EDCI 608 Understanding Special Education in Today's Classroom

Instructor: College/KDS
Materials:  Internet Connection, printer
Course:   Understanding Special Education in Today's Classroom
Course Start Dates:
Location: Online classroom
Prerequisites: Bachelor Degree
Number of credits: 3

Course Overview
Course Overview This session is designed to help educators become knowledgeable about the techniques that may be used to adapt the regular classroom curriculum and activities to meet the learning needs of their most academically capable students. The program includes attention to strategies for compacting the regular curriculum and standards and providing consistent opportunities for gifted students to be engaged in appropriately differentiated learning experiences. Teachers will understand the reasons why some students do not achieve at a satisfactory level. They will learn specific strategies to remedy this situation. Teachers will also learn how to pre-assess advanced students in any skill work area. Teachers will be able to use strategies that allow gifted students to demonstrate prior mastery with full credit for what they already know, and which allow them to move through new content at an appropriately accelerated rate. Teachers will also be able to create extension menus that allow advanced learners to move beyond the required standards to incorporate their own interests into their learning of the regular curriculum. Review of the Name Card Method should make it easily accessible for all teachers.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
The student will be able to:

1. demonstrate how to build a classroom community that accommodates learning styles to reach the needs of all children
2. learn how to design and develop homework to address the needs of the gifted, special needs and Ell students
3. learn what strategies will address and meet the needs of students at both ends of the bell curve in the regular classroom
4. implement teaching and learning strategies that challenge all students at levels that are appropriate to them and which provide them with opportunities to learn
5. understand why it is important to provide gifted, special needs and ELL students with learning experiences that will challenge them

Instructor:
Online Self-Paced Instruction
Knowledge Delivery Systems maintains a online platform that automatically grades their
pre and post assessments, monitors their participation in the lecture, and awards them credit when they complete the program. KDS also employs a team of educators to
monitor the progress and quality of work students provide.

Online live instruction
College Instructor

Weekly Online Lecture Assignments:
Week 1-2

• Teaching Kids with Learning Difficulties in the Regular Classroom: Part 1
• Teaching Kids with Learning Difficulties in the Regular Classroom: Part 2
• Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom: Part 1

• Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom: Part 2
• Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom: Part 3
• Teaching Kids In a Mixed Ability Classroom: Part 1

Midterm Project Due

Week 4-6

• Teaching Kids In a Mixed Ability Classroom: Part 2
• Using Rubrics to Evaluate and Improve Student Performance Part I
• Using Rubrics to Evaluate and Improve Student Performance Part II

Week 6-8

• Special Education and the Brain Part 1 Donna Walker Tileston
• Special Education and the Brain Part 2 Donna Walker Tileston
• Autism Donna Walker Tileston

Final Project Due

Discussion Board:

Students must submit one unique comment each week that must be at least 3 sentences in length.
Students must submit one reply to a fellow classmate’s comment that must be at least 2 sentences in length.

Methods of instruction

Methods of instruction will include:	Percentage of Course Credit
12 individual sections (30 hours)
12 pre assessments	5%
12 graded post assessments	10%
12 Video Lectures	30%
Polling questions	part of videos
12, 60-100 pages Study guides	Materials Included
Handouts	part of videos
Midterm project	20%
Final project	25%
Discussion Board interaction ( 2 submissions weekly)	10%

Grading criteria/system and evaluation activities:
A course administrator will be reviewing students’ answers and providing feedback. Students will be evaluated on their creativity and ability to incorporate techniques from the lecture into the discussion board, research papers, examples and lesson plans.

University Grading Criteria

Attendance/Participation
It is expected that students will attend all instructional sessions, required activities, and field assignments. 
Students who do not attend the first night of class AND do not notify the instructor in advance will be dropped from the course and maybe charged a course drop fee.

University Computer Lab/Library Services
Please refer to Section VI in the Student Handbook.

Disability Services
Please refer to Section VII in the Student Handbook.

Due dates of major assignments, projects, and examinations:

Midterm Due Dates:

Final Due Dates: Discussion Board Interaction: At least one unique comment and one response to a students comment by Sunday of each week. 

