Calumet College of Saint Joseph
Education Program
Fall Semester 2003-2004
Education 430: Educating Exceptional
Students
Syllabus
Dr. Stuart
Swenson
Assistant
Professor in Education
Office: Room
300
Hours: Tuesday
12:00 - 4:00, Wednesday 9:00 – 4:00, and by appointment
Telephone: Home: 219-865-3306
Office:
219-473-4271
E-mail: sswenson@ccsj.edu
Course time: Mon – Thur. 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.,
Sept. 15 to October 2
Course Description
Teacher
candidates will explore the physical, psychological and social nature of the
various exceptionalities described in the Federal special education law. Also included is the process of
identification, diagnosis, education and treatment focusing on the continuum of
services. A critical aspect of this
course includes the problems in special education labeling and programming
which every serious student must deal with before engaging in the
classroom. These issues will be applied
to every topic throughout the course.
Prerequisites: EDU 100, 200, 300, 311, 342 and 370
Principal Objectives:
The teacher
candidate will gain knowledge, through reflection and practical experiences
with the following concepts associated with meeting the educational needs of
students with diverse capabilities and from diverse backgrounds:
Ø
Characteristics
of diverse students and their families
Ø
Legal
aspects of providing educational services
Ø
Instructional
planning and accommodations in the social and educational environments to
facilitate learning
Ø
Individual
differences and assessment
Ø
Problems
with putting the special education endeavor into practice
Related INTASC Principles:
Ø
Principle
2: The teacher understands how children learn and develop, and can provide
learning opportunities that support their intellectual, social and personal
development.
Ø
Principle
3: The teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning
and creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners.
Ø
Principle
4: The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to
encourage students’ development of critical thinking, problem solving and
performance skills.
Textbook:
Vaughn, S.,
Boss, C.S. and Schumm, J.S. (2003). Teaching
Exceptional, Diverse and At-Risk Students in the General Education Classroom,
Third Edition. Boston: Allyn and
Bacon.
Other materials
(to be provided):
Live Learn Work Play (courtesy of the Hammond Public Schools)
Selected journal
articles to be integrated into every aspect of the course.
Attendance:
Attendance is
mandatory and is included in the participation grade. Furthermore, such variables as attendance, participation,
appearance and attitude are all included in the second aspect, “disposition” in
the INTASC principles. Students need to
consider all three aspects of each of the INTASC principles to be learned:
knowledge, disposition and performance.
Classes:
The following
topics will be covered during each of the classroom sessions. Textbook readings will coincide with each
category, but because the classes are not necessarily organized in terms of the
textbook, students will find sections of a chapter covered on one day, and
other sections covered on another day.
September 15: Learning from special education
Internet sources
September 16 and
17: Working with disabled
children: the thin blue line;
Purpose
of special education (IDEA, paragraph 300.1) and the new language of
rehabilitation and special education (Pledger, 2003; Text pp. 2-8); prevalence
(p. 21)
September 18: Problems of special education:
reviewing the literature
September 22: Communication disorders and learning
disability
September 23: Mental retardation/developmental
disability
September 24: Pervasive developmental disorders and
Emotional/behavioral disturbance
September 25: Visual impairment, Hard of Hearing/Deaf impairment
September 29: Physical disabilities
September 30: Other health impaired: ADHD/ADD, Traumatic brain injury,
teaching the margins
October 1: Assessment and Identification, Legal
Issues
October 2: Legal
Issues (continued)
Each student
will receive a copy of the grading rubric before the class, but it will be
available at any time to the student who may have misplaced it or erased it
from the e-mail.
Ø
Before the
10 unit lectures, there will be a pretest based on the reading for the
week. Following each unit, a posttest,
consisting of 5 questions per chapter, will follow. There will be no final exam, but the posttest points are
cumulative, totaling 50 points.
Posttest performance will account for 25% of the course grade.
Ø
Attendance/participation
will account for 15% of the course grade.
Ø
Ten hours
of field experiences are required in this class. We assume that two classroom observations, accounting for 10% of
the grade will account for those experiences.
Students are required to use the Ysseldyke teaching effectiveness
criteria to evaluate the quality of instruction. This document will be due by the last day of the class at the
latest.
Ø
50% of the
grade will be based on the “Happy Valley Parent Handbook”, an assignment that
student teams (of 2) will do as a process assignment during the course. The final copy is due the last day of
class. The full explanation of the
assignment and its conditions will be made available during class, but students
with active e-mail accounts will receive an electronic copy. Students are encouraged to apply the
materials from the lectures and readings to the final product. While this document may be similar to the
one found in school districts, it will be unique, in that it will serve as a
“caveat emptor”, or “buyer beware” to consumers and teachers, designed to
prevent the negative consequences of special education, secondary to the problems
inherent in special education created by law and the continuing practice of
destructive and self-defeating practices.
The
final document will reveal not only student knowledge, but the degree to which
student teams have reflected on the content of the course and understand its
purpose. The final grade will be
determined by how well students show their understanding of the content and how
well they have thought through the difficulties of identification, assessment,
placement and programming of special education, not just their understanding of
legal issues. Unfortunately, many
people have understood special education only as legal compliance: once legal
compliance has been attained, quality programming is in place. While good programming involves legal
compliance, our current understanding of the field shows that teachers must
understand much much more, namely an appreciation of the importance of teaching
and the value of persons.
ACADEMIC
DISHONESTY:
If an instructor
or other Calumet College of St. Joseph personnel find that a student has
plagiarized or been involved in another form of academic dishonesty, the
instructor or other personnel may elect to bring the matter up for judicial
review. The maximum penalty for any
form of academic dishonesty is dismissal from the College. Dismissal from the college becomes a
metaphor of what the student is doing to him/herself relative to the community
at large, and is done to send the difficult but necessary message to the person
that such behavior left unchecked destroys and alienates the person from
society. The procedures for judicial
review are listed under the section of CCSJ handbook that addresses student
grievances.
The issue of
academic integrity is especially critical in the educational cohorts. Students who engage in deceitful tactics are
usually known by their peers, a situation which places everyone in the class in
a vulnerable position and subtly implicates them in the offense. In essence, those engaging in academic
dishonesty place the entire program, including the collective morale, at risk,
not just themselves. If any student has
any questions about any ethical issue, including the proper management of
information, that person is encouraged to discuss the matter with this
instructor or, indeed, anyone on the faculty until he/she is fully satisfied
with how to proceed in the matter.
WITHDRAWAL FROM
CLASSES POLICY:
After the last
day for class changes has passed (see College calendar), students may withdraw
from a course in which they are registered with permission from the faculty
member conducting the course. A written
request detailing the reason(s) for the withdrawal must be filed with the
Registrar. The Registrar must receive
written request for withdrawal by the last day of classes prior to the final
examination dates specified in the catalogue.
Written requests may be mailed to the Registrar or faxed to the College.
… Dropping the course without written permission automatically incurs an “F”
grade for the course. (See refund schedule).