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Accessing Inquiry for Students with Disabilities through Primary Sources - online and in-person sections

Image of course poster with title and collage of primary sources
Sat, 03/16/2024

Section offered in-person (March 16 & 30) in Northampton.

An online section (April 6 - May 17) has been cancelled. 

Social Studies and Humanities pose distinct challenges for students with disabilities. Extensive discipline-specific vocabulary, difficult informational texts –including complex primary sources– and a need for background knowledge can be barriers. Yet the authentic sources, important ideas and connections to issues of these subjects also offer virtual tools for differentiation and potent means to motivate students.

This exciting graduate course supports content instruction for Students with Disabilities in History-Social Studies and Humanities (including literature, art, music, and language); and for Special Education teachers. 

Grounded in decades of practice by history educators, historians, and experts in Special Education, and based on current research and innovative classroom practices this course features models of best practices and employs primary sources and analysis tools.

Participants will:

  • Gain and apply practical classroom strategies.
  • Integrate History of Disability through issues of Citizenship, private and government responsibility to provide services, and struggles for empowerment.
  • Create/adapt lessons to meet state and national standards, and employing Universal Design for Learning. 
  • Sample the Reform to Equal Rights: K-12 Disability History Curriculum (2023). 
  • Access free follow-up resources via Emerging America's Accessing Inquiry clearinghouse

 

This “Accessing Inquiry” course meets Massachusetts teacher license renewal requirements for 15-hours of professional development on teaching students with disabilities and students with diverse learning styles. Link to renewal regulations

Instructors

  • Ross Newton, History Teacher, HEC Academy, Collaborative for Educational Services
  • Rich Cairn, Civics and Social Studies Curriculum and Instruction Specialist, Collaborative for Educational Services

 

Audience

Teachers in Social Studies or Humanities; Grades 3-12.

Invite a partner! We encourage - but do not require - participation of teams, such as a Special Education teacher and a History/American Literature teacher, members of a department, or interdisciplinary teams.

 

Course Expectations

During both sections of the course, participants research and create a text set of primary sources and write a lesson plan that employs techniques of access for students with disabilities. (Alternative final assignments are available on approval by the instructor.) 

Please note: This is a graduate-level course. All participants will be required to prepare for the start of the course by getting access to course resources in Google Docs and Canvas, and posting to introduce themselves in the TPS Teachers Network. More about this assignment will be emailed after registration is complete. (Past course syllabus from a previous online section, for Westfield State University. We will post the updated course syllabuses when they are available.)

In-Person Course

The in-person course runs on two days from 8:30am to 3:00pm, plus about 3 hours of readings and preparation outside of that. Most teachers complete a draft of the main course assignment during the second day of the workshop. Many choose to polish the lesson on their own in the days after the workshop. 

Online Course - Not offered in Spring 2024

When offered as an online offering over several weeks, the course will run 3 hours per week plus some additional reading. Participants may complete work at a convenient time of day for them. There will be two scheduled webinars. (Webinars will be recorded.) Each week will include a mix of readings, video clips, and online activities. Each week, participants will write responses to prompts in a class forum, and reply to classmates’ posts in the second half of the week.

Credit

Massachusetts teachers receive 22.5 PDPs upon completion of the course and assignments (as per DESE regulations awarding time-and-a-half for graduate-level professional development). CES will send participants from other states a letter of participation for 15 hours.

Participants may choose instead to take either course for 1 graduate credit in History in partnership with Westfield State University for an additional cost of $200. 

“Accessing Inquiry” courses meet Massachusetts teacher license renewal requirements for 15-hours of professional development on teaching students with disabilities and students with diverse learning styles. Link to renewal regulations

Dates

In-Person - Register

  • 03/16/2024 08:30am - 03:00pm
  • 03/30/2024 08:30am - 03:00pm

Location: Collaborative for Educational Services
97 Hawley St., Northampton MA 01060

 

Registration Deadline: March 9 - 4:30 pm Eastern

Cost

The cost of the in-person course/workshop is $100. ($85 for teachers from CES member districts.) Thanks to a Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) grant. 

Registering for graduate credit with Westfield State University costs extra. (See above.) 

 

Logo of Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Consortium

 

 

 

 

Upcoming Workshops


April 9, 2024 - Sponsored by the Learning Disabilities Association of America  This one-hour workshop empowers Special Education teachers to foster supportive…
July 15 - 8:30am - 3pm - Collaborative for Educational Services, 97 Hawley Street, Northampton, Massachusetts. Register.