COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The course is designed to provide teachers with the skills to increase the number of students who succeed in their classes and address learning gaps by designing a learning environment that meets their diverse academic, behavioral and social/emotional needs. It teaches high leverage research based strategies for all students including equity of learning for students of color, ELL, special education, economically disadvantaged. The course is divided into the following parts.

Part 1 of the course provides the candidates with an understanding of the components of differentiated/UDL instruction (content, process, and product). Candidates learn about the varied needs, interests and levels of readiness of students and determine the best strategies to differentiate by learning preference, language proficiency, special needs, cultural influences, gender, and brain development.

Part 2 looks at the skills teachers need to manage the complexity found in their classroom. Many teachers struggle with creating maximum learning for their students because their management skills do not enable them to teach students to work effectively with partners and in groups. Teachers move from the “sage on the stage” using direct instruction to the entire class as the primary mode of instruction to a tiered and differentiated approach in an organized and productive manner. When a teacher is teaching the same concepts to all the students at the same time, there is little opportunity for differentiation or personalized learning for individuals and subgroups thereby limiting the ability to maximize the achievement of all.

Part 3 of the course addresses effective assessment of student learning for differentiation. deeper understanding and personalized instruction, both for regaining closing gaps and for moving forward with new concepts.A teacher is not able to differentiate and implement UDL effectively until he or she is able to pre-assess at the outset of the lesson and then formatively (in-the-moment assess throughout the lesson. Thus enabling the teacher to know the level of mastery of each student during the lesson and at the conclusion of the lesson. It is only through effective assessment that a teacher is able to determine each student’s zone of proximal development as it relates the grade level curriculum expectations. Teachers are then able personalize and deepen learning. Candidates learn to develop differentiated assessments that allow students to demonstrate their level of mastery of new and missing skills/content in various ways. This part also includes the most current research and practice on effective classroom questioning techniques and the development of higher order thinking skills for all students.

Part 4 teaches the candidates to effectively plan differentiated and personalize lessons that identify and address each students learning gaps and new learning. It uses the concepts of understanding by design lesson planning that address the multiple needs of a diverse group of learners. Candidates learn to plan differentiated/individualize activities that meet the needs of students at all levels of mastery (i.e. introductory, guided practice, immediate mastery, mastery, and application mastery).

Part 5 Focuses on learning equity and teaches the candidates to use the myriad of differentiated instruction strategies that are available to meet the needs of varied learners. It includes strategies for closing the achievement gap that exist for students of color, special education, ELL, and strategies for building a sense of efficacy among learners from low economically disadvantage homes.

Part 6 looks at the brain and learning and theories of learnable intelligence. Candidates are taught the most current research on the function of the learner’s brain. They learn to use brain compatible learning strategies (e.g. developing the cognitive context for learning) to maximize student mastery. They also learn effective effort (grit and growth mindset) strategies for working with low motivation learners.

Part 7: looks at how teachers effectively teach English language learners and students with special needs in their general education classrooms.