COURSE SYLLABUS

ED 241/242/244: Integrated Core II Block

Spring 2015 – 8 Credit Hours

COURSE DESCRIPTION                                                                                                                                         

This section combines all THREE courses of core II into one integrated experience.  We have structured this section as an intentional exploration of our college’s vision and core values as well as a model of UDL—Universal Design or Learning.  In doing so, we open up our individual teaching practices for examination as we attempt to teach in collaboration instead of isolation and to model environments where creative, intellectual risk-taking can happen.

ED 241—Developmental Theory and Application in Education:  Topics include theories of development and their application at various age levels. Developmentally appropriate practice, as well as a basic introduction to social, moral, emotional, and cognitive development of children is included.  Content is focused on teacher education.

ED 242—Educating Children with Special Needs: Surveys the characteristics of exceptional children and explores methods and materials for teaching and assessing such students.  This course includes a field experience.

ED 244—Concepts of Education: Examines the sociological, philosophical, historical, political, legal, and economic concepts of education.

Note about workload: Have you ever wondered why you must take 12 credit hours to be considered a full-time student? In the US, a full-time work week is considered to be 40 hours.  Therefore, a full-time student should be working on schoolwork for about that many hours each week.  The number of credit hours a course is assigned is based on the number of hours a student spends inside the classroom each week.  So if a full-time student only spends 12 hours (or even18 hours if you’re a typical Butler student) sitting in class, how does that become a truly full-time job?  You multiple by your credit hours by three to determine the number of hours you should dedicate to your studies.  A 12-hour load becomes a 36-hour work week.  Why do we bring this up?  This integrated course is an 8-credit hour experience.  You should expect to dedicate about 24 hours a week to the course inside and outside the classroom.

TEXTS AND/OR INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS                                                                                                     

Required:

Course Website: http://blogs.butler.edu/integratedcore2block/

Johnston, P. (2012). Opening minds: Using language to change lives. Portland, ME. Stenhouse.

Schwarz, P. (2006). From Disability to Possibility: The Power of Inclusive Classrooms. Portsmouth, NH. Heinemann.

Provenzo, E.F.Jr., (Ed.), (2010). The Teacher in American Society: Critical Readings in Literature and Film. Thousand Oaks, CA.            Sage Publishers.

Note: This is a blended learning course which means we are combining learning environments including traditional face-to-face classroom, computer-mediated activities with a flipped learning approach, and site-based instruction.  The computer-mediated activities will be largely self-directed; however, we will provide a schedule to keep you on track.  Online material is not skimable!  You will be accountable for the information presented in the readings and video lectures so take notes, ask questions, and take it seriously.  Face-to-face classroom time will be devoted to activities and assessments that you cannot do without your instructors and peers: collaborative projects, conferences with instructors, and group discussions.  Site-based instruction will offer an opportunity to connect theory into practice by doing project work in schools.

COURSE OBJECTIVES AND STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES                                                                 

Long Range Goals and Objectives

Upon completion of this course, students will:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the complexities and challenges of the profession of teaching.
• Utilize technology for effective teaching and learning.
• Actively and positively, participate in the education of individuals with disabilities.
• Conceptually understand the roles of learning and developmental theories to plan, assess, and implement quality instruction.
• Embrace the complexities and opportunities of diversity in education.
• Utilize the rich history of education to continue the improvement of education for ALL children.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of the community’s role in the education of all children.
• Articulate for themselves which of the College of Education Core Value proficiencies and dispositions they are able to demonstrate and to what degree.
• Articulate an asset-based professional growth plan for entering into Core III coursework.
• Demonstrate professional behavior through preparedness, punctuality, and peer support.

Big Ideas

Interconnectedness of these reoccurring themes:

• • Ethical Agency
  • Connectedness of content, teaching (pedagogy), and technological knowledge
  • Inquiry and Play
  • Communities
  • Context (political, social, cultural, developmental, linguistic)

Enduring Understandings

• Students will understand the foundational and core values that define our College of Education’s vision.
• Students will understand the role and responsibilities of a Butler University College of Education graduate.

Essential Questions

• What is the role of an educator and how did it come to be defined?
• How, where and why do people learn?
• What does planning for the success of all learners look like?

COURSE REQUIREMENTS                                                                                                                                    

Attendance/Participation /Preparation

Consistent attendance is required to obtain the information required to master the content of this course. Collaboration, punctuality, professional courtesy, and a positive attitude are taken very seriously. Every absence beyond two per semester will cause your final mark to be lowered by a half-grade. If you’re late or leave early, that counts as a half-absence.  The only exception to this policy is a university-excused absence, for which documentation must be presented in advance of the missed class when possible. Illness, even with a doctor’s note, does not constitute a university-excused absence.

