The Urban Learner

18 Graduate Credit Course Overview………….………………………………1

Session 1: Successfully Teaching Children of Diversity…………………....2

Session 2: Effective Teaching Using a Standards-Based Curriculum

……………………………………………………………..………7

Session 3: Designing a Curriculum for High Stakes Testing ……………..13

Session 4: Aligning Diverse Classrooms for Standardized Testing ………16

Session 5: Closing the Achievement Gap: Assessing, Analyzing Student Reading Skills………….…………………………………………………….……....22

Session 6: Using Data to Develop Curriculum for the Struggling Student……………………….…………………………………………………....27

Knowledge Delivery Systems (KDS) Online Course

Accredited by Touro University Nevada(TUN)

Advanced Studies Certificate Program

18 Graduate Credit Course Overview

Nevada

Closing the Achievement Gap Through Standards-Based Curriculum

Instructor: TUN/KDS

Materials: Internet Connection, printer

Dates: Four Start Dates:

Prerequisites:Bachelor Degree

Number of credits: 18

Courses: 6

Length of each course: 1 month

Length of total Graduate Program: 7 Months

Face to Face Classroom Meeting: – 12 (Twice a month)

Location: Touro UniversityNevada

Total Cost:

Description of Instructor:

Touro University Nevada Faculty member

SESSION 1

Course: Successfully Teaching Children of Diversity

Instructor: TUN/KDS

Email:

Telephone

Materials: Internet Connection, printer

Course: Successfully Teaching Children of Diversity

Course Start Dates:

Location: Touro UniversityNevada

Prerequisites:Bachelor Degree

Number of credits: 3

Course Overview

The purpose of this course is to provide information on diversity and its implications for the classroom to the teacher. Emphasis is on the urban learners, students from generational poverty and English Language Learners. The meaning and use of contextualizing and pluralizing will be an important part of the lessons. Specific ideas for the classroom teacher will be included. Participants will examine the seven types of bias and will plan for identifying and eliminating bias in their classrooms. They will also prepare a lesson that makes modifications for students from generational poverty, the urban poor and English Language Learners.

As the instructor considers the role that the cognitive systems of the brain and how it plays in helping students learn declarative knowledge. The student will also explore why students often struggle with declarative information, suggests strategies and approaches that teachers can use to help students retain and retrieve declarative knowledge.

The course will pay close attention to three memory systems that operate in the brain—the semantic, the episodic, and the procedural—and suggest a variety of practical strategies that teachers can use to engage these systems, increase the ability of their students to retain and retrieve declarative knowledge and focus on strategies that teachers can use to help students learn and use language more effectively.

Students will be offered a set of intervention strategies that have been proven effective in helping students learn new vocabulary. These strategies encourage teachers to help their students adopt systematic approaches to data and texts,and rely heavily on the use of organizers, both linguistic and graphic organizers. The students will be shown the importance of helping students understand the structure of language and how helping students use mental models can increase their ability to learn new vocabulary.

Suggestions will be offered to help students construct personal meaning for their learning and how to help them learn how to organize what they learn in class. Procedural knowledge, she argues, must be taught directly. Teachers cannot depend on students picking up these skills on their own as they are presented with declarative knowledge. She suggests a number of questions teachers should ask themselves about their students command of process skills and about which process skills are important for students to master.

Learner Outcomes:

The student will be able to:

Understand diversity in the classroom and its implications for the classroom teacher.

Identify and determine strategies to eliminate bias in their classroom.

Categorize the seven types of bias.

Prepare lesson plans that will meet the necessary modifications for students in generational poverty, the urban poor and English language Learners.

Explore why students often struggle with declarative information.

Develop strategies and approaches that teachers can use to help students retain and retrieve declarative knowledge.

Instructor Overview

Online Self-Paced Instruction

Knowledge Delivery Systems maintains a online platform that automatically grades their

pre and post assessments, monitors their participation in the lecture, and awards them

credit when they complete the program. KDS also employs a team of educators to

monitor the progress and quality of work students provide.

Face-to-Face live instruction

Touro Faculty Member

Weekly Online Lecture Assignments:

Week 1

Declarative Knowledge and Poverty – Donna Walker Tileston
Teaching Cognitive Skills to Children From Poverty – Donna Walker Tileston

Week 2

Teaching Processes to Students from Poverty – Donna Walker Tileston
Processes Skills and Poverty – Donna Walker Tileston

Week 3

Teaching Decision Making and Problem Solving – Donna Walker Tileston
Changing Behaviors – Donna Walker Tileston

Week 4

Discipline and Poverty – Donna Walker Tileston
Working With English Language Learners – Donna Walker Tileston

Discussion Board:

Students must submit one unique comment each week that must be at least 3 sentences in length.

Students must submit one reply to a fellow classmate’s comment that must be at least 2 sentences in length.

Methods of instruction: Percentage of Course Credit

Methods of instruction will include:

8 individual sections (20 hours)
8 pre assessments 5 %
8 graded post assessments10%
8 Video Lectures30%
Polling questionspart of videos
8, 60-100 pages Study guides Materials Included
Handoutspart of videos
Midterm Project20%
Final Project20%
Discussion Board interaction ( 2 submissions weekly)15%

Grading criteria/system and evaluation activities:

A course administrator will be reviewing students’ answers and providing feedback. Students will be evaluated on their creativity and ability to incorporate techniques from the lecture into the discussion board, research papers, examples and lesson plans.

