George Mason University s12

George Mason University College of Education and Human Development Early Childhood Special Education Program EDSE 792, Section 003 Early Childhood Final Portfolio (1 credit) Fall 2008: September 2nd and Online

Instructor: Dr. Ilham Nasser E-Mail:[email protected] MSN 4B3 Phone Number: 703-993-4916 Graduate School of Education Fax Number: 703-993-4370 George Mason University Websites: www.taskstream.com Fairfax, VA 22030 Office: Robinson A 329

Office Hours: By appointment

Course Description This course provides an opportunity for students to develop their portfolio. This serves as the vehicle to assess whether they met the standards of their professional organization, the Council for Exceptional Children.

CEHD SYLLABUS STATEMENTS OF EXPECTATIONS The College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) expects that all students abide by the following: Students are expected to exhibit professional behavior and dispositions. See www.gse.gmu.edu for a listing of these dispositions. Students must follow the guidelines of the University Honor Code. See http://www.gmu.edu/catalog/apolicies/#TOC_H12 for the full honor code. Students must agree to abide by the university policy for Responsible Use of Computing. See https://mail.gmu.edu and click on Responsible Use of Computing at the bottom of the screen. Students with disabilities who seek accommodations in a course must be registered with the GMU Disability Resource Center (DRC) and inform the instructor, in writing, at the beginning of the semester. See www.gmu.edu/student/drc or call 703-993-2474 to access the DRC.

RELATIONSHIP OF COURSE TO PROGRAM GOALS AND PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS EDSE 792 is part of the Early Childhood Education Program for teacher licensure in the Commonwealth of Virginia in Early Childhood Special Education. The program aligns with the standards for teacher licensure established by CEC, the major special education professional organization in the United States (see the CEC standards on the following website: http://www.cec.sped.org). This course addresses CEC/NCATE standards by meeting midpoint and end-point evaluations. 2

Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Standards 1. Foundations 6. Language 2. Development and Characteristics of Learners 7. Instructional Planning 3. Individual Learning Differences 8. Assessment 4. Instructional Strategies 9. Professional and Ethical Practice 5. Learning Environments and Social 10. Collaboration Interactions

LEARNER OUTCOMES  Students will complete a final performance-based portfolio that is organized by program specifications in alignment with the CEC core and specialty area standards.  Students will present this portfolio to program faculty.

NATURE OF COURSE DELIVERY This course will include one class meeting and online learning using e-mail.

GRADING Students are graded Satisfactory, In Progress, or No Credit.

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS All written assignments prepared outside of class will be evaluated for content and presentation as graduate-level writing. The American Psychological Association, Fifth Edition (APA) style will be followed for all written work. All written work unless otherwise noted must be completed on a word processor and should be proofread carefully. (Use spell check!) If students are not confident of their own ability to catch errors, they should have another person proofread their work. When in doubt, they should check the APA manual. Portions of the APA manual appear at the Style Manuals link on the Mason library web guide at http://library.gmu.edu/resources/edu/. Expectations Students will 1. Present ideas in a clear, concise, and organized manner. (Avoid wordiness and redundancy.) 2. Develop points coherently, definitively, and thoroughly. 3. Refer to appropriate authorities, studies, and examples to document where appropriate. (Avoid meaningless generalizations, unwarranted assumptions, and unsupported opinions.) 4. Use correct capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and grammar. 3

ELECTRONIC PORTFOLIO COMPONENTS

Students will develop a final electronic portfolio on TaskStream that includes the following components:

Portfolio Creation Description and Rationale Students will write a one- to two-page, double-spaced description of and rationale behind the approach they took to create the portfolio. Students will (a) describe the purpose of their portfolio, (b) explain the process they took to create the portfolio, (c) discuss the role of critical reflection in the process, (d) provide a rationale for the approach they took to create their portfolio, and (e) cite references to support their assertions and decisions.

Reflective Narrative Students will write a reflective narrative that (a) provides insight into their growth, successes, and challenges over the course of the program and (b) discusses the principles that guide and will guide their practice. Students will reflect on who they were at the beginning of the program, why they decided to enter the program, and how their personal context influenced their experiences within the program. As they reflect upon themselves as learners, they will describe their successes and challenges over the course of the program. They will explain how program experiences, coursework, and internships influenced their knowledge, skills, and dispositions. They will discuss the principles that evolved that guide and will guide their practice. (The narrative will be approximately 8 to 12 double-spaced pages at the final.)

Evidence of Meeting CEC Content Standards Students will select and upload into TaskStream artifacts from their coursework and internships that serve as evidence of their meeting the 10 CEC Content Standards. They will organize the evidence around the eight NCATE assessments. By the final portfolio, each NCATE assessment section will contain the required performance-based assessment (PBA) and two additional self-selected artifacts that show how they met the standard/s. In the final portfolio, the same artifact may be uploaded in two different sections and may be used to show how the students met two different standards.

Detailed information about the PBAs and CEC content standards is available in a separate handout.

Reflections on the Evidence For the final portfolio, students will write eight reflections on the evidence (one for each NCATE assessment section of the electronic portfolio). Students will briefly describe the evidence and provide an argument for how the artifacts collectively and individually provide evidence of their meeting the standards. They will reflect on what they learned from the experiences that led to the artifacts, how they applied their learning, and what insights they gained that they can apply in future practice. They will also reflect on what they still need to learn, what they would do differently, and how they will make the changes identified. For the midpoint portfolio, students will begin writing reflections for the sections that contain the five uploaded artifacts. 4 Program Critique Students will write a single-spaced critique of the program based on the information contained in the portfolio and the students’ personal experiences. Students will discuss the components of the Mason program they found helpful and would suggest as experiences for other students in their specialty area. They will also suggest changes they view are needed in the Mason program. This will be anonymous and will be submitted separately from the portfolio. It will not be uploaded to TaskStream.

Readings The following readings can be used to support your portfolio creation description. They can be obtained from Mason libraries’ e-journal finder. Go to http://library.gmu.edu and click on E- Journal Finder. Foote, C. J., & Vermette, P. J. (2001). Teaching portfolio 101: Implementing the teaching portfolio in introductory courses. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 28(1), 31-37. Risko, V. J., Vukelich, C., Roskos, K., & Carpenter, M. (2002). Preparing teachers for reflective practice: Intentions, contradictions, and possibilities. Language Arts, 80(2), 134-144. Yost, D. S., Sentner, S. M., & Forlenza-Bailey, A. (2000). An examination of the construct of critical reflection: Implications for teacher education programming in the 21st century. Journal of Teacher Education, 51(1), 39-49.

Suggested Schedule for Feedback Sept2 Class Meeting: Portfolio Overview October 18 Upload two completed NCATE Assessment (reflection and artifacts) for review. October 31 Upload three completed NCATE Assessments (reflection and artifacts) and revised narrative for review. November 28 Submit final NCATE Assessments (reflection and artifacts), completed portfolio creation description, and final reflective narrative for evaluation. December 8-12 Final Portfolio Review