Teacher candidates who complete this clinical course develop a comprehensive understanding of the theories, programs and effective practices for students with emotional/behavioral disabilities. These practices will focus on prevention and remediation of difficulties in literacy, mathematics, and science, that include appropriate supports and accommodations and that promote access to, and participation within, the general education curriculum. This is the culminating teaching experience for the EBD endorsement, and requires completion of the Teacher Candidate Assessment of Performance (TCAP).

In this clinical course, students examine, implement and evaluate both traditional and contemporary means of assessing reading/writing strengths and needs, as well as research-based developmental and corrective instruction for struggling readers and writers, kindergarten through grade 12.

This clinical course provides preparation for teaching literacy and critical thinking in the middle and secondary grades. The focus is on planning, selecting, and using research -based strategies for reading and writing instruction, assessment, and evaluation of student study skills also are emphasized. This will include application of a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate a variety of texts. Strategies for teaching linguistically and culturally diverse students will be explored. In addition, state and national standards in reading and language arts will be used to construct units and lessons.

This course is the first of a two semester practicum sequence in which students gain meaningful work experience and apply knowledge from previous coursework. The student works with a school-based literacy team to conduct a needs-assessment, prepares guidelines for selection of materials, develops a 2-year plan consistent with current research, and conducts in-service training. This course follows the K-12 academic calendar.