Licensed Teachers (Elementary Education, M.S.Ed.)

This course prepares elementary and secondary teachers to become facilitators of change in schools and communities. They will explore various leader roles in the K-12 context, including exemplary and critically minded practitioner, curriculum decision-maker, researcher, advocate, and facilitator of job-embedded professional development

This course will engage students in the on-going debates about the development and shaping of curricula with an emphasis on how these forces play out in elementary schools. The course requires students to investigate the scope and components of curriculum planning, development, and delivery. Students are first expected to develop an understanding of the many forms of dynamic tension at play in curriculum debates, and, subsequently, they are required to develop an understanding of specific ways in which teachers and curriculum leaders can shape the instructional process, and select and use curriculum materials.

This course focuses on factors of diversity and social justice that effect decisions elementary teachers must make regarding design and implementation of curriculum, teaching strategies, and materials in order to provide equity and excellence for all learners in the elementary grades.