New York University
Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development
Department of Teaching and Learning
Undergraduate Childhood Program
Fall 2014
Syllabus
Integrating Seminar in Childhood and Special Education I:
Contexts and Learning Environments of Diverse Learners
CHDED-UE 1005.001 and 002 – One Credit
Silver 515 – and 25 West 4th Room C-10
Mondays
5:20 - 6:10 pm
Suzanne C. Carothers, Ph.D.
[email protected]
212-998-5717
Russ Schulman, Ph.D.
[email protected]
917-596-9023
239 Greene Street
East Building, Sixth Floor
Office Hours
Monday 1:00 – 3:30
By Appointment
By Appointment
“If you want to fly, you must leave the nest.
If you want to discover new oceans, you must be willing to lose sight of the shore.”
Description of the Course
This seminar is a year long course designed to encourage the integration of theory and practice.
During the fall semester, it is taken concurrently with your first semester placement as a student
teacher in which you partner with another junior. While you are also doing an on-site seminar at the
school where you are student teaching with other juniors who are placed in the same school as you, this
seminar will build on and broaden ideas germane to understanding the relationship between your
coursework which is preparing you to become a teacher and your classroom practice in your role as a
student teacher.
The seminar involves conversations based on inquiry, reading, as well as the deconstruction of opinions
and ideas of all participants in the class. This seminar will address the role of assessment in learning –
the systematic gathering, analyzing, and interpreting of evidence to determine how well student
learning matches our outcomes and expectations. The role of teachers in this process to ensure that
students have sufficient opportunities to achieve those outcomes will also be explored. States
continue to debate the best way to prepare and assess teachers and accountability in education
continues to be a national discussion. Therefore, we are committed in this course to preparing you to
not only to meet State teacher competencies whether measured by edTPA, (Education Teacher
Performance Assessment) or INTASC (Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium), but
to excel beyond them. Our goal is to prepare you to competently understand and articulate your
practice as a classroom teacher. As teacher measurements will continue to change and evolve over
time, our goal is further to prepare you to competently meet the challenges that you will face as a
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classroom teacher; thereby, enabling you to surpass the standards by which you will be measured
through the new teacher certification requirements.
As we integrate theory and practice throughout the year, four components will be covered in this
seminar.
Ongoing development of a teaching portfolio.
Understanding the make-up of the schooling context.
Understanding the diverse learners in the schooling context.
Planning for learning – understanding the curriculum and lesson planning.
Although the certification requirements are changing, the seminar is the place where students begin
the process of developing teaching portfolios. The seminar also seeks to help students make meaning
of the realities of teaching as it relates to the theoretical and philosophical beliefs about teaching by
addressing such questions as:
What are the important issues related to diverse learners occurring in your field
placement?
How do these issues relate to what you have learned at NYU about education and schools?
How do these issues relate to what you believe about education and schools?
Goals
At the completion of this course, students will:
gain an understanding of standards for teaching and the teacher’s role in connecting standards
to teaching practice;
recognize and foster children’s natural inquisitiveness, learning and engagement in the
curriculum planning process;
uncover the tensions, dilemmas and contradictions that life in classrooms present while
developing skills to address them; and,
understand how the role of assessment affects the teaching and learning process.
Structure
Lively discussion, exchanging ideas and interacting with members of the group are encouraged during
class meetings of this seminar. To create this learning community, your participation in both small and
large group activities is expected. You will integrate readings and discussions with practical application
by doing things such as in-class writing, role-playing and reflections on readings. Your attendance is
critical to the success of the weekly class meetings as well as to your successful completion of the
course
Course Requirements
The requirements for successful completion of this course are discussed below.
1.
Readings. Read assigned texts before coming to class. All readings and/or URL to get
readings will be provided for you. Many opportunities will be available to respond to texts by
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using writing as a tool of thinking on paper about the texts. In small groups, students will be
responsible for leading and participating in seminar discussions.
2. Attendance. As stated above, your attendance is critical to the success of the weekly class
meetings as well as to your successful completion of the course. It is difficult to do well in
this course when you miss class. Please plan your activities so that you can come to class
weekly and on time. If you are absent, make arrangements with a class member to collect
handouts and to share notes. Remember, you are responsible for turning in class assignments
when they are due and for knowing information announced in class whether or not you were in
class or not. You are responsible for in-class work and readings even when you are absent . Each
assignment is due on the designated due date. If you have an excused absence on the day an
assignment is due, your assignment will be due without penalty on the first day you return to
class.
3. Descriptive School Narrative. Investigate the school environment – its people, its resources
and its beliefs. Write a description of the findings.
4. Teaching Portfolio Development. Create the organizational framework for the portfolio and
complete two INTASC Standard entries. Two check-in points.
5. Sociogram. Conduct a study on children in your classroom of who interacts with whom.
6. Descriptive Classroom Narrative and Sketch. Investigate the classroom environment – its
people, its resources and its beliefs. Write a description of the findings and include a sketch
of the classroom layout.
