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SEED 3456: Inclusive Education and Teaching Students with Special Needs: Home

OER Spring 2023 Professor Thomas-Clark

Instructor Info

Professor Ingrid Thomas-Clark holding up the book "The Art of Possibility"

  • Instructor: Ingrid Thomas-Clark
  • Email address: IngridTC@brooklyn.cuny.edu
  • Office Hours: 1:45 – 2:10pm on Tuesdays

Course General Info (Updated Fall 2023)

  • Course Number:  SEED 3456
  • Course Section: TQ3-1321
  • Course Name: Inclusive Education and Teaching Students with Special Needs
  • Class Hours: Tuesdays 2:15-4:45pm
  • Class Location: James 5301

Pre-Semester Preperation (New Fall 2023)

*PRE-SEMESTER PREPARATION

  1. Task 1: Introduce Yourself to Your Colleagues. Please introduce yourself to me and your colleagues by posting responses to the following on "Blackboard Discussion Board". In your introduction, please share:
    • Your heritage;
    • A few personal or professional details about yourself that you'd like to share;
    • What you do well;
    • Your hobby/hobbies that give joy to you;
    • What you hope to learn from this course;
    • Name a celebrity/movie star/popular person who has a disability;
    • Describe an individual, who has a disability, that you know;
    • Knowledge and initial impressions for learning about Students with Disabilities;
    • Knowledge and initial impressions about teaching Students with Disabilities;
    • Share your experience with using assistive technologies;
    • The number of courses that you plan to take during this semester.
  2. Task 2: App Lab Assignment:
    • Please bring a mobile device to class if you can: (Android, iOS Apple, Mac, or Windows phone/tablet/computer) to explore built-in features for our first in-class session.

Print Syllabus

Course Goals

The School of Education at Brooklyn College prepares teachers, administrators, counselors, and school psychologists to serve, lead and thrive in the schools and agencies of this city and beyond. Through collaborative action, teaching and research, we develop our students’ capacities to create socially just, intellectually vital, aesthetically rich, and compassionate communities that value equity and excellence, access, and rigor. We design our programs in cooperation with Liberal Arts and Sciences faculties and in consultation with local schools to provide our students with the opportunity to develop knowledge, proficiencies and understandings needed to work with New York City’s racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse populations. We believe that teaching is an art that incorporates critical self-reflection, openness to new ideas, practices, and technologies and that focuses on the individual learner’s needs and promotes growth. Our collective work is shaped by scholarship and is animated by a commitment to educate our students to the highest standards of professional competence.

Objectives, variations, and clinical practice in collaborative, co-teaching methodologies and curriculum development, evaluation, regulatory compliance, and application of early interventions to teaching diverse student populations, with an emphasis on English Language Learners and students with special needs, including the gifted. Planning content area curriculum and assessments that are differentiated and accessible to students with a wide range of abilities. Continuation of portfolio development. Field experience (20 hours) in special education and/or inclusive classrooms required. This course is the same as CBSE 3456. Not open to students who have taken CBSE 3456. Prerequisite: SEED 2001 and 2002

This course will offer the opportunity for students to:

  1. Discuss:
    • Models, theories, philosophies, historical foundations, major legislation, and current issues that form the basis of special education practice;
    • The rights and responsibilities of students, parents, teachers and other professionals and schools related to exceptional learning needs.
  2. Identify:
    • Individual learning differences as well as critical environmental and cultural aspects that may influence these differences;
    • Instructional strategies and resources for teaching individuals with disabilities;
    • Research-supported methods for academic and non-academic instruction of individuals with disabilities;
    • Teacher attitudes and behaviors that influence behavior of individuals with exceptional learning needs.
  3. Explore:
    • How technology [must] be integrated into classrooms to improve learning and participation for all students, especially those with high- or low-incidence disabilities (e.g., learning, physical access, cognition, and communication challenges)” Dr. Mark Surabian; • “Key concepts that influence the pursuit and use of educational technologies for addressing learning challenges in the classroom: Assistive Technology (AT), Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Ableism, Inclusion, and Presuming Competence.” Dr. Mark Surabian.
  4. Reflect on one’s practice to improve instruction and guide professional growth.

Reminder:

Syllabus/Course Requirements are subject to change at the instructor’s discretion and with appropriate notification time to students.

CUNY Policies

Brooklyn College's Diverse Center for Student Disability Services group smiling.
 

The Brooklyn College Center for Student Disability Services external link. is back to working in-person on campus, though you can still reach out via email and phone. Please email them at testingcsds@brooklyn.cuny.edu for assistance.

Location: 138 Roosevelt Hall
Phone: 718.951.5538
FAX: 718.951.4442
Department Office Hours:

  • Monday: 9 a.m.–4:45 p.m.
  • Tuesday: 9 a.m.–4:45 p.m.
  • Wednesday: 9 a.m.–6:45 p.m.
  • Thursday: 9 a.m.–6:45 p.m.
  • Friday: 9 a.m.–4:45 p.m.

Note: Office hours during summer and winter intersession breaks varies.

Students should inform the professor if they have a disability or any other situation that may require Section 504/ADA accommodations.  The faculty and staff will attempt to work out whatever arrangements are necessary.

Please provide your professor with your course accommodation form and discuss your specific accommodation with your professor as soon as possible to ensure accommodations are met in a timely fashion.

In order to receive academic accommodations students must first be registered with the Center for Student Disability Services. Students who have a documented disability or who suspect that they might have a disability are invited to set up an appointment with the Director of the Center for Student Disability Services, Ms. Valerie Stewart-Lovell or the Assistant Director, Josephine Patterson or their general email testingcsds@brooklyn.cuny.edu

Center for Student Disability Services (CSDS) Mission:
It is the mission of the Center for Student Disability Services (CSDS) to ensure that students with disabilities have equal access to all campus facilities, curricula, and activities. The program’s objective focuses on providing students with reasonable disability-related accommodations and the opportunity to maximize their academic success at Brooklyn College. The goal is to ensure an inclusive environment while maintaining and enhancing the college’s academic excellence by providing students with disabilities the opportunity to achieve their highest possible academic potential.

Academic dishonesty of any type, including cheating and plagiarism, is unacceptable at Brooklyn College. Cheating is any misrepresentation in academic work. Plagiarism is the representation of another person’s work, words, or ideas as your own. Students should consult the Brooklyn College Student Handbook for a fuller, more specific discussion of related academic integrity standards.

Academic dishonesty is punishable by failure of the “…test, examination, term paper or other assignment on which cheating occurred” (Faculty Council, May 18, 1954).

In addition, disciplinary proceedings in cases of academic dishonesty may result in penalties of admonition, warning, censure, disciplinary probation, restitution, suspension, expulsion, complaint to civil authorities, or ejection (Adopted by Policy Council, May 8, 1991).

NOTE: If you have a question about how to cite correctly ask your teacher BEFORE submitting your work.

  • The faculty and administration of Brooklyn College support an environment free from cheating and plagiarism.
  • Each student is responsible for being aware of what constitutes cheating and plagiarism and for avoiding both.
  • View complete text of CUNY Academic Integrity Policy and Brooklyn College procedure for policy implementation.
  • If a faculty member suspects a violation of academic integrity and, upon investigation, confirms that violation, or if the student admits the violation, the faculty member must report the violation.
  • Please read the section entitled “Academic Regulations and Procedures” in the Brooklyn College Undergraduate Bulletin or Graduate Bulletin for a complete listing of academic regulations of the College.

Bereavement Policy:

  • Students who experience the death of a loved one must contact the Division of Student Affairs, 2113 Boylan Hall, if they wish to implement either the Standard Bereavement Procedure or the Leave of Absence Bereavement Procedure. The Division of Student Affairs has the right to request a document that verifies the death (e.g., a funeral program or death notice). Contact Email: studentaffairs@brooklyn.cuny.edu
  • Typically, this death involves that of a family member, in parallel to the bereavement policy for faculty and staff. However, it is up to the discretion of the Division of Student Affairs to determine if a death outside of the immediate family warrants implementation of the student bereavement policy.
  •  As an option, and in consultation with the Division of Student Affairs, students may take the Leave of Absence Bereavement after the Standard Bereavement.
  • Reference to the Student Bereavement Policies will be noted on course syllabi.
  • Students requesting a religious accommodation should contact the Division of Student Affairs as well. The chief student affairs officer, or a designee, and the student will engage in an interactive process with the goal of finding an acceptable accommodation.

Bereavement Procedure:

  • Upon approval from the Division of Student Affairs, the student is allowed one week, commencing from the day of notification to the Division of Student Affairs, of excused absence.
  • Should the student feel that he/she needs additional days, these should be discussed with individual course instructors and/or the Division of Student Affairs.
  • The Division of Student Affairs will contact the student’s faculty and academic staff of the student’s courses.
  • Faculty and academic staff will be advised that extensions must be granted to the student for the period of one week of excused absence.
  • Further extensions may be negotiated with the student when he or she returns to campus.
  • Students are encouraged to discuss options with their instructors.

Leave of Absence Bereavement Procedure:

  • Students may be allowed to withdraw from the semester in which the death occurs.
  • The Bereavement Leave of Absence is for one semester only.
  • Students who have opted to take the Bereavement Leave of Absence and have already attended classes for the semester of the leave will be allowed to re-enter the following semester without having to reapply to the college.
  • Students who wish to take the leave of absence prior to the beginning of the semester will be required to reapply for the following semester.
  • Students who are in good academic standing will be given the opportunity to successfully complete the credits for the semester in which they return.
  • Students will consult with the Division of Student Affairs, on a case-by-case basis, as to whether they should withdraw from their courses during this leave of absence or to request incompletes from the faculty member.
  •  Given that there may be a potential impact on financial aid, students who receive financial aid and who take the Bereavement Leave of Absence, upon arrangement with the Division of Student Affairs, will meet with a financial aid adviser prior to taking this option.
  • The New York State Education Law provides that no student shall be expelled or refused admission to an institution of higher education because he or she is unable to attend classes or participate in examinations or study or work requirements on any particular day or days because of religious beliefs.
  • Students who are unable to attend classes on a particular day or days because of religious beliefs will be excused from any examination or study or work requirements.
  • Faculty must make good-faith efforts to provide students absent from class because of religious beliefs equivalent opportunities to make up the work missed; no additional fees may be charged for this consideration.
  • If classes, examinations, or study or work requirements occur on Friday after 4 p.m. or on Saturday, similar or makeup classes, examinations, or study or work requirements will be made available on other days, where possible and practical.
  • The faculty and the administration will not allow any adverse or prejudicial effects to accrue to students availing themselves of this regulation.
  • If students have complaints about the application of this policy, they are entitled to bring action or a proceeding for enforcement of their rights in the Supreme Court of Kings County