<p>Hi all–</p>
<p>This forum probably isn’t the ideal one, but I don’t know of a more active forum of its kind on the internet.</p>
<p>Anyway, I’m considering a handful of schools for their MAT (Masters of Arts in Teaching) program. Many schools offer the MAT degree, as it’s a professional teaching degree, but not many offer exactly what I want (a degree that is a hybrid of education classes and English lit classes). Brown is one of the few schools that does.</p>
<p>Do any of you (current students, parents, alumni, etc.) have any insights on this program? Candid thoughts? Anecdotes? To what extent does the graduate student community at Brown carry the same ethos as the undergraduate students (i.e. the sort of intellectual, friendly, laid-backness that Brown’s famous for)?</p>
<p>Any thoughts on the overall quality of life for grad students (think: limited financial resources) living in Providence?</p>
<p>Are any of you (current students) interested in this program? Why or why not?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>From what I've heard from former MAT graduates, so much time is spent student teaching and focused on what it is you're doing for the year and a summer or so you're in Providence that they feel that they don't really have the time to appreciate and take part in/take advantage of the Brown community.</p>
<p>That being said, they all seemed pleased with the preparation they had and had great things to say about the specific program.</p>
<p>That's great information (and more or less the kind of response I was hoping to get). Thanks so much!</p>
<p>I'm also interested in a MAT (possibly in a 5th year). I was looking around, and there didn't seem to be a track for foreign language teaching. So is it certain that I won't be able to take foreign language track?</p>
<p>Wait -- does this mean that there is no way for someone who wants to teach foreign languages to go to Brown? With all of Brown's flexibility in curriculum (like, being able to create your own concentration) I find this hard to believe.</p>
<p>fireandrain--</p>
<p>The MAT program at Brown is a certification program designed for students who have liberal arts degrees to jump into education/certification. My alma mater did not offer an undergraduate education degree (Brown does; its website is here: Education</a> Department @ Brown) so I need education courses and a masters' degree in order to get a license.</p>
<p>Many schools (including my alma mater) have fifth year programs for aspiring teachers that are similar to Brown's-- I would happily return to my alma mater, except for that the teacher program focuses on urban teaching as well as K-8 and math/science 9-12. The program also has no relationship with the graduate liberal arts programs. Brown's program, on the other hand, has what I want (9-12 training in English lang/lit) as well as coursework that is split between graduate classes in English and graduate classes in education.</p>
<p>My understanding is that (depending on the state) getting a teacher's license with an education undergraduate major is much easier.</p>
<p>Anyway, there's not much for you to be concerned with right now. Many, many, many schools offer education degrees, and I know a handful of schools that have the particular style and setup of program I'm looking for. I'm sure you'll be able to find some schools that specialize in the kind of foreign lang training you might be looking for.</p>
<p>Just to be clear here -- I'm not looking for an MAT program. I was just responding to Sungchul's questions and modestmelody's response. As an alum and a Brown parent, I'm just intrigued that one cannot go to Brown to become a foreign language teacher.</p>
<p>It looks to me like the MAT is a pretty specific program. I teach foreign languages in a private school, and I am not state-certified. I have my normal regular degree in my language, and was hired to do my job. If I wanted to teach in a public school I would have had to be certified by the state in which I teach. That would have meant taking a certain number of education classes, student teaching, whatever, which I never did, because I didn't have to do that to teach in private school. If you want to be a foreign language teacher, major/concentrate in your language, get your master's degree if you want to, get certified in the state in which you want to teach (and you probably have to take classes in a school in your state to do that) if you want to teach in public school, and there you have it. If you want to teach in a private school, you can just major in your language. Getting a master's is probably a good idea either way. Brown has a couple of master's programs in languages, but it is not a very big grad school, in any event.</p>
<p>Many states do not require that you have a certain number of hours of education courses to be certified, but some do.</p>
<p>FWIW, most principals will even tell you that in many cases they'd rather hire someone who has a masters in their field than someone who has a teaching degree.</p>
<p>As someone very seriously considering teaching, and considering that Brown does not offer certification for chemistry, I can assure you that it's quite possible to teach whatever you want after getting a degree from Brown.</p>