Nevada Closing the Achievement Gap Through Standards-Based
Curriculum
SESSION 1
Course:
Successfully Teaching Children of Diversity
Instructor: TUN/KDS
Email:
Telephone
Materials: Internet Connection, printer
Course: Successfully Teaching Children of Diversity
Course Start Dates:
Location: Touro University Nevada
Prerequisites: Bachelor Degree
Number of credits: 3
Course Overview
The purpose of this course is to provide information on diversity and its
implications for the classroom to the teacher. Emphasis is on the urban learners, students
from generational poverty and English Language Learners. The meaning and use of
contextualizing and pluralizing will be an important part of the lessons. Specific ideas for
the classroom teacher will be included. Participants will examine the seven types of bias
and will plan for identifying and eliminating bias in their classrooms. They will also
prepare a lesson that makes modifications for students from generational poverty, the
urban poor and English Language Learners.
As the instructor considers the role that the cognitive systems of the brain and
how it plays in helping students learn declarative knowledge. The student will also
explore why students often struggle with declarative information, suggests strategies and
approaches that teachers can use to help students retain and retrieve declarative
knowledge.
The course will pay close attention to three memory systems that operate in the
brain—the semantic, the episodic, and the procedural—and suggest a variety of practical
strategies that teachers can use to engage these systems, increase the ability of their
students to retain and retrieve declarative knowledge and focus on strategies that teachers
can use to help students learn and use language more effectively.
Students will be offered a set of intervention strategies that have been proven
effective in helping students learn new vocabulary. These strategies encourage teachers to
help their students adopt systematic approaches to data and texts, and rely heavily on the
use of organizers, both linguistic and graphic organizers. The students will be shown the
importance of helping students understand the structure of language and how helping
students use mental models can increase their ability to learn new vocabulary.
Suggestions will be offered to help students construct personal meaning for their
learning and how to help them learn how to organize what they learn in class. Procedural
knowledge, she argues, must be taught directly. Teachers cannot depend on students
picking up these skills on their own as they are presented with declarative knowledge.
She suggests a number of questions teachers should ask themselves about their students
command of process skills and about which process skills are important for students to
master.
Learner Outcomes:
The student will be able to:
 Understand diversity in the classroom and its implications for the classroom
teacher.
 Identify and determine strategies to eliminate bias in their classroom.
 Categorize the seven types of bias.
 Prepare lesson plans that will meet the necessary modifications for students in
generational poverty, the urban poor and English language Learners.
 Explore why students often struggle with declarative information.
 Develop strategies and approaches that teachers can use to help students retain
and retrieve declarative knowledge.
Instructor Overview
Online Self-Paced Instruction
Knowledge Delivery Systems maintains a online platform that automatically grades their
pre and post assessments, monitors their participation in the lecture, and awards them
credit when they complete the program. KDS also employs a team of educators to
monitor the progress and quality of work students provide.
Face-to-Face live instruction
Touro Faculty Member
Weekly Online Lecture Assignments:
Week 1

Declarative Knowledge and Poverty – Donna Walker Tileston

Teaching Cognitive Skills to Children From Poverty – Donna Walker Tileston
Week 2

