Overview of Courses in the Undergraduate Childhood Program Your journey to becoming an elementary school teacher continues during the spring semester of your junior and senior year. As in the fall, the methods courses you are now taking in the Undergraduate Childhood/ Childhood Special Education Program (UC/CSEP) are all connected. The coursework and assignments are designed to help you deepen your thinking about: yourself in your evolving role as a teacher; the students you will teach; their parents and the community in which they live; and, the content to be taught to students in grades one to six. In keeping with the mission of the UC/CSEP, “our goal is to prepare competent and confident teachers who will use theory and research to continually refine their teaching practices for the purpose of contributing to a more just society.” To that end, you have been learning about the pedagogy of teaching by engaging in a variety of assignments and class activities on and away from campus. You will continue to do individual as well as small group work and show evidence of mastery of that work through such measures as writing reflection papers, conducting case or child studies, participating in class discussions, poster sessions and presentations, conducting interviews with teachers and children, posting Blackboard responses, developing lesson plans, adapting and designing curricula, taking final exams or pop quizzes and/or creating brochures or PowerPoint presentations that explain concepts you have learned. Instructors will continue to make every effort to coordinate the assignments and their due dates.
In the junior year, a theme across your courses continues to be the role of assessment in teaching and learning. While your Integrating Seminar will help you to make connections between your course work and field experience, in each of your other spring courses – Math, Literacy, Special Education, Science and Health – you will explore the theme of assessment from varied perspectives.
In the senior year, themes across your courses remain an ongoing process of reflection on personal philosophy, commitment to equitable education and an understanding of the history of education in urban environments. In addition, a focus on the integration and adaptability of the content taught in the elementary school to meet the needs of diverse learners is addressed. Time will be spent developing the tools that bring learning to life for children as well as your engaging in activities which put you in the role of teacher as researcher, teacher as lifelong learner. In each of your other spring courses – Language and Reading, Special Education and Integrated Curricula in Children’s Literature, the Arts and Technology – you will explore those themes from varied perspectives.
Development of your professional teaching portfolio bridges your junior and senior years. This spring, you will have an opportunity to continue developing your portfolio using the materials you have been collecting since first semester of your junior year. In your Senior Integrating Seminar, you will have additional opportunities that further prepare you for your job search experience. By integrating educational theory and classroom practice, your coursework in our Program will enable you to develop critical skills and understandings necessary to becoming an effective teacher.
Purpose/Description of the Course
CHDED-UE 1144, Integrated Curricula in Children’s Literature, the Arts, and Technology in Childhood Education, will provide students an opportunity to further explore the integration of different academic disciplines into the elementary-level social studies curricula. Specifically we will consider the integration of the arts, digital technologies, and children’s literature.
Goals Through this course students will:
develop an understanding and awareness of various technologies to integrate into the classroom/curriculum;
continue to examine and implement social justice approaches to teaching;
explore, identify, integrate appropriate children’s literature that include/address themes of multicultural education and social change;
develop an ability to approach and use art in the classroom as a vehicle for learning, expression and social change.
Structure Building on the social justice-multicultural framework that was introduced in the fall, we will go through a series of experiences that expose students to various skills and materials through thematically organized content. This semester our primary thematic focus is Brooklyn: Past, Present & Future. With Brooklyn as our focus we will experience different arts (e.g., portraiture, collage, theater, spoken word), digital technologies (e.g., digital storytelling, using classroom web pages, and digital public service announcement [PSAs] making), and forms of children’s literature (non-fiction, poetry, historical fiction). Course sessions will involve a mixture of lecture, class discussion, guest speakers, and workshops focused on different art forms, digital tools, and literature. The course will culminate with a final curricular project that will be presented at a curriculum fair at the end of the semester.
almustafa, k. Growing Up Hip-hop, Collected Poems 1992 – 2007 (Arrangements are being made with the poet to sell copies of the book in a few weeks. Price is $10.)