7. Work Submission. All assignments should be word processed unless otherwise stated in class.
Each assignment is due on the designated date. Late assignments will be penalized. You will
loose one letter grade for each day the assignment is late. No extra credit assignments will be
granted.
Grading Policy
This course offers you a wonderful opportunity to develop your academic and professional skills. It is
designed to encourage you to re-examine the ways in which you think about your assumptions
concerning what children are taught in schools and your role in their learning process. Use your time in
the course to get better at something you care about, something that matters to you. You are your
major competitor. Take your work seriously and work hard. Be willing to stretch yourself and learn
things about yourself as a “learner.” Remember, “If you want to grow, you must break out of your egg
shell. If you want to fly, you must leave the nest. If you want to discover new oceans, you must be
willing to lose sight of the shore.”
Challenge yourself to do your very best work – in your written assignments, your oral contributions in
class and in reading carefully, assigned texts. The content and presentation of your work should
represent that which you have invested time and energy as well as given thoughtful and scholarly
consideration. It should be work that you are proud to submit – the kind of work on which you place
your name with pride.
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At the end of the semester, you will complete a Self-Evaluation of your performance in the course.
You will have an opportunity to grade yourself and reflect about what you have done in meeting your
own standards in completing the requirements for the course. Your evaluation will be taken into
consideration in the final grade you earn.
Grading Rubric
Item
Expectation
Professionalism: Attendance,
Participation and Readings
Due: On-going
Mid-term Check-in
Due 10/20/14
Descriptive School Narrative
Due 10/6/14
Teaching Portfolio
Development
Due: First Check-in: 11/3/14
Second Check-in: 12/8/14
Sociogram
Due: 11/10/14
Descriptive Classroom Narrative
and Sketch
Due: 11/24/14
Attend class; engage in the work; share
ideas with classmates; read all texts
prior to attending class; and, be
prepared to write about and discuss
texts in class.
Assess your experience in the course
thus far.
Investigate the school environment -its people, its resources and its beliefs.
Write a description of the findings.
Show evidence of materials collected
for the portfolio; create the
organizational framework for the
portfolio; and, complete two INTASC
Standard entries.
Conduct a study on children of who
interacts with whom; create an initial
probe; develop a listing of who chose
whom; do a tally sheet; diagram the
results; provide a description of
children; and, indicate the implications
of your findings.
Investigate the classroom environment
-- its people, its resources and its
beliefs. Write a description of the
findings and include a sketch of the
classroom layout.
Grade
Percentage
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
Statement for Students with Special Needs
Any student attending NYU who needs an accommodation due to a chronic, psychological, visual,
mobility and/or learning disability, or is Deaf or Hard of Hearing should register with the Moses
Center for Students with Disabilities at 212 998-4980, 240 Greene Street, www.nyu.edu/csd.
Academic Integrity
The following is adapted from the NYU Steinhardt Student’s Guide (p. 24) and from the Policies and
Procedures of the NYU Expository Writing Program (available from
http://www.nyu.edu/cas/ewp/html/policies___procedures.html):
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The relationship between students and faculty is the keystone of the educational experience in the
Steinhardt School at New York University. This relationship takes an honor code for granted. Mutual
trust, respect, and responsibility are foundational requirements. Thus, how you learn is as important as
what you learn. A University education aims not only to produce high quality scholars but also to
cultivate honorable citizens.
Academic integrity is the guiding principle for all that you do; from taking exams, making oral
presentations, to writing term papers. It requires that you recognize and acknowledge information
derived from others, and take credit only for ideas and work that are yours. You violate the principle
of academic integrity when you:
• cheat on an exam;
• submit the same work for two or more different courses without the knowledge and the permission
of all professors involved;
• receive help on a take-home examination that calls for independent work;
• “collaborate" with other students who then submit the same paper under their individual names;
• give permission to another student to use your work for a class; or,
• plagiarize.
Plagiarism, one of the gravest forms of academic dishonesty in university life, whether intended or
not, is academic fraud. In a community of scholars, whose members are teaching, learning, and
discovering knowledge, plagiarism cannot be tolerated. Plagiarism is failure to properly assign
authorship to a paper, a document, an oral presentation, a musical score, and/or other materials, which
are not your original work. You plagiarize when, without proper attribution, you do any of the following:
• Copy verbatim from a book, an article, or other media;
• Download documents from the Internet;
• Purchase documents;
• Report from others’ oral work;
• Paraphrase or restate someone else’s facts, analysis, and/or conclusions; or,
• Copy directly from a classmate or allow a classmate to copy from you.
For a very helpful self-test on what constitutes plagiarism, please visit
http://www.indiana.edu/~istd/practice.html
Important Additional Policies that all students need to be aware of:
NYU Steinhardt’s Grading Policies
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/registration/standards#grading_policies
Policy on Religious Holiday Observance:
http://www.nyu.edu/about/policies-guidelines-compliance/policies-and-guidelines/university-calendarpolicy-on-religious-holidays.html
Student Complaint Procedure: (follow link to page 14-15 of the document)
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/scmsAdmin/media/users/student_affairs/Steinhardt_Student_Guide_2013.pdf
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Weekly
Session
Date
Topic
Session 1
9/8
Introduction
Building Community
Setting Course
Expectations
Session 2
9/15
Inside My Placement
Session 3
9/22
Session 4
9/29
Sessions
Expectations
Due
Assignment for Session 2
Bring an artifact from
your placement.