Teaching Processes to Students from Poverty – Donna Walker Tileston

Processes Skills and Poverty – Donna Walker Tileston
Week 3

Teaching Decision Making and Problem Solving – Donna Walker Tileston

Changing Behaviors – Donna Walker Tileston
Week 4

Discipline and Poverty – Donna Walker Tileston

Working With English Language Learners – Donna Walker Tileston
Discussion Board:
Students must submit one unique comment each week that must be at least 3 sentences in
length.
Students must submit one reply to a fellow classmate’s comment that must be at least 2
sentences in length.
Methods of instruction:
Credit
Methods of instruction will include:
 8 individual sections (20 hours)
 8 pre assessments
 8 graded post assessments
 8 Video Lectures
 Polling questions
 8, 60-100 pages Study guides
 Handouts
 Midterm Project
 Final Project
 Discussion Board interaction ( 2 submissions weekly)
Percentage of Course
5%
10%
30%
part of videos
Materials Included
part of videos
20%
20%
15%
Grading criteria/system and evaluation activities:
A course administrator will be reviewing students’ answers and providing
feedback. Students will be evaluated on their creativity and ability to
incorporate techniques from the lecture into the discussion board, research
papers, examples and lesson plans.
University Grading Criteria
Grade
Equivalent
97-100%
93-96%
90-92%
87-89%
83-86%
80-82%
A+
A
AB+
B
B-
77-79%
73-76%
70-72%
69% or below
C+
C
CU
Attendance/Participation
Students will be expected to complete assignments as stated in the syllabus.
Due dates of major assignments, projects, and examinations:
Midterm Due Dates: Due 15 days into the Course
Final Due Dates: Due on the last day of class
Discussion Board Interaction: One unique comment and one response to a student’s
comments by Sunday of each week.
Text and/or required reading list:
Text: (Included in the price of the program)
1. Declarative Knowledge and Poverty
2. Teaching Cognitive Skills to Children From Poverty
3. Teaching Processes to Students from Poverty
4. Processes Skills and Poverty
5. Teaching Decision Making and Problem Solving
6. Changing Behaviors
7. Discipline and Poverty
8. Working With English Language Learners
Web readings:
1. Understanding and Working with Students and Adults from Poverty http://homepages.wmich.edu/~ljohnson/Payne.pdf
2. Building Blocks For Educating Students From Generational Poverty http://www.combarriers.com/educating_students.php
3. School Improvement Through Teacher Decision Making http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/8/s030.html
Cumulative Project: Part 1
The teacher uses information about the learning/teaching environment and
student individual differences to set learning goals, plan instruction and
assess learning.
 Teacher displays a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of the
community, school, and classroom that may affect learning.
 Teacher displays general & specific understanding of student differences (e.g.,
development, interests, culture, abilities/disabilities) that may affect learning.
 Teacher displays general & specific understanding of the different ways students learn
(e.g., learning styles, learning modalities) that may affect learning.
 Teacher displays understanding of students’ skills and prior learning that may affect
learning.
 Teacher provides specific implications for instruction and assessment based on student
individual differences and community, school, and classroom characteristics.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Required Components of the Teacher Work Sample
Description and Analysis of the Learning-Teaching Context
Specific components will be completed in each class and put together at the end of
the 18 weeks. Each class will build on the last class.
a. School Characteristics: Provide an overview of important school characteristics
including the type of school and grade/subject configuration. Include the major
characteristics of the local community in which the school is located. (1 pg)
b. Classroom Characteristics: Describe the classroom in which you are teaching.
Describe the classroom rules and routines, physical arrangements, grouping
patterns, and scheduling that may impact learning and teaching in this classroom.
Provide diagram of room with seating chart. (2-3 pgs)
c. Student Characteristics (general): Describe the students in the classroom
including number of students and their ages and gender, cultural and
socioeconomic backgrounds, levels of English proficiency, range of abilities and
special needs. (1-2 pgs)
d. Specific Student Characteristics: Collect and report on data regarding student
learning styles (Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences) and emotional
intelligence (Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence). Include charts or graphs
used in data collection if appropriate. (2-4 pgs)
e. Multidisciplinary Unit Plan: The unit will contain at least three subjects - one
lesson plan for each subject. The length of the multidisciplinary unit. Specific
modification for the diverse classroom.
Final:
ASSIGNMENT: Assessment Rubric and Mini-Lesson
Based on the strategies and activities presented in this course, create an Assessment
Rubric and mini-lesson. The Assessment Rubric should be introduced to students in
a mini lesson before a single lesson or unit of study. This should be appropriate for the
grade level taught, either an elementary, secondary, or high school classroom. The
Assessment Rubric should be designed using the following criteria.
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Clearly state between 1-5 levels of proficiency
Clarify and measure stated objectives
Use a range to rate performance
Help to clarify expectations for student learning
Provide self-assessment for student learning
Provide teacher assessment that is in alignment with stated objectives
In addition to the Advance Graphic Organizer write up the following information in 1-2
pages.
1. Provide background information on your classroom and students for which you
have design your Assessment Rubric. Include their grade level(s), and any
modifications needed for particular students (i.e.: ELL/ESL or Special Education/
Learning Difference).
2. Describe the lesson or unit to be taught and the subject matter. Include specific
skills and content knowledge that students are expected to understand/master (1-2
paragraphs).
3. Aligning with state standards, choose 3-5 specific objectives that will be the basis
of your Assessment (bulleted list).
4. Explain how the six criteria listed above will be met using the Assessment Rubric
that you have designed (1-2 paragraphs).
After you have created your Assessment Rubric design and conduct a mini-lesson in your
classroom to introduce this Rubric to your students. Use technology to present this
lesson, either an overhead projector or computer generated projection system so that
students can see and interact more fully with the information presented. Please provide a
brief outline of your mini-lesson covering the following criteria.
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Lesson Objectives (focus on using the Assessment Rubric)
Correlation to strategies presented in this course
Prior Knowledge
Activities
Materials and Equipment (including a graphic organizer and technology used)
Assessment (this should be simple such as observation by instructor and/or a
show of hands by students)
Finally, in a 1/2-1-page paper, reflect on your mini lesson, its strengths and weaknesses.
Do you believe students are better able to understand what they need to learn and be able
to do after the introduction of this rubric?
Did students give positive/negative feedback?
Was the rubric easy for students to follow or did they appear confused?
How did you deal with any confusion or questions?
How would you modify your Rubric in anyway?
Submit a copy of your Assessment Rubric, your background information, mini-lesson
outline and reflection paper.
Scoring Criteria for Assignment
Total Value: 100 Points
Content of Papers – Value: 60 points – Copy of your background information, and
reflection paper.
Design of Organizer and Mini-lesson – Value: 30 points– Copy of your Assessment
Rubric and mini-lesson outline. Evaluation based on the extent to which students meet
the criteria required for the Assessment Rubric and mini-lesson.
Quality of Writing – Value: 10 points – Written work shows superior graduate quality
in verbal expression, attention to detail, and correct application of the conventions of the
English language. Points and ideas are well organized. Word choice is effective. English
language conventions are applied correctly (i.e. spelling, capitalization, punctuation,
agreement, pronoun usage, sentence structure).