Diversity Considerations

            Throughout this course human diversity will be recognized, appreciated, and accommodated. This course addresses the importance of creating positive learning environments using various models of teaching to assist all learners.

Technology Considerations

          Students will use the electronic program Blackboard to obtain and post information as well as complete assessments in this course. Students must use e mail to communicate with the each other, the instructor, and for receipt of their grades throughout the semester.

Course Description

          This course is an introduction to the design and implementation of curriculum for instruction that is adapted to accommodate students’ learning styles and needs. The course foci include  multidimensional learning, goals and objectives, lesson and unit design, effective communication, and motivational strategies. This course embraces the vision of the College of Education and Human Services of students as responsive partners in the study and development of learning and teaching within diverse communities. The course goals reflect this vision.

Course Goals and Objectives

Goal: The student will purposively plan for instruction.
Objectives:

1. The preservice candidate understands learning theory, subject matter, educational standards and curriculum development and knows how to apply this knowledge in planning to meet curriculum goals, standards and the needs of individual students.

2. The preservice candidate knows how to take contextual considerations (students’ prior knowledge, achievement levels, aptitudes, needs, and interests, as well as availability of instructional materials and resources) into account in planning instruction that creates an effective bridge between curricular goals and students’ experiences and needs.

3. The preservice candidate understands the cognitive processes associated with different types of learning (e.g., critical thinking, problem solving and construction, creating, memorization, and recall) and how these processes can be stimulated.

4. The preservice candidate knows factors that affect planning and appropriately identifies when and how to modify plans based on student characteristics and performance.

5. The preservice candidate understands how planning, teaching, learning, assessment, and reflection are related.

6. The preservice candidate differentiates among standards (national and state), benchmarks, goals, and objectives.

7. The preservice candidate selects and develops meaningful learning experiences that address an array of learning and performance modes which are linked to appropriate curriculum goals and standards, relevant to learners and their needs, and based upon principles of effective instruction.

8. The preservice candidate develops short- and long-range plans that are linked to student needs and performances, evaluates effectiveness of the plans, and adapts the plans to meet student needs and enhance learning of all students.

Goal: The student will organize for instruction.
Objectives:

9. The preservice candidate identifies the differences between and levels within the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains.

10. The preservice candidate identifies and explains the essential components that characterize and differentiate lesson and unit plans.

11. The preservice candidate differentiates among facts, concepts, generalizations, principles, rules, laws, theories, and skills.

12. The preservice candidate writes objectives in the different domains at various levels of thinking.

13. The preservice candidate utilizes curricular sources (scope and sequence, standards, performance objectives), as well as student chacteristics, in the planning process.

14. The preservice candidate evaluates how to achieve learning goals by assessing the appropriateness of instructional strategies and materials to achieve instructional purposes and to meet student needs.

15. The preservice candidate develops and implements lesson and unit plans that employ different models of teaching and that integrate a variety of thinking levels and learning styles.

16. The preservice candidate values the need and importance of long and short term planning.

17. The preservice candidate understands that planning, teaching, learning, assessing, and reflecting are intrinsically linked.

18. The preservice candidate believes that plans must be responsive to all student needs and changing circumstances.

Goal: Students will learn a variety of communications techniques.
Objectives:

19. The preservice candidate describes the purposes of questioning in a classroom setting, delineates the characteristics of effective questions, and explains various questioning strategies.

20. The preservice candidate employs different types of questions, levels of questions, and questioning skills.

Goal: Students will present subject matter in appropriate and varied ways.
Objectives:

21.The preservice candidate understands the principles, techniques, advantages, and limitations inherent to different instructional strategies.

22. The preservice candidate differentiates between and discusses various models of teaching

23 The preservice candidate uses multiple teaching and learning strategies to actively engage students in and promote the development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance abilities.

24. The preservice candidate develops a variety of accurate presentations and representations of concepts, using multiple explanations and techniques to assist students’ analytical understanding of concepts and to build linkages with prior knowledge.

