Social Studies Education - Distance Format (EMAT-GE)

Knowing the individuals in our classrooms, their families, & communities are essential starting points of teaching. Building relationships with learners, learning from them & their experiences, & empowering these in the classroom establishes mutual respect & social contingencies where all class members are contribute to social, emotional, & intellectual growth. Topics include: learner identities, unpacking teacher privilege, intersections of diversity, building on family/community resources, & responding to diversity through individualization.

Where we teach & learn influences how we function & who we engage in the process. This module focuses on various contexts of learning & schooling in urban environments, including classrooms (general, inclusive, & separate); historical contexts; federal, state & local policies that shape learning contexts, learning, & learners. Students will be able to identify models of positive classroom environments, support high expectations of all students, collaborate with families & other professionals, & create caring classrooms for diverse learners.

Module builds on previous units’ focus on knowing learners & the contexts where they learn to develop students’ understanding of their obligations to their diverse learners, & of their teaching environments. Students will be encouraged to explore more complex understandings of teaching & learning than those they may have acquired in their own schooling. They will learn classroom management & self-assessment skills & identify the teaching assets they bring to classroom environments, including their content knowledge & previous leadership experiences

Module introduces fundamentals of curriculum planning & development. Focus will be on creating content-rich curricula that provide culturally relevant learning experiences for students & enable them to connect meaningfully to other content areas & experiences outside the classroom. Students will gain valuable skills in developing curricula that meet content area standards while addressing students’ varied learning needs; providing individualized instruction (including use of IEPs in the classroom); & strategies for authentic assessment.

Course focuses on key pedagogical methods for teaching secondary subject areas, (English, math, science & social studies). Students will learn to design & deliver lesson plans that are content rich, culturally relevant & inquiry based. Topics include methods for differentiating instruction for all learners especially students with disabilities & English language learners.

Course focuses on five overlapping elements: (1) exploring what “English” is in the first quarter of the 21st century ; (2) gaining experience & insight into teaching rich texts; (3) refining research project plans; (4) acquiring a basic toolkit for teaching writing, especially to students who struggle with writing; (5) gaining expertise in teaching texts to students who are diverse in their literacy backgrounds & skills.

Module focuses on various approaches to mathematics teaching & learning & culminates in developing & implementing a unit of study that is meaningful, culturally relevant, & responds to the needs & abilities of diverse learners. Topics include history of mathematics pedagogy, approaches to teaching mathematics, funds of knowledge theory, & models that facilitate mathematical understanding. Students will be encouraged to examine their beliefs about math teaching & gain skills for implementing effective teaching practices for mathematics in grades 7-12.

Module focuses on the fundamentals of developing science curriculum that is meaningful, culturally relevant, & responds to the needs & ability levels of diverse learners. Students will study the history of science & science pedagogy, individualization of curriculum for diverse learners, using models to teach scientific concepts, & teaching science using informal and community resources. Emphasis will be placed on use of scientific models & interactive activities to provoke inquiry-based learning.

This module focuses on developing social studies curriculum that is meaningful, culturally relevant, & responds to the needs & abilities of diverse learners. Topics include key debates in US history, theories of learning & instruction, techniques for stimulating questioning & discussion, & employing assessment in instruction. Students will learn how to develop content-rich lessons that challenge & engage all learners in the classroom while building on learners’ previously acquired skills, abilities, & knowledge in social studies.

Course provides structure for teaching portfolios to demonstrate efficacy in components of the Learning to Teach Framework.

Course provides structure for teaching portfolios to demonstrate efficacy in components of the Learning to Teach Framework.

Course provides structure for teaching portfolios to demonstrate efficacy in components of the Learning to Teach Framework.

Teaching for understanding in each content area requires building students’ abilities to read & write in their discipline. Topics include differences in texts & purposes for reading & writing across disciplines; integrating literacy into lesson planning; specific methods to support literacy; developing academic language; & approaches for teaching students with diverse literacy skills & experiences. In cross-disciplinary & discipline-specific teams, students will gain skills in planning, implementing, and improving their reading & writing instruction.

