Course Offerings

MSED - Mathematics (Grade 7-12) - One Year (43 credits) Program

An education at MCNY is unique in both an academic and practical sense. Learning is purpose-centered and based on your Constructive Actions. In addition, throughout your time at MCNY, you will travel through your course of study each year with a Cohort of 10–20 fellow students. You and your peers will constitute a learning community. Your community shares professors and student teaching experiences. These aspects of study at MCNY set the College apart from other institutions of higher education.

Purpose–Centered Education: Purpose–Centered Education is based on the premise that students achieve high academic standards when they use their knowledge and skills to achieve a meaningful and complex Purpose that makes a positive difference in their own lives and in the lives of others.

Purpose: Each semester of study at Metropolitan College of New York is focused on a specific Performance Area called a Purpose. These Purposes are the basis around which the semesters in both the undergraduate and graduate programs are structured. Achieving mastery in each is critical to a student's ability to integrate and use the theory learned in the classroom at an internship or work-site and deliver effective professional performance.

Constructive Action: A Constructive Action is a significant endeavor systematically planned, implemented, assessed, and documented each semester at the work or internship site to demonstrate mastery of the MCNY curriculum. As a learning methodology, the Constructive Action process enables a student to develop a body of living case studies, with each focused on a key area of purposeful education and performance. Simultaneously, the process carefully builds analytical, writing, and communication skills. As a practice methodology, the Constructive Action helps the practitioner to prepare comprehensive and realistic plans, act on them effectively, and assess the learning outcomes that have been achieved. As an assessment methodology, it provides an appropriate basis for evaluating the competence of professionals and professionals-in-training.

Semester 1

PURPOSE 1 - Developing Effective Relationships with Key Constituencies
In Purpose 1 you are introduced to the Purpose-Centered Education learning and teaching model. A key concept - empowerment - is explored in practice as you as a prospective teacher establishes professional relationships designed to help children become effective learners and well developed persons. Both the primary relationships with middle and high school students and the secondary relationships with supervisors, co-workers, parents and professionals from other organizations will be examined. The focus will be on enhancing those relationships and conditions that contribute to the creation and support of quality educational practices.

Purpose Seminar: Introduction to Purpose-Centered Education

Constructive Action: Observation and Participation in School and Community Settings
The use of knowledge from the Dimension classes and integration into the Constructive Action and its documentation. The focus for the first semester is the process and knowledge necessary to establish positive, appropriate professional relationships, so that optimum learning environments can be created for youth to be effectively educated. These professional relationships will be examined in relation to the students in middle and high school classrooms as "managers" of learning and the teacher as "facilitator" of learning. Readings and videos supplement the theoretical materials offered in other Dimension classes to strengthen linkages between knowledge and action.

Self and Others: Human Development and Learning
A course for acquiring a range of teaching strategies derived from an examination of pertinent psychological theories and research. A broad view of major theoretical perspectives which guide current teaching methods will be analyzed with reference to classroom applications. Topics include but are not limited to: the process of acquiring and using knowledge, perceptual recognition, attention, memory, imagery and language, student assessment and evaluation. From a developmental, life-span perspective, prospective teachers will construct their own understandings of the teaching-learning process, especially as it pertains to learning, cognition, instruction, and subsequently to establishing professional relationships. Consideration given to identification of students with special needs, with emphasis on the psychological basis of suitable curricula adaptations and methods.

Systems: Social Issues And Trends In Urban Education
Schooling studied in the context of the historical, philosophical and ideological forces that have shaped and continue to shape the character of the society of the United States vis–a–vis current and proposed economic and social policies for American success in a global economy. The current impact of laws and educational policies such as desegregation, affirmative action, bilingual education and school choice are examined in the light of preparation for world-class citizenry. Additional topics to be discussed include: responsibility of community and its resources to effectively educate all of its young; the extent to which organizations in the community should allocate resources toward the education of the young; the kind of workforce needed for the 21st century and the role of sectors in preparing individuals for these roles. The design of the course enables prospective teachers to understand the political, economic, and social forces that influence the work of educators and their relationships with children, their families and members of the community.