25. The preservice candidate creates plans that appropriately link objectives, instructional strategies, learning experiences and resources.

Subject Standards and Florida Accomplished Practices

Sunshine State Standards

            When developing goals/objectives for lesson plans and instructional presentations, students identify one or more standards within the discipline or field that will be facilitated. These standards are available online from: http://www.firn.edu/doe/menu/sss.htm

Florida Accomplished Practices

#2 COMMUNICATIONS

Effective techniques
Positive interaction
Encourages students
Acquires and adapts interaction routines
Practices strategies that support inquiry
Constructive feedback

#4 CRITICAL THINKING

Evokes higher order skills
Identifies strategies to expand students’ thinking abilities
Pose problems, dilemmas, and questions in lessons
Varies instructional role
Encourage creative and open-ended projects

#6 ETHICS

Encourage students’ independent action in pursuant of learning.

#9 LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Understands the importance of setting up effective learning environments and has techniques and strategies to use to do so.

#10 PLANNING

Identifies student performance outcomes for planned lessons.
Plans activities that utilize a variety of support and enrichment activities.
Incorporates the visual and physical environment when planning learning activities.
Helps students develop concepts through a variety of methods.

If you are planning for a year, plant some rice.

If you are planning for ten years, plant a tree.

If you are planning for 100 years, open a school.  Chinese Proverb

Course Policies and Guidelines

College and University Policies for Undergraduate Students

       Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Policy. The College of Education and Human Services complies with ADA requirements in making reasonable accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. Students desiring reasonable accommodations should contact the UNF Office of Disabled Services (Founders Hall 2120; telephone: 904/620-2769) and are encouraged to inform the instructor as early in the semester as possible regarding desired accommodations.

       College Undergraduate Admission Policy. In order to earn credit toward an undergraduate degree in the College of Education and Human Services, students must be admitted to a COEHS undergraduate program of study. Admission to the University does NOT in and of itself constitute admission to a given program of study. Transfer students cannot take more than 14 UNF hours toward any COEHS undergraduate degree without first having been fully admitted into a program of study. Prior to being considered for full admission into an undergraduate program of study, students must (a) submit acceptable scores on all parts of the College-Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) and (b) present official transcripts documenting a cumulative undergraduate GPA of 2.5 or better on a minimum of 60 semester hours from a regionally accredited college or university. Students are encouraged to consult the Undergraduate Catalog and/or contact the College’s Office of Student Services (Schultz Hall 2305; telephone: 904/620-2530) for information regarding admission to a specific undergraduate program of study.

       University Enrollment Policy. Only those students who are admitted to the University are entitled to enroll in classes, and only those students who are enrolled in a given course are permitted to attend class meetings for that course. Sitting through a class without registering does not constitute enrollment. Instructors are authorized to bar students who are not enrolled in a course from attending class sessions until evidence of enrollment is presented to the instructor. Even if unenrolled students are allowed via the instructor’s oversight to remain in a class, university policy prohibits students from being added to a class roster after the reinstatement deadline. The primary responsibility for assuring that a student is enrolled in a course belongs to the student. Students are therefore encouraged to check their enrollment status several times during each semester with an advisor or via the UNF website.

Policies Governing Student Conduct. The University of North Florida has adopted a Student Conduct Code in order to promote responsible behavior for all students and to assure a physically, emotionally, and intellectually safe university community. This code addresses issues that may threaten the safety and order of the university environment and provides procedures and remedies for addressing these issues. Specific issues addressed include, but are not limited to, sexual misconduct; endangerment; harassment; hazing; possession/use of weapons, alcohol, and illegal drugs; damage or destruction of property; malicious mischief; computer misuse; and falsification/fraud. Students who are aware of and/or feel they are victims of any activity in violation of the Student Conduct Code should report the activity to the University Police or the appropriate campus administrator. The conduct code is available in its entirety on the University website.

Instructor Policies

       For accomplishing her instructional goals, the instructor retains the right to modify the seating and group arrangements of the students throughout this course.

