National College of Education

Chicago 83 M.Ed. Cohort

Term II Syllabus

 

CATALOG DESCRIPTIONS:

Students who successfully complete this term will receive credit for the following courses:

Extend and apply conceptual frameworks of curriculum and instruction to more focused areas of study. These areas may occur in special topics or themes such as assessment, grouping practices/tracking, inclusion, integrative curriculum, or technology; concentrated research and application in selected content areas; and/or exploration of primary, intermediate, middle, secondary, and/or adult levels as contexts for curriculum and instruction.

Field study provides you with an opportunity for an organized exploration of a relevant topic, issue, or problem related to your current field of work: i.e., classroom, school, or district. You are encouraged to work with colleagues on site to pursue your exploration.

Discuss the role of culture in the American educational system and how individual and cultural differences (ethnolinguistics, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ability) contribute to the cultural dynamics of the classroom. You examine behavior expectations and learning styles of students of different cultural backgrounds as well as how teacher expectations can affect perceptual judgments of individual students. Suggestions are also given on how to promote learning through effective multicultural classroom management.

This course focuses on teachers as researchers in order to help you experience your classroom as a synamic place of interaction, inquiry, and reflection. You identify and critique relevant literature as you conduct an action research project. Through recursive cycles of planning, implementing, observing, reading, conversing with colleagues, and interpreting, you analyze your data as a means to make meaning of classroom experience.

How Students Acquire and Integrate Knowledge (4 weeks)

Intelligence (2-3 weeks)

• What is Intelligence?

• "How are we smart? VS. How smart are we?

• How do we know students are learning?

Instructional Planning (4 weeks)

• Curriculum Development

• Curriculum Alignment

Instructional Practices (4 weeks)

• Critical decisions/instructional decision making

• Models of Teaching

Assessment (2-3 weeks)

Grading Criteria – To be provided

Due Dates – To be provided

• Attendance and punctuality at all sessions
• Participation in off-site Resource sessions provided by NLU and others as determined by the instructor or class
• Completion of assigned readings in advance of class
• Completion of assignments and submission on established due dates

ASCD. Educational Leadership.

Banks, J. and Cherry Banks (1996). Multicultural Education.

Beane, J. A. (1997). Curriculum Integration: Designing the Core of Democratic Education. Teachers College Press. New York.

Dewey, J. The Child and the Curriculum.

Joyce, B and Marsha Weil (1996). Models of Teaching, 5^th Edition. Allyn & Bacon. Boston.

Meier, Deborah (1995). The Power of Their Ideas. Beacon Press. Boston.

Schmuck and Schmuck. Group Process and Group Dynamics.