Text and/or required reading list:
Text:  (Included in the price of the program)

1. Teaching Kids with Learning Difficulties in the Regular Classroom: Part 1 by Susan Winebrenner 64 pages
2. Teaching Kids with Learning Difficulties in the Regular Classroom: Part 2 by Susan Winebrenner 68 pages
3. Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom: Part 1 by Susan Winebrenner 65 pages
4. Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom: Part 2 by Susan Winebrenner 30 pages
5. Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom: Part 3 by Susan Winebrenner 158 pages
6. Teaching Kids In a Mixed Ability Classroom: Part 1 by Susan Winebrenner 32 pages
7. Teaching Kids In a Mixed Ability Classroom: Part 2 by Susan Winebrenner 32 pages
8. Using Rubrics to Evaluate and Improve Student Performance Part I by Jay McTighe 93 pages
9. Using Rubrics to Evaluate and Improve Student Performance Part II
   1. Special Education and the Brain Part 1 Donna Walker Tileston
   2. Special Education and the Brain Part 2 Donna Walker Tileston
   3. Autism Donna Walker Tileston

Handouts: (Included in Program)

• 24 handouts will be provided  

Required Web readings:

1. Differentiating Instruction for Advanced Learners in the Mixed-Ability Middle School Classroom:  Differentiating Instruction for Advanced Learners in the Mixed-Ability Middle School Classroom
2. The Elephant in the Classroom: The Elephant in the Classroom
3. Teaching in a Mixed Ability Classroom:  Click here
4. The Three Faces of Intelligence:  The Three Faces of Intelligence
5. When Will We Stop Calling It  “Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences”?: When Will We Stop Calling It  “Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences”?
6. Assessing The Multiple Intelligences: What Good Can Come of It?: Assessing The Multiple Intelligences: What Good Can Come of It?

Midterm:

WRITING A CHANGE PAPER
A Change Paper is a document that contains evidence of a need for change, with recommendations for new strategies that will improve an area of concern. For these change papers, the paradigm shift recommended for your workplace should be within your knowledge base and should relate to the course.
The change paper will contain the following information, in this order, to establish your framework.

1. A description of the workplace setting in two paragraphs.
   Example: the kind of facility, purpose of the facility, number of employees in major categories, length of establishment, culture or atmosphere, etc. and the writer’s position there.
2. An explanation of the area being considered for improvement.
3. Present a rationalization for the need to make a change or to respond to an emerging need. Identify the stakeholders who would receive the benefit of the change. This could take as little as three to six paragraphs.
4. Write a review of the professional literature on the topic to be improved (refer to Writing a Literature Review below for further instructions). Use 6-8 scholarly articles from the literature that include theory, practice, and applied research. This can be done in no more than five pages.  Suggestion: Use descriptors related to the selected topic when doing the literature search.
5. Recommend strategies to achieve the improvement.
   Example: Select a strategy from the literature reviewed in your paper. Explain how this could be accomplished and by whom.
6. Project the learning outcomes that would support your paradigm shift and the expected timeline for completing the change.  Use two to three paragraphs for this.
7. Conclude on the concept with reference to relative literature in this document that would insure success of the change.  Add two or three paragraphs.

Total length of The Midterm Essay should be between 9-12 pages having t least 6 references.

Typing the document, using APA format:
Use the standard Cover Page and submit the document to your professor for approval.
All assignments are done in 12 pt. Times New Roman font and in APA, 5th Edition format. Start the document with a brief description of the issues or problem area found in the literature in relation to your workplace concern. This should require only a few sentences. Insert the above framework.  Add a Reference page that lists items of the authors’ works cited in your document. Use APA format for the items.

Writing a Literature Review:

A review of the literature is a standard procedure that is followed in writing scholarly papers. The review informs the student what scholars and researchers have learned about the problem. It is an opportunity for the student to examine what solutions have been tried and implemented to correct a specific discrepancy or to solve a problem. The review of literature also informs the reader that the topic or the problem is a legitimate one, recognized by the educational community.

