Senior Clinical and Portfolio

This course is designed as a preparatory experience to support students during pre-student teaching experiences in a variety of classroom environments. This course integrates prior education coursework, with an emphasis on planning, assessment, and preparation for student teaching. Topics include the process for applying to student teaching, preparation of professional documents, interview skills, assessment, and the development of a portfolio. Clinical experiences on Tuesdays and Thursdays are required. Prerequisite: admission to teacher education program, Corequisites: 355, 405, 413 (elem) or 300 (sec).

Assessment in Education

This course builds teacher candidates assessment literacy by exploring the purpose, design, and implementation of formative, summative, and diagnostic assessments. Candidates learn how to use assessment strategies and tools to check for understanding, monitor student progress, and inform instructional decision making. The course emphasizes alignment between assessment and instruction, effective strategies for providing student feedback, and clear communication of assessment results to parents and the broader school community. Prerequisites: 355, 405, 300 or 413.

Interdisciplinary Methods

This course develops content and methods for interdisciplinary instruction and art integration in the elementary and middle school classroom. Critical thinking, problem solving, and experiential approaches are developed through reading, discussion, active participation, planning, and teaching. Students create interdisciplinary lessons that integrate the arts (theater, music, dance, visual arts) and address content area standards. This course fulfills a pre-student teaching experience requirement for licensure and is restricted to students in the professional degree completion program. Prerequisite: 307.

Behavior Management: Principles and Practices of Positive Behavior Supports

This course is intended to provide an overview of both the principles that undergrid PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) as a philosophy of practice and the practical applications of PBIS as a proactive approach in promoting optimal behavior across schoolwide, classroom, and individual levels. The reauthorization of IDEA in 2004 clearly mandates the use of PBIS as an evidence-based practice aimed at proactively addressing challenging behavior in students with disabilities. A central focus in this course is the application of this evidence-based practice with learners of all ages and abilities across learning environments, in particular students with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Math Curriculum and Methods

This course emphasizes the principles, goals, methods, and strategies for teaching mathematics in elementary and middle schools. Topics include integrating math with literacy, differentiation, knowledge and implementation of curriculum, lesson planning, and assessment. This course fulfills a pre-student teaching experience for licensure. Prerequisites: 255, MATH 255 with C or better, admission to the teacher education program.

Assessment of Students With Special Needs

Assessment serves as a cornerstone of special education, both in terms of eligibility determination and instructional planning. This course will focus on the wide array of assessment methods available for identifying students with disabilities and evaluating their responsiveness to instruction, including norm-referenced tests, criterion-references assessment tasks, curriculum-based assessments and measures, and dynamic assessment. Prerequisite: 290 or PSYC-171, 306 or concurrent.

Curriculum and Assessment, Birth to 6

A study of developmentally appropriate curriculum and assessment practices from birth to age 6 including children with special abilities, disabilities, or developmental differences. There is an emphasis on healthy social and emotional development as foundational to learning; creating supportive environments and experiences that increase each childs learning through play, exploration, and utilization of evidence-based teaching strategies; and developing parent/family partnerships, stating early early learning and academic standards, and focusing on integrated approaches to teaching and assessment in social studies, science, literacy, mathematics and the arts. Field work may be required by instructor. This course is restricted to students in the professional degree completion program.

Diverse Learners

This course explores research-based strategies to increase achievement of diverse PK-12 populations. Students will be required to think critically and reflectively regarding meeting the academic, social, cultural, and emotional needs of a diverse range of students, including English learners and Wisconsins Native American children and youth. This course is restricted to students in the professional degree completion program.

Planning and Implementing Effective Teaching Strategies for Students With Exceptional Educational Needs

In this methods course, students will plan and implement instruction for diverse learners. These strategies are meant to be used in both general and special educational classrooms to improve the learning and academic performance of students who qualify for special education services. Students who enroll in this course will learn to design and differentiate content in ways that it meets the diverse needs of students across a multitude of exceptionalities. The course content will include: (a) instructional design, instructional and assessment techniques; (b) strategies to establish and maintain case records; (c) the use of assessment data to design goals and objectives for learning; (d) information needed in the development of Individualized Learning Plans; and curriculum and instruction to accommodate individual student needs. This course fulfills a pre-student teaching experience for licensure, so filed experience is required. Prerequisites: 290 or PSYC-171, 306, 340, 374 or concurrent.

Inclusive Early Childhood Education

This course is designed to provide an overview of best practices for creating inclusive settings for families and children (birth-six years) with disabilities, developmental differences, and challenging behaviors. Topics addressed include state and federal laws pertaining to children with disabilities/developmental delays; early intervention special education services; family-centered practices; characteristics of physical, cognitive, and communicative disabilities, and behavior/social emotional disorders; serving Dual Language Learners (DLL); positive approaches to discipline/guidance utilizing evidence-based strategies that support self-regulation, health social-emotional development, and address challenging behavior, and curriculum adaptations and strategies to accommodate children with differing abilities in school and community settings. Field experience may be required by instructor. Prerequisites: 237, 271.

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