1. Syllabus Dr. Karin Dyke January 11, 2010

2. Welcome Back! Welcome to Learning Disabilities! This is an important class for educators. Here are some facts; LD affects: 1 in 5 people in the US 3 million children ages 3-21 Over half of the children receiving special education services

3. Blended Class Format This means that the course will meet face-to-face 4 times during the semester and the rest of the course will be conducted in an online format. The face to face meeting dates are as follows: January 11 January 25 April 12 April 19 There are also 2 optional dates that you can meet and consult with me about the culminating paper. These dates are: March 1 st and March 15 th You will sign up for ONE of these dates and show up promptly at your scheduled time. You will sign up by wiki

4. What’s a Wiki? Wikipedia says: A wiki is a website that allows the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browserwebsite interlinkedweb pagesweb browser For our purposes, you will access the wiki for most of the course content and assignment submissions for this course.

5. Where’s our Wiki? Our wiki is located at http://spe550.wikispaces.com http://spe550.wikispaces.com You can access by going to wikispaces.com It is a “by invitation only” site Before the end of class, you will type your preferred email address into the wiki site and an invitation will be sent to you We will go to the library tonight to give you an opportunity to have hands on experience with the wiki.

6. What are the most important points of what you’ve heard so far? Turn to the person seated next to you and discuss the following: 1.What are the 2 most important things you’ve heard so far? 2.Why are they important? 3.Be prepared to share one point with the class

7. Attendance Students are expected to have no more than two absences per class throughout any given semester. Students who miss more than two classes will be penalized in the form of lower grades. Students with five or more absences in a given class will be withdrawn from it and will receive the grade of W or, if the absences occur after the drop deadline, the grade of WF.

8. Yeah, but you just said that this class isn’t going to meet! For each class, you will access readings and activities (film clips, web sites, etc) via the wiki. You will then submit a response paper Article reactions will be submitted via wiki and electronically to the instructor’s email by 5:30 pm on the date that it is assigned Each article reaction not submitted by this time will equal 1 student absence Each article reaction is worth 5 points. A late discussion paper will be worth 0 (zero) points If a student must miss a face to face class, this will count as an absence as well

9. What if I submit a paper early? If you would like to submit any paper at a more convenient time prior to the Monday, 5:30 pm deadline, this is acceptable Don’t get too far ahead though! I will be submitting additional information for which you will be responsible for periodically. You may work NO MORE THAN 2 weeks ahead.

10. Additional Pertinent Assignments In addition to article reaction papers, you will also be submitting discussion posts. Discussion posts need to be submitted by 830 pm on the assigned date You will be responsible for posting 2 posts about other classmates’ papers. This means that you will read other classmates posts and give comment Discussion posts are worth 1 point each for a total of 2 points possible per week

11. But what should I say in my discussion posts? Non Examples –Awesome paper (student name)! –I really liked the way you spelled every word correctly on your paper (student name). –Way to go (student name). Examples: The ideas presented in (student name’s) paper really expanded the ideas of (concept) by helping me to think in the following ways: (Student name’s) ideas about (concept) have made me think about my classroom practice in the following new ways: (Student name’s) ideas about our readings have enticed me to think about trying the following new things in my classroom with my students: The ideas presented in (student name’s) paper have helped me clarify the following questions that I had from this week’s readings: The student paper that I read differs from my interpretation of (concept). They have represented the concept to mean (explain). I thought it meant (explain). Which one is correct?

12. What if I have questions? You can always write me an email @ auntkarin@zoomtown.comauntkarin@zoomtown.com or k_dyke@wilmington.edu k_dyke@wilmington.edu Please don’t email me on the wiki for best results You can always call me at home @ 513-755-3727 (preferred) or cell @ 513-615-8979 You can call/email me for an appointment on campus I will be making some comments on the discussion boards, but if I comment, it will be after the due date times

13. Culminating Assignment You will be writing a culminating paper. The suggested title and sample paper for you to look at is based on the following title: How does the identification of students with special needs, legislation, and instructional differentiation relate to my practice and my school? If you don’t have a classroom, then your paper will be modified to How Does the Identification of students with special needs, legislation,and instructional differentiation relate to my future practice and the school in which I would like to work? This paper will be in APA style, and around 8 pages in length with an anticipated reference section of at least 5 references. You MAY use articles that we have read in class.

14. Most Important Points Turn to the person seated next to you and discuss the following: 1.What are the 2 most important things you’ve heard? 2.Why are they important? 3.Be prepared to share one point with the class

15. Questions? Now give the syllabus a quick look over on your own. Do you have questions that need to be answered? Do you have concerns that can be shared with the group that we can brainstorm and solve? You have about 10 minutes