Conferences (25 points per conference)

Students will participate in individual or small group conferences with a professor to discuss the required reading. Students will demonstrate their level of preparedness by their capacity to hold a professional conversation based on shared reading. Students will turn in the notes they’ve written in preparation for the conference on the day of the scheduled conference.

Book Club Questions (5 points per discussion)

Students will submit 3 clarification or discussion questions derived from the assigned readings for each book club discussion. Questions should be written to promote a conversation which critically evaluates the ideas and theories presented in the reading and addresses how educators might apply the ideas in the school setting.

Reciprocal Teaching (25 points each lesson)

In groups of 4-6, students will research an assigned topic. Groups will use their research to co- teach an interactive lesson to classmates.

Social Imagination Project (25 points)

As an exercise in “social imagination”, students will read fiction and non-fiction surrounding the topic of similarities and differences. Each student will create an artifact that highlights lessons learned from the exercise in social imagination. The project will culminate in a showcase of the artifacts.

Developmental History Project (25 points)

Students will present their life histories in a digital storytelling format and complete a developmental history questionnaire.

School and Community Analysis Project (25)

Students will spend time exploring a school in the local community and will analyze curriculum both explicit and hidden. Students will create a visual artifact, present their findings in class, and submit their field notes.

Case Study Analysis (25 points)

Students will review a case study that focuses on a student with special needs. Students will write an analysis of the study based on guidelines specified on the full assignment description.

Professional Development Plan & ePortfolio (25 points)

The e-portfolio is an electronic platform for students to demonstrate and showcase coursework and experiences for multiple purposes and audiences. It is a cumulative portfolio which means that students should create a single portfolio that they can continually add to, refine, and revise throughout all courses. Specific to the Core II Integrated Block, students will create a professional development plan based on the Four Core Values and the 24 proficiencies (Don’t worry; your plan won’t include ALL the proficiencies). This plan will be housed in the e-Portfolio.

Disposition Assessment

EVALUATION & GRADING                                                                                                                                   

Students will be collaboratively evaluated by both professors. Given that the assignments reflect all three courses, students will receive the same grade in ED 241, 242, and 244.

    Grading Scale

Grade	Percentage
A	94-100%
A-	90-93%
B+	86-89%
B	82-85%
B-	79-81%
C+	75-78%
C	71-74%
C-	68-70%
D+	65-67%
D	62-64%
D-	59-61%
F	Below 58%

 

 

 

 

 

 

Incompletes (grades of “I”) are given at the sole discretion of the instructor(s) and will be given only in the case of very unusual circumstances that arise at the end of the semester and prevent a student in otherwise good academic and dispositional standing from completing the course by the final exam date. A student requesting an incomplete must document a plan of course completion with the instructor and a copy of the plan should be on file in the student’s academic advising folder. Students are advised to retain all graded assignments returned to them.

PROFESSORS’ POLICIES & BELIEFS ABOUT TEACHING                                                                              

Attendance: Persistence trumps talent!

This class is learner-centered and mainly participatory. There is an overt expectation of active participation. We are a community of learners and we are a better community when everyone is fully present. We will start and end class on time. It’s worth repeating: Every absence beyond two per semester will cause your final mark to be lowered by a half-grade.  If you’re late or leave early, that counts as a half-absence.   The only exception to this policy is a university-excused absence, for which documentation must be presented in advance of the missed class when possible. Illness, even with a doctor’s note, does not constitute a university-excused absence, even with a doctor’s note,

Assignments: Do the Work and Make Small Mistakes!

There is no such thing as “make-up” or “absent” or “late” work in college.  This may be one of the biggest differences between high school and college.  If you miss an assignment, you miss the points tied to the assignments.  Turning them in later in the day or emailing them won’t work.

• Reading Assignments: You need to complete the reading before class, and bring in your annotated text for class discussion.  Always bring your text and always expect to be engaged in conversations and questions about it.
• Written Assignments: We know that weird things happen…the weirdest things happen to those who are least prepared.  To avoid any mysterious computer viruses, crashes or curses as well as any printer malfunctions or alien abductions, please make sure you don’t wait until you are on your way to class to print or upload your work.  Also, please don’t email us your work if you aren’t going to be in class. We get about 150 emails a day and we wouldn’t want to lose it in the inbox.  If you are going to be absent, send your work with a classmate.
• Speaking assignments (Class Participation): While 90% of success in life is simply “showing up,” that won’t get it done in a discussion-based course.  Your voice needs to be heard and you need to be prepared to contribute in meaningful ways to the community. The more you participate in class, the better off you’ll be. This involves active listening, positive body language, asking questions, and sharing your thoughts. At the end of the semester, you’ll be asked to provide specific evidence of ways you contributed to the class’s learning…What did you bring to the class that no one else could have?  Engagement, not just compliance.