Additional pieces of children’s literature will be selected through literature groups later in the semester.
Recommended
Boal, Augusto. Theater of the Oppressed
Freire, Paolo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Perlstein D.H. Justice, justice: School politics and the eclipse of liberalism
Podair, J. The Strike That Changed New York: Blacks, Whites, and the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Crisis
Snyder-Grenier, Ellen. Brooklyn! An Illustrated History
Note: During the semester, some additional readings and handouts will be provided as PDFs that will be available through the class wiki. Students will be notified in this instance.
Field Requirement The course does not have any assignments specifically connected to your field placements. Please note that there will be some class sessions that will be field trips, that may occur during hours that are different from our scheduled course times. More information regarding our field trips will follow.
Course Requirements The requirements germane to successful completion of this course are discussed below.
Attendance: Each session includes collaborative building of concepts and knowledge. It is crucial that you attend all sessions. In the event that an unavoidable absence occurs, you must inform your course instructor in advance. For any class missed, you must speak with three class members and write a summary of what happened in your absence on the class wiki. You must also email any assignments to your instructor on their correct due date- not the day you return to class.
If you miss more than 2 classes for any (excused or unexcused) reason, your grade will be lowered by no less than one grade level.
7.5
Class Participation: Our work this semester will continue to require an atmosphere of mutual respect and understanding. Students should be able and willing to answer questions, contribute positively to class discussions, and listen openly to the experiences and ideas of others (see Class Norms). Successful participants make an honest effort to understand issues and viewpoints of others. Some assignments will be group projects and your accountability to the group is essential. This will include creating a collective timeline of Brooklyn on our wikipage (more information will follow)
7.5
Wiki Discussion: On most weeks you will be expected to participate in a discussion on our wiki page. Discussions will be based on a prompt that follows up on readings, activities, and/or class discussions. You are responsible for posting your own response to the prompt, and then you are to make comments/engage in discussion with at least two other colleagues. Postings and discussions must be completed by noon one week after the discussion prompt is assigned.
15
Children’s Literature Circles: Following literature circle work you experienced in your junior year, your final project groups will select one piece of nonfiction and one piece of fiction for children that is relevant to your final project topic. Group members will allocate roles and responsibilities amongst themselves. Literature Circle Group discussions will be held on the wiki. In addition groups will be responsible for integrating these two texts into your final projects (more information on this task will follow)
15
Mid-term Research Paper: A 3-5 page research paper that discusses a theme/topic related to your final project
20
Digital Story: Revisiting our Racial-Cultural autobiography, one of the digital media tools we will be exploring this semester is the Digital Story. To conclude this learning experience you will revisit, and build from, to re-present your autobiography from the fall through digital story.
10
Final Curriculum Project: In groups, you will design a multicultural social studies curricular project that is focused on our Brooklyn theme, and integrates the arts, digital technologies and children’s literature. More details about this will be shared in a few weeks.
25
Total
100
Grading Policy / Grading Rubrics Each assignment will be assessed using a rubric created by the two instructors. Rubrics will be posted in the weeks prior to the due date of different assignments.
Statement for Students with Special Needs Any student attending NYU who needs an accommodation due to a chronic, psychological, visual, mobility and/or learning disability, or is Deaf or Hard of Hearing should register with the Moses Center for Students with Disabilities at 212 998-4980, 240 Greene Street,__www.nyu.edu/csd__ Statement of Academic Integrity The following is adapted from the NYU Steinhardt Student’s Guide (p. 24) and from the Policies and Procedures of the NYU Expository Writing Program (available from http://www.nyu.edu/cas/ewp/html/policies_procedures.html):
The relationship between students and faculty is the keystone of the educational experience in the Steinhardt School at New York University. This relationship takes an honor code for granted. Mutual trust, respect, and responsibility are foundational requirements. Thus, how you learn is as important as what you learn. A University education aims not only to produce high quality scholars but also to cultivate honorable citizens.