1. The steps in organizing a review of the literature are simple. After the search of abstracts is completed, follow these steps.
2. Review abstracts to remove obviously unrelated or inappropriate material. If information is scant, or most of the information appears to be inappropriate to the student's topic, perhaps the concern should be restated in more appropriate terms.
3. Determine whether the available research is on theory, strategies, or solutions.  This is a good time to obtain assistance from the e-mentor. Individuals working on a change paper are not encouraged to test new methodologies never tried by anyone else. Rather, they are to consider existing solutions in new and innovative ways to improve the situation.
4. Obtain full text of each selected research study relevant to the topic. Check the bibliography of the research for possible connections to other authors.
5. Write a summary of each selected research study using the full article as a guide for your notes. Build a framework from information in the collected articles to support your argument that the problem exists.  Writing a review from abstracts will result in an incomplete analysis.
6. Look at your collection of summaries to find subtopics from among them. Organize them by concept to create a verbal picture of viable solutions.
7. Put them all together starting with a brief description of the issues or problem area found in this literature. This should require only a few sentences.
8. At the end, add your idea of how to make improvements that are supported in this research. This is a possible solution strategy.
9. Conclude with one or two paragraphs relating the final set of information to the idea being addressed.
10. The total number of pages should be between 8-10.

Final:
Assignment:  Critical Issues Report

The purpose of the assignment is to increase the knowledge base, add to the repertoire of reading theories, and increase skills of reflection and problem solving through research and reading on topics that are current, controversial, or significant in understanding the theories behind why some students do not achieve at a satisfactory level and why some students surpass the standards set.

Select a topic that is personally intriguing and is addressed in the content of the course:

• Critical issues in special education theory and learning
• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
• Sylvia Rimm’s approach to underachievers
• Opportunities for gifted, special needs and ELL students to be engaged in appropriately differentiated learning experiences
• Modified Dunn and Dunn model of learning styles
• Reasons for pre-testing
• Knowing how to choose appropriate assessments for evaluation and planning for instruction
• The Name Card Method for working in pairs
• Understanding how to work with Gifted Children
• Understanding how to work with special education children
• Understanding how to work with ELL students

Read a minimum of three (3) reference sources on the selected topic.

Write a 8-9 - page report that includes:

Cover Page

Introduction: Background Information (1 page)

Body of Report (6-7 pages)

• Review and summarize of the articles’ content
• Personal reaction to the information that has been summarized with specific attention to synthesizing the ideas found in the research with course concepts and personal background experiences (personal reaction/critique/reflections)
• Complete responses to each of the following questions: (Elementary Education Competencies and Skills. Each response should be about 4-6 paragraphs.)
• How did the information in the selected readings or online lectures increase your knowledge of emergent special education techniques specific to the identification of concepts in the course thus far?
• How did the information in the selected readings or online lectures increase your knowledge of the Maslow Hierarchy of needs, specific to the developmental stages and the syntactic, semantic, and graphophonemic cueing of the hierarchy?
• How did the information in the selected readings or online lectures increase your knowledge of the process of constructing meaning from a variety of texts, specific to essential comprehension skills?
• How did the information in the selected readings or online lectures increase your knowledge of gifted, special needs and ELL children?
• How did the information in the selected readings or online lectures increase your knowledge of effective listening and viewing strategies?
• How did the information in the selected readings or online lectures increase your knowledge of the nature of assessing?
• How did the information in the selected readings or online lectures increase your knowledge of developing different learning experiences for each student?
• How did the information in the selected readings or online lectures increase your knowledge and improve your understanding of how to set up a classroom that will effectively meet the needs of all students?
• Conclusion (1 page): Recommendations for using your research and knowledge base gained from the course to this point.

Reference Page: List of cited references, following APA format.

Scoring Rubric for Assignment

Total Value: 100 Points
Content of Report – Value: 70 points – Introduction, content review and summary,  personal reaction/critique, responses to questions related to Elementary Education Competencies and Skills, conclusion (recommendations for using research in the classroom).
Quality of Writing – Value: 20 points – Written work shows superior graduate quality in verbal expression, attention to detail, and correct application of the conventions of the English language. In students’ written work, paragraphing is appropriate with clear thesis statements and supporting details. Sentences are clear and concise. Students vary sentence structure making use of subordinate clauses. Transitional words and phrases are used effectively. Points and ideas are well organized. Word choice is effective. English language conventions are applied correctly (i.e. spelling, capitalization, punctuation, agreement, pronoun usage, sentence structure). 
Format - Value: 10 points – Cover Page, Reference Page and where applicable, citations and references are used correctly and consistently, with clear efforts made to include a wide range of relevant works. For any work requiring citations, students refer to a wide range of suitable sources. All non original ideas are cited correctly and referenced in a reference list. All works in the reference list are cited in the text. Students should follow the Writing Format and Style as required by their institution. Should the student not have a home institution, they will follow the APA Format and Style Manual, 5th Edition.