Course Descriptions
Graduate Program, Licensure
ED 505G - Foundations of Special Education (2 credits)
This course will cover what every teacher should know about Special Education. Topics to be discussed include: special education laws (Section 504, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, and the No Child Left Behind Act), and the preparation, implementation and evaluation of IEPs. Also, there will be a focus on developing a thorough knowledge base of the services provided by other agencies. Field experience required.
ED 507G - Curriculum Instruction and Assessment in Reading and Language Arts (4 credits)
This course focuses on the fundamental principles that inform research-based literacy and reading instruction as defined by the National Reading Panel Report (NRPR), No Child Left Behind. The five areas defined as key to the foundation of reading include phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension instruction. In this course, these areas of study are used as a basic framework from which to address several other topics including assessment (formal and informal), models of reading (cognitive, linguistic, psycholinguistic), best practice, the use of literature and basalbased instruction, the writing process, teaching linguistically diverse students, and the developmental stages of reading, writing and spelling. The course offers students a comprehensive knowledge base to support and extend reading and language arts instruction.
ED 557G - The Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Student with Special Needs (2 credits)
This course will address the learning needs of and teaching strategies for children from culturally diverse backgrounds with limited English proficiency and special needs. Students will learn how to identify this particular population of children and distinguish them from children whose learning needs are primarily based in second language proficiency or primarily in special education, but not both. After learning how to identify this population of children, students will learn teaching strategies to address children’s multiple needs, how to monitor and report progress, and how to collaborate with parents and with resource-providers in their school and in the community.
ED 559G - Current Issues and Trends in ELL (4 credits)
Students will meet in seminar sessions where they will discuss issues and solutions to problems experienced by English Language Learners (ELLs) and their teachers. They will probe current trends in the evolving field of teaching non-native English speakers and begin to describe for themselves the nature of today’s ‘best practices’ for the teaching of English Language Learners.
ED 574G - The Successful & Positive Classroom: Organization, Management and Accountability (2 credits)
Effective classroom organization and proactive management of student behaviors are essential elements of a safe, positive and successful classroom community. In such classrooms, time on learning is maximized, disruptions minimized, self management techniques in place, and expectations clearly set and attainable. In this course, students will examine specific systematic behaviors teachers use to create orderly, cooperative, motivating learning environments that promote student achievement. Social competency programs, peaceful mediation, conflict resolution, assertiveness training, and cooperative learning techniques will be an integral part of the course as will discussions on strategies teachers use to help students interact and communicate effectively, and become responsible and self-reliant, thoughtful citizens. The course will conclude with a brief study of the socio-moral development of children.
ED 575G - Introduction to Early Childhood Education (4 credits)
This Course will introduce students to biological, cognitive, and sociocultural theories of early childhood development from the period of prenatal growth through age eight. This course will examine topics including prenatal growth, infant health, language development, child care and schooling, play, family life, learning assessment, differentiated instruction, and multicultural perspectives of early childhood development as relevant to educational practice. Students will engage in an observational assignment to gain insight into the specific development of young children.
ED 573G - Math Methods for the Elementary School (2 credits)
This course will focus on teaching mathematical concepts and content in the elementary grades. Emphasis will be placed on developmentally appropriate teaching and assessment methods, applications for learning across the curriculum, hands-on experiences, and internet-based activities. Experiences will be linked to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards and the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks for Mathematics.
ED 585G - Information Technology in Education (2 credits)
This course examines the role and use of technology across multiple areas in PreK-12 education, including curriculum design, online learning, strategic planning, instructional practices, and data-driven decision-making.
ED 605G – Methods of Teaching at the Middle and Secondary Level (4 credits)
This course offers an analysis of methods most effective in the middle and secondary classroom. Micro-teaching experiences within the students discipline area will focus on specific components of lesson planning and lesson presentation in keeping with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. The preparation of a subject-area unit will involve the development of activities and strategies in such areas as integration across the curriculum, critical thinking, cooperative learning, and the incorporation of community resources. Particular attention is paid to learning plans that respond to diversity, learning needs, and learning styles of all students, including unit and lesson construction, varied learning strategies, material construction, audio-visual, technology, and classroom evaluation. A 25-hour field-based experience is requires.
GRAD 517 - Word Power (2 credits)
This course is designed to help teachers develop students’ power, mastery, and enjoyment of words. First, we will examine the stages of word development in children from early phonemic awareness to phonics, emergent spelling, reading and writing. The course will examine the strong relationship of vocabulary to reading comprehension. Specific attention will be given to the following: selecting vocabulary to teach, teaching students their own word-learning strategies, assessment, creating word consciousness in word-rich environments, word play, fostering a broad and deep general vocabulary, as well as academic vocabularies, and strategies for helping struggling readers and English Language.
RDG 506G - Emergence of Literacy: Struggling Readers and Writers (4 credits)
This course addresses issues relevant to teaching reading and writing in the schools and a balanced approach to literacy instruction, K-12. Topics include analysis of scientifically based research on reading, reading philosophies, implementation of data driven instruction, differentiated instruction, and reading and writing across the curriculum. Topics include, but are not limited to balanced reading programs, effective literacy blocks, culturally sensitive instruction, vocabulary, comprehension, children’s literature, and technology.
RDG 512G - Diagnosis and Remediation (4 credits)
This course is designed to produce professionals skilled in the administering and interpreting of diagnostic instruments to evaluate literacy learner’s strength and weaknesses. The principles of assessment and instruction of struggling readers will be introduced. Strategies to make decisions about diagnosis, influences on outcomes of assessment as well as corrective remedial techniques will be examined. A pre-practicum will accompany the course.
Graduate Program, Non-Licensure
Higher Education and Community Engagement Programs
ED 630G - Contemporary Issues in Higher Education (4 credits)
This course examines key contemporary issues in higher education, focusing primarily on the American higher educational system. The course provides a historical context and emerging trends, with topics ranging from mission and vision, structure and governance, the funding of public and private institutions, demographic trends, characteristics of faculty, students and curricula, public perceptions of higher education, and the increasing regulatory role of government and accrediting agencies.
ED 685G - Fundraising and Grant Writing (2 credits)
This course examines the critical role of fundraising and development in successful non¬profit organizations. Students learn to analyze, plan, and evaluate a comprehensive fundraising program and to create elements of a professional fundraising portfolio. The course explores management and leadership issues associated with the rapidly changing field of development and philanthropy. Additionally, the course involves the study of concepts relating to the operations function in both planning and writing grant proposals. Federal, state and local governments and private foundations have billions of dollars in grant funding to help non-profit organizations carry out their missions, but demand for these resources has increased tremendously in recent years. If an organization is going to compete effectively for the funds it needs, it must develop and carry out a coherent fundraising strategy. Course presentations and exercises cover differences among funding sources, how to research these sources and match a group’s mission to a funder’s philosophy and a detailed discussion of how to convert an organization’s needs and assets into a successful grant proposal, initiation, planning, executing, controlling, and closing.
ED 690G - Community Engagement: Theory and Practice (2 credits)
This course examines the contemporary community engagement movement – e.g., service-learning, civic and community engagement, community-based research – in higher education. It explores key programmatic issues such as course development, student outcomes, and community partnerships as well as core theoretical questions. The course will focus on the limits and possibilities of community engagement in higher education through multiple frames of reference: technical, cultural, political, and conceptual.