Attention
Enrolled Students:
The official syllabus for this class will be distributed in class
Course
Overview
This course is intended to help prospective teachers and other educators to develop an initial repertoire of skills for teaching students with high incidence educational disabilities. Participants will accomplish this goal by making connections among their knowledge of disabilities, special education, assessment, educational theory and teaching methods. Successful students will have familiarity and competency with a variety of teaching approaches and specific practices. The primary emphasis of the course will be on education in inclusive schooling contexts. Class sessions will routinely include time to practice skills being learned.
Successful class participants will be
able to:
·formulate a comprehensive instructional plan for a
student with an educational disability, based on:
|
current level of performance |
teaching
& learning strategies |
|
annual
goals specific
objectives |
monitoring
techniques community
resources |
|
curriculum
adaptations |
lifeskills
and vocational needs |
|
|
|
·determine the "internal consistency" of an
IEP
·identify curriculum modifications and environmental
adaptations for the classroom teacher
·design individual, small and large group instruction
·match instruction to the individual learning needs of
students
·evaluate various service delivery systems for
educating students with mild to moderate special needs
·develop appropriate transition plans for students
Themes
Programs in the Teacher Education, Special Education,
and Curriculum & Instruction Department have five unifying themes. In this course we address the themes in the
following ways:
Promoting social justice: Throughout the class students will be challenged to
reflect on the social justice aspects of special education. The teaching and learning practices they
learn will all have applicability to their working to promote social justice in
schools, particularly as it concerns students with educational
disabilities.
Constructing knowledge: Students will learn a variety of teaching and
learning practices in this class.
Learning about these practices will include learning to be able to apply
the practices in ways that will most benefit individual students. This will necessarily involve their learning
how to accommodate the practices with their beliefs about effective
practice.
Inquiring into practice: Students will
actively participate in investigating the pedagogical soundness of the
practices they learn. In order to apply
this to their own teaching, students will research specific practices so that
they may share them with their classmates during small group sessions.
Accommodating diversity: Students will
be learning how to take into account the unique academic and social needs of
their students. All of the practices
learned over the semester will have particular applicability to students with
educational disabilities or who are at-risk.
Collaborating with others: Significant
aspects of being a special educator call for collaboration. Students will learn procedures for effective
collaboration. During class sessions
students will collaborate with each other to learn and investigate specific
practices.
Assignments,
etc.
Those
students with documented disabilities who have special learning needs are
invited to inform the instructor, so that special arrangements can be
made. They should also be aware that
assistance is available from the
Required Text:
Bos,
C. S., & Vaughn, S. (2002). Strategies for Teaching Students with
Learning and Behavior Problems, 5th edition. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Additional
readings are on reserve in the ERC (most are also available in the O'Neill
Library and online)
Reading assignments are listed on the semester
schedule. All readings should be completed in advance of the class session for
which they are assigned.
In Class Assignments
Several short in class and “homework” assignments will
be given across the semester.
Small Group Workshops and Paper
Each student will select an instructional approach or
content topic area listed beginning with the March 11 class. (Alternative topics may be acceptable with
permission from the instructor, e.g.,
bilingual-special education, vocational education). Groups of students who select the same topic
will lead small group workshops on their topic.
Both theoretical and empirical information on the topic, as well as
pedagogically sound teaching practices will be taught to your classmates. All small group leaders on the same topic
will meet with the instructor in advance to coordinate their presentations.
A paper on the teaching practices you presented will
be due two weeks after your presentation. The paper will present supporting theoretical
and research information for the topic area and
specific teaching activities shared. Specific
guidelines for the small group workshop and the paper to follow will be
provided in the Feb. 5 class.
Exams
Midterm Exam
The Midterm Exam will address information covered in
the first four weeks of class. On the
exam students will demonstrate their ability to apply what they have learned to
construct an appropriate IEP for a student on whom they are provided certain
information.
Final Exam
While the Final Exam will address information covered
across the entire semester, it will primarily require demonstration of ability
to apply information learned following the Midterm Exam.
Missed assignments
Your classmates (and their future students) are
depending on you to lead high quality small group sessions. Any problems with conducting your selected
session on time should be discussed with the instructor as soon as
possible.
All papers are due two weeks (on Thursday) after the
scheduled date of your workshop session.
Each week a paper is late will result in a loss of 10 points.
Exams that are missed without advance permission may
not be made up unless a darned good excuse is given.
Grading
points 500
Class participation 50* 475 -- A
Midterm
Exam 110 450 -- A-
Small
Group Workshop 80 434 -- B+
Topic
Paper 150 417 -- B
Final
exam 110 400 -- B-
___ 384
-- C+
500 367 -- C
351
-- C-
333
-- D+
*Based on attendance, 317
-- D
active participation, and 300
-- D-
in class assignments.
Students who do not complete
all assignments will receive a letter grade of “F” or an incomplete at the
instructor’s discretion.
