or the Master in Education (EdM). Both options combine formal study and guided practice providing teachers with the opportunity to:

• Strengthen their professional identity
• Become part of a robust professional network
• Acquire specific skills and understandings essential to promoting educator development and
  improving student learning in their schools.

Graduates of the Brandeis Teacher Leadership Program will be qualified to assume roles such as mentor, team leader or instructional coach and may be eligible to apply for an endorsement in teacher leadership in states that offer them. If you are interested in becoming a department chair, you may need supplementary courses in your content area.

Undergraduate Education Studies Major

Critical Understandings

Students completing the Education Studies major will be able to:

1. Understand schools in various contexts (e.g. cultural, historical, economic, and political), and be able to articulate the ethical and civic dimensions of schooling;
2. Think critically about educational opportunity, equity, and achievement in relation to race/ethnicity, social class, gender, and disability;
3. Analyze teaching and learning, education and schooling, and student growth and development through various disciplinary lenses;
4. Use educational research skills to investigate educational issues and challenges.

Core Skills

The Education Studies major emphasizes core skills in analysis, critical thinking, research, and communication. Based on the critical understandings above, Education Studies majors will be prepared to:

1. Think critically and write persuasively about the various functions schools perform in a community, with special attention to issues of equality and access in our democracy;
2. Use research skills to assess the validity, paradigmatic claims and limits of empirical studies in education;
3. Critically evaluate educational research, policy and practice, and develop policy recommendations.

Social Justice

As a liberal arts university with a strong commitment to social justice, Brandeis has a responsibility to contribute to the improvement of education as a key building block of democracy. The Education Studies major examines the various functions schools perform in society, with special attention to the role of public schools in a democracy and the intended and unintended consequences of educational policies and practices on student access and achievement. The Education Studies major enables graduates to acquire and develop the knowledge, skills, and perspectives to examine and act on the ethical and civic dimensions of schooling.

Upon Graduation

After graduation, a Brandeis Education Studies major will be well prepared to be a citizen in our democracy. S/he will also be prepared to pursue:

1. Education policy, legislative, or non-profit work;
2. Careers in education-related fields such as school psychology, higher education, informal education, museum education;
3. Graduate study in preparation for teaching or a scholarly career in education.

Please note: Education Studies is not a route towards teacher licensure.

Undergraduate Teaching Minor

Critical Understandings

Students who complete the teacher education minor will understand:

1. The diverse ways that children explore, learn, and develop their interests inside and outside of the classroom;
2. The importance of knowing the subject/s they teach in coherent and flexible ways;
3. The relationship between race, class, and gender and educational opportunity; and
4. The urgency of helping their pupils learn literacy and numeracy skills, effective communication, critical thinking, and working well with others in our democracy and inter-dependent world.

Core Skills

Student teachers who successfully complete the minor will be able to:

1. Prepare curriculum and adapt curricular materials to engage and challenge the diverse learners they teach;
2. Plan and employ a repertoire of instructional strategies and assessments so as to motivate and involve students in worthwhile learning;
3. Create and maintain a safe and respectful learning community in the classroom;
4. Promote equity in the classroom and school;
5. Work productively with families and colleagues; and
6. Reflect on their teaching and learn from experience.

These skills are aligned with the Massachusetts Professional Standards for Teachers (603 CMR 7.08) and are assessed using the Massachusetts Candidate Assessment of Performance (CAP). Students also video-tape and reflect on their practice. Students must pass the relevant Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL) in order to qualify for the MA Initial teaching license.

Successful completion of the elementary or secondary minor, together with a passing grade on the MA Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL), leads to an initial license to teach in Massachusetts, which has reciprocal licensing arrangements with the other states and the District of Columbia. Successful completion of the preschool minor fulfills the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care requirements for lead teachers in infant-toddler programs and/or preschool.

Becoming an accomplished teacher happens over time. In fact, good teachers never stop learning. Our program provides a strong foundation for beginning teaching along with the tools and dispositions needed to continue learning in and from teaching.

Upon Graduation

Student-Teaching Interns will demonstrate the ability to:

Plan, Sequence, and Scaffold Instruction and Assessment in ways that:

1. Emphasize enduring understanding, transferable skills, and authentic experience;
2. Meet the needs of a diverse student population;
3. Challenge students intellectually and facilitate students' independence and mastery;
4. Engage students' prior knowledge, experience, culture, and stage of development;
5. Give students the support they need to meet high expectations.

Create a Safe Learning Environment for Intellectual and Emotional Development:

1. Give students ownership over the intellectual work;
2. Maintain rituals, routines, and responses that support learning;
3. Empower students to act upon issues of equity and social justice;
4. Integrate students' identity and experience.

Engage in Reflective Practice:

1. Approach their own and others’ teaching from an inquiry stance;
2. Integrate theory and practice;
3. Seek out, engage, and integrate feedback;
4. Analyze observation and assessment data to inform teaching practice.

Enter a Professional Culture:

1. Engage professionally with others in their school context;
2. Locate themselves and their teaching in the broader culture of schools and schooling.

Brandeis Teacher Leadership Program

The Teacher Leadership Program includes both coursework and a practicum with one-on-one coaching. By the end of the program, Teacher Leaders will be able to:

1. Analyze factors that enable and constrain school change (e.g. professional culture, school organization, distribution of authority);
2. Refine their vision of good teaching as a basis for teacher learning and assessment;
3. Foster a professional culture that supports critical colleagueship;
4. Frame worthwhile goals for instructional improvement;
5. Design and facilitate productive discussions about teaching and learning with colleagues
6. Gather and use data to document inform instructional and school improvement; and
7. Express their identity as teacher leaders.

The general requirements for admission to the Graduate School, given in an earlier section of this Bulletin, apply to candidates for admission to this program. Candidates for admission to the MAT program apply to either the elementary or the secondary MAT; in the application materials, they specify the concentrations of interest: elementaryeducation or secondary biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, general science, English, Chinese, French, Spanish, Latin and classical humanities, history, mathematics, physics, or political science/political philosophy.

Strong liberal arts preparation with depth in an appropriate discipline and/or a record of professional accomplishment in an appropriate field is expected. Applicants to the Elementary MAT should be able to demonstrate possession of the knowledge necessary to teach the four subjects constituting the core of the elementary school curriculum: mathematics, literacy/English language arts, science, and the social studies. Applicants to the Secondary MAT must have an undergraduate major or other very strong academic background in the content area they wish to teach. Program faculty are available for consultation and transcript review prior to application with respect to this or other admissions criteria. Prospective applicants are urged to request transcript review, preferably in the summer or fall term prior to the desired term of entry.

Prior experience with children is strongly advised. Applications should include three letters of reference, the results of the GRE general exam, a transcript, a resume, and a statement of purpose explaining their reasons for pursuing this degree.

Further information about application processes and criteria, scholarship opportunities, and program requirements is available on the MAT website.

Brandeis Teacher Leadership Program

The Teacher Leadership Program welcomes applications from experienced teachers (K-12) coming from traditional public schools, charter, independent, or Jewish day schools who are interested in strengthening their professional identity, developing new capacities for teacher leadership, and becoming part of a robust professional network. Ideal candidates must have demonstrated initiative, earned the respect and trust of their colleagues, and be considered a very good classroom teacher by their supervisor and peers. To learn more about the AGS and EdM Programs, please feel free to send an email to teacherleadership@brandeis.edu.

Leah Gordon, Harry S. Levitan Director of Education
Education studies. History of Education in the U.S.

Marcie Abramson
Mathematics.

Jennifer Cleary
Theater Education.

Sharon Feiman-Nemser
Jewish education. Teacher education.