Office Hours: Professors really do hold office hours, and we really do welcome you to come to them.

This is your opportunity to take control of your own destiny (i.e. see attendance and assignments)!  If you are struggling with the work or with concepts, you need to take the time to show up (before the work is due) and talk to us.  From our view, showing up to seek support prior to the due date is the difference between making an excuse and making an effort.  In rare cases, a student may be granted an extension on an assignment if he/she is in good standing and has made a responsible and well-argued case for the request in advance of the due date. Office hours are the time and place for those kinds of conversations to happen.

General Operating Procedures: Pop the bubble (by being “with” this community, not your own little bubble elsewhere):

• Laptops and texting in class:  As we hope you’ll come to realize early in this semester, we really care deeply about creating conditions and environments where students are connected, engaged, and actively participating in the learning community.  We’ll ask as a courtesy now, please feel free to bring your laptop, but leave it closed during class unless we are all doing something together.  ALSO, please do not text under the table as class is going on.  Even when you’re being discrete, you aren’t being discrete.  It is distracting and takes us out of the “flow”—more on “flow” in the upcoming readings!

• Email Response and “3-before me”:  We do our best to answer emails promptly, but expect a 24-48 hour response time during the week. We try not to check email on the weekend. Please cc both professors on your emails.  Remember that you are part of a larger learning community. Please exchange phone numbers or email addresses with at least three of your peers who will help support you.

• Personal Responsibility: Check your Butler email daily.

• Missing class: If you miss class, utilize all your resources to find out what you missed and what you need to do before next class.  This may sound mean, but if you missed class—even for an excellent, valid (even excused) reason—the responsibility for getting caught up lies with you.  We can’t explain what was missed in a three-hour class over email (or at all, really). You will have missed nothing and everything!

• Changes to the calendar are possible (and probable): We do our best to meet the needs of learners first and foremost.  If something isn’t working, we’ll likely adapt, regardless of the course calendar.  You need to be open to this as a possibility.  Changes will always be in your favor.  The syllabus is a living document and you should treat it as a dynamic course text—open to interpretation and multiple readings.  We’ll announce changes and you’ll need to make note of them.

Beliefs about Teaching

Students are the reason we’re here: Pick People

What it means: While we are scholars and researchers, we are teachers first. We care deeply about creating relationships that provide space for transformative experiences to happen. We believe the most important part of our job is to help students be more willing to take intellectual risks that lead to individual growth.  We’ll always reward intellectual risk taking.

What it doesn’t mean: It doesn’t mean everyone gets an “A.”  College is hard for lots of people and life circumstances, new found freedom, and boundless choices for how to spend your time and energy sometimes make it all that much harder.  We’ll work as hard for you as you’re willing to work for yourself.

Learning is active and transformative: Do the work!

What it means: Our primary responsibility to students is to create an environment where students can take risks.  Engagement (as is disengagement) is a disposition and a choice. Students and teachers must equally engage in the learning.  We commit to coming prepared to class and to being fully present while were together.

What it doesn’t mean: This doesn’t mean that every day will be entertaining or that we won’t have an “off” day. J

The questions are more important than the answers:  Engagement, not compliance

What it means: Curriculum doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Content areas are integrated through meaningful connections, and we cannot know all there is to know.  We’re most interested in modeling an inquiry mindset by learning alongside students and being open to living with uncertainty and yet-to-be-answered questions.

STUDENT SERVICES & OTHER ACADEMIC CONSIDERATIONS                                                                

Academic Achievement and Student Support

It is the policy and practice of Butler University to make reasonable accommodations for students with properly documented disabilities. Written notification from Student Disability Services is required. If you are eligible to receive an accommodation and would like to request it for this course, please discuss it with us and allow one week advance notice. Otherwise, it is not guaranteed that the accommodation can be received on a timely basis. Students who have questions about Student Disability Services or who have, or think they may have, a disability (psychiatric, attentional, learning, vision, hearing, physical, medical, etc.) are invited to contact Student Disability Services for a confidential discussion in Jordan Hall 136 or by phone at 317.940.9308, or by email at sds@butler.edu.

Learning Resources

The Learning Resource Center is a coordination site for services, programs, and resources that promote academic success for all students of Butler University.  Visit the site at www.butler.edu/learning/

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to follow the principles of academic integrity as outlined in the Butler University Student Handbook.