University Grading Criteria

GradeEquivalent

97-100%A+

93-96%A

90-92%A-

87-89%B+

83-86%B

80-82%B-

77-79%C+

73-76%C

70-72%C-

69% or belowU

Attendance/Participation

Students will be expected to complete assignments as stated in the syllabus.

Due dates of major assignments, projects, and examinations:

Midterm Due Dates: Due 15 days into the Course

Final Due Dates: Due on the last day of class

Discussion Board Interaction: One unique comment and one response to a student’s comments by Sunday of each week.

Text and/or required reading list:

Text: (Included in the price of the program)

Declarative Knowledge and Poverty
Teaching Cognitive Skills to Children From Poverty
Teaching Processes to Students from Poverty
Processes Skills and Poverty
Teaching Decision Making and Problem Solving
Changing Behaviors
Discipline and Poverty
Working With English Language Learners

Web readings:

1. Understanding and Working with Students and Adults from Poverty -

2. Building Blocks For Educating Students From Generational Poverty -

3. School Improvement Through Teacher Decision Making -

Cumulative Project: Part 1

The teacher uses information about the learning/teaching environment and student individual differences to set learning goals, plan instruction and assess learning.

Teacher displays a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of the community, school, and classroom that may affect learning.

Teacher displays general & specific understanding of student differences (e.g., development, interests, culture, abilities/disabilities) that may affect learning.

Teacher displays general & specific understanding of the different ways students learn (e.g., learning styles, learning modalities) that may affect learning.

Teacher displays understanding of students’ skills and prior learning that may affect learning.

Teacher provides specific implications for instruction and assessment based on student individual differences and community, school, and classroom characteristics.

------

Required Components of the Teacher Work Sample

Description and Analysis of the Learning-Teaching Context

Specific components will be completed in each class and put together at the end of the 18 weeks. Each class will build on the last class.

School Characteristics: Provide an overview of important school characteristics including the type of school and grade/subject configuration. Include the major characteristics of the local community in which the school is located. (1 pg)
Classroom Characteristics: Describe the classroom in which you are teaching. Describe the classroom rules and routines, physical arrangements, grouping patterns, and scheduling that may impact learning and teaching in this classroom. Provide diagram of room with seating chart. (2-3 pgs)
Student Characteristics (general): Describe the students in the classroom including number of students and their ages and gender, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, levels of English proficiency, range of abilities and special needs. (1-2 pgs)
Specific Student Characteristics:Collect and report on data regarding student learning styles (Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences) and emotional intelligence (Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence). Include charts or graphs used in data collection if appropriate. (2-4 pgs)
Multidisciplinary Unit Plan:The unit will contain at least three subjects - one lesson plan for each subject. The length of the multidisciplinary unit. Specific modification for the diverse classroom.

Final:

ASSIGNMENT: Assessment Rubric and Mini-Lesson

Based on the strategies and activities presented in this course, create an Assessment Rubric and mini-lesson. The Assessment Rubric should be introduced to students in a mini lesson before a single lesson or unit of study. This should be appropriate for the grade level taught, either an elementary, secondary, or high school classroom. The Assessment Rubric should be designed using the following criteria.

Clearly state between 1-5 levels of proficiency
Clarify and measure stated objectives
Use a range to rate performance
Help to clarify expectations for student learning
Provide self-assessment for student learning
Provide teacher assessment that is in alignment with stated objectives

In addition to the Advance Graphic Organizer write up the following information in 1-2 pages.

Provide background information on your classroom and students for which you have design your Assessment Rubric. Include their grade level(s), and any modifications needed for particular students (i.e.: ELL/ESL or Special Education/ Learning Difference).

Describe the lesson or unit to be taught and the subject matter. Include specific skills and content knowledge that students are expected to understand/master (1-2 paragraphs).

Aligning with state standards, choose 3-5 specific objectives that will be the basis of your Assessment (bulleted list).

Explain how the six criteria listed above will be met using the Assessment Rubric that you have designed (1-2 paragraphs).

After you have created your Assessment Rubric design and conduct a mini-lesson in your classroom to introduce this Rubric to your students. Use technology to present this lesson, either an overhead projector or computer generated projection system so that students can see and interact more fully with the information presented. Please provide a brief outline of your mini-lesson covering the following criteria.

Lesson Objectives (focus on using the Assessment Rubric)
Correlation to strategies presented in this course
Prior Knowledge
Activities
Materials and Equipment (including a graphic organizer and technology used)
Assessment (this should be simple such as observation by instructor and/or a show of hands by students)

Finally, in a 1/2-1-page paper, reflect on your mini lesson, its strengths and weaknesses.

Do you believe students are better able to understand what they need to learn and be able to do after the introduction of this rubric?

Did students give positive/negative feedback?

Was the rubric easy for students to follow or did they appear confused?

How did you deal with any confusion or questions?