Academic integrity is the guiding principle for all that you do; from taking exams, making oral presentations, to writing term papers. It requires that you recognize and acknowledge information derived from others, and take credit only for ideas and work that are yours. You violate the principle of academic integrity when you: • cheat on an exam; • submit the same work for two or more different courses without the knowledge and the permission of all professors involved; • receive help on a take-home examination that calls for independent work; • “collaborate" with other students who then submit the same paper under their individual names; • give permission to another student to use your work for a class; and, • plagiarize.
Plagiarism, one of the gravest forms of academic dishonesty in university life, whether intended or not, is academic fraud. In a community of scholars, whose members are teaching, learning, and discovering knowledge, plagiarism cannot be tolerated. Plagiarism is failure to properly assign authorship to a paper, a document, an oral presentation, a musical score, and/or other materials, which are not your original work.
You plagiarize when, without proper attribution, you do any of the following: • Copy verbatim from a book, an article, or other media; • Download documents from the Internet; • Purchase documents; • Report from others’ oral work; • Paraphrase or restate someone else’s facts, analysis, and/or conclusions; and, • Copy directly from a classmate or allow a classmate to copy from you.
New York University Steinhardt
School of Culture, Education and Human Development
Department of Teaching and Learning
Childhood Undergraduate Program
Spring 2012 – Syllabus
Integrated Curricula in Children’s Literature, the Arts, and Technology
in Childhood Ed
CHDED-UE 1144 - Sections 001 & 002*
Wednesdays 4:55 - 7:25
Sec. 001 – 194 Mercer Rm. 204 Sec. 002 – 194 Mercer Rm. 205
*Check syllabus for room as some days we meet all together
(Whole Group Meeting Locations TBA)
Office hours by appointment
Office hours by appointment
Overview of Courses in the Undergraduate Childhood Program
Your journey to becoming an elementary school teacher continues during the spring semester of your junior and senior year. As in the fall, the methods courses you are now taking in the Undergraduate Childhood/ Childhood Special Education Program (UC/CSEP) are all connected. The coursework and assignments are designed to help you deepen your thinking about: yourself in your evolving role as a teacher; the students you will teach; their parents and the community in which they live; and, the content to be taught to students in grades one to six. In keeping with the mission of the UC/CSEP, “our goal is to prepare competent and confident teachers who will use theory and research to continually refine their teaching practices for the purpose of contributing to a more just society.” To that end, you have been learning about the pedagogy of teaching by engaging in a variety of assignments and class activities on and away from campus. You will continue to do individual as well as small group work and show evidence of mastery of that work through such measures as writing reflection papers, conducting case or child studies, participating in class discussions, poster sessions and presentations, conducting interviews with teachers and children, posting Blackboard responses, developing lesson plans, adapting and designing curricula, taking final exams or pop quizzes and/or creating brochures or PowerPoint presentations that explain concepts you have learned. Instructors will continue to make every effort to coordinate the assignments and their due dates.
In the junior year, a theme across your courses continues to be the role of assessment in teaching and learning. While your Integrating Seminar will help you to make connections between your course work and field experience, in each of your other spring courses – Math, Literacy, Special Education, Science and Health – you will explore the theme of assessment from varied perspectives.
In the senior year, themes across your courses remain an ongoing process of reflection on personal philosophy, commitment to equitable education and an understanding of the history of education in urban environments. In addition, a focus on the integration and adaptability of the content taught in the elementary school to meet the needs of diverse learners is addressed. Time will be spent developing the tools that bring learning to life for children as well as your engaging in activities which put you in the role of teacher as researcher, teacher as lifelong learner. In each of your other spring courses – Language and Reading, Special Education and Integrated Curricula in Children’s Literature, the Arts and Technology – you will explore those themes from varied perspectives.
Development of your professional teaching portfolio bridges your junior and senior years. This spring, you will have an opportunity to continue developing your portfolio using the materials you have been collecting since first semester of your junior year. In your Senior Integrating Seminar, you will have additional opportunities that further prepare you for your job search experience.
