西密歇根大学

The Master of Arts in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Studies (MATLES) provides a comprehensive professional development program for current Pre K-12 teachers. In order to address the ever-changing and complex challenges faced by today’s teachers, this degree allows teachers, along with their academic advisors, to customize programs of study to meet individual needs and professional goals.

The Master of Arts in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Studies is designed to enhance the knowledge and skill of reflective practitioners for a variety of educational settings. It is our belief that teachers ought to be effective practitioners, leaders, change agents, intellectuals, researchers, and learners. They should be passionate learners who embrace diversity, actively inquire and reflect upon their own practice, nurture the development of new knowledge and skills, and weave the complexities of modern society into the learning process. This is accomplished through a process of continuous professional, intellectual, and social growth within an interrelated spiral of academic content preparation, professional knowledge, pedagogical skill, and guided practice. The Master of Arts in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Studies is predicated on the assumption that theory, research, policy, and practice must be continuously integrated in ways that provide innovative models leading to the improvement of teaching, learning, and reflective practice.

The goal of reflective practice is to help teachers develop the ability to analyze their own teaching, inquire into how teaching can be improved, and develop strategies to improve teaching that build on individual strengths. Reflective practitioners must also be able to situate their practice within the social, cultural, and economic dimensions of relationships among schooling, society, and the natural environment. It requires teachers to examine, interpret, and evaluate the teaching-learning process using the best practices described by research and experience as the referent for reflection.

Five Master of Arts in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Studies Concentration Descriptions

Areas of Concentration include 12-15 Foundation of Practice hours and 18-36 concentration hours.

Programs of Study for each of the 5 concentrations follow:

Early Childhood Education Concentration - General and Special Education (ZS endorsement) (30-33 hours)

Curriculum and Instruction Concentration (30-33 hours)

Early Elementary Teaching Concentration - Initial Teacher Certification (51 hours)

Educational Foundations Concentration (30 hours)

Teacher Leader Concentration (33-36 hours)