Artifact
Assignment for Session 3
Read Carol M. Pelletier,
Designing an Interview
Portfolio: Where Do I
Begin, chap. 10
Beginning to Tell your
Story of Teaching: The
Teaching Portfolio as
Evidence
Philosophies of
Education
Discuss Designing an
Interview Portfolio: Where Do
I Begin
Guidelines for Developing a
Teaching Portfolio
Discuss Philosophy of
Education
Sociogram Study
Introduced
Session 5
10/6
Reading/Assignment
Your School, Its
Beliefs, Your Beliefs
Discuss The Daily Grind
Descriptive School Narrative
Due
10/13
Guidelines for Developing
a Teaching Portfolio
(distributed in class)
Assignment for Session 4
Read Myra Sadker
Pollack and David Miller
Sadker, Philosophy of
Education, chap. 9
Assignment for Session 5
Read Philip W. Jackson,
The Daily Grind chap. 1
(Descriptive School
Narrative Due 10/6 )
Assignment for Session 6:
Find out about City and
State Learning
Standards
What do you know about
edTPA?
No Class
Fall Recess
Session 6
10/20
Standards, Standards
and Standards, Oh My!
Discuss
City and State Learning
Standards
Mid-term Check-In
Due
Assignment for Session 7
Bring a lesson plan that
you have written for
discussion
Read Grant Wiggins and Jay
McTighe, Backward Planning,
chap 1
Session 7
10/27
Lesson Planning
Lesson Plan
Assignment for Session 8
Bring in Portfolio items to date
Discuss Backward Planning
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Date
Session 8
11/3
Session 9
11/10
Topic
Portfolio Check-In:
Former Students Share
their Portfolios
Guest Speakers
A Sociogram Study:
Understanding Your
Learners
Due
Portfolio Check-in One
Bring Current Portfolio to
Class
Discuss The Having of
Wonderful Ideas
Sociogram Due
Session 10
11/17
Rethinking the Physical
Environment
Discuss Taking Teaching
Session 11
11/24
Teacher Certification
Guest Speakers
Frank Pignatosi and
Mark Perez
ed TPA talk
ed TPA Update and
Exploration
Combined
Sections
Meet
Session 12
12/1
Session 13
12/8
Seriously
Descriptive Classroom
Narrative and Sketch Due
Room to be determined
Teacher:
the Professional Person
Discuss Developing Teachers,
Portfolio Review
Portfolio Check-in Two
Not Just Techniques
Bring Current Portfolio to
Class
Session 14
12/10
Monday
Schedule
Final Class Reflections
Portfolio Review
Reading Assignment
Assignment for Session 9
Read Eleanor Duckworth
The Having of Wonderful
Ideas, chap. 1
(Sociogram Due 11/10)
Assignment for Session 10
Read Suzanne Carothers
Taking Teaching
Seriously
Assignment for Session 11
To be determined
(Descriptive Classroom
Narrative and Sketch
Due 11/24)
Assignment for Session 12
Read Douglas Heath
Developing Teachers,
Not Just Techniques
Assignment for Session 13
(Portfolio Check-In Two)
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Teacher Certification Exam Course Referral Guide:
CHDED-UE 1005.001 and 002
Integrating Seminar in Childhood and Special Education I:
Contexts and Learning Environments of Diverse Learners
In this course, you can expect to gain knowledge and experience that will assist you in taking your
certification exams in the following ways:
Certification Exam
Academic Literacy Skills
Test (ALST)
Relevant content in this course
Ongoing development of a teaching
portfolio.
Content derived from course readings
and class discussions
Relevant assignments in this course
Descriptive School Narrative
Descriptive Classroom Narrative and
Sketch
Educating All Students
Test (EAS)
Content derived from course readings
and class discussions
Content Specialty Test
(CST)-Multi Subject*
Content derived from course readings
and class discussions
Content Specialty Test
(CST)-Students with
Disabilities**
Content derived from course readings
and class discussions
Sociogram
Ongoing development of a teaching
portfolio.
Content derived from course readings
and class discussions
Guest Speakers:
Frank Pignatosi and Mark Perez
ed TPA Talk
Descriptive School Narrative
Descriptive Classroom Narrative and
Sketch
edTPA***
Sociogram
Descriptive Classroom Narrative and
Sketch
* Taken by students seeking ECE certification and by those seeking ECE/SPCED certification
**Taken only by students seeking dual ECE/SPCED certification
***(Early Childhood for ECE only certification; Special Education for SPCED certification)
For additional information regarding the requirements for and pathways to teacher certification in New York State,
please visit http://eservices.nysed.gov/teach/certhelp/CertRequirementHelp.do