By integrating educational theory and classroom practice, your coursework in our Program will enable you to develop critical skills and understandings necessary to becoming an effective teacher.
Purpose/Description of the Course
CHDED-UE 1144, Integrated Curricula in Children’s Literature, the Arts, and Technology
in Childhood Education, will provide students an opportunity to further explore the integration of different academic disciplines into the elementary-level social studies curricula. Specifically we will consider the integration of the arts, digital technologies, and children’s literature.
Goals
Through this course students will:
Structure
Building on the social justice-multicultural framework that was introduced in the fall, we will go through a series of experiences that expose students to various skills and materials through thematically organized content. This semester our primary thematic focus is Brooklyn: Past, Present & Future. With Brooklyn as our focus we will experience different arts (e.g., portraiture, collage, theater, spoken word), digital technologies (e.g., digital storytelling, using classroom web pages, and digital public service announcement [PSAs] making), and forms of children’s literature (non-fiction, poetry, historical fiction). Course sessions will involve a mixture of lecture, class discussion, guest speakers, and workshops focused on different art forms, digital tools, and literature. The course will culminate with a final curricular project that will be presented at a curriculum fair at the end of the semester.
Materials
Note: During the semester, some additional readings and handouts will be provided as PDFs that will be available through the class wiki. Students will be notified in this instance.
Field Requirement
The course does not have any assignments specifically connected to your field placements. Please note that there will be some class sessions that will be field trips, that may occur during hours that are different from our scheduled course times. More information regarding our field trips will follow.
Course Requirements
The requirements germane to successful completion of this course are discussed below.
Grading Policy / Grading Rubrics
Each assignment will be assessed using a rubric created by the two instructors. Rubrics will be posted in the weeks prior to the due date of different assignments.
Statement for Students with Special Needs
Any student attending NYU who needs an accommodation due to a chronic, psychological, visual, mobility and/or learning disability, or is Deaf or Hard of Hearing should register with the Moses Center for Students with Disabilities at 212 998-4980, 240 Greene Street,__www.nyu.edu/csd__
Statement of Academic Integrity
The following is adapted from the NYU Steinhardt Student’s Guide (p. 24) and from the Policies and Procedures of the NYU Expository Writing Program (available from http://www.nyu.edu/cas/ewp/html/policies_procedures.html):
The relationship between students and faculty is the keystone of the educational experience in the Steinhardt School at New York University. This relationship takes an honor code for granted. Mutual trust, respect, and responsibility are foundational requirements. Thus, how you learn is as important as what you learn. A University education aims not only to produce high quality scholars but also to cultivate honorable citizens.
Academic integrity is the guiding principle for all that you do; from taking exams, making oral presentations, to writing term papers. It requires that you recognize and acknowledge information derived from others, and take credit only for ideas and work that are yours. You violate the principle of academic integrity when you:
• cheat on an exam;
• submit the same work for two or more different courses without the knowledge and the permission of all professors involved;
• receive help on a take-home examination that calls for independent work;
• “collaborate" with other students who then submit the same paper under their individual names;
• give permission to another student to use your work for a class; and,
• plagiarize.
Plagiarism, one of the gravest forms of academic dishonesty in university life, whether intended or not, is academic fraud. In a community of scholars, whose members are teaching, learning, and discovering knowledge, plagiarism cannot be tolerated. Plagiarism is failure to properly assign authorship to a paper, a document, an oral presentation, a musical score, and/or other materials, which are not your original work.
You plagiarize when, without proper attribution, you do any of the following:
• Copy verbatim from a book, an article, or other media;
• Download documents from the Internet;
• Purchase documents;
• Report from others’ oral work;
• Paraphrase or restate someone else’s facts, analysis, and/or conclusions; and,
• Copy directly from a classmate or allow a classmate to copy from you.
For a very helpful self-test on what constitutes plagiarism, please visit
http://www.indiana.edu/~istd/practice.html__.