A historical analysis of change and continuity in educational history from colonial through contemporary America. Special emphasis will be given to the development of the field of Deaf education in the United States. Lectures, seminar discussions, and readings offer comprehensive coverage of the salient intellectual themes.

This course focuses upon knowledge and understanding of existing diversities within the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing communities, and ways in which teaching can most effectively meet the needs and interests of these students for effective learning. Readings and discussions will explore the educational needs of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing students with variations of experience related to culture, race/ethnicity, language, educational and socio-economic backgrounds and settings, communication skills, and learning styles. These concepts will be applied to effective teaching and curriculum development.

As required by the New York State Education Department, each MSSE student is required to complete 100 hours of practicum experience during their first year in the program. This practicum experience provides students with opportunities to observe and reflect on their content, professional, pedagogical knowledge, skills and disposition in classroom settings at both schools for the deaf and mainstreamed programs. There will also be course-related observations. Students will also be required to attend selected Deaf culture events. After completion of all of the required observations, the students are required to submit a practicum experience portfolio. Guidelines will be provided to the student. The practicum experience must be completed with a grade of least a B before the first student teaching assignment.

This course concentrates on the linguistic structures of American Sign Language (ASL) and English. This course introduces students to the structural description of ASL and English languages at various levels (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and discourse/pragmatics). Issues related to language change and variation, language use in contact situations (for example, code-mode switching), and language use in education will be discussed.