This course introduces fundamentals of curriculum planning and development for a specific set of learners. Focus will be on creating content-rich curricula that provide culturally relevant learning experiences for students with disabilities and enable them to connect meaningfully to other content areas and experiences outside the classroom. The focus on development of curricula that meet content area standards will address students’ varied learning needs; providing individualized instruction (including use of IEPs in the classroom).

This module introduces students to the legal requirements & educational rights of students with disabilities & includes strategies for working with students with special needs, including the use of IEPs (individualized education plans). Topics include collaboration with colleagues & families; disability as part of the continuum of human development; models of disability; Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) models of special education; & educating students with disabilities during the transition to adulthood.

This module addresses the legal requirements and educational rights of students with disabilities and their families. It explores the role and responsibilities of teachers tasked with providing special education and related services to students with disabilities, primarily through individualized education programs (IEP) that are mandated under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This module explores how to collaborate with colleagues to meet the needs of students with disabilities and adhere to the guiding principles of IDEA.

This Module focuses on developing curriculum that is meaningful and culturally relevant, and responds to the individualized needs and abilities of diverse learners. Topics include theories of learning and instruction, accommodations and modifications for individuals, techniques for improved student performance, and using technologies to promote meaningful instruction. Module explores using learning characteristics to develop content-rich lesson plans to challenge and engage all learners while building on learners’ previously acquired skills, abilities, and knowledge.

This course introduces fundamentals of curriculum planning and development for students with disabilities. Residents will learn how to collaboratively develop, modify, and adapt curricula for students with disabilities in a range of educational settings in teams with general education interns. Residents will also learn to individualized education plans (IEPs) to drive curricular design, implementation, and assessment. Our focus is on middle, high school, and transition-aged youth who are in separate and inclusive learning environments.

This module addresses characteristics and services for students with low-incidence disabilities, including significant intellectual disabilities, multiple disabilities, autism, and sensory disabilities. Our focus is on curriculum and instruction balancing access to grade-level content and inclusion with peers with individualized content that supports functional skills. Instructional methods in varied learning environments including home, school, and community-based settings, related services, and assistive technology are central to course content.

This module focuses on assessment. Topics include formal classroom assessment (for example, tests, writing assignments, & projects); informal classroom assessment (as carried out in classroom discussions, monitoring of small groups, one-on-one observations & discussions, & students’ self-assessment & peer assessment); grading; external standardized assessment. The module also includes preparation for the MAT program summative assessment

Students learn to design and implement theory-informed, context-sensitive, content-embedded, humanizing, and justice-oriented language and content-integrated instruction. Focus on academic language instruction, assessment, differentiation, and co-teaching in various contexts of multilingual learner education. Students explore issues that pertain to specific sub-groups of multilingual learners including newcomers, LTELLs, SIFE/SLIFE and multilingual learners with IEPs.

This module explores the professional responsibilities of teaching in connection with students, colleagues, families, & the school community. Topics include the social responsibilities of teachers, such as anti-bullying education, substance abuse prevention, & HIV/AIDS education; child abuse recognition & reporting; & school violence prevention. Students will gain skills in activating protective resources, advocating for diverse students & their families, working with colleagues & community partners, & supporting empowerment & resilience in the classroom.

Students explore approaches, methods, and techniques used in teaching language and literacy development to multilingual learners. Emphasis on translanguaging pedagogies, literacy development, instructional planning, understanding and meeting the needs of students with IEPs and disabilities, and working with multilingual families.

Explores issues of language learning, language development, linguistics and grammar of American English as it relates to teaching English to speakers of other languages. Emphasis on intersections of linguistics and teaching grammar in diverse U.S. classrooms, including content-based and usage-based grammar, and building metalinguistic awareness of both multilingual learners and teachers. Focus on equity-based, raciolinguistic analysis of language and grammar with respect to varieties of English, multilingual identities, and Black linguistic justice.

This culminating module focuses on participatory action research (PAR), which is one of the programmatic themes. PAR is characterized by a collaborative process of inquiry & action for change in response to organizational or community problems. Interns will learn how to design, create, implement, participate in, & present a PAR program of research focuses on a content area problem as well as learn how to keep the everyday world problematic, how to practice radical listening, & how to be a mindful learner.

