Location:

New York City, United States

Program Type:

Full Degree

Degree Level:

Master

Specialty:

Elementary Education

Program Overview

Program Description:

The M.A. in literacy education is a 32-point program leading to New York State certification as a Literacy Specialist. This program is designed to immerse the literacy educator in an intense study of practice, theory, and research. The eventual goal is to equip each participant to assume a leadership role in literacy education. The program regards the teaching of reading and writing as complex undertakings, and strives to equip its students to teach well. Students investigate individual literacy learning, group literacy learning, teacher development, community partnerships, institutional change and other contemporary and political issues facing literacy education. The program assumes that teachers’ own literacy work will be a source of knowledge and inspiration in their teaching. Students write creatively as well as professionally, participate in their own reading clubs, and keep portfolios of their own reading and writing development. The TC faculty in literacy has a long history of social action with areas of special interest that include content area literacies, curriculum development in reading and writing, children’s literature, school reform, ethnographic studies of literacy, teacher development, process approaches to reading and writing, and the impact of class, race, and gender on literacy learning. Students participate in challenging courses, engage in readings, learn from mentorships, and conduct their own action research projects in which they demonstrate their abilities to synthesize theory and practice and to weave the two throughout their individual work.