How would you modify your Rubric in anyway?

Submit a copy of your Assessment Rubric, your background information, mini-lesson outline and reflection paper.

Scoring Criteria for Assignment

Total Value: 100 Points

Content of Papers – Value: 60 points – Copy of your background information, and reflection paper.

Design of Organizer and Mini-lesson – Value: 30 points– Copy of your Assessment Rubric and mini-lesson outline. Evaluation based on the extent to which students meet the criteria required for the Assessment Rubric and mini-lesson.

Quality of Writing – Value: 10 points – Written work shows superior graduate quality in verbal expression, attention to detail, and correct application of the conventions of the English language. Points and ideas are well organized. Word choice is effective. English language conventions are applied correctly (i.e. spelling, capitalization, punctuation, agreement, pronoun usage, sentence structure).

SESSION 2

Course: Effective Teaching Using a Standards-Based Curriculum

Instructor: TUN/KDS

Email:

Telephone:

Materials: Internet Connection, printer

Course: Effective Teaching Using a Standards-Based Curriculum

Course Start Dates:

Location: Touro University Nevada

Prerequisites:Bachelor Degree

Number of credits: 3

Course Overview

This course will comprehensively cover topics relating to research in neuroscience, psychology, and education that have merged their scientifically based results and support specific strategies in the classroom so that all students can learn. The neurobiology of different brains will be presented and studied.Classroom strategies will be researched and shared in the discussion groups. Discussion groups will evaluate effective standards-based curriculum and compare the curriculum to differentiated instruction model.

This course will comprehensively cover differentiated instruction for the individual students. Participants will learn ways to tap into prior knowledge and build background knowledge as a means to effectively plan, deliver and differentiate instruction to a classroom of diverse learners. This course will also explore the research and practice of grouping strategies that foster community, facilitate the acquisition of language and allow students to process academic language and content in a non-threatening environment. An in- depth look at Interactive Learning Techniques that help to provide students with equal access to the curriculum will be demonstrated and discussed. Vocabulary Research and Development will be addressed to identify key strategies that target both comprehension and usage. Finally, information on Language Acquisition Levels, language behaviors and the development of Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) will be presented.

Learner Outcomes:

The student will be able to:

Understand and explain Brain Compatible Teaching Principles

Comprehend the wiring the Brain For Literacy

Evaluate effective standards-based curriculum.

Make connections between the knowledge of the learner and the knowledge of the teacher.

Use and demonstrate cooperative learning and the English Language Learners

Develop skill to teach particular vocabulary the diverse students.

Implement an Interactive Learning and Text Adaptation for English Language Learners

Put into practice the Multiple Intelligences Theory to increase test scores for all students.

Instructor:

Online Self-Paced Instruction

Knowledge Delivery Systems maintains a online platform that automatically grades their

pre and post assessments, monitors their participation in the lecture, and awards them

credit when they complete the program. KDS also employs a team of educators to

monitor the progress and quality of work students provide.

Face-to-Face live instruction

Touro Faculty Member

Weekly Online Lecture Assignments:

Week 1

Brain Compatible Teaching Principles- Marilee Springer

Wiring the Brain For Literacy-Marilee Springer

Week 2

Making Connections-David Noyes

Cooperative Learning and English Language Learners-David Noyes

Week 3

Vocabulary and English Language Learners-David Noyes

Interactive Learning and Text Adaptation for English Language Learners-David Noyes

Week 4

Multiple Intelligences -David Noyes

The Application of Formal Language and Social Context for English Language Learners-David Noyes

Discussion Board:

Students must submit one unique comment each week that must be at least 3 sentences in length.

Students must submit one reply to a fellow classmate’s comment that must be at least 2 sentences in length.

Methods of instruction: Percentage of Course Credit

Methods of instruction will include:

8 individual sections (20 hours)
8 pre assessments 5 %
8 graded post assessments10%
8 Video Lectures30%
Polling questionspart of videos
8, 60-100 pages Study guides Materials Included
Handoutspart of videos
Midterm Project20%
Final Project20%
Discussion Board interaction ( 2 submissions weekly)15%

Grading criteria/system and evaluation activities:

University Grading Criteria

GradeEquivalent

97-100%A+

93-96%A

90-92%A-

87-89%B+

83-86%B

80-82%B-

77-79%C+

73-76%C

70-72%C-

69% or belowU

Attendance/Participation

Students will be expected to complete assignments as stated in the syllabus.

Due dates of major assignments, projects, and examinations:

Midterm Due Dates: Due 15 days into the Course

Final Due Dates: Due on the last day of class

Discussion Board Interaction: One unique comment and one response to a student by Sunday of each week.

Text and/or required reading list:

Text: (Included in the price of the program)

Brain Compatible Teaching Principles- Marilee Springer
Wiring the Brain For Literacy-Marilee Springer
Making Connections-David Noyes
Cooperative Learning and English Language Learners-David Noyes
Vocabulary and English Language Learners-David Noyes
Interactive Learning and Text Adaptation for English Language Learners-David Noyes
Multiple Intelligences -David Noyes
The Application of Formal Language and Social Context for English Language Learners-David Noyes

Handouts: (Included)