This course focuses on the cultural and historical bases of ableism in the U.S., in particular the ways in which ableism operates in schools. We will examine current legal and bureaucratic structures, discourses, and practices of education and learn about the pedagogical supports necessary to provide students access to equitable education in U.S. schools. We will also consider the ways in which disability status intersects with other facets of identity (such as one’s race, ethnicity, class, language background, gender, sexuality, religious [non]affiliation, etc.) to understand how intersections work in tandem in the cultural processes of exclusion in schools.
This course prepares preservice teachers to teach elementary-aged students to read. The course explores the teaching and assessing of literacy for developing readers with an emphasis on providing multiple pathways for students to access and interact with texts and learn to make meaning as they read. Throughout the course, we will investigate teaching practices that build students’ knowledge and flexible use of key dimensions of reading,including alphabetics (concepts of print; phonological awareness; alphabetic principle; phonograms; multisyllabic words), word learning (strategic word learning and high-frequency words), and meaning construction (fluency; vocabulary and oral language development; comprehension and general knowledge). As a part of this, we will also consider how technological tools can support developing readers of all ages. The course is designed to prepare teachers for individual and small group instruction with monolingual and emergent bilingual students.
This course explores the possibilities for building strong classroom communities when students’ behavior is understood as communication rather than defiance and when supports are understood as relational rather than punitive. Course content critiques punishment and reward systems for disciplining and managing students. Punishment systems, behavior modification, and positive behavior support approaches are typically implemented for students with disabilities and youth of color and are exclusionary, oppressive, ableist, and carceral. We’ll examine approaches that focus on compliance and zero-tolerance policies, which are a gateway to funneling youth into the school-to-prison pipeline. Instead, this course emphasizes approaches that build trusting relationships, are culturally sustaining, and inclusive. We will specifically focus on healing practices, restorative justice, conscious discipline, and collaborative and proactive solutions and illuminate how these practices intersect with disability studies, dis/crit, anti-oppressive, and abolitionist principles and pedagogies.
This course offers an in-depth understanding of pedagogic strategies to support the literacy development of students with complex support needs. Students will critically examine current conceptions of literacy development as well as models of literacy instruction that inform the education of students with significant disabilities. Students will explore multiliteracies and multimodalities as a way of understanding literacy as a complex set of social practices. Particular attention is paid to older emergent readers, assessment, and integration of a wide range of assistive technology (AT), including the use of augmentative and alternative communication systems within the literacy curriculum and instruction.
Curriculum and Instruction in Elementary Inclusive Education is an introduction to teaching, learning, and curriculum in elementary classrooms. In keeping with the conceptual framework that undergirds teacher education at Teachers College, the course emphasizes inquiry about children and classrooms, planning curriculum and instruction, and preparing to be social justice-oriented educators. Throughout the semester, we use reflection on our own cultural identities to inventory and analyze our own funds of knowledge and then prioritize our next steps as lifelong learners.
Curriculum and Instruction in Elementary Inclusive Education is an introduction to teaching, learning, and curriculum in elementary classrooms. In keeping with the conceptual framework that undergirds teacher education at Teachers College, the course emphasizes inquiry about children and classrooms, planning curriculum and instruction, and preparing to be social justice-oriented educators. Throughout the semester, we use reflection on our own cultural identities to inventory and analyze our own funds of knowledge and then prioritize our next steps as lifelong learners.
Examines principles of literacy learning in young children and introduces theories, practices, and materials for teaching reading/writing in primary grades in diverse settings.
This course is an introduction to the education of emergent multilinguals. It is designed to prepare educators to teach students who are identified as English Language Learners in classrooms that are not designated as bilingual settings, and it is particularly relevant for monolingual, English-speaking teachers. We will learn about second language acquisition and engage with pedagogical approaches that build on students’ knowledge from asset-based frameworks (e,g., UDL and translanguaging). We will examine historical, legal, cultural, linguistic facets of education relevant to emergent bilinguals and consider the responsibilities of teachers in navigating these areas. We will explore current issues and tensions among research, policies and practices in educating multilingual learners, with particular attention to the forms of intersectional marginalization disabled, multilingual learners experience both institutionally and interpersonally. This 1 credit course is open to students across the College.
A critical study of the social world begins with an examination of our social locations, how we have come to be, and the various forms of expression social life may take. Therefore, in developing and analyzing social studies curriculum, one must be enriched by a multiplicity of perspectives and likewise critical of cultural and social exclusion. In this course, students will engage in work that gives recognition to divergent viewpoints on curriculum; deconstruction of archetypes and stereotypes; power, politics, and the critique of media; controversial subjects; the arts; social action; and future visions for social studies teaching and learning. Course readings, class discussions, reflective assignments, and the culminating project will offer students opportunities to approach teaching as an intellectual and moral endeavor. As the foundation of teaching is believed to emerge principally from the values, beliefs, and thoughts of the teacher, this course is designed to embrace the teacher as both a social being and a professional educator.
This course is designed to acquaint graduate students with the methods of assessment used to identify and program for students with disabilities. The function of a response to intervention model within a multi-tiered system of supports will be explored. Graduate students will reflect on best practices in the early identification and support of learning needs. Students will develop the ability to recognize and respond to the need for individualized intervention within the general education classroom. Students will also learn about the process of evaluation in order to consider eligibility for special education. Individualized Education Program development and progress monitoring will be explored. Issues around the overidentification of students with disabilities and the least restrictive environment will be considered.
This practicum is designed to support students’ learning of course concepts in C&T 4000, Disability, Exclusion, and Schooling. The field component is intended to integrate theory with practice as students examine the cultural, historical, and ideological constructions of disability. The focus is on the New York City Department of Education special education system and practices.
This practicum is designed to support students’ learning of pedagogic strategies and the overall literacy development of students with significant disabilities (grades 1-6). This practicum is offered in conjunction with students’ participation in C&T 5080, Access to Full Participation in Schools. This field component is intended to integrate theory with practice as students examine structural frameworks/models of instruction that regulate the education of students with significant disabilities. Students will work directly with students who have complex support needs. Students are required to spend a minimum of 2 hours each week engaged with this practicum. Students will observe, participate in, and lead classroom activities for a small group and/or for individual students.
Permission required. Students engage in an intensive field placement under the sponsorship of a classroom teacher with supervision shared by the cooperating teacher and Teachers College staff members. Students spend a minimum of 3.5 days in the classroom each week. Classrooms provide experience with younger and older children in various urban settings.
Permission required. Students engage in an intensive field placement under the sponsorship of a classroom teacher with supervision shared by the cooperating teacher and Teachers College staff members. Students spend a minimum of 3.5 days in the classroom each week. Classrooms provide experience with younger and older children in various urban settings.
This course explores, from a disability studies perspective, strategies for developing effective communication and interpersonal interaction skills appropriate for both collaborative and consultative relationships in schools. Focus is on the development of these skills in interactions with both school professionals and family members of students. Particular attention is paid to the development of these skills in ways that are responsive and relevant to people from marginalized groups.
Program Director: Srikala Naraian
Box: 31
Teachers College, Columbia University
308C Zankel Building
Contact Person: Claudia Atkinson, Program Manager
Phone: (212) 678-3695 Fax: (212) 678-3237
Email: preservice@tc.edu