Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
EdD Program for Educational Leaders
Advisor
Peter Gabor
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
academic needs, at-risk students, behavior management, behavioral disorders, character education, classroom management, collaboration, confidence, curricular adaptations, data analysis, education courses, emotionally disturbed students, emotional needs, emotional and behavioral disorders, EBD, effective strategies, fear, general education classroom, graduate students, inclusion, intensive summer session, liberal arts college, mainstreaming, permanent teaching certificate, postsecondary teacher training programs, power point presentation, preservice teachers, school success, social skills, special education, student abilities, teacher training, teaching strategies, traditional semester course, undergraduate degrees
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to provide graduate students with skills and strategies to better prepare them to teach students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) in the general education classroom. Graduate students at a small liberal arts college in an eastern upstate community were requesting courses to provide them with skills to enable EBD students to be successfully included in the general education classroom. Graduate students, depending on their undergraduate degrees are required to take 12-18 credits in special education courses to qualify for a permanent teaching certificate. This provided them with limited options to take electives. For EBD students to succeed, postsecondary teacher training programs must be modified, requiring both special and regular education teachers to receive training in curricular adaptations, behavior management, social skills, character education, mainstreaming and collaboration.
The writer developed and taught three, three-credit graduate special education courses and a power point presentation to teach graduate education students' skills to meet the social, emotional and academic needs of the EBD student. Courses were designed to provide the graduate students with an opportunity to study and implement the theory, techniques and practices found in the literature to assist the EBD student to experience success in school. The power point presentation provided preservice teachers with an overview of the highlights of the literature discussing the EBD student and effective strategies.
An analysis of the data revealed that students were more likely to demonstrate some increase in their level of confidence in managing a classroom with EBD students if the course was provided during an intensive summer session format. Data also supported some changes in a student's sense of perceived abilities to work with EBD students when the instruction was provided through a traditional semester long course. Fear of working with the EBD student remained a concern form many students.