The goal of the Multiple Abilities Program, or MAP, is to enable our graduates to be teachers able to accommodate the wide range of learning styles, backgrounds, and abilities of all learners in a given classroom, regardless of the labels with which students may be identified. MAP leads to dual certification in elementary and special education and focuses on three themes: understanding diversity, empowerment, and authentic instruction and assessment. Central to the MAP philosophy is the idea that teachers must be reflective decision-makers capable of differentiating curriculum based on the needs of the individual children, and that this stance is best developed through extensive structured field experiences that begin the first week of the program. The cohort meets in our partner schools several times each week, immediately practicing what is covered in texts and by faculty. Semester-long experiences of tutoring, small group teaching, whole group teaching, collaborative teaching, a summer enrichment teaching experience, and a year-long internship are the experiences through which students come to have the opportunity to teach in a wide variety of settings: urban, rural, suburban; upper elementary and lower elementary; and inclusion and resource special education classrooms. MAP faculty collaborate to ensure that curriculum is integrated so that students have the best opportunity to synthesize theory and practice in generative ways.
Program Coordinator: Sharron Maughn and Lisa Burgess
FACULTY
