Education, MAT

Program Learning Outcomes

Understand that social justice issues are always operating, affect everyone, and are manifested in relationships, curriculum, pedagogy and assessment
Problematize education practices, programs, and policies using social justice concepts, theories, frameworks
Contribute to honest and open-minded dialogue across different perspectives, cultures, experiences
Teach responsively and compassionately with a student advocacy, assets-based orientation vs. deficit perspective
Understand institutional, systemic forces of racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression and how they play out in classrooms and schools
Develop tools to recognize and confront dehumanizing speech and actions
Develop a critically reflective teacher identity with the ability to question one’s own assumptions
Develop familiarity with and motivation to apply educational principles, approaches, and resources for teaching to diversity and for social justice

Develop awareness of classroom teaching as a complex endeavor that involves understanding of curricular knowledge, diverse learners, high leverage pedagogies, classroom community/leadership, multiple forms of assessment, and the contexts of schooling
Contemplate the different purposes of education and one’s own classroom teaching, and the implications for our role as teachers that foster our students’ growth as humane, competent, and empowered learners
Understand the connections among theories, principles, and classroom practice and critique the assumptions that underlie them

Teachers are critical consumers of curriculum in the schools so they adapt vs. adopt curricular/instructional materials
Teachers conduct ongoing assessment (of students’ strengths, where students are, needs) that informs planning and teaching
Teachers know how to develop lesson plans and sequences of instruction
Teachers know how to build on student assets to develop literacy and numeracy in the content areas
Teachers connect their own curriculum and pedagogy to teaching for diversity and social justice
Teachers connect theory to their practice (e.g. how children learn to read to reading instruction; how children develop number sense to math instruction)
Teachers identify broad and specific curricular purposes (e.g. powerful ideas, skills and strategies)
Teachers apply frameworks and tools (“nuts and bolts”) to their curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment