This course provides a three-dimensional model (the group and community building, the intrapersonal, and the interpersonal) for understanding why certain students act irresponsibly inside and outside of the classroom. The group and community building approach (E Schaps, W. Glasser, R. Barth, M. Fullan, and R. and E. Solomon) provides students and teachers with a set of activities that can transform the traditional classroom into a community of learners. The intrapersonal model, based on the theory and research of D. Meichenbaum, A. Ellis, and F. Kanfer and others, focuses on the internal dialogue within students and helps them resolve their inner conflicts, develop more productive self-talk and become more responsible and self-disciplined. The interpersonal approach (D. and R. Johnson, R. and E. Solomon and others) empowers students with the essential pro-social skills for creating more productive, caring and respectful peer and adult relationships. During the course, the participants will experience, discuss, reflect upon and apply in their own classrooms many practical and research-based strategies, skills and activities designed to encourage student responsibility and self-discipline. Self-management, self-instruction, anger reduction, personal decision-making, relationship building, conflict resolution, assertiveness skills, class and team building, and the classroom meeting are some of the topics that will be covered in this course.
This graduate course is designed to give participants a comprehensive, researched-based view of movement and kinesthetic activity as it relates to the teaching and learning process. The implications of movement and kinesthetic activity in this context will be examined from several perspectives including: why and how movement enhances the learning process and the applicability of such programs. Topics include: movement with a purpose, brain function as it relates to movement and thinking, the brain/body connection, explicit and implicit learning, attaching kinesthetic activity to content, brain breaks, the movement/reading connection, games in the classroom using movement, movement and classroom management, fitness and learning efficiency, performing arts, and making concrete application in all classrooms.
With an increasing diverse population and a renewed emphasis on accountability for all students’ success, it is critical that teachers become familiar with and be able to apply the pedagogical research related to differentiating instruction. This course will prepare educators with the knowledge and skills to begin developing instructional designs to increase educational equity and enhance educational excellence. It is designed specifically to enable teachers to use the concept of differentiated instruction in the design, implementation, and analysis of their instructional methodology.
The course will include an investigation of the theoretical background, rationale, and principles of differentiated instruction. Teachers will examine the elements of differentiation and relate them to their classroom setting. Participants will also investigate the related areas of assessment, brain‐based learning, problem‐based inquiries, and effective learning environments.