The Program
The Master of Arts in Teaching program at Coe is designed for teachers, to help them explore innovative strategies for learning and to expand their expertise in the subject areas they teach. This program is a new kind of graduate study, a unique collaboration between area school districts and an excellent liberal arts college.
The MAT program at Coe was developed jointly by teachers, administrators, and teacher educators who shared their ideas and produced a program that draws on the visions and expertise of each group.
Courses are taught at times convenient for teachers—summer, evenings, and late afternoons. To complete the master's degree, a common pattern is for teachers to take courses part time for three summers and two school years. Teachers from all school districts in Cedar Rapids and surrounding areas are welcome.
A Curriculum on the Cutting Edge
The Coe MAT program is based on the idea that educational reform depends on students and teachers changing together. It is built around seven guiding principles that are consistent with the most recent research and theory in education:
- Active Learning: To help students adapt to our rapidly changing world, schools must encourage students to become active rather than passive learners — to develop into critical thinkers instead of complacent listeners.
- Participatory Democracy: In an increasingly diverse society, America's schools must become laboratories for the development of democratic experience and understanding.
- Curriculum Integration: Knowledge of the world does not exist in narrow compartments. Teaching must illuminate the interrelationships among traditional subject areas.
- Collaboration: Significant activities in the world of work are accomplished by teams. Teachers and students must become partners who have the knowledge and desire to build on each others' strengths.
- Inquiry: Students must do more than acquire knowledge. They must learn to examine ideas and explore solutions.
- Reflection: The ability to refl ect on practice, continually refi ning and improving responses to unique situations, is essential to professional development and personal growth.
- Academic Integrity: Innovative thinking and teaching must never come at the expense of academic excellence. Commitment to education of the highest quality remains central to Coe's mission.
Integrating Areas of Study
Where is the fine line that separates mathematics from science? Where does history end and literature begin? Is dance considered physical education, music, or theater? If you want to protect the environment, should you study biology or politics? The traditional division of knowledge into subject areas sometimes stands in the way of student learning.
As part of the MAT program's commitment to curriculum integration, each participant completes course work to add a new subject area endorsement to his or her current teaching license. Many endorsements, at both elementary and secondary grade levels, are available at Coe College. In the integration seminar taken by all participants, teachers work together to develop teaching units that incorporate two or more disciplines.
Inquiries regarding the Coe College Master of Arts in Teaching program should be directed either to the Director of Graduate Studies, Dr. Roger P. Johanson (319) 399-8510 or to the Chair of the Teacher Education Department, Dr. Terry McNabb (319) 399-8870.