Danielle Igra, Director of Teacher Education
Secondary education. English pedagogy.

Aja Jackson
Elementary and secondary teacher education.

Marya Levenson
Teacher leadership. Education policy. Education studies.

Jon Levisohn
Philosophy of education. Jewish education.

Katherine Lobo
English language learners.

Joan Martin
Mathematics.

Deborah Moriarty
Teaching reading. Literacy.

Desiree Phillips
Special education.

Rachel Kramer Theodorou
Elementary education. Literacy education.

Joseph Reimer (on leave spring 2020)
Education policy. Informal education.

Derron Wallace
Urban education. Sociology of education.

Affiliated Faculty (contributing to the curriculum, advising and administration of the department or program)
Joe Cunningham (Psychology)
Susan Eaton (Heller School)
Joshua Goodman (Economics)
Jonathan Krasner (American Studies)
James Morris (Biology)

Requirements for the Teacher Education Minors

Education Programs Leading to Licensure:

Secondary

PSYC 36b (note that PSYC 10a is a prerequisite for PSYC 36b), ED 100b, ED 102a and ED 175a are prerequisites for practice teaching. ED 110e, ED 265a, ED 268a, ED 269a, and ED 270a or ED 272a are taken in the senior year. Students must consult the director of teacher education for other requirements, including recommended courses in their major. It is recommended that students take ED 100b in their freshman or sophomore year and ED 102a in their junior year. Students must pass the MTEL Communication and Literacy Skills Test before enrolling in ED 110e (student teaching). 

Elementary

PSYC 33a (note that PSYC 10a is a prerequisite for PSYC 33a); ED 100a followed by ED 107a and ED 175a in the spring of sophomore or junior year; ED 105a in the fall of junior year. ED 101a and 101b,  ED 111e (student teaching), and ED 265a are taken in the senior year. MATH 3a is required unless waived upon education program and math department review. Students must consult the elementary education program faculty advisor regarding these and other program requirements. It is strongly recommended that, whenever possible, students consult the advisor during their first year. The education program Web site lists significant additional liberal arts courses required for licensure. Students must pass the MTEL Communication and Literacy Skills Test before enrolling in ED 111e (student teaching).

Preschool

Practice teaching at the Lemberg Children's Center is possible (ED 112e). Prerequisites are PSYC 33a, ED 100a and ED 107a. These courses, plus one other approved elective, will fulfill the Department of Early Education and Care requirements for lead teachers in infant/toddler and/or preschool. For further information, consult the director of the Lemberg Children's Center.

Education Studies

Education Studies minors must pass six courses with a grade of C or better. Pass/Fail courses will not earn credit for the minor.

1. Core course: ED 150b Purpose and Politics of Education (ED 155b Education and Social Policy prior to fall 2020) taken in junior or senior year.
2. A second core course to be selected from the following electives:
   • AMST 150a History of Childhood and Youth in America
   • AMST 180b Topics in the History of American Education
   • ECON 59b Economics of Education
   • ED 159b Philosophy of Education
   • ED 170a Race, Power, and Urban Education
   • SOC 104a The Sociology of Education
3. At least four additional program electives, no more than two of which can be taken in the same department or interdepartmental program. Program electives are listed at the end of the education course listings.

   Students may substitute successful completion of an essay, thesis, or internship, as described below, for the fourth elective course option:

   1. Essay: an approved research or honors essay, usually taken in the senior year. Students would receive credit for this essay through their department major, or ED 98a (Individual Readings and Research in Education), or an independent study or research course approved by the director of the education program.
   2. Honors Thesis: a senior thesis in the student's major that has an emphasis on some aspect of education.
   3. Internship: an internship (ED 92) approved by the director of the education program. (Students who are student teaching in the education program will also be eligible to receive internship credit if they are concurrently pursuing an education studies minor.) Students who choose this option will keep a journal about their experiences and produce a final paper.
4. Students may have only two cross-over courses that meet requirements for both the education (licensure) minor and the education studies minor.

Education Studies Major

Education Studies majors must pass nine courses with a grade of C or better. Pass/Fail courses will not earn credit for the major.

1. ED 150b Purpose and Politics of Education (ED 155b Education and Social Policy prior to fall 2020). All Education Studies majors are required to enroll in this capstone course during the fall semester of their junior or senior year.
2. ED 165a Reading (and Talking Back to) Research on Education
   
   Required research course to be taken in fall of sophomore or junior year. Students will review quantitative and qualitative research through disciplinary lenses. Students pursue some topic of inquiry by either reviewing and synthesizing educational research, or conducting some empirical research.
3. Three elective courses in one of the four clusters:
   • Education, Equality and Social Change
   • Teaching and Learning In and Outside of Schools
   • Human Creativity and Development
   • Jewish Formal and Informal Education
4. Majors enroll in four additional electives courses: one in each of two other clusters, and two additional elective courses from any of the four clusters. See courses listed in clusters below. Courses cannot be double counted to fulfill the three-course requirement in a cluster and the requirement to take a course in each of two other clusters.
5. Students may substitute successful completion of an essay or internship, as described below, for one of the seven elective courses.
   
   Essay: An approved research or honors essay, usually taken in the senior year. Students would receive credit for this essay, or ED 98a (Individual Readings and Research in Education), or an independent study or research course approved by the director of the education program.
   
   Internship: An internship (ED 92) approved by the director of the education program. Students who are student teaching in the education program will also be eligible to receive internship credit if they are concurrently pursuing an education studies major. Students who choose this option will keep a journal about their experiences and produce a final paper.
6. Foundational Literacies: As part of completing the Education Studies major, students must:
   •  Fulfill the writing intensive requirement by successfully completing one of the following: ED 100b, ED 157b, or ED 170a.
   • Fulfill the oral communication requirement by successfully completing one of the following: ED 102a, ED 170a, LING 197a, or THA 138b.
   • Fulfill the digital literacy requirement by successfully completing: ED 165a.
7. Students who wish to be considered for honors in education studies will be required to complete a senior thesis. Students intending to do an honors thesis must discuss their potential topic with an education studies faculty adviser in their junior year. 

Please note that majors who intend to do an honors thesis involving empirical research are required to have completed a research course before their senior year.

Ten Semester Combined BA/MAT or BS/MAT Program in Elementary or Secondary Education

The Combined BA/BS-MAT Program in Elementary or Secondary Education enables undergraduates to complete their undergraduate studies and graduate teacher education preparation in ten semesters. Students who are interested should apply in the fall of their junior year. For information about how to apply, please contact the Brandeis MAT Program.

Program of Study

After their junior year, undergraduates who are accepted to the ten semester BA/BS-MAT program join other MAT students in an intensive five-week summer program. During their fall semester, the Ten Semester students must complete all outstanding undergraduate requirements, including coursework and residency. The student's MAT pre-practicum will also begin in the fall.

It is the responsibility of the student to select those courses necessary for completion of the BA or BS requirements. The advisor in the Education Program will advise on the courses which satisfy MAT requirements. If the student succeeds in the stipulated courses, and if the requirements for the BA or BS are satisfied by the end of December (thus being eligible for the degree in February), the Ten Semester student will have satisfied the conditions of admission to the MAT program.

After completing the BA or BS in December, the ten semester student will become a full-time MAT student for the spring, which includes a full time internship, courses, and a teacher research project. Students complete the MAT requirements during their tenth and final summer semester. The successful completion of the MAT program along with passing required MTELs enables graduates to earn the Initial Massachusetts certification in elementary or secondary teaching.

Student Status

A Ten Semester applicant will be accepted as a special student with a status of "undergraduate" during the first summer. Please note that a student must abide by GSAS rules with respect to grades; that is, he or she must earn a "B - " or better in any course to be counted towards the MAT degree.