This culminating module focuses on a year-long participatory action research (PAR) journey. PAR is a collaborative process of inquiry and action for change in response to organizational or community challenges. Interns engage in a cycle of inquiry that focuses on the process of designing, creating, implementing, and practicing radical listening, and being mindful learners and leaders. Interns reflect on the process and how it helped them develop student leadership, advocacy and voice as leaders. Interns share final presentations using a creative multimodal approach.

This course serves as an introduction to special education. In this module, interns learn foundational content on serving students with IEP’s using inclusive practices. Interns learn relevant special education policy, models of inclusive practices, aligning students’ individualized needs with grade-level content, and how to read and write IEP’s.

his module focuses on creating safe, inclusive, culturally responsive learning environments for all students. We analyze classroom/school culture, climate, routines, strategies, and environmental design of classrooms, and explore the role and responsibilities of teachers providing special education and related services to students with disabilities. Interns explore models of inclusion, develop respect and rapport with students, support high expectations for all students, collaborate with families and professionals, and create caring classrooms for diverse

Literacy is most basically defined as the ability to read and write. More broadly, it is the process of using written and spoken symbols to communicate ideas and interact. We focus on the development of literacy (reading, writing, listening and speaking) in children and ways that teachers can facilitate this with different approaches and resources. We explore theoretical, scientific, and practical issues in literacy with an emphasis on the connections between oral language and literacy, multilingual learners, students with disabilities, working with families.

In this module, emerging teachers are prepared to teach math to diverse learners in various grades. We examine theoretical and practical issues with an emphasis on creating classroom communities where students develop a positive disposition towards the subject. Attention focuses on the development of number sense and student habits to engage productively in mathematical sense-making and problem-solving. We explore pedagogically driven models of learning, use multiple lenses to construct practical, grounded, and equity-based approaches to teaching math.

In this course, students learn to design inclusive science lessons and activities for elementary school learning contexts. Students use a single problem -- water delivery to urban centers -- to apply concepts from a Vygotskian approach to teaching and learning to create, test and revise. Other elementary school science content and connections to equity and justice are explored throughout the course.

In elementary school, social studies plays an integral role in students’ sense of identity and community. Here we explore civic engagement, communities, global awareness, history, current events, and culture. We consider the place and meaning of social studies education and connect content to the needs and diversity of students with IEPs and multilingual learners. We consider diverse perspectives of content, critique and create materials and plans for constructing social studies learning environments that integrate engagement with communities and families.

This module focuses on the development of literacy in middle childhood and the ways teachers can facilitate this development. We examine the theoretical and practical issues with an emphasis on developing academic competence. Literacy is explored as a cross-disciplinary tool for thinking, learning and doing. Students learn how students acquire increasing control over the demands of language in ever-expanding social and academic contexts, how the practices of schooling can support multiple literacies, how to observe processes, and to use this data to inform instruction.

This culminating module focuses on a year-long participatory action research (PAR) journey. PAR is characterized by a collaborative process of inquiry and action for change in response to organizational or community challenges. Interns engage in a cycle of inquiry that focuses on the process of designing, creating, implementing, and practice radical listening, and being mindful learners and leaders. Interns are encouraged to reflect on the process and how it helped them develop student leadership, advocacy and voice as leaders.

Knowing the individuals in our classrooms, their families, and communities is an essential starting point of teaching along with reflecting on our own schooling, learning, and identity. We begin our program in inclusive childhood education with exploring who are our learners and who are we as teachers and learners. We explore issues of identity and intersectionality, child development, the sociopolitical context of schooling, historical contexts of education, working with families, and teaching in and with communities.

This course focuses on assessment as an integral dimension of teaching and learning. Our goals are to examine the role of assessment in designing and implementing IEPs for students with disabilities, and apply evidence-based assessment practices to address learning outcomes and enhance understanding for all students. This course encourages interns to examine the uncertainty that lies at the heart of teaching, and to identify practices that promote equitable learning opportunities for all.