ELE 611: Contemporary Issues in Elementary Curriculum Hi, I'm Dr. John Hail. I'm an Associate Professor in the School of Teacher Education here at SMS University. I'd like to welcome you to ELE 611, Contemporary Issues in Elementary Curriculum. This course deals with issues confronting today's elementary schools. We examine problems, innovations, and changes that affects the total elementary schools on the local, state, and national levels. The class provides a forum for students to share ideas and opinions regarding issues in education. Our text "Annual Editions in Education" provides nine different topic areas for our class. However, our discussions are not limited by the topics in the textbook. Many assignments in the class will center on readings from the text and other sources that will be provided for you. I will facilitate discussions with you and your classmates. And at times, I may ask you to facilitate a discussion on a topic of interest to you. Your active participation in these weekly discussions and assignments will help ensure the success of this class. The lessons are designed to garner input from all students. So it is essential for you to read and respond to the questions posed by me, but also by your classmates. In addition to the weekly assignments related to our readings, there are two larger assignments, or independent assignments that you will be required to do both in the form of papers. The first is a formal literature review on a topic of interest to you. Guidelines for the literature review will be given in detail during class. Many of you will revisit this literature review later in the program when you need to write your seminar paper in ELE 696. A second paper that you'll write is a position paper where you'll examine a topic of interest to you, an issue in education today, and examine both sides of the issue. Looking at the pros and cons for that particular issue. I'd say that paper is a little less formal than the literature review, but important none the less. I'm looking forward to working with you this semester. And I'm confident that we will have a very positive experience working together. |