Scholarship Assistance

In summer I, the student will be eligible for whatever undergraduate aid is currently in place. Undergraduate aid will be pro-rated for summer I during which the MAT tuition is charged. Full undergraduate aid and tuition for which the student is eligible will be applied in the fall semester. Ten Semester students are also eligible to apply for MAT scholarships for the spring and summer II semesters.

Elective Courses by Cluster

Education, Equality, and Social Change

AAAS 156a #BlackLivesMatter: The Struggle for Civil Rights from Reconstruction to the Present
AMST 150a The History of Childhood and Youth in America
AMST 180b Topics in the History of American Education
EBIO 33b Citizen Science: Bridging Science, Education and Advocacy
ECON 59b The Economics of Education
ED 155b Education and Social Policy
ED 159b Philosophy of Education
ED 170a Race, Power, and Urban Education
ED 175a The Teaching of English Language Learners: Pre-K to 12
HSSP 192b Sociology of Disability
SOC 104a Sociology of Education
SOC 113b Sociology of Race and Racism
SOC 138a Sociology of Race, Gender, and Class
SOC 154a Community Structure and Youth Subcultures
WMGS 151a The Social Politics of Sexual Education

Teaching and Learning In and Outside of Schools

ANTH 61b Language in American Life
EBIO 33b Citizen Science: Bridging Science, Education and Advocacy
ED 100a Exploring Teaching (Elementary and Preschool)
ED 100b Exploring Teaching (Secondary)
ED 107a Teaching and Learning Reading in Elementary and Preschools
ED 158b Looking with the Learner: Practice and Inquiry
ED 163b Creativity and Caring
ED 170a Race, Power, and Urban Education
ED 175a The Teaching of English Language Learners: Pre-K to 12
LING 110a Phonological Theory
LING 197a Language Acquisition and Development
MATH 3a Explorations in Math: A Course for Educators
NEJS 171a History Lessons: Teaching the Jewish Experience
PSYC 33a Developmental Psychology
PSYC 36b Adolescence and the Transition to Maturity
PSYC 169b Disorders of Childhood

Human Creativity and Development

ANTH 109a Children, Parenting, and Education in Cross-Cultural Perspective
ANTH 180b Playing Human: Persons, Objects, Imagination
COML/ENG 140b Children's Literature and Constructions of Childhood
ED 158b Looking with the Learner: Practice and Inquiry
ED 163b Creativity and Caring
ED 173b The Psychology of Love: Education for Close Relationships
ENG 118b Teaching Shakespeare Up Close and Personal
HSSP 192b Sociology of Disability
LING 197a Language Acquisition and Development
PSYC 33a Developmental Psychology
PSYC 36b Adolescence and the Transition to Maturity
PSYC 169b Disorders of Childhood
THA 138b Creative Pedagogy

Jewish Formal and Informal Education

HRNS 205f Summer Camp: The American Jewish Experience
HRNS 206f Informal Jewish Education
NEJS 169a Inside the Religious School Classroom
NEJS 169b From Sunday Schools to Birthright: History of American Jewish Education
NEJS 170a Studying Sacred Texts
NEJS 170b Inside Jewish Education
NEJS 171a History Lessons: Teaching the Jewish Experience
NEJS 235b Philosophy of Jewish Education

The MAT is a full-time, in-residence, year-long program running summer-fall-spring-summer consecutive terms.

Candidates for the degree are admitted to either the Master of Arts in Teaching – Elementary Education or to the Master of Arts in Teaching – Secondary Education in one of the following concentrations: biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, general science, English, Chinese, French, Spanish, Latin and classical humanities, history, mathematics, political science/political philosophy.

Program of Study

Within a coherent, sequenced course of study, students examine theories and cases of human learning, study principles and practices of teaching specific subjects, and engage in some of the big questions and debates that characterize the field. Guided teaching practice begins in the summer and continues through a year-long internship in a nearby classroom. Working closely with an experienced mentor teacher, students gradually assume increasing instructional responsibility and begin functioning as junior colleagues in the school community. Over the course of the year, students learn principles and practices of inquiry-oriented pedagogy in the subject area(s). They study formal and informal methods of assessment, learn how to interpret and adapt curricular standards, and practice engaging families in meaningful conversation about children's educational accomplishments and needs.

Additional information about required courses, calendar, and other information about the program and the specific concentrations may be found on the MAT website.

MTEL (Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure)

In order to earn the MAT degree, students must take all MTELs required for licensure in their field by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education: Communication and Literacy, Foundations of Reading, and General Curriculum tests for the Elementary MAT; Communication and Literacy, and subject matter tests for the Secondary MAT. The Program expects students to take and pass the Communication and Literacy Skills test by August 1 of their first summer in the program. Other MTELs should be taken before the start of the spring semester. Passing all required MTELs is a requirement for licensure.

Internship

Intensive internships are an integral part of the MAT program. Duration ranges from two to five days a week; students are responsible for their own transportation. The program arranges placements in public or Jewish day schools, in districts such as Arlington, Belmont, Boston, Brookline, Framingham, Newton, and Waltham. The field experience is supported by regular mentoring from school personnel, observations and advisement by an assigned field instructor, and a weekly reflective teaching seminar that examines such topics as building and maintaining classroom culture, instructional planning, curriculum development, assessment, and emergent problems of practice.

All MAT students complete a supplemental placement, a five-week experience in a new context to expand their portfolio of teaching skills and knowledge. Interns may choose a placement in Moderate Disabilities, in English as a Second Language, or in a different grade level from their yearlong placement.

Teacher Research

As a culminating project, students design, conduct, and report on a classroom-based inquiry project, often a form of "action research." Successful completion of the project is a requirement for the degree. In the second summer semester, students present their findings to faculty, friends, and colleagues.

Induction Year

MAT graduates whose initial teaching positions are in the greater Boston area are provided ongoing professional development in their first year. Social support, reflection on teaching challenges, and individual advising are offered in regular meetings and in one-on-one conferences.

Course Requirements

Elementary MAT

Foundations of Education (ED 264a)
Fundamentals of Teaching (ED 267a and ED 267b)
Field Internship (ED 265a and ED 265b)
Professional Seminar (part of ED 265a)
Teaching Reading with reading practicum (ED 107a)
Teaching Mathematics (ED 262a)
Literacy & Social Studies (ED 101a)
Psychology of Student Learning (ED 157b)
Teaching English Language Learners (ED 175a)
Reflective Teaching (ED 263b)
Inquiry-based Science Teaching & Learning (ED 261a)
Special Education: Teaching for Inclusion (ED 260a)
Teacher Research (ED 266a)

Secondary MAT

Foundations of Education (ED 264a)
The Psychology of Student Learning (ED 157b)
Fundamentals of Teaching (ED 267a)
Field Internship (ED 265a and ED 265b)
Professional Seminar (part of ED 265a)
Teaching English Language Learners (ED 175a)
Reflective Teaching (ED 263b)
Special Education Module (ED 260b)
Teacher Research (ED 266a)

Pedagogy Classes

Pedagogy of English (ED 268a)
Pedagogy of History (ED 269a)
Pedagogy of Science (ED 270a)
Pedagogy of Mathematics (ED 272a)
Pedagogy of Chinese (CHIN 201a)

Four graduate level courses in their area of concentration

The Brandeis Teacher Leadership Program in Advanced Graduate Study (AGS) is designed for talented and experienced teachers interested in gaining leadership skills that will empower them to influence policy and practice in their own schools and beyond. This 13-month program prepares graduates to create change in their schools by improving pedagogical practices and fostering a collaborative culture that leads to greater student and educator learning. 

