Syllabus - ESE 504 Methods and Materials in Special Education

The mission of the Center for Excellence in Education at Northern Arizona University is to prepare education professionals to create the schools of tomorrow.

NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY

Course developed by J'Anne Ellsworth

COURSE PREREQUISITES: None

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Educators who take this set of modules have the opportunity to deepen understanding of youth and enhance skills and abilities in teaching and reaching youth by exploring human nature and the developmental sequence that contributes to student behavior patterns. This series of modules focuses on helping teachers to enhance the teacher as facilitator role and understand the components for assisting students in the quest to gain control of self and to optimize structured learning behaviors.

The entire set of ESE 504 course materials provides a broad overview of interventions and procedures for utilization with youngsters and facilitates development of expertise tailored to each teacher's personality. The one hour development courses include:

• 1 module focusing on essentials of Child Development. The modules provide an opportunity for students to gain a general understanding of how powerful a basic knowledge of child development can be as a part of classroom management and school success.

• 1 module that focuses on understanding the whole child, or PEPSI model. This includes readings on the physical, emotional, philosophical, social and intellectual development literature.

• 1 module where students may choose to focus on one of the three general areas or emphases of development. (A total of three hours of credit are available in development.) Elementary age Adolescence Advanced child development (applied research)

• 1 module provides opportunities to apply child development to teaching children with exceptionalities, expressing and developing the construct of developmental delay as a tool for meeting student needs.

Upon completion of the development courses, a wide range of one hour modules is under construction and will be available

The Content options include deeper involvement and practice of management styles based on a wide array of student management designs. In addition, legal and ethical issues will be addressed and students will have the opportunity to explore current, data-based information about student and classroom management.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of the entire range of 504 Development modules the student will be able to:

1. Examine various theories that explain child development and define the major principles that guide normal development.

2. Describe the developmental events that occur in the physical, emotional, philosophical, social and intellectual (PEPSI) areas for the school age or adolescent child.

3. Observe and describe the developmental behaviors and stages of "typical" children at the current teaching assignment.

4. Examine current elementary/ middle school/ high school settings and practices for educational effectiveness and identify strategies that establish a positive and productive learning environment for all students, thus facilitating development.

5. Identify family patterns, cultural values and environmental circumstances that affect normal development.
6. Understand the effects of mild retardation or learning disabilities in various developmental areas, on the growth of the individual.

7. Successfully navigate the net, gaining course based and supplementary information through competent net conferencing, chatting and net surfing.

For those pursuing a more special education application, the student would be able to demonstrate knowledge about:

1. Laws and litigation that formed IDEA 1997.

2. Key principles in the development of the Individualized Educational Plan.

3. Applying the theories, concepts and methods presented in the course to developmental questions or learning issues commonly found in a student population.

4. Considerations in developing a classroom with a continuum of services ranging from community building and inclusion to very specialized individual learning needs.

5. Selecting appropriate strategies for individualizing instruction and providing supportive techniques to hasten development in areas where students need remediation.

6. Teaching methods, materials, media and innovative practices related to educating students with special needs in at least four of the following areas: Reading Math Language Arts Sciences Social Studies Communications Study Skills Recreation and leisure Functional Adaptation Vocational pursuits

7. Research methods used to study child development, learning theories and identify special needs and apply findings to personal practice.

8. Locating and sharing professional materials and ideas related to educating students with special needs.

9. Developing practical educational and personal applications of theories in child development to promote independent learning skills.

COURSE STRUCTURE: The format of the course will be web based, with a text and course packet. Students will choose to be a part of a group through the university conference center, by initiating and participating in a course based chat room or by joining the dialogue on one of the education based chat rooms already on the Internet. The group may work together to learn and perform activities and are expected to communicate at least once each week. In addition, students will converse with with the instructor through web based communication. Tests and assignments will be conducted on-line.

COMPUTER SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Success in a web course depends, in part, on the hard ware and software that is available to the participant. To make the process pleasurable, it is critical to take the course on a system that is reliable -- that has sufficient speed to load materials quickly, that does not "crash" or freeze intermittently, and through a net provider that is consistently accessible. Optimizing your system is crucial to a feeling of success.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS / READING MATERIALS: Plan to purchase texts for the modules you will be taking. The basic text is used in the first three modules, essentials, elementary and PEPSI. All combined suggested activities in these three modules add up to 5000 points, enough for five hours of credit.

