300

SPED-30000 Field Experience 2: Special Education

Candidates complete 50 hours of field experience practice in a community or educational setting. This field experience will focus on developing candidates’ knowledge and skills related to planning and delivering instructional supports and service for students with disabilities. In addition to their field work, candidates meet on campus with their University coach to further their knowledge and development related to the focus of this field experience. The designated mentor and University coach will conduct performance assessments of the candidate during this experience.

1

Prerequisites

2.75 GPA; Consent of Education Advisor

SPED-30300 Development and Characteristics of Learners

This course explores the similarities and differences in human development and the characteristics between and among individuals with and without ELN (exceptional learning needs).  Pre-service candidates will understand how exceptional conditions can impact an individual's learning and behavior including the impact on their families.  An understanding of these learning differences and their possible interactions provide the foundation upon which individualized instruction is designed to provide meaningful and challenging learning for individuals with ELN.
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SPED-30600 Assistive Technology in Education

Assistive Technology (AT) hardware and software supports students with disabilities to improve their learning skills in the general education curriculum.  This course will provide opportunities to learn about various assistive technologies and strategies to enhance the learning success of all students. Candidates will engage in identifying students’ academic needs, facilitating their learning with AT devices and assessing their achievements. Candidates will design, develop, implement and evaluate AT projects for students with a variety of learning needs.
1

SPED-32900 Approaches and Applications for the Multicultural Classroom

This course is designed to explore the goals of multicultural education and aid candidates in developing their own understanding of teaching from a multicultural perspective.  Candidates also acquire an understanding of the importance and process of linking home, neighborhood and community contexts to school and classroom contexts in an effort to promote a bias free learning environment.

1

Prerequisites

2.75 GPA; Consent of Education Advisor

SPED-33100 Classroom and Behavior Management Strategies for All Learners

This course provides an overview of classroom and behavior management theories and strategies. The course emphasizes the knowledge and skills needed to create effective behavior management and intervention projects for students, especially those with behavior problems. Emphasis will be on use of positive behavior support systems. Candidates will examine behavioral principles, procedures and assessment methods necessary for effective programming and are expected to apply skills developed in the course by developing both a classroom management and behavior intervention project to avoid or overcome communication roadblocks and improve a student's problem behavior. Through case analysis, role-playing, cooperative learning, use of technology and field experience, candidates will learn how to apply principles of classroom management to actual teaching situations.

2

SPED-33200 Methods of Teaching in Middle and Secondary Content Areas

This course engages participants in the development of curriculum, instruction and assessment for students with disabilities in literature, social studies, mathematics and science classes at the middle and secondary levels.  Participants will gain both a theoretical and practical skill-set in research-based strategies that are demonstrated to support the learning of students with disabilities in core content areas.  A universal design for learning framework will be used to guide participants in designing curriculum and instruction that is accessible and effective for all learners.  Candidates will develop skills that will allow them to integrate curriculum across subject areas, create effective instructional interventions and effectively collaborate with other professionals providing academic and behavioral support to students with individual learning needs.
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SPED-33400 Transitions and Students with High Support Needs

This course is designed to prepare teachers to support students with disabilities who have high support needs in their transitions throughout the school system, with an emphasis on transition from high school to post-school adult life.  Participants will learn about the laws that shape transition services, the fundamentals involved in transition planning, the development of written transition plans, resources necessary to affect smooth transitions and current issues and best practices.  Emphasis will be placed on student and family involvement in transition planning, team planning, preparatory curricula, inter-agency coordination, community resources, advocacy and systems change strategies.  In addition this course will focus on how to design, implement and evaluate effective teaching and learning experiences for students with high support needs from an inclusive education stance.  Content will focus on using varied assessment measures, developing daily and weekly schedules, planning and implementing systematic instruction from a universal design perspective, evaluating student learning, facilitating inclusive education and teaching academic and social skills along with other life domain skill areas (community, recreation/leisure and vocational).
3

Prerequisites

2.75 GPA; Consent of Education Advisor

SPED-34000 Methods and Content of Teaching Science, Health and Movement

This course focuses on the development of science and wellness methods and instructional strategies for K-12 students.  The course emphasizes how to develop science concepts, use problem-solving strategies and create or use appropriate materials.  Current issues in science education, NSTA Standards, CEC Standards and the Illinois Learning Standards are explored.  Methods of differentiating instruction and assessment to meet the individual needs of students are also examined.  
3

SPED-35200 Methods and Content of Teaching Mathematics

This course focuses on the development of mathematics methods and instructional strategies for K-12 students.  The course emphasizes how to develop mathematical concepts, use problem-solving strategies and create or use appropriate materials.  Current issues in mathematics education, NCTM Standards, CEC Standards and the Illinois Learning Standards are explored. Methods of differentiating instruction and assessment to meet the needs of all students including ELL, struggling learners and already proficient learners are included.  The candidate will learn how to create or use mathematics manipulatives, literature books and technology to teach these concepts.  Candidates will be evaluated on their ability to successfully plan and implement strategies taught in this course.