Program of Study

The AGS program includes two intensive summer semesters of in-residence classes at Brandeis and two semesters of distance learning during the academic year. During the school year, AGS students participate in a practicum which allows them to practice new skills in their own schools with the support of a coach from the Brandeis Education Program. All AGS students design and implement a teacher leadership initiative which contributes to worthwhile instructional or institutional change.

 

Course Requirements

Understanding and Improving Classroom Teaching and Learning (ED 253)
School Culture, Organization and Change (ED 258)
Core Practices of Teacher Leadership (ED 256)
Leadership in Curriculum and Assessment (ED 259)
Experiential Teacher Leadership Practicum (ED 294)
Leadership, Authority and School Change (ED 251)
Principles and Practices of Professional Development (ED 291)

Program of Study

The Teacher Leadership EdM Program includes two intensive summer semesters of in residence classes at Brandeis and two semesters of distance learning as well as two additional semesters of practitioner research for a total time to completion of 2 years.

Teacher Research

In addition to fulfilling the requirements of the AGS program, all EdM students will conduct a self-study of some aspect of their teacher leader practice. They present their findings at an online research conference at the end of the program.

Course Requirements

Understanding and Improving Classroom Teaching and Learning (ED 253)
School Culture, Organization and Change (ED 258)
Core Practices of Teacher Leadership (ED 256)
Leadership in Curriculum and Assessment (ED 259)
Experiential Teacher Leadership Practicum (ED 294)
Leadership, Authority and School Change (ED 251)
Principles and Practices of Professional Development (ED 291)
Action Research for Teacher Leaders (ED 285)
Professional Development as Inquiry (ED 286)

ED 75b Waltham Speaks: Multilingualism, Advocacy and Community
[ deis-us ss ]
Grounds community-engaged and service learning in Waltham within theoretical frameworks and practical skills from education and the social sciences. Educators (broadly speaking, in and beyond schools) integrate perspectives from history, policy, psychology, and sociology with teaching pedagogy. Through reflective, responsive, and empathetic learning, students will learn how English learner populations have shaped a community’s organizations, schools, and identity. Waltham’s school system and service organization leaders will teach students about their work in shaping a responsive and inclusive community. Through interviews, reflective essays, weekly discussions, and a semester-long service project, students will grow habits of mind and practical skills for work in education and beyond. Usually offered every year.
Rachel Kramer Theodorou

ED 92a Education Internship and Analysis
Usually offered every year.
Staff

ED 98a Individual Readings and Research in Education
Usually offered every year.
Staff

ED 98b Individual Readings and Research in Education
Usually offered every year.
Staff

ED 99a Senior Thesis
Seniors who are candidates for degrees with honors in education studies must register for this course in their final semester and, under the direction of a faculty member, prepare an honors thesis on a suitable topic. Usually offered every semester.
Staff

ED 99b Senior Thesis
Prerequisite: ED 165a.
Seniors who are candidates for degrees with honors in education studies must register for this course in their final semester and, under the direction of a faculty member, prepare an honors thesis on a suitable topic. Usually offered every semester.
Staff

ED 100a Exploring Teaching (Elementary and Preschool)
[ ss ]
Yields six semester-hour credits towards rate of work and graduation. Three hours per week of field experience (participant observation in an elementary or preschool classroom), arranged by the education program, are required in addition to regular class time. A $10. fee is payable at the start of the semester to offset transportation costs.
Examines the relationship of teaching and learning, the purposes of elementary schooling, and the knowledge requirements for elementary and preschool teaching. Through readings, analysis of videotapes, and guided observations, students investigate classroom culture, student thinking, and curriculum standards. Usually offered every fall semester.
Aja Jackson

ED 100b Exploring Teaching (Secondary)
[ ss wi ]
Yields six semester-hour credits towards rate of work and graduation. Three hours per week of field experience (participant observation in a middle or high school classroom), arranged by the education program, are required in addition to regular class time. A $10. fee is payable at the start of the semester to offset transportation costs.
Examines the relationship of teaching and learning, the purposes of secondary schooling and the knowledge requirements for middle and high school teaching. Through readings, analysis of videotapes and guided observations, students investigate classroom culture, student thinking, and curriculum standards. Usually offered every spring semester.
Staff

ED 120a History of Higher Education in the U.S.
[ deis-us ss ]
Explores the history of higher education in the United States from the nation’s formation to the present. Readings outline the competing purposes Americans envisioned for colleges and universities, as well as student life, institutional access, and visions of the relationship between excellence and equity. The course explores patterns of inclusion and exclusion based on race, class, ethnicity, religion, and gender and how universities served as sites where class was produced and contested. Students explore the post-World War II democratization of American higher education, the politics of college admissions, and recent movements to make college more affordable. The course also raises questions about the power universities came to hold as centers of knowledge-making networks and universities as sites of political activism. Usually offered every third year.
Leah Gordon

ED 150b Purpose and Politics of Education
[ deis-us ss wi ]
Focuses on the United States and introduces students to foundational questions in the interdisciplinary field of Education Studies. We explore competing goals Americans have held for K-12 and post-secondary education and ask how these visions have (or have not) influenced school, society, and educational policy. We pay particular attention to educational stratification; localism; segregation; privatization; and the relationship between schooling and equality. Usually offered every year.
Leah Gordon

ED 155b Education and Social Policy
[ oc ss wi ]
Examines the various functions that schools perform in a community, with special attention to the intended and unintended consequences of contemporary policies such as special education, desegregation, charter schools, and the standards/accountability movement. Usually offered every second year.
Leah Gordon

ED 158b Looking with the Learner: Practice and Inquiry
Does not satisfy a school distribution requirement--for education studies core course credit only. Lab fee: $40.
Links theory to practice in learning through the visual arts through three types of experiences: 1) looking at art; 2) museum-based interactions with students from Stanley Elementary School in Waltham; and 3) documenting our experiences as lookers, learners, and teachers. What can we learn about art, artists, ourselves, and young learners through the processes of looking at art? How can we best support students in their own encounters with art and learning? How can museums serve as a model for education in various settings? Usually offered every year.
Staff

ED 161b Religious Education in America
[ hum ]
No principle stands more sacred in American public education than separation of Church and state. Public schools pride themselves as neutral playing fields when it comes to matters of religion. But this position belies a more complicated history. American public schools were initially founded by protestant leaders concerned with an influx of non-protestant immigrants during the middle of the 19th century. Indeed, despite lip service to ideas like separation of Church and state, American educational leaders long saw schools as a vehicle for promoting a Protestant inflected American culture. This course begins from the premise that American education and American religion have always existed in relationship. Religious groups have sometimes tried to use the public schools as vehicles to advance their religion, sometimes, they have created supplemental schools, and sometimes they have created whole parallel school systems. But in all cases, education and religion in American are intertwined. This course asks when education is religious and when religion is educational. It examines a series of case studies drawn from different faith communities including Judaism, Evangelical Christianity, Catholicism, and Islam. Usually offered every second year.
Ziva Hassenfeld

ED 163b Creativity and Caring
[ ss ]
Explores "creativity" and "caring," significant human capacities, and their relationship. Drawing on developmental and social psychology, we ask: How do they develop? What affects our being creative and caring? How can educators promote these? Usually offered every year.
Joseph Reimer

ED 165a Reading (and Talking Back to) Research on Education
[ dl ss ]
Open to education studies majors only.
In this required capstone course for education studies majors, students will review quantitative and qualitative research through disciplinary lenses. Students pursue some topic of inquiry by either reviewing and synthesizing educational research, or conducting some empirical research. Usually offered every year.
Staff

