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Dr. Somer Matthews, Southern Oregon University
Welcome! Hello everyone, welcome to ED 470 - The Exceptional Child. I am Dr. Somer Matthews and I will be your instructor for this course. I am the Special Education Coordinator here at SOU and this is my second year as an Assistant Professor. I am extremely passionate about equitable education for all students, including those with disabilities. In my free time, I am a singer-songwriter, painter, SOU choir member, camper, and traveler. I am excited to get to know you and to encourage the bonds between you and you classmates. Explore the rest of this site to learn more about the class and prepare for week 1.
Somer
Pronouns: she/her/hers
How this course works...
This is a 10 week, fully online course.
This class does not meet in zoom. Your learning will be conducted asynchronously (which means "not live") in Moodle.
However, you will be learning with a community of your peers. This is not a self-paced course. You will interact with your peers throughout each of your weekly modules.
Each weekly module contains reading expectations, a lecture video, group discussions, and a reflection activity.
There are also 3 major assignments throughout the course
Our Textbook
I strive to make the learning process as accessible as possible to my students, utilizing library resources and free or low-cost textbooks. This course has been redesigned as part of an opportunity to explore and utilize Open Educational Resources (OERs), so your textbook is also an OER textbook.
Morse, T. (2024). Guidebook for teaching students receiving special education services. University of
West Florida. Open Access. https://pressbooks.uwf.edu/guidebook37/
Essential Questions and Enduring Understandings
Essential Questions
Essential Questions
What is involved in the special education process and how does that affect me?
Why bother with varied instructional strategies?
How does a teacher differentiate instruction for all students in their classroom?
How do I use formative assessments to drive instruction?
What do I do if students don't meet the summative assessment standards?
Enduring Understandings
Enduring Understandings
All students have a right to learn in school through instruction that is effective for them.
All students with disabilities have a legal right to be educated in inclusive classrooms with general education students, barring extraordinary educational circumstances.
Teachers are advocates for best practices that allow students to capture, explore, master, and apply the content.
Teachers who design curriculum with the end in mind can more easily develop assessments and lessons that align with learning goals.
Teachers who design curriculum with differentiation in mind honor all of their students' needs.
How to succeed in this class
Be proactive. Make it a goal to log into our course at LEAST by Wednesday to get an overview of the week and know what assignments you need to prepare for.
Communicate with me. I have designed this course to closely mimic a real classroom experience as much as possible. I will even be posting weekly debriefs where I talk about what you've learned in the week and shout out some interesting perspectives from the forums and reflections. I know online courses don't often feel this way, but it will serve you better in the long run. That being said, I need you to let me know what's happening on your end. If you identify a challenge meeting a due date, just reach out and let me know. When possible, contacting me before a due date will help keep us in sync and ensure you don't get overwhelmed by unfinished work.
Use the Moodle Calendar and Weekly Task List to stay current on your assignments. I will be posting due-dates so they auto-populate to your Moodle calendar, as well as a checklist of weekly tasks for each module.
How to get your questions answered...
Need individual help?
Need individual help?
You can contact me through Moodle or directly at my SOU email: matthewss@sou.edu. I will typically respond within 24 hours during the typical workweek. I am also happy to arrange times to meet in person in my office at EP 111, or through zoom.
Credit: Meredith Jensen, NPR
Have a general course-related question?
Have a general course-related question?
If you have a general question about the course, feel free to ask it in the "I have a question" discussion. Your question will be seen by your peers and if anyone has the answer, please feel free to answer the question. This forum can be found under the general section at the top of the Moodle course.
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