The M.A./M.A. in History and Secondary Social Studies Education requires:

• Seven courses (21 credit hours) in History, of which one course must be HIST 601 and one must be an 800-level research seminar or directed research (rather than the two research seminars required for the regular M.A.). All other requirements for the History portion of this joint degree program are the same as for the regular M.A. in History.  For more on these requirements, consult the History Department Graduate Handbook.
• Eight graduate courses in the Department of Education, plus a full semester of student teaching (usually towards the end of the program).
• Specific courses at the undergraduate or graduate level in politics, anthropology, geography, and economics, by recommendation of the Department of Education’s Coordinator of Secondary Education, if not already completed during prior academic work.

Suggested Sequence of Courses

Year 1
Summer: EDUC 525, Psychology of Learning for Diverse Population

Fall: EDUC 586, Curriculum and Methods in Adolescent Education (with associated field-experience EDUC 689C); History 601, 1 History 600-level course

Spring: EDUC 582, Reading in the Content-Area: Learning to Learn from Text (with associated field-experience EDUC 689C); 2 History 600-level courses

Year 2
Summer: EDUC 699, Introduction to Educational Research; Language class

Fall: EDUC 585, Teaching Social Studies in Secondary Schools (with associated field-experience EDUC 689C); EDUC 765, Principles of Curriculum; 1 History 600-level course

Spring: EDUC 702, Advanced Foundations of Education; 1 History Research Seminar; 1 History 600-level course

Year 3
Summer: EDUC 581, Educating Diverse Learners; History Comprehensive Examinations

Fall: EDUC 500; EDUC 561; EDUC 562; EDUC 563: Student Teaching, Seminar, and Capstone Experience. Candidates who are teaching full-time as Secondary English teachers may be eligible to enroll in a teaching seminar (EDUC 600, 4 credits) instead of the 12 credits of student teaching.

EDUCATION 500 and Student Teaching (EDUC 561, 562, 563)
The student teaching experience consists of a full-day, fifteen-week semester spent in the field through which the student gains teaching knowledge and experience. Student-teachers observe and share limited teaching responsibility for 10 weeks, and finally assume full teaching responsibility for a minimum of four weeks of the semester. Weekly visits by a faculty member provide feedback and support to the student-teacher, in addition to daily feedback from the cooperating teacher in the field.  The student teaching semester comprises also a weekly seminar, which supports the student teachers in developing an action research project and an electronic portfolio designed to meet professional and departmental standards, and demonstrate proficiency in graduate-level work.  The action research project is usually implemented in the classroom when the student-teachers assume full teaching responsibility.