ED 170a Race, Power, and Urban Education
[ deis-us oc ss wi ]
Examines the nature of urban schools, their links to the social and political context, and the perspectives of the people who inhabit them. Explores the historical development of urban schools; the social, economic, and personal hardships facing urban students; and challenges of urban school reform. Usually offered every year.
Derron Wallace

ED 173b The Psychology of Love: Education for Close Relationships
[ ss ]
Students will be selected after the submission of a sample of writing on adult loving relationships.
What is love? How does it develop? How do psychologists study how people think, feel and behave in close relationships? These questions will guide our inquiry and inform our guiding question: how can we educate young people to better care for their friends, lovers and intimates? Usually offered every year.
Joseph Reimer

ED 192a Education Internship and Analysis
Usually offered every year.
Staff

ED 201a Power, Privilege, and Position in Schools
Open only to MAT students.
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 child and instruction. Usually offered every summer.
Aja Jackson

ED 202a Learning, Identity, and Development
[ ss wi ]
Open only to MAT students.
How do children learn? Topics in this survey course include models of learning, cognitive and social development, creativity, intelligence, character education, motivation, complex reasoning, and learning disabilities. Course methods include contemporary research analyses, case studies, group projects, short lectures, and class discussions.
Sarah Lupis and Joseph Reimer

ED 203a Teaching Multilingual Learners I
Yields half-course credit.
Examines the intersection of culture and language and the process of second language acquisition. Participants will discuss specific issues confronting bilingual students, including testing, family involvement, and a variety of challenges facing children who enter the American elementary, middle or high schools. Though the study of cases, classrooms, and children, participants will observe, analyze, and reflect upon the teaching and learning of English Learners. Participants will analyze linguistic and cultural demands of lessons and become familiar with instructional strategies for teaching English Learners. Usually offered every year.
Katherine Lobo and Rachel Theodorou

ED 204a Teaching Multilingual Learners II
Yields half-course credit.
Building on the work of ED 203a, participants will apply their foundational knowledge of linguistic differences and student development and learn how to simultaneously teach content and language. Working directly with pk-12 students, participants will implement strategies, and develop and teach full lesson plans. They will reflect upon both their stance and the efficacy of their methods in teaching English Learners. Upon completion, participants will have acquired the RETELL required MA SEI Endorsement. Usually offered every year.
Katherine Lobo and Rachel Theodorou

ED 205a Special Education, Teaching for Inclusion I
Yields half-course credit.
Participants in this course will explore characteristics of students with who have moderate disabilities and learn how these students' learning can be supported. Participants will be introduced to the laws, technologies, and school structures that pertain to special education. They will practice analyzing, preparing, implementing, and evaluating Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). Usually offered every year.
Desiree Phillips

ED 206a Special Education: Teaching for Inclusion II
Yields half-course credit.
Participants learn to design or modify curriculum, instructional materials, and general education classroom environments to facilitate a more successful learning experience for students who have moderate disabilities. They will become increasingly familiar with the range of services provided to these students. They will learn to administer, score and interpret tests, and compile diagnostic reports. This course builds on ED 205a. Usually offered every year.
Desiree Phillips

ED 211a Classroom Teaching Practicum I
Open only to MAT students.
Supervised teaching internship designed to 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, to manage classrooms, to get to know students and families, and to participate fully in the life of the school. Interns receive regular mentoring from school and university personnel. Topics include skills/content in classroom management, educator professionalization, teaching for social justice, and teaching students with moderate disabilities. Usually offered every fall.
Danielle Igra and Rachel Theodorou

ED 212a Classroom Teaching Practicum II
Open only to MAT students. Corequisite: ED 263b.
Supervised teaching internship 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, to manage classrooms, to get to know students and families, and to participate fully in the life of the school. Interns receive regular mentoring from school and university personnel. Usually offered every spring.
Staff

ED 213a Supplemental Practicum Internship: Alternative Classroom Context
Open only to MAT students.
MAT students complete a five-week, full-time (5 days/week; 150 hour) mentored internship in a K-12 setting that differs from that of their full-year student-teaching internship placement. MATs teach, assist, and observe, per the mentor’s direction and complete activities connected to the Massachusetts teaching standards: planning well-structured lessons, adjusting to practice, meeting diverse needs, creating a safe learning environment, supporting high expectations, and engaging in reflective practice. Usually offered every year.
Danielle Igra

ED 213b Supplemental Practicum Internship: ESL or Special Education
Yields six semester-hour credits. Open only to MAT students. Additional course fee applies.
Designed for students in the Master of Arts in Teaching Program who are considering applying for an additional teaching license in either 1) teaching students who have moderate disabilities (special education), or 2) teaching students who are English Learners (ESL). To supplement their full year student teaching internship (practicum), MATs complete a five week, full-time (5 days/week; approximately 150 hour) mentored internship in a k-12 classroom, tied to their additional license area. Students also attend workshops and complete assignments tied to the internship. Licensure is granted by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE); see the DESE website for additional requirements including tests. Usually offered every year.
Danielle Igra

ED 214a Reflective Teaching Seminar I
Open only to MAT students.
A weekly seminar closely coordinated with ED 211a. Students explore and evaluate approaches to classroom organization and management, instructional planning, and assessment. They form habits of critical colleagueship and develop skills to study their teaching and their students' learning. Students also assemble a teaching portfolio that documents their learning in relation to program standards. Usually offered every fall.
Danielle Igra and Staff

ED 215a Reflective Teaching Seminar II
Open only to MAT students.
A weekly seminar closely coordinated with the ED 212A. Students explore and evaluate approaches to classroom organization and management, instructional planning, and assessment. They form habits of critical colleagueship and develop skills to study their teaching and their students' learning. Students also assemble a teaching portfolio that documents their learning in relation to program standards. Usually offered every spring.
Danielle Igra and Aja Jackson

ED 216a Teacher Research: Principles, Methods, and Design
Yields half-course credit.
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. They formulate research questions, design a study, review relevant literature, and begin data collection. Usually offered every year.
Staff

ED 217a Teacher Research II: Analysis and Publication
Yields half-course credit.
Students design and carry out a systematic investigation addressing a question or problem arising in their practice. Students complete their data collection and analysis and write up their findings to share with the public. At the conclusion of the program, students present their research to peers, colleagues, and the broader education community. Usually offered every year.
Staff

ED 221b Readings in Education
Usually offered every year.
Staff

ED 222a Topics in Teaching
Usually offered every year.
Staff

ED 231a Elementary Teaching & Learning I
Introduces a series of courses focused on the principles and effective procedures for teaching in elementary school. Lays the groundwork for essential theory and practice in elementary teaching. Focuses on literacy development and the foundations of reading. Primarily for students beginning the Master of Arts in Teaching, Elementary Education.

ED 232a Elementary Teaching & Learning II: Literacy
Part of a course series focused on the principles and effective procedures for teaching in elementary school. Taken in conjunction with ED 211 Classroom Teaching Practicum in an elementary school classroom. Participants will study, practice, and reflect on strategies to support diverse learners, including: writing development and assessment, and reading comprehension. Primarily for students pursuing the Massachusetts teaching license in elementary education, either through the MAT program or seniors in the Teacher Education minor.

ED 233a Elementary Teaching & Learning III: Science, Social Studies, and the Arts
Continuation of ED 232A, Elementary Teaching & Learning II, and focused on the principles and effective procedures for teaching in elementary school. Taken in conjunction with ED 212A Classroom Teaching Practicum in an elementary school classroom. Participants will study, practice, and reflect on strategies to support diverse learners, including: writing development and assessment, and reading comprehension. Primarily for students pursuing the Massachusetts teaching license in elementary education, either through the MAT program or seniors in the Teacher Education minor.