Skills: Introduction to Mathematics Education with Technology
The focus of this course will be the historical, political, sociological and multicultural aspects of mathematics education. Topics include the NCTM content and process standards, the New York State Learning Standards, the cultural and psychological aspects of learning mathematics, constructivist learning theory, reformed-based mathematics curricula, effects of NCLB, cultural influences on mathematics education and current research in mathematics education. Emphasis on integrating technology to enhance instruction.

Communication Skills: Teaching Literacy through the Content Areas
Teaching the language-related processes with special emphasis on developmental reading. Emphasis on the practices of reading instruction: basic reading strategies, methods of instruction, diagnostic teaching, classroom organization for reading and assessment of reading programs for improvement of instruction. Includes the view of language and the reading processes for middle and high school student. Increasing competence in basic reading strategies, methods of instruction, diagnostic teaching and reading and writing across the mathematics curriculum. Focus on diagnostic and prescriptive teaching. Continued emphasis on the reading/writing relationship and processes.

Semester 2

PURPOSE 2 – Teaching Effectively
Principles, trends, techniques in curriculum instruction, learning theory standards-based assessment. The primary focus of Purpose 2 is to provide each student teacher with the opportunity to synthesize understanding of middle and secondary education and the national and state standards for students. They must apply them successfully to the teaching of elementary students. In their first student teaching practicum, prospective teachers blend theory and practice as materials, activities, standards, subject matter and assessment relate to the primary grades in the context of an actual school classroom. Classroom organization and methods of teaching are also considered.

Purpose Seminar: Analysis of Teaching Behavior

Constructive Action: Teaching Practicum – Grades 7-9
Students fuse knowledge from the Dimensions courses into the Constructive Action and its documentation to achieve the Purpose of the second semester. Discussions about the challenges faced by mathematics teachers today as college students participate in the first of two teaching practica. Facilitating students' academic, social and ethical development through rigorous mathematics curriculum planning; a supportive and well-managed classroom environment; effective mathematics teaching practices; addressing the needs of the community; and, gaining knowledge from community resources; all become part of the student teacher's newly acquired repertoire in pedagogy. Clinical studies of student teaching activities in the classroom are designed to enable students, supervising teacher and faculty to comment on the emerging professional abilities being developed.

Self and Others: Classroom Management and Academic Growth
This course will focus on practicing effective secondary-level classroom management strategies, positive teacher-student relationships, and engaging instruction. The course will have three components: (1) establishing an environment for learning, (2) implementing teaching strategies which are effective with respect to meeting the needs of diverse students, and (3) coping with challenges.

Systems: Teaching Algebra, Probability and Statistics with Technology
This course will focus on teaching strategies, content, and pedagogical content knowledge for teaching algebra, probability and data analysis at the secondary level through the examination of reform-based curricula meeting NCTM and state standards. Topics include relations and functions, sequences and series, displaying univariate data, regression analysis, linear programming, discrete and continuous probability functions, and experimental and theoretical probability. Problem solving and critical thinking skills will be emphasized. The class will incorporate the use of the graphing calculator, computer software and Internet resources. Emphasis on integrating technology to enhance instruction.

Communication Skills: Literacy, Math and ELL
Includes the view of language and the reading processes for the middle and high school student. Increasing competence in basic reading strategies, methods of instruction, diagnostic teaching and reading and writing across the mathematics curriculum. Focus on diagnostic and prescriptive teaching. Continued emphasis on the reading/writing relationship and processes.

