Teaching

Overview

Our teacher licensure program has earned an excellent reputation for preparing knowledgeable, responsive, caring, and respected professional teachers.

As a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) student, you will:

• Learn in small collaborative cohorts together with fellow students who are completing majors in various fields. It’s an interdisciplinary approach not found at other colleges;

• Be guided by learned faculty and cooperating education professionals who provide individualized advising, mentorship, and assessment;

• Work with student populations spanning the American racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic spectrum;

• Get two classroom internships and practicums in school settings where you can hone teaching skills, not just one clinical experience like at most other colleges.

The Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Program is suited for:

• Individuals who have completed a B.A. at another institution (with a major in an area of study offered by Lake Forest College) or at Lake Forest College and seek teacher licensure;

• Juniors or seniors at Lake Forest College who want to add a teaching degree to their majors;

• First-year or sophomore students at Lake Forest College who want to complete licensure requirements in five years in order to complete additional elective courses, an additional minor concentration and/or a study abroad or off campus program during their first four years of study;

• Transfer students who wish to become a teacher and have enough credits to graduate in four years, but will need another year to complete required coursework for teacher licensure.

MAT Student Learning Outcomes:

• The MAT teacher candidate will demonstrate professional characteristics, responsive teaching practices, resourcefulness, teacher efficacy, and reflective capacities as these are described specifically in the Education Department’s document entitled “Identifying Dispositions of a Lake Forest College Educated Teacher” through successful submission of artifacts and reflective essays through the electronic portfolio process.

• The MAT teacher candidate will meet all standards articulated for effective beginning teaching in the areas of planning, instructional delivery and assessment in each candidate’s respective discipline (e.g., social science, chemistry, elementary education, etc.). Candidates’ proficiency will be determined by receiving at least the state mandated passing score as scored nationally through the official edTPA (Teacher Performance Assessment) portfolio process.

• The MAT teacher candidate will demonstrate a beginning level of proficiency with teacher research methods and statistical analysis of research results by successful completion of a Teacher Action Research Project during student teaching.