ED 234a Elementary Teaching & Learning IV
Culmination of a series of courses focused on the principles and effective procedures for teaching in elementary school. Taken in conjunction with a full-time student-teaching internship. Participants will study, practice, and reflect on strategies to support diverse learners, including: integrating the arts and forming interdisciplinary connections. Primarily for students concluding the Master of Arts in Teaching, Elementary Education.

ED 235a Elementary Teaching & Learning: Math
Open only to MAT students.
Focuses on the learning, discovery, and exploration of the skills and strategies needed to teach mathematical concepts and skills in elementary school classrooms. Usually offered every summer.
Joan Martin

ED 241a Pedagogy in the Disciplines I
Open only to students in the Master of Arts in Teaching.
Staff

ED 242a Pedagogy in the Disciplines II
Open only to students in the Master of Arts in Teaching.
Staff

ED 243a Pedagogy in the Disciplines III
Open only to students in the Master of Arts in Teaching.
Staff

ED 244a Student Engagement: Voice and Discourse
Teaching is about students, who they are, how they learn, and what they bring to the classroom, that is: their funds of knowledge. While traditional teaching uses a "banking model" in which teachers “deposit” information into students’ empty brains; this course reimagines what that bank would look like if students were the ones with the funds. In this course, participants practice classroom structures in which students, rather than teachers, do the bulk of the intellectual work. The course examines the small interactions in classrooms (micro) to understand big ideas about education (macro). Taken in conjunction with ED 211 Classroom Teaching Practicum. Primarily for students pursuing the Massachusetts teaching license in secondary education, either through the MAT program or seniors in the Teacher Education minor.

ED 245a Student Engagement & Equitable Assessment
This course continues the work on student engagement begun in ED 244. It explores how teachers can create classrooms in which students can feel engaged and empowered by assessment practices that “differentiate” to students’ strengths and build their skills. This course redefines and reimagines assessment, which too often is conflated with ‘testing’ and linked to educational inequity. The course explores how teachers can create collaborative, supportive classroom environments in which students feel emboldened to take academic risks that help them grow as learners. Taken in conjunction with ED 211 Classroom Teaching Practicum. Primarily for students pursuing the Massachusetts teaching license in secondary education, either through the MAT program or seniors in the Teacher Education minor.

ED 251 Leadership, Authority, and School Change
Yields three semester-hour credits.
Focuses on a developmental model of teacher development, instructional and institutional leadership in schools, modeling and building of professional learning communities, and reflections on the challenges and opportunities of teacher leadership. Usually offered every second year.
Jody Klein and Marya Levenson

ED 253 Understanding and Improving Classroom Teaching and Learning
Yields three semester-hour credits.
Focuses on the theory and practice of becoming an instructional leader. Participants will experience and then practice key leadership skills which can support their work with individual teachers and with groups. Usually offered every year.
Aviva Scheur

ED 256 Core Practices of Teacher Leadership
Prerequisites: ED 253 and ED 258. Yields three semester-hour credits.
Enables students to learn core practices to support their work as teacher leaders in their schools and to use a collaborative online space to gain feedback on their teacher leadership initiatives. Usually offered every year.
Meg Anderson

ED 258 School Culture, Organization and Change
Yields three semester-hour credits. Enrollment limited to participants in the Teacher Leadership program.
Lays a conceptual and practical foundation for assuming responsibilities related to improving instruction as well as the overall functioning of the school as a learning environment for both teachers and students. Usually offered every year.
Staff

ED 259 Leadership in Curriculum and Assessment
Yields three semester-hour credits.
Strengthens students’ understandings and skills related to curriculum and assessment and provides a collaborative online space for feedback and problem solving related to their teacher leader initiatives. Usually offered every second year.
Barbara Laites Collins

ED 270a Pedagogy of Science
Prerequisite: ED 264a. Corequisite: ED 267a. Open only to MAT students in the secondary sciences concentrations and seniors student teaching in secondary school sciences.
Provides students with an overview of 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. Usually offered every year.
Staff

ED 285 Action Research for Teacher Leaders
Yields three semester-hour credits. Enrollment limited to participants in the Teacher Leadership program.
Teacher leaders learn how to be practitioners who bring an inquiry stance to document efforts to strengthen teaching and learning in their schools. Masters students develop a research plan, review relevant literature, and collect and analyze data. Usually offered every year.
Staff

ED 286 Inquiry as Professional Development
Yields three semester-hour credits. Enrollment limited to participants in the Teacher Leadership program.
Enables teacher leaders to develop their inquiry stance so that they can find the best ways to foster teacher learning in service of student learning and asses the effects. Usually offered every year.
Sharon Feiman-Nemser

ED 291 Principles and Practices of Professional Development
Prerequisites: ED 253, ED 258 and ED 259. Corequisite: ED 251. Yields three semester-hour credits. Enrollment limited to participants in the Teacher Leadership program.
Examines the central focus of teacher leadership-- working with colleagues to improve the quality of instruction in schools. This course will deepen your skills as an observer of teaching and learning, a mentor to novice teachers, a practitioner of action research and a leader of professional learning. Usually offered every year.
Sharon Feiman-Nemser

ED 294 Experiential Teacher Leadership Practicum
Prerequisites: ED 253 and ED 258. Corequisite: ED 256 or ED 259. Yields three semester-hour credits. Enrollment limited to participants in the Teacher Leadership program.
Enables teacher leaders, working with their coaches, to learn key skills and tools to support their teacher leader initiatives and the development of their new professional identity as a teacher leader. Usually offered every semester.
Margery Sokoloff

ED 298a Independent Study
Staff

ED/HRNS 390a Independent Study
Staff

ED/HRNS 391a Independent Study
Yields half-course credit.
Staff

Courses cannot be double counted to fulfill the three-course requirement in a single cluster and the requirement to take a course in each of two other clusters.

AAAS 156a #BlackLivesMatter
[ deis-us ss ]
Explores the evolution of the modern African American civil rights movement through historical readings, primary documents, films and social media. Assesses the legacy and consequences of the movement for contemporary struggles for black equality. Usually offered every second year.
Chad Williams

AAAS 170a Black Childhoods
[ deis-us ss ]
Explores historical experiences of growing up black in America. We will examine the role of race in shaping experiences and meanings of childhood from slavery to the present day, including studies of black girlhood and boyhood. Usually offered every second year.
Wangui Muigai

AMST 150a The History of Childhood and Youth in America
[ ss ]
Examines history, cultural ideas, and policies about childhood and youth, as well as children's literature, television, and other media for children and youth. Includes an archival-based project on the student movement in the 1960s. Usually offered every second year.
Jonathan Krasner

AMST 180b Topics in the History of American Education
[ ss ]
Examines major themes in the history of American education, including the development of schools; changing ideas about education; the quest for equity and inclusion; the place of religion; the role of the media, and efforts at reform, privatization, and corporatization. Usually offered every second year.
Jonathan Krasner

ANTH 61b Language in American Life
[ oc ss ]
Examines the relations between language and some major dimensions of American social life: social groupings (the structures of ethnic, regional, class, and gender relations); social settings (such as courtrooms, workplaces, and homes); and social interaction. Usually offered every second year.
Janet McIntosh

ANTH 109a Children, Parenting, and Education in Cross-Cultural Perspective
[ ss ]
Examines childcare techniques, beliefs about childhood and adolescence, and the objectives of school systems in different areas of the world, in order to illuminate cross-cultural similarities and differences in conceptions of personhood, identity, gender, class, race, nation, and the relationship between the individual and society. Usually offered every third year.
Keridwen Luis