Semester 3

PURPOSE 3 – Analysis of Teaching Behavior
As prospective mathematics teachers proceed into their second major teaching practicum, they increase their awareness of how students are genuinely different and how these differences can be addressed. They begin to create a foundation for their work that includes student variation and uniqueness as a natural phenomenon. Focusing on cognitive styles, social-emotional behaviors, gender identification, cultural variation and position in the group, student teachers acquire a variety of approaches and techniques which enable them to define the range of learners in the mathematics classroom and to try out different methods for teaching mathematics content which are tailored to the unique needs of their students. This comprehensive, integrated view of learners embraces students with special needs, including gifted adolescents, those that are intellectually or physically challenged and English language learners.

Purpose Seminar: Analysis of Teaching Behavior (EDU 530 PUR)
The Purpose and its accompanying Constructive Action for the final semester is designed to help student teachers create classroom environments that will best meet the needs of all children. Focusing on cognitive styles, social-emotional behaviors, gender identification, cultural variation and position in the group, student teachers acquire a variety of approaches and techniques which enable them to define the range of learners in their classroom and to try out different methods and content which are tailored to the unique needs of their students. This comprehensive, integrated view of learners embraces children with special needs, including gifted children and those that are intellectually or physically challenged.

Constructive Action: Teaching Practicum – Grades 10-12
The Purpose and its accompanying Constructive Action for the final semester is designed to help student teachers create classroom environments that will best meet the needs of all students. Knowledge of the commonality of basic needs and developmental stages of high school students serve as a background for building on the strengths of children who are in need of specialized teaching. As theory from the Dimensions combines with practice in this seminar, student teachers examine the day-to-day responsibilities and concerns, including classroom management, and the interplay between student performance and mathematics curricula expectations. Presentations of student practice include reports, observations and recordings of students’ behavior, and videotape analysis.

Self and Others: Cultural Diversity
As prospective teachers realize the importance of the arts in the cognitive, emotional, social and physical development of students, they select age-appropriate materials, activities and techniques which reflect cultural traditions in response to the unique needs of diverse students in inclusive settings. Exploration of nonverbal, non-discursive ways of knowing and feeling, together with an understanding of the ways in which diversity enhances academic curriculum, opportunities for creative problem-solving and critical thinking.

Systems: Teaching Geometry, Discrete Math, and Calculus with Technology
This course will focus on teaching strategies, content, and pedagogical content knowledge for teaching geometry, discrete math and calculus through the examination of reform-based curricula meeting NCTM and state standards. Topics will include Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometries, analytic and transformational geometry, fractals, logic and set theory, graph theory and networking, precalculus and calculus concepts. The class will incorporate the use of graphing calculators, computer software and Internet resources. Problem solving and critical thinking skills will be emphasized. Emphasis on integrating technology to enhance instruction.

Technical Skills: Inclusion: Teaching Strategies and Classroom Management
Emphasis placed on the development of specific curriculum materials, assessment methodologies and teaching strategies for youngsters in diverse and inclusive middle and high school classrooms. Focus on the daily aspects of classroom management with particular attention given to the importance of classroom management procedures to instructional practices. Theoretical perspectives deepen understanding of the collective behavior of youth, as well as the factors that influence this behavior. Consideration of various behavior interventions that emphasize coping strategies and more acceptable alternatives to problem behavior. Attention to families and other adults in working with children who may have behavioral issues.

Self and Others: Research in Mathematics Education
This course will focus on a variety of topics related to research on the teaching/learning of mathematics at the secondary school level.

Communication Skills: Diagnostic and Remedial Techniques in Secondary Reading
Focus on effective approaches in working with youngsters with reading, writing and language problems in secondary classroom programs. Knowledge of the commonality of basic needs and developmental stages of middle and high school students as a background for building on the strengths of youth with literacy difficulties. Prospective teachers gain competence in assessment and instruction related to students’ difficulties, strengths and needs. Naturalistic and standardized assessment protocols will be examined, analyzed and demonstrated, with theoretical knowledge of preventive and corrective approaches applied to practice. Emphasis will be on the formal and informal procedures that match reading instruction to the individual student's needs. Consideration of reading and writing in the mathematics content area provide opportunities to select and adapt materials and texts to meet the needs of unique learners.

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