3

SPED-35300 Early Reading and Writing Methodologies

This course examines the theories and practices appropriate for balanced reading and language arts instruction and assessment at the primary levels (K-3).  The emphasis of the course is on learning important theories as a foundation for sound instruction and assessment decisions that will result in student proficiency with the English language in typical and atypical language development situations and the ability to apply language and thinking skills to many different genres, concepts and situations.  Effective reading, writing, speaking and listening instructional strategies, including those that differentiate instruction and assessment to meet the needs of individual learners and the specific needs of second language learners, will be modeled and practiced.

 

3

SPED-35400 Methods and Content of Teaching Social Studies

This course focuses on research-based instructional strategies, technology, resources, national (NCSS) curriculum standards, Illinois State Standards and Common Core Standards.  The emphasis of this course is on understanding and using the interrelationships among history, geography, economics, politics, sociology, anthropology, psychology and archeology to develop in students an appreciation and responsibility toward citizenship, multiculturalism and a democratic society.  In addition, this course includes planning and organizing for instruction, material selection and evaluation in social studies and multicultural education.  Methods of differentiating instruction and assessment to meet the individual needs of all students.
3

SPED-35700 Exceptional Learners in Inclusive Communities

This course is designed to provide pre-service teacher candidates with the knowledge, skills and foundational underpinnings that are required to identify and instruct exceptional learners in inclusive classroom settings, including students identified as having learning disabilities, emotional-behavioral challenges and/or other disability support needs as described in the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.  Course content and assessments will focus on the characteristics of exceptional learners, the processes for identifying exceptional learners for appropriate services, collaboration with parents and professional colleagues and research-based approaches for designing inclusive classroom settings and instructional/behavioral/assessment strategies and supports for exceptional learners.  This course includes a five-hour field experience.

3

SPED-35900 Assessment for Learning

This course introduces teacher candidates to the assessment of students who may be or already are identified as eligible for special education supports and services. The course content addresses both formal and informal assessment tools and their administration and interpretation as related to classroom needs. Candidates learn about standardized assessments, multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), curriculum-based assessment and measurement, task analysis, functional behavior assessment, and how to generate teacher-designed tests. Candidates will design formative and summative assessments as well as have the opportunity to interpret educational assessment findings and summarize the results for an educational assessment report. 

3

SPED-36400 Partnerships for Inclusive Education

This course is designed to provide participants with the knowledge and skills needed to build and maintain meaningful collaborative partnerships for inclusive education.  Participants will gain an understanding of family and community systems, as well as learn methods for building and sustaining partnerships and trust with these critical stakeholders.  Course topics will also include theories and strategies for effective co-teaching relationships and other collaborative endeavors focused on providing inclusion education for all students.
1

SPED-36600 Special Education Law

This course is designed for intensive investigation and/or study of special education law and policy.  Since the passage of the Education of All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (94-142), and its reauthorization, the rights of students with disabilities have expanded.  LEA's, SEA's and parents have frequently been in conflict over these rights.  To provide effective educational leadership in a complex society, the professional must understand what the law requires; understand how to exercise wisely the discretion of the law and understand how legal disputes can be shaped to advance policy objectives.

1

SPED-36700 Autism

This course provides an introduction to Autism, one of thirteen special education eligibility categories defined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act. Participants will gain an understanding about the IDEIA definition of autism, how students are determined eligible for supports and services under this categorical label, and, in general, what those supports and services can look like in practice. The information will be shared from a strengths-based non-medicalized disability studies stance.
1

SPED-36801 Wksp: Using Mindfulness and Meditation to Live with Integrity

In this workshop, students will explore the history and various techniques of mindfulness and meditation. Students will learn the basics of mindfulness meditation through a series of videos, readings, reflections, and guided practices. This workshop also covers current scientific research on mindfulness and the brain, emotion regulation, and compassion. Because mindfulness presents and effective method to get to know oneself, to reduce stress and anxiety and to live in the present moment, we are better able to react in a more constructive way to conflict and stressful events.
1

SPED-39100 Instructional Planning and Performance Based Assessment

This course explores curriculum design using Understanding by Design (UbD), Differentiated Instruction (DI), and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). UbD addresses the need for content standards and answers the question: "what do we teach and why". DI looks at the how and where we teach our students, focusing on the best practices for each learner. Languages, culture, gender, economic disparity, motivation, disability, personal interests and learning styles as well as home environments are explored. UDL is a learning theory that strives to ensure that the learning environment, including curriculum, assessment and teaching and learning tools promote learning and remove barriers to learning.
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