Semester
Schedule
week 1: January
22
· Introductions
· Overview
of course; connection to your other courses
· Assignments
and policies
(P)Review: The IEP / “What’s So Special About
Special Education?”
· Purpose
· Parts
· Other plans (IFSP, ITP, 504)
The IEP Process...
· The
referral process
· Types
of assessment data (a review)
· Determining appropriate assessment
· Using
assessment results
Reading: chp. 1
week 2: January 29
...The IEP
Process
· The
referral process
· Types
of assessment data (a review)
· Determining appropriate assessment
· Using
assessment results
IEP Performance Levels, Goals and
Objectives/Benchmarks
· Determination of current levels of performance
· Setting general goals and specific
objectives/benchmarks
· Monitoring progress and modifying the IEP
(Reading: chp. 1)
Learning Styles
· Separating
the fact from the fiction
Reading:
Lloyd, J.
W. (1984). How shall we individualize
instruction -Or should we? Remedial and Special Education, 5(2),
7-15.
-or-
Yong, F.
L., & McIntyre, J. D. (1992). A
comparative study of the learning style preferences of students with learning
disabilities and students who are gifted.
Journal of Learning Disabilities,
25(1), 124-132.
week 3: February 5
¨ How to Lead
Small Group Workshops
¨ Select
Workshop Topic
Service Delivery Models / Placement & Prototype
Determination
· Resource,
mainstream and inclusion models
Readings: (chp. 1); pp. 477-481
· Instructional
configurations
Readings: (chp. 1); pp. 459-477; 481-494;
King-Sears,
M., & Bradley, D. (1995). ClassWide
Peer Tutoring: Heterogeneous instruction in general education classrooms. Preventing
School Failure, 40(1), 29-35.
-or-
Vaughn,
S., Schumm, J. S., & Arguelles, M. E. (1997). The ABCDEs of Co-Teaching. Teaching
Exceptional Children, 30(2),
4-10.
week 4: February 12
¨ Confirm
Workshop Topic
Accommodations, Adaptations, Modifications
Transition
Readings: chp. 10
week 5: February 19
¨ Midterm Examination
week 6: February 26
The Scientific Method
Task analysis
Reading: pp. 366-367
“Best Practices” in Special Education
Reading: chp. 2;
Optional
Reading:
Swanson,
H. L., Hoskyn, M. (2001). Instructing
adolescents with learning disabilities: A component and composite analysis. Learning Disabilities: Research &
Practice, 16(2), 109-19.
Direct Instruction
Optional
Reading:
Stein, M.,
Carnine, D., & Dixon, R. (1998).
Direct Instruction: Integrating curriculum design and effective teaching
practice. Intervention in School and Clinic, 33, 27-234.
March 4 - no class
week 7: March 11
special topic: The RTI
Reading:
Fuchs,
L. S., Fuchs, D., & Speece, D. L. (2002). Treatment validity as a unifying
construct for identifying learning disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 25, 33-45.
-or-
Elksnin,
L. K., Bryant, D. P., Gartland, D., King-Sears, M., Rosenberg, M. S., Scanlon,
D., et al. (2001). LD summit: Important issues for the field of learning
disabilities. Learning Disability
Quarterly, 24, 297-305.
Curriculum-Based Measurement
Learning Strategies
· The nature of strategic learning
· Teaching learning strategies
Reading: pp. 304-329;
Optional
Reading:
Ellis, E.
S., Deshler, D. D., Lenz, B. K., Schumaker, J.
B., & Clark, F. L. (1991). An
instructional model for teaching learning strategies. Focus
on Exceptional Children, 23(6), 1
- 24.
week 8: March 18
Content Enhancement
·
Reading: pp. 13-19
Optional Reading:
Bulgren, J.A., & Scanlon, D. (1997/1998). Teachers' instructional routines and learning
strategies that promote understanding of content-area concepts. Journal of Adolescent & Adult
Literacy, 41, 292-302.
week 9: March
25
Spring is here!
Cooperative Learning
Reading:
Damon,
W., & Phelps, E. (1989). Critical
distinctions among three approaches to peer education. International
Journal of Educational Research, 13,
9 - 20.
-or-
Slavin,
R. E. (1983). When does cooperative
learning increase student achievement? Psychological Bulletin, 94, 429 - 445.
Development of Oral Language Skills
Reading: Chp. 3
week 10: April 1
Reading: Word Identification
Reading: Chp. 4
Reading: Fluency and Comprehension
Reading: Chp. 5
April 8 - no class
week 11: April 15
Universal Design
week 12: April 22
Writing: Symbol
Formation to Expression
week 13: April 29
Math Concepts, Computation and Problem Solving
Reading: Chp. 8
week 14: May 6
Content-area Learning
Reading: pp. 280-307
Reading: pp. 307-329
week 15: May 13
Social Skills
Reading: Chp. 9
Play
¨ Final Exam
room to be
announced
Congratulations
to our graduates,
go out into
the world and do good for others.