COURSE WORK
University courses provide candidates with a strong theoretical understanding of teaching and learning as well as pedagogical approaches that connect theory and practice.

Courses include:

* Issues in Urban Education
* Language Study for Educators
* Reading in Secondary Schools
* Adolescent Psychology for Teachers
* Integrating Technology in the Classroom
* Approaches in Teaching English as a Second Language
* Methods for Teaching English in the Secondary Schools
* Assessment and Education of Exceptional Pupils in Regular Classes

STUDENT TEACHING
During the first year of the program, candidates student teach in at least two different teaching placements. Student teachers work in 6-12th grade classrooms in San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, and surrounding urban districts. MUSE candidates are involved in the full range of classroom activities including observing, assisting, team teaching, and lead teaching. They also attend and participate in events in the school as well as in the neighborhoods in which their students live. Student teachers work in schools with populations of students from diverse ethnic, racial, socio-economic and language backgrounds. Although many of these schools are considered "underperforming", MUSE student teachers are paired with experienced urban teachers who have who have themselves learned to be effective teachers in these challenging circumstances. We draw from a pool of talented teachers, including Bay Area Writing Project Teacher Consultants, Strategic Literacy Initiative teachers and from our own MUSE Alumni.

SUPERVISION
A unique aspect of the MUSE Program is the one-on-one support that is given to each of our student teachers. Student teachers are supervised, supported, and coached by their fieldwork supervisor who is also an experienced urban teacher and who meets with them on a weekly basis both at their student teaching sites and at the university. Supervisors provide resources and curricular support and help students to make real connections between the theory and practice of teaching.

MASTER'S DEGREE
During the second year of the program candidates have already received their credential and most are in their first year of full-time teaching. Others are teaching part-time or working with urban youth in out-of-school settings. Throughout this second year of the MUSE Program, students participate in an M.A. seminar focused on the completion of a teacher research project. In the seminar they learn how to conduct teacher research, define a question, gather evidence, analyze their data and write a research paper which is the final requirement for their Masters degree. Through this process, students are supported both by their fellow new teachers as well as by a faculty advisor who meets with them in a seminar group throughout the fall and spring semesters. Most students choose an issue related to their own classroom experiences to research. The research project itself requires that new teachers reflect on their own teaching and learning as well as on the progress of their students. The teacher research paper lays the groundwork for the on-going process of life-long learning that characterizes our most successful teachers. Students graduate with a Master's degree in Education at the end of their second year in the MUSE program.