You are expected to submit all assignments on time and to arrive on time to each class. Partial attendance in a class meeting will result with partial to no credit, depending on the amount of your participation.

Practice considerate communication with all class participants. Ensure that your discourse with a classmate does not disrupt the learning activities of other members of the class. Ensure that cell phone ringers are audibly turned off during class. Inconsiderate disruption of another’s learning opportunity will result with reduced credit for your class investment on the day it occurs.

For credit, assignments must be complete for submission to the instructor. Use the ratings scale distributed in this class as well as the course syllabus to check for completion of every assignment before you submit it. Ask the instructor for assistance with assignment directions you do not understand. In advance of your planned or unexpected absence, designate at least two classmates to take notes on directions given for class assignments that you miss. Obtain those directions from the classmates and then contact the instructor if you are unclear about work you need to complete due to your absence. Although absences are not excused in this course, make-up work done for a class meeting that you missed may be completed and submitted to the instructor for credit by the next class meeting, or earlier. Missed assessments must be done before, and submitted in, the next class meeting. Contact the instructor in e mail as soon as you know you will miss an assessment and arrangements will be made for its completion within the week that you will be absent from class. Work that you submit outside of class meetings should be taken to the Office of Curriculum and Instruction (second floor), in Shultz Hall, Building 9 to be placed in the instructor’s mailbox. Work submitted under the instructor’s office door may be mistakenly identified as waste by the cleaning staff and disposed before the instructor sees it.

Written assignments must be done only by you unless you have been directed by the instructor to collaborate with one or more classmates for its completion. Preliminary permission for collaborative writing must be obtained from the instructor for course credit. Collaborative writing with others that is submitted solely as yours will be not be accepted for credit in this course. Submission of work that is not solely your own and for which you have not obtained permission from the instructor and coauthor for such collaboration will result in a failure grade.

Papers submitted in any other class for a grade will not be accepted in this class and an attempt to do so will result in a failure grade for this course. Ask the instructor about use of work you have previously completed in another class which might pertain to assignments you must complete for this course.

Plagiarism is against the law and university rules. Any form or plagiarism by a student will likely result in a failure grade for this course and documentation at this university.

Instructions for Written Work

These instructions apply to all written homework including critiques, reviews, reports, research papers, reaction essays, or other papers. All assignments done outside of class meetings, unless otherwise indicated, must be typed. When using direct quotes and citing references, use the rules of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Fifth Edition (2001).

Essays, whether a homework assignment or an in-class activity or the final exam, should include an introduction that states a thesis, a body that develops the thesis, and a conclusion. Attention should be given to correct grammar usage and spelling. All essays must be double spaced with only 12-point font size of text and the use of Italics for offsetting headings or titles of published writing. The following depiction illustrates the essay report format you will use in this class, which is the style of the American Psychological Association (APA).

Assignments

Contemplation Journal

For each week this written assignment is due in class, select one of the precepts of Taoism to contemplate by relating it to your life as (1) a learner and (2) a teacher. In other words, how does that precept influence your thinking about learning and teaching? What does it help you recognize as processes you might use in both roles? You may address informal as well as formal learning processes in your essay for each Taoist precept that you contemplate. To understand each precept and consider how it might relate to learning, read the corresponding writing of Greta Nagel in her book The Tao of Teaching as well as the lengthier translation of that same precept on the Daily Tao web site: http://www.daily-tao.com/

            Each complete essay of this journal assignment will quote the precept you are contemplating and provide a citation and reference for the source of the information that you used. Feel free to read additional literature in any language about Taoism and remember to reference it in the journal essay that you write. Use the precept number for part of this assignment’s title, e.g. “Contemplation Journal: Taoism Precept Number 1.” This assignment will be submitted on paper to the instructor in each class meeting that it is due.

