Now accepting applications. Full scholarships available.
MECA’s 10-month program prepares artists to become effective art educators who creatively engage children and youth to explore art and have fun in the process. Teacher candidates learn to translate their unique qualities as artists into creative teaching practices.
Intimate Community
MECA’s setting in the artistically vibrant city of Portland, Maine, adds to the close-knit feeling found among candidates, faculty, and our community partners. Candidates benefit from working closely with peers who have very different backgrounds and ideas to share. The small class size and dedicated faculty ensure individualized attention, and positive peer interactions help to develop bonds that support each other’s goals.
Rigorous Program
Teacher candidates carry a full course load with extensive observation hours and formal readings to connect theory to practice. Demanding, real world deadlines and extensive practice writing lessons and improving upon them through detailed feedback prepare candidates to meet our expectations for creatively incorporating and interpreting state and national standards. Online portfolios document the progress being made toward reaching these high expectations for teacher preparation.
Experience-Based Learning
The MAT program emphasizes learning by doing. MECA’s connections with the Greater Portland community of public and private schools, galleries, professional artists, and community centers, coupled with MECA’s own resources — a vibrant visiting artist program, the Joanne Waxman Library, the Institute of Contemporary Art — make the program an exceptional pathway to a teaching career in visual art.
Career Preparation
Ten months of dedicated, full-time learning allows candidates to complete the MAT in time for employment opportunities and job interviews.
Studio-Based
For an art educator, the classroom becomes another type of studio where artistic inspirations translate into engaged learning and expressive art making. MAT classes are held in spaces that lend themselves to working with children and youth, at MECA or on location in schools or community-based organizations. Teacher candidates are required to continue their own art making in the Fall Term by enrolling in studio courses or Continuing Studies classes.
Collaborative
Meaningful collective inquiry is a key to learning. Candidates participate in reflection and critique of works-in-progress for their lesson plans, papers, and their own studio artwork. In turn, they also learn to instill a positive sense of reflection and critique in their students, selecting age-appropriate techniques to foster discussion and the realization of artistic visions. Likewise, we collaborate with school and community partners to offer dynamic and engaging art experiences.
For more information visit meca.edu/mat or call 800.639.4808.
