Master of Education Degree in Curriculum and Instruction with Specialization in INTEGRATED TEACHING THROUGH THE ARTS

Leading to a Massachusetts Professional Teacher License in Early Childhood: Teacher of Children With and Without Disabilities and Elementary Education

Prerequisite: Massachusetts Initial license in Early Childhood: Teacher of Children with or without Disabilities or initial license in Elementary Education.

"During the program I resumed a process of self-discovery I had abandoned in college to follow the prescribed route."

This program enhances the individual creativity of teachers and serves as advanced training for educators who know they need the arts to reach every learner in their classrooms, and to re-invigorate and enliven their teaching. It requires 33 credits of graduate study (36 credits in Israel). The program is offered on campus, at sites throughout the US and in Israel. (Programs in Israel are taught in Hebrew and English by Israeli and American faculty.)

The program is offered on campus in a combination of weekly and intensive weekend formats. Regionally and nationally, the program is offered in an intensive weekend format, where a group of teacher/learners moves together through a sequential program of study. This provides collegial support and a wealth of shared pedagogical expertise. Many alumni report that one of the chief benefits of the program, after increased self confidence, is the cohort group, which sometimes continues to meet even after the program is over. Weekend study 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 theories.

The Course of Study

The course of study consists of five core education courses, six integrated arts courses and one elective course (students in Israel take two elective courses), offered in a specific sequence culminating in an integrative project.

• Integrated Arts Approaches in the Curriculum introduces students to the program and to the intermodal aspects of all the arts. Students begin to reflect on arts-based education and look at their own practice.
• Drama and Critical Literacy uses theatre-based learning to bridge literacy skills.
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment helps students build a philosophical foundation for integrating the arts into existing curriculum, and for generating new curriculum.
• Creative Movement: Kinesthetic Learning Across the Curriculum integrates kinesthetic modes of learning, with movement as a language for interdisciplinary inquiry.
• Educator Inquiry: Seminar and Thesis Project is the culminating course where students formulate philosophies of arts-based education, and apply theory and experience in the various art forms in a curriculum-related project, which makes an original contribution in the field of education.

* Students in Israel are required to take an additional 3 credits of coursework.

For information on Massachusetts licensure, see: http://www.lesley.edu/certification.html.

"It has become an automatic question--which area of the arts fits this lesson? It has become integrated in my mind."