ANTH 180b Playing Human: Persons, Objects, Imagination
[ ss ]
Examines how people interact with material artifacts that are decidedly not human and yet which, paradoxically, deepen and extend experiences of being human. Theories of fetishism; masking and ritual objects across cultures; play and childhood experience; and objects of imagination, memory and trauma. Usually offered every second year.
Ellen Schattschneider

COML/ENG 140b Children's Literature and Constructions of Childhood
[ hum ]
Explores whether children's literature has sought to civilize or to subvert, to moralize or to enchant, forming a bedrock for adult sensibility. Childhood reading reflects the unresolved complexity of the experience of childhood itself as well as larger cultural shifts around the globe in values and beliefs. Usually offered every third year.
Robin Feuer Miller

EBIO 33b Citizen Science: Bridging Science, Education and Advocacy
[ sn ss ]
Citizen science (the public generation of science knowledge) from both a practical (through direct participation in research) and theoretical application will be explored as the basis for examining how research, scientific literacy, education, and advocacy projects are complementary. Usually offered every second year.
Colleen Hitchcock and Rachel Theodorou

ECON 59b The Economics of Education
[ ss ]
Prerequisite: ECON 2a or 10a.
An introduction to economic analysis of the education sector. Topics include the concept of human capital, private and social return on investment in education, cost-benefit analysis of special educational programs, and issues in the financing of education. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

ED 75b Waltham Speaks: Multilingualism, Advocacy and Community
[ deis-us ss ]
Grounds community-engaged and service learning in Waltham within theoretical frameworks and practical skills from education and the social sciences. Educators (broadly speaking, in and beyond schools) integrate perspectives from history, policy, psychology, and sociology with teaching pedagogy. Through reflective, responsive, and empathetic learning, students will learn how English learner populations have shaped a community’s organizations, schools, and identity. Waltham’s school system and service organization leaders will teach students about their work in shaping a responsive and inclusive community. Through interviews, reflective essays, weekly discussions, and a semester-long service project, students will grow habits of mind and practical skills for work in education and beyond. Usually offered every year.
Rachel Kramer Theodorou

ED 100a Exploring Teaching (Elementary and Preschool)
[ ss ]
Yields six semester-hour credits towards rate of work and graduation. Three hours per week of field experience (participant observation in an elementary or preschool classroom), arranged by the education program, are required in addition to regular class time. A $10. fee is payable at the start of the semester to offset transportation costs.
Examines the relationship of teaching and learning, the purposes of elementary schooling, and the knowledge requirements for elementary and preschool teaching. Through readings, analysis of videotapes, and guided observations, students investigate classroom culture, student thinking, and curriculum standards. Usually offered every fall semester.
Aja Jackson

ED 100b Exploring Teaching (Secondary)
[ ss wi ]
Yields six semester-hour credits towards rate of work and graduation. Three hours per week of field experience (participant observation in a middle or high school classroom), arranged by the education program, are required in addition to regular class time. A $10. fee is payable at the start of the semester to offset transportation costs.
Examines the relationship of teaching and learning, the purposes of secondary schooling and the knowledge requirements for middle and high school teaching. Through readings, analysis of videotapes and guided observations, students investigate classroom culture, student thinking, and curriculum standards. Usually offered every spring semester.
Staff

ED 120a History of Higher Education in the U.S.
[ deis-us ss ]
Explores the history of higher education in the United States from the nation’s formation to the present. Readings outline the competing purposes Americans envisioned for colleges and universities, as well as student life, institutional access, and visions of the relationship between excellence and equity. The course explores patterns of inclusion and exclusion based on race, class, ethnicity, religion, and gender and how universities served as sites where class was produced and contested. Students explore the post-World War II democratization of American higher education, the politics of college admissions, and recent movements to make college more affordable. The course also raises questions about the power universities came to hold as centers of knowledge-making networks and universities as sites of political activism. Usually offered every third year.
Leah Gordon

ED 158b Looking with the Learner: Practice and Inquiry
Does not satisfy a school distribution requirement--for education studies core course credit only. Lab fee: $40.
Links theory to practice in learning through the visual arts through three types of experiences: 1) looking at art; 2) museum-based interactions with students from Stanley Elementary School in Waltham; and 3) documenting our experiences as lookers, learners, and teachers. What can we learn about art, artists, ourselves, and young learners through the processes of looking at art? How can we best support students in their own encounters with art and learning? How can museums serve as a model for education in various settings? Usually offered every year.
Staff

ED 161b Religious Education in America
[ hum ]
No principle stands more sacred in American public education than separation of Church and state. Public schools pride themselves as neutral playing fields when it comes to matters of religion. But this position belies a more complicated history. American public schools were initially founded by protestant leaders concerned with an influx of non-protestant immigrants during the middle of the 19th century. Indeed, despite lip service to ideas like separation of Church and state, American educational leaders long saw schools as a vehicle for promoting a Protestant inflected American culture. This course begins from the premise that American education and American religion have always existed in relationship. Religious groups have sometimes tried to use the public schools as vehicles to advance their religion, sometimes, they have created supplemental schools, and sometimes they have created whole parallel school systems. But in all cases, education and religion in American are intertwined. This course asks when education is religious and when religion is educational. It examines a series of case studies drawn from different faith communities including Judaism, Evangelical Christianity, Catholicism, and Islam. Usually offered every second year.
Ziva Hassenfeld

ED 163b Creativity and Caring
[ ss ]
Explores "creativity" and "caring," significant human capacities, and their relationship. Drawing on developmental and social psychology, we ask: How do they develop? What affects our being creative and caring? How can educators promote these? Usually offered every year.
Joseph Reimer

ED 170a Race, Power, and Urban Education
[ deis-us oc ss wi ]
Examines the nature of urban schools, their links to the social and political context, and the perspectives of the people who inhabit them. Explores the historical development of urban schools; the social, economic, and personal hardships facing urban students; and challenges of urban school reform. Usually offered every year.
Derron Wallace

ED 173b The Psychology of Love: Education for Close Relationships
[ ss ]
Students will be selected after the submission of a sample of writing on adult loving relationships.
What is love? How does it develop? How do psychologists study how people think, feel and behave in close relationships? These questions will guide our inquiry and inform our guiding question: how can we educate young people to better care for their friends, lovers and intimates? Usually offered every year.
Joseph Reimer

ED 203a Teaching Multilingual Learners I
Yields half-course credit.
Examines the intersection of culture and language and the process of second language acquisition. Participants will discuss specific issues confronting bilingual students, including testing, family involvement, and a variety of challenges facing children who enter the American elementary, middle or high schools. Though the study of cases, classrooms, and children, participants will observe, analyze, and reflect upon the teaching and learning of English Learners. Participants will analyze linguistic and cultural demands of lessons and become familiar with instructional strategies for teaching English Learners. Usually offered every year.
Katherine Lobo and Rachel Theodorou

ED/HRNS 168a Summer Camp: The American Jewish Experience
How did American summer camps evolve? How did Jews appropriate this form for their communal needs? How did leadership develop and what are the pressing issues of today? These questions will be examined from historical, educational, and managerial perspectives. Usually offered every second year.
Joseph Reimer

ED/NEJS 170b Inside Jewish Education: Language, Literacy, and Reading
[ hum ]
Combines autobiography, classroom videotapes, curriculum investigation and fieldwork to explore the purposes, practices and effects of contemporary Jewish education in its many forms and venues. Usually offered every other year.
Ziva Hassenfeld

