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Litigation: Concept and Practice of Mediation
This is the third in a series of courses designed to provide the educator with a practical understanding of the relationship between the law and the classroom. Focusing on both state and federal law as it applies to schools, administrators and teachers, this course will bear directly upon issues of collective bargaining, negotiating, dismissal, harassment, and Charter schools. In each area, ancillary issues will also be considered. Teachers will read, react to, and discuss case studies involving aspects of litigation and mediation as they affect schools. A take-home examination is required.

Managing Change and Conflict: The Teacher's Role in Total Quality Management
The focus of this course will be to move our students toward empowerment, responsibility, and accountability for their own learning and their own behavior. The roles of teacher as facilitator and model of lifelong learner will be examined and specific techniques will be discussed/provided for direct application to every grade/classroom. Ancillary issues such as the roles of social units and media and the ways in which they affect the development of social and personal responsibility will also be explored.

Managing Classroom Behavior
This course is designed to assist teachers of students with diverse student populations by addressing strategies and techniques for dealing with behavior management. Teachers will develop a personal repertoire of teaching, management and behavioral assessment strategies that will ultimately result in the effective management of student learning.

Media Literacy: Examining the Effects of Pop Culture on Students' Cognitive, Social and Emotional Development K-12
"The electronic mass media developed during the twentieth century-radio, film, video, television, and the Internet- have the capacity to convey information, entertain, and persuade in ways that are distinctly different from print media." (MA ELA Curriculum Framework, General Standard 26) Students must be educated, therefore, in critical thinking strategies that can be applied as they consume the mass media and its popular culture. Aligned with the Massachusetts English Language Arts Curriculum Framework, this course will analyze works produced from electronic media in terms of the connections among its purpose, audience and form. The effects of each medium at the various levels of students' cognitive, social and emotional development will be explored. Participants will examine closely the impact of popular culture on youths' self perceptions and identity as well as the economic implications of our youths' total immersion in the popular culture of the 21st century. Collaboratively, participants will develop media literacy lessons across the content areas as one possible alternative to corporate America's raid on the hearts, minds and pocketbooks of today's youth.

Motivating the Student: Expectations + Strategies Equal Positive Improved Results
This course gives motivational strategies aimed at improving students achievement whether this involves academics, standardized testing or MCAS testing. Motivation techniques presented in "play by play" forum will enhance the everyday classroom. Participants will discover and implement elements to motivate. The value of music, utilization of Brain Gym activities, Character/Value building will be investigated and students will compose their own plans for successful motivation.

Presentation Graphics for Classrooms and Boardrooms
Students will design and develop presentations useful in their classrooms or other work places using Microsoft power Point, Time Liner for Windows and Inspiration. A digital camera, a scanner and a large clip art library will be utilized. Students will create presentations, and in doing so will learn to teach their students to create presentations of their own.

Reading Intervention Using a Multi-sensory Approach
(EDUC 7000)
This course is designed to provide teachers with a language-based, multi-sensory, structured, rule-based, sequential approach to teaching reading and writing to students having difficulty accessing the general education reading curriculum. This approach will assist teachers in implementing the Massachusetts IEP 'specialized instruction' section regarding content, methodology and performance criteria regarding reading instruction. Teachers will also learn appropriate accommodations for students having difficulty accessing the general education reading curriculum. This course will assist teachers assessing students' reading skills and deficits and provide a systematic intervention. It will combine a systematic decoding and encoding approach with a comprehension component. While intervening with a systematic approach to decoding & encoding, teachers will also become familiar with the appropriate classroom accommodations for these students. Suggestions for materials & the correlations to the Massachusetts state standards will also be reviewed & discussed.

Sheltered Content Instruction: Principles and Practices
(EDUC 7000)
This course is designed to equip participants with essential knowledge and skills to effectively organize and implement content area instruction appropriate for English Language Learners at different levels of English proficiency, fulfilling Category II of die June 15th Commissioner's Memo of the Massachusetts Department of Education. A primary focus will be on Sheltered English and the SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) Model. Course participants will master instructional strategies and design content area lessons compatible with these principles and relate them to the Curriculum Frameworks and Massachusetts English Language Proficiency Benchmarks and Outcomes. Sample lesson plans will be developed. The course content will be learned through experiential, participatory and process-oriented strategies that are used successfully with English language learners and build reflective practices.

Supporting Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Pre-K-12
(EDUC 7000)
This course will provide students with an understanding of autism spectrum disorders and how the disability impacts education and independence for the individual. Students will explore options for educational programming within the public schools and increase their knowledge of strategies, instruction, technique and best practices related to A.S.D. By understanding the unique weaknesses and strengths of individuals with A.S.D students will learn to provide meaningful specialized instruction as developed through the I.E.P. process in the least restrictive environment for students with autism spectrum disorders.

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