Welcome to Master of Arts in Teaching English

Welcome

The Department of English at Clayton State University is excited to offer a new degree program, the Master of Arts in Teaching English. We welcome prospective educators to this site and invite future teacher candidates to visit our beautiful campus in Morrow, Georgia.

About the Program

The Master of Arts in Teaching English with concentration in secondary English is designed for individuals who hold a bachelor’s degree in English or a related area and/or have a provisional teaching certificate in the discipline. This initial certification program will prepare interested persons to receive a master’s degree and provide them the opportunity to become certified to teach secondary English. The program consists of English content and methods courses, professional studies classes, and field-based clinical experiences. Most content and professional education courses emphasize use of technology and action research with pupils in diverse school settings. Upon successful completion of the program, graduates are awarded the M.A.T. degree and the opportunity for teacher certification in grades 6-12 English. This program offers evening courses with student teaching during the spring semester. Individuals who are teaching with a provisional certificate in a public school system will be given full-time student teaching status.

While faculty in the Department of English teach the English content and methods courses, faculty from the Department of Teacher Education teach the professional education courses and supervise the clinical and internship experiences along with public school mentor teachers. Our partnership school districts will serve as collaborative sites for field experiences and internships.

Program Goals

This degree offers students opportunities to:

• develop or hone pedagogical skills for teaching English in a high school or college setting;
• create meaningful connections between subject matter and teaching methods through practice and reflection of the effects on student learning;
• discover new approaches and materials to reach diverse learners through Clayton State University’s unique resources; and
• study literature and composition through eighteen hours of intensive graduate coursework in the discipline.

Teacher Education Conceptual Framework

The Master of Arts in Teaching with concentration in Secondary English will embrace the tenets of our conceptual framework. The Clayton State University Teacher Education Unit has defined its theme through the Conceptual Framework. The Conceptual Framework promotes reflective practice, with an outline for preparing quality teachers who are competent, caring, committed, collaborative and culturally responsive. In particular, program graduates should be able to:

1. diagnose student needs;
2. plan for student learning;
3. facilitate student learning;
4. demonstrate appropriate content knowledge;
5. foster student well-being to promote learning; and
6. assume the role of professional teacher.