The module on adolescence is complex and designed for those who want to more about how and why teens act as they do in order to more adequately develop a "student" focused curriculum.

The advanced module provides basic information about special education. It is quite similar to a compressed review of special education foundations and articulates methods and materials for adapting classroom activities to the needs of individual students.

Basic Text - Santrock, J. W, (1999). Child development (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Module on Adolescence - Rice, F. P. (1996). The adolescent: Development, relationships and culture (8th ed). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Advanced Module on Applications for Special Education - Wood, J. W.(1998). Adapting instruction to accommodate students in inclusive settings (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

EVALUATION AND GRADING: Exams will be available on the web from the beginning of the course and will be open note and open book. There are various projects assigned, based on the individual modules. Each module will provide a list of assignments, readings and evaluations. These exercises will provide practice in target skills of this class. The material offers participants the opportunity to sculpt the class to individual needs and taste. The foundations portion of the course can be taken for 1-3 hours of credit.

A personalized syllabus can be developed that tailors the class to personal interest and need. Once the student settles on the learning contract and it is accepted by the instructor, each assignment agreed upon will be required for completion of the class. All assignments will be graded on a mastery basis. Final grades will be assigned based on completed assignments.

Letter grades will be assigned in the following manner. However, ALL contractual assignments must be completed to receive a passing grade. In addition to the required percentage points, students who receive an A must accomplish some extra credit project (of their choice). This is one way the student shows s/he has accepted personal responsibility for the course.

Course Policy: This class will underscore personal responsibility for education. It will also work on Bloom's Mastery Learning model, by which it will be expected that all students will provide evidence of sufficient mastery of the material. If it were not important for students to thoroughly understand the information it would not be a required course. Students who do poorly on assignments will be expected to redo assignments and relearn materials until a satisfactory grasp of the materials exists. Thus, it follows, that a student with the capability to become or continue as an educator will finish the course with at least a B. To receive an A, a student must do all class assignments and contract, in addition, to accomplish a personal project or service activity. This project is negotiable, but might be something like:

1. Read an additional text or materials
2. Work with a school-age children on self management
3. Work as a big brother or sister with a youth who is at-risk
4. Help with service organizations, such as Special Olympics, Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts
5. Write and publish insights from the class - for example an "in house" news letter
6. Attend educational forums or programs
7. View media specials on discipline and classroom management
8. Read and report on management in education issues, discipline plans, etc.

Please note again: All assignments must be turned in to receive a passing grade. Students who do not turn in all assignments will receive an F for the class, regardless of the quality of the work completed. In order to receive an A, students must contract to become personally involved in the educational process, "going the second mile" so to speak, in showing motivation and interest in being a self-sustained learner.

Attendance: Continuity is important in a web course. Therefore, all students will be expected to maintain at least weekly web contact. The course is meant to be asynchronous, so in the event of a protracted absence, please contact the instructor, Janne.Ellsworth@nau.edu, to keep her informed. After all, this material suggests that teacher student relationships are invaluable, and the instructor wishes to extend that community building, even in an external learning environment. Under ordinary circumstances, one hour courses can be completed within a five week period, although faster or slower progress is expected and welcomed.

Due dates: This is a graduate course, set up to allow professionals to combine full time work and continuous educational opportunities. For this reason, due dates are not specified. The course is set up to be asynchronous as well, with the understanding that three hours of course work will normally take approximately fifteen weeks for completion, but extensions with transcript notation of IP - in progress can be granted for up to one year.

Additional information: Plagiarism or any other form of cheating cannot be tolerated. Any student participating in such activities may expect to receive an F. If a student is unable to take the web exam an alternate exam may be agreed upon and used to replace the original examination. Assignments submitted to fulfill requirements in another class may not be submitted to fulfill the requirements of this class without prior instructor approval. Group participation is also required since since collaboration and community building are an integral part of success classroom management. Group work can be done at the Virtual Conference Center, at chat locations or with others in the class via email or real time. Peers in the school can also add depth and interest as part of the learning community.

Honor and reward yourself by enjoying this opportunity to add depth to your understanding!

Essentials Module

PEPSI Module

Elementary Module

Final

Adolescent Module

Final

Advanced -- Application Module

Final in Application to Special Education:

E-mail J'Anne Ellsworth at Janne.Ellsworth@nau.edu

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