Study of Diverse Learning Processes

1. From multiple resources, obtain information about learning goals and methods of different world regions and cultures than your own. You may focus on two different nationalities or cultural groups

2. Make a comparison chart, in a spreadsheet or other type of file that lets you organize into categories the information that you obtain. Those categories may include, but are not limited to, the following: socialization, citizenship, communication, problem solving, and literacy. In the comparison chart, show both the similarities and differences of the learning goals and methods that you have researched.

3. Write an essay with a minimum of five pages about what you learned. Use the categories of information that you compared in your chart for the subtitles of your essay. Conclude your essay with an Anticipation subtitle and section in which you write about what this information portends towards instruction of learners of the regions you studied. In other words, what would you need to be prepared to do if learners of those cultures joined and interacted with you in the place where you will live and work?

4. Type a reference page of the resources that you used to gather information for your study. This reference page may include literature, media, Internet resources as well as people that you interviewed for this study. The format for writing an interview reference is:

Last Name, Initials, Date, Interview, Location.

Example:
Carter, C. C. (June, 2005). Interview. Jacksonville, Florida.

5. Assembly your study in a Word document. Add the list of references to the end of your essay, after a page break. Place the comparison chart in an appendix that follows the reference section of after another page break. Page breaks are only used to set apart distinct sections of your report and they are not used in the body of your central essay, in which no extra lines are skipped due to double spacing that you will use. Your assembled study will be a minimum of eight pages which includes the following.

            Title page         =          1 page

            Essay               =          5 or more pages

            References       =          1 or more pages

            Appendix        =          1 or more pages

6. Add your study as a message on the Blackboard Discussion forum for this assignment. Post the study as both an attachment and as pasted text in the body of the forum message. The pasted-text posting is for those who have great challenges in opening attachments of different computer languages.

Lesson Plan

1. For one or more designated learning domains and types of students, prepare a lesson plan using the format that is available in the Course Documents link of our Blackboard facility.

2. Carefully write out in serial order (numerical steps) the procedures section of the lesson plan and include simple clear directions that will be provided to the students by the instructor.

3. For cross-cultural accommodation and development, include in your lesson plan examples and learning approaches from our local community (any local culture) in addition to two examples from the following world region or ethnic-American groups: Asian, African, Latino, aboriginal (any indigenous group), Middle Eastern, and Islander (any islands). Identify these multicultural accommodations in your lesson plan.

                                                                       

Unit Plan with Two Lessons

1. For this assignment, use the unit format that is available in the Course Documents link of our Blackboard facility.

2. Write at least two lesson plans for this unit. The lessons should include together through integration in each, or address separately, at least two subject areas and their prescribed standards for instruction. For example, you may write one social studies lesson and one drama lesson for the unit, or you could combine those subjects and their standards in two lessons. Another example might be separate or combined lessons on language arts and math systems that are used for learning and living in different cultures.

2. Include in one or more lesson plans of the unit two lists of questions at different levels. One list will include divergent questions that range from lower to higher order thinking processes. Another list will be one convergent question that is written with decreasing degrees of scaffolding for students who need extra support in oral communication.

3. Assemble your unit plan in a folder that has the following components:

                        Container that securely binds all parts

                        Title page

                        Unit plan/cover

                        2 lesson plans

Learning Review

Create a review of the course content in text and diagrams or other types of depictions to show what you have learned in this class. Incorporate all aspects of this class to explain what you learned its outcomes may be used in your immediate and distant future. Use references for anything that you cite in this review. A minimum length expectation for this review is 12 pages in a Word or Powerpoint document, including the cover page and references. A good approach to this review is its construction throughout the duration of this course. Keep this review on an electronic file, CD, zip, etc., that you can use in class for a review presentation on one aspect of the course content.

 

Evaluation of Student Participation

20 percent of grade

25 percent of grade

25 percent of grade

30 percent of grade

Grading Scale

		%
A	=	95+
A-	=	90 - 94
B+	=	88 - 89
B	=	84 - 87
B-	=	80 - 83
C+	=	78 - 79
C	=	74 - 77
C-	=	70 - 73