This course explores the process of collaboration and problem solving between students with disabilities, teachers, their families, and outside agencies. It provides an overview of IDEA requirements for students with disabilities. This course will also prepare students to plan for the transition of adolescents and young adults with disabilities from school to future careers, continuing education, and independent living. Students will discover resources for transition assessments and planning, examine community-based agencies and appropriate support services, and explore the role of families in transition planning.

This course is designed to provide teachers with a foundational knowledge of classroom management and behavioral intervention for mild to moderate behavioral challenges. It will also provide strategies to support teachers with diverse classes, including students with disabilities. Prevention and intervention strategies will be examined as outlined in multi-level systems of support (MLSS). Students will utilize behavioral assessments and will acquire resources for successful intervention with problem behaviors.

This course asks students to re-examine their role as one who generates change in the education system by engaging in self-reflection and self-assessment of his/her current classroom best practices. In addition, students will be asked to develop a plan for future professional growth and development, including their pedagogical strengths and their opportunities for improvement. Students will develop of professional development plan as their path to continuous improvement as an educator. Finally, teachers will produce a teaching performance self-assessment that will include videotaped segments to showcase their teaching highlights. The Viterbo values of contemplation, hospitality, integrity, stewardship, and service are expected to be visibly in student work that is submitted for the course.

Effective educational leaders are skilled with interpretation and application of educational research in their local contexts. This course introduces educators to the foundations of educational research and enables them to think strategically when examining the literature about a problem of practice. Students will develop an awareness of the APAs conventions of writing and citation practices that are used across the social sciences. The course culminates with students writing a formal literature review that investigates a self-selected problem of practice.

This course will review and further develop students skills in evaluation of research and increase their understandings of methodologies, techniques, data interpretation, and instructional applications of research.

This course will provide literacy leaders with the opportunity to increase their understanding of instructional approaches and materials related to K-12 literacy programs. The focus of this course will be on research-based, best practices in literacy curriculum and instruction. This course will emphasize strategies regarding how to be in a leadership role for teachers to support their knowledge and instruction in these best practices. A central focus of this course will be developing an understanding of how to support teachers through modeling, co-teaching, observing, collaborative planning, reviewing data, and providing resources for teachers of literacy.

Students in this course are charged with examining the role of an educator as a moral steward. Students will be asked to think about the individual role that they assume in achieving and maintaining a more democratic and ethical society through education. Investigations into controversial ethical issues and dilemmas prepare educators to critically think through potential situations that may arise with students, parents, administrators, and peers. Students will look at the overview of the systemic nature of education and schooling, with emphasis on the role of the teacher. Students will be introduced to the concept of learning in community, and the concept of nurturing and care for the system of education. The lens of the Viterbo values will be utilized and applied to teachers roles in the educational system. These values are contemplation, hospitality, integrity, stewardship, and service. Using these values as a lens, students will review and take a stand on critical issues facing education at the present time.

Typically, this is the culminating course in the Master of Arts in Education program. It provides advanced study on a topic or emerging issue in American education. It is designed to interrogate contemporary issues and their influences on teaching and learning. Students will develop a broad understanding of the different societal and cultural facets that impact PK-12 education. A four-day residency on the Viterbo University, La Crosse, WI campus is required; commencement takes place on the final day of residency. Students must be registered to complete all remaining coursework during the summer in which Proseminar takes place.

This course will focus on the diverse literacy needs of children within the regular education classroom. State and federal legislation concerning inclusion of children with disabilities and the concept of "least restrictive environment" will be studied. An exploration of personal and societal biases will allow teachers increased self-awareness in teaching a divergent population. Appropriate best practices for enhancing literacy in all children will be presented. This course will guide participants understanding of dyslexia and other reading difficulties, as well as, how to assess the needs of students who may have reading difficulties. Strategies will be covered on how to instruct students with dyslexia and reading disabilities in phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and reading fluency.

This course focuses on topics such as identity, social factors of language use, cultural and linguistic diversity, and the many educational contexts in which English learners develop their cultural and linguistic identity in the United States. In addition, this course addresses the many ways that teachers and administrators can apply culturally responsive teaching to support the academic English language development of English learners in their schools.