ENG 131b Decolonial Pedagogy
[ deis-us djw hum ]
Familiarizes students in the humanities, social sciences and public policy with an important strain of pedagogical theory, what Brazilian pedagogue Paulo Freire called “education as the practice of freedom.” Topics will include diversity, equity and inclusion; embodied teaching and learning; authority, or the lack thereof; grading and assessment; and teaching reading and writing. Special one-time offering, fall 2020.
Joshua Williams

HRNS 206f Informal Jewish Education
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. May not be taken for credit by students who took HRNS 206b in prior years.
Explores what we mean by ‘informal education’ and how serious Jewish educators have brought "informal education" and "experiential learning" to settings as diverse as summer camps, Israel trips, arts programs, and community service initiatives. Usually offered every second year.
Joseph Reimer

HSSP 192b Sociology of Disability
[ ss ]
In the latter half of the twentieth century, disability has emerged as an important social-political-economic-medical issue, with its own distinct history, characterized as a shift from "good will to civil rights." Traces that history and the way people with disabilities are seen and unseen, and see themselves. Usually offered every year.
Steve Gulley

LGLS 141b Juvenile Justice: From Cradle to Custody
[ deis-us djw ss ]
After an overview of the basics of juvenile justice in the United States, this course examines the realities and remedies for the school-to-prison pipeline analyzing this pattern from the perspectives of law, society, and economics, tracing the child's experience along that path, and exploring creative public solutions. Usually offered every second year.
Rosalind Kabrhel

LING 110a Phonological Theory
[ ss ]
Prerequisite: LING 100a.
An introduction to generative phonology, the theory of natural language sound systems. Includes discussion of articulatory phonetics, distinctive feature theory, the concept of a "natural class," morphology and the nature of morphophonemics, and universal properties of the rules that relate morphophonemic and phonetic representations. Usually offered every year.
Keith Plaster

LING 197a Language Acquisition and Development
[ dl oc ss ]
Open to all students.
The central problem of first language acquisition is to explain what makes this formidable task possible. Theories of language acquisition are studied, and conclusions are based on recent research in the development of syntax, semantics, and phonology. The overall goal is to arrive at a coherent picture of the language learning process. Usually offered every second year.
Sophia Malamud or Keith Plaster

MATH 3a Explorations in Math: A Course for Educators
[ sn ]
An in-depth exploration of the fundamental ideas underlying the mathematics taught in elementary and middle school. Emphasis is on problem solving, experimenting with mathematical ideas, and articulating mathematical reasoning. Usually offered every spring.
Marcie Abramson

NEJS 169a Inside the Religious School Classroom
[ hum ]
This course offers a 2-credit optional Experiential Learning practicum for students teaching in an area religious school.
Examines the purposes, pedagogies and outcomes of religious education broadly refined by analyzing records of practice (e.g. classroom videotapes, student work, curricula). Usually offered every second year.
Staff

NEJS 169b From Sunday Schools to Birthright: History of American Jewish Education
[ hum ]
Empowers students to articulate a reality-based, transformative vision of Jewish education that is grounded in an appreciation for the history and sociology of American Jewish education. It will familiarize students with and contextualize the present Jewish educational landscape, through the use of historical case studies and current research, encouraging students to view the field from an evolutionary perspective. The seminar will address Jewish education in all its forms, including formal and informal settings (e.g., schools, camps, youth groups, educational tourism). Usually offered every third year
Jonathan Krasner

NEJS 170a Studying Sacred Texts
[ hum ]
What does it mean to study a sacred text? What are the problems with doing so? What is sacred about a sacred text? How is studying a sacred text similar to and different from studying other texts? How do different religious traditions study texts differently? Usually offered every second year.
Jon Levisohn

NEJS 171b Tikkun Olam/Repairing the World: Service and Social Justice in Theory and Practice
[ hum ]
What does tikkun olam mean? What is a life of service? What should one learn from service-learning? Does "social justice" actually do any good? This is a service-learning course, and includes a service component in the field. Usually offered every third year.
Jon Levisohn

NEJS 235c Topics in Jewish Education
Topics vary from year to year and the course may be repeated for credit with permission of the instructor. What should Jewish education be? What are its legitimate goals? What are the competing visions of an educated Jew, and how do these influence educational practice? How is Jewish education similar to and different from other kinds of religious education? Usually offered every semester.
Jon Levisohn

NEJS 271c Teaching and Learning Modern Jewish History, the Holocaust, and Israel
May be repeated once for credit with permission of the instructor. Examines why we teach history, how students learn history, the uses of public history, and what history means within a Jewish context. Special emphasis is placed on teaching with primary sources, digital resources, and oral history. Includes an oral history project in cooperation with the Jewish Women's Archive and Keshet (a Jewish LGBTQ organization), and an introduction to Holocaust education with Facing History and Ourselves. Usually offered every year.
Jonathan Krasner

PSYC 33a Developmental Psychology
[ ss ]
Prerequisite: PSYC 10a.
An examination of normal child development from conception through adolescence. Course will focus on theoretical issues and processes of development with an emphasis on how biological and environmental influences interact. Usually offered every year.
Staff

PSYC 36b Adolescence and the Transition to Maturity
[ oc ss ]
Prerequisite: PSYC 10a.
Examines the core issues (identity, intimacy, sexuality, spirituality, etc.) that define development during adolescence and the transition to young adulthood. Heavy emphasis is placed on integrating research and theory in understanding adolescence and young adulthood. Usually offered every year.
Ellen Wright

PSYC 169b Disorders of Childhood
[ ss ]
Prerequisites: PSYC 10a, 33a, and permission of the instructor. Seniors and juniors have priority for admission.
Issues of theory, research, and practice in the areas of child and family psychopathology and treatment are reviewed in the context of normal developmental processes. Usually offered every semester.
Joseph Cunningham

SOC 104a Sociology of Education
[ deis-us ss wi ]
Examines the role of education in society, including pedagogy, school systems, teacher organizations, parental involvement, community contexts, as well as issues of class, race, and gender. Usually offered every year.
Derron Wallace

SOC 113b Sociology of Race and Racism
[ deis-us ss ]
Provides an introduction to the study of race and racism and focuses on specific socio-historical issues surrounding racial inequality in the United States. A variety of media to examine topics such as the institutionalization of white privilege, the social construction of "otherness", racial formation processes, and racial segregation are used" Usually offered every third year.
Sarah Mayorga or Derron Wallace

SOC 138a Sociology of Race, Gender, and Class
[ deis-us oc ss ]
Examines race, class and gender as critical dimensions of social difference that organize social systems. Uses a variety of media to analyze how race, class and gender as axes of identity and inequality (re)create forms of domination and subordination in schools, labor markets, families, and the criminal justice system. Usually offered every third year. Usually offered every third year.
Derron Wallace

SOC 154a Community Structure and Youth Subcultures
[ ss ]
Examines how the patterning of relations within communities generates predictable outcomes at the individual and small-group level. Deals with cities, suburbs, and small rural communities. Special focus is given to youth subcultures typically found in each community type. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

THA 138b Creative Pedagogy
[ ca oc ]
Focuses on creativity in pedagogy from a theatrical lens and is meant for anyone who wishes to teach anyone just about anything! This course will focus on the building of community and confidence that takes place within any learning environment that utilizes creative and theatrical arts as a modality. We will discuss the foundation and theories behind teaching, learning, and creative expression, allowing students to ground their own work in what has and hasn't worked in the past, as well as to expand their own creative reach and risk-taking capabilities. Usually offered every second year.
Jennifer Cleary

WGS 151a The Social Politics of Sexual Education
[ deis-us ss ]
Covers the history and sociocultural politics of sexual education in the Global North with a strong focus on the U.S. Using queer, feminist, disability, and race theory, it examines what shapes "sex" and "education." Usually offered every third year.
Keridwen Luis