M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction with a Specialization in Integrated Teaching Through the Arts
This Master's program in Integrated Teaching Through the Arts enhances the individual creativity of teachers and serves as advanced training for educators who wish to integrate the arts into the school curriculum. The arts enliven learning, and when students are engaged in learning, they understand the subject matter more thoroughly.
The program, offered at a number of off-campus sites, is delivered in an intensive weekend format, where a cohort group moves together through a sequential program of study. This format allows working professionals to continue to teach or work in a related setting while using their classrooms as learning laboratories to test, evaluate, and implement the theory and practice of arts-integrated curriculum. The program is aligned to NBPTS standards.
| PROGRAM OF STUDY | CREDITS | |
| Core Education Courses | ||
| EARED 6100 | Integrated Arts Approaches in the Curriculum | 3 |
| EARED 6109 | Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment | 3 |
| EARED 5009 | Drama and Critical Literacy | 3 |
| EARED 5010 | Creative Movement: Kinesthetic Learning Across the Curriculum | 3 |
| Integrated Arts Courses | ||
| EARTS 5351 | Cultural History Through Storytelling | 3 |
| EARTS 6101 | Art and Culture in Community | 3 |
| EARTS 6008 | Arts and Technology | 3 |
| EARTS 6104 | Art and Visual Inquiry | 3 |
| EARTS 6105 | Multiple Perspectives Through Music | 3 |
| EARTS 6203 | The Language of Poetry | 3 |
| Thesis Project | ||
| EARED 7100 | Educator Inquiry: Seminar and Thesis Project |
3 |
| TOTAL CREDITS REQUIRED | 33 | |
EARED 6100 Integrated Arts Approaches in the Curriculum
This course introduces several main themes: arts rationale, critical pedagogy, ways of knowing, reflection, assessment and multiculturalism. These themes are explored through practice, research and theory. Strategies for reaching all learners are considered as each art form is introduced. Students consider how multiple arts modalities strengthen learning across the curriculum.
EARED 6109 Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment: Vision and Voice
In this course students engage with theories and practices of arts-integrated curriculum and the implications and manifestations of these for responsible educational decision-making. The integration of curriculum, instruction and assessment will be explored from historical, theoretical and practical dimensions. Topics addressed include critical perspectives on contemporary curricular trends and issues, personal constructs of curriculum, exploration of various instructional strategies, ideological orientations and alternative methods of assessment.
EARED 5009 Drama and Critical Literacy
Drama and Critical Literacy uses theatre-based learning to bridge literacy skills with meaningful community interactions within the school and in the larger community. The course will explore diverse cultural perspectives and multiple paths to learning. It will also enable teachers to engage in critical questioning, explore language as social practice; create and employ spoken, written, visual, and spatial texts across the curriculum. This process supports integration of drama into subject areas such as language arts and social studies. The course also investigates issues of diversity and differences in schooling, applying dramatic learning strategies to the social dimensions of classroom, family and community dynamics.
EARED 5010 Creative Movement: Kinesthetic Learning Across the Curriculum
This course integrates kinesthetic modes of learning with the use of movement as a language for interdisciplinary inquiry. Students will explore embodied approaches to curriculum applications, and the critical questioning and exploration that exists at the heart of creative movement as an art form will deepen the students’ comprehension and retention of curriculum themes. Furthermore, students’ work with the social, cultural, and political dimensions of non-verbal communication will allow them to engage with issues of cultural diversity, critical pedagogy, and democratic schooling.
EARTS 5351 Cultural History Through Storytelling
Students explore stories and story types from various oral and written traditions. Drawing on culture and family, students develop original stories while integrating other art forms. Finally, students explore curriculum uses for storytelling in order to bring subject matter to life and motivate student learning.
EARTS 6101 Art and Culture in Community
This course will define community, both local and global. It will guide students in the process of identifying and utilizing arts and resources within communities. Students will develop an expansive definition of visual culture from the traditional to the popular and the contemporary. Through art-based work, they will obtain a complex understanding of the role of art in communities near and far while developing advocacy strategies.
EARTS 6008 Arts and Technology
This course will engage students in arts-based technology, using a variety of software programs. Students will gain an understanding of technology and its many applications across the disciplines and in the world around them. Working collaboratively and/or independently, students will use technology in a caring, stimulating, safe, and creative learning environment.
EARTS 6104 Art and Visual Inquiry
This course will engage students in art-based investigations using a variety of materials and processes. Students will also gain an understanding of art as an interdisciplinary medium that can address learning across the curriculum. Art will also be presented as a language that enables students to utilize voice as an agent for social change. Art as a vehicle for seeing and knowing will further students’ ability to interpret, analyze, and speak about art.
EARTS 6105 Multiple Perspectives Through Music
This course opens the door to rethinking music from broader and deeper perspectives. Students examine their cultural assumptions about the role of music in their lives and in education. Through practice and theory, the many connections between music and curriculum are actively explored. Students are challenged to reconsider and expand their definition of music and to move beyond the traditional Western framework. The course takes students on a path of inquiry that examines multiple musical concepts.
EARTS 6203 The Language of Poetry
By writing, sharing, and reading contemporary and traditional poetry, course participants gain skills in using poetry to augment language, writing, and literacy skills in their own students. Students develop ways to combine poetry with other art forms and to integrate poetry into elementary and secondary curriculum.
EARED 7100 Educator Inquiry: Seminar and Thesis Project
In this final course, students combine research, practice, and theory in order to reflect critically on their teaching and learning. Students identify skills and understandings gleaned from the program and assess the impact of these learnings on their teaching practice. They consider new roles for themselves as agents of change in the field of education. Their work culminates in a substantive project that makes an original contribution to the greater educational community.
Please Note: Lesley University reserves the right to unilaterally add, withdraw, or revise any course offering in the above mentioned program of study including policies, provisions, requirements, and fees.
Accreditation: Lesley University is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and is approved in the State of Oregon by ODA and TSPC. This program is aligned to NBPTS standards and NCLB "highly qualified" mandates. All curriculum generated by classroom teachers in this program is based on their state's curriculum standards.
