Creating a Syllabus from an SLU Education Curriculum Guide

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Creating a Syllabus from an SLU Education
Curriculum Guide

• Everything you always wanted to know but were
  afraid to ask. . . !

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Writing the Syllabus

• At the top of the syllabus put the course title,
  number, section, location (center), and credit
  hours.
• Under this, write what term this is and where and
  when the classes will be held (building, room
  number, days and times, on-line information). Put
  in course prerequisites from the guide.
• Third, put the name of the instructor, phone,
  email, office location (if applicable), office
  hours or hours available to meet with students.

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Next, copy the Course Description exactly
from the curriculum guide.

• Following the course description, list the Text
  (s) Required and Optional in separate categories.
• Now list the Guidelines Used in Developing the
  Course Objectives, copying all the standards and
  the SLU core value(s) as written in the guide.
  As an option, if the standards are lengthy, you
  may choose to attach these at the end of the
  syllabus.

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The next section should be the Course Goals/
Objectives.

• You may add an objective or two if you feel
  strongly about including something in your course
  that relates to the topics- IF you are pretty
  sure this isnt a topic or objective in another
  course (you can look at other curriculum guides
  on Datamart your center director can give you
  the password).
• Otherwise, copy the objectives exactly as they
  appear in the guide.

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You may add the Topics to your syllabus if you
want to it is not required.

• The next section of the syllabus is usually
  titled Course Policies.
• This includes your Attendance Policy, which
  should reference the SLU expectations for perfect
  attendance, but should clearly define exactly
  what the penalties for absences and tardiness
  are. Also in this section, describe your policy
  on accepting late papers, making up a test, etc.

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This is also a good place to put a paragraph
directly quoting the beginning of the Saint Leo
Academic Honesty Policy and referring students to
the full text in the student handbook.

• The Saint Leo Policy on Students with
  Disabilities statement goes in here also. It
  should read
• Students with disabilities who may need
  accommodations should contact Dr. Karen Hahn,
  [phone] or the center contact person.

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Decide your Assessments next.

• The guide lists which assessments are
  required. Copy the descriptions for these and
  add the number of points or percentage of the
  total course grade to your syllabus. Take off
  the word required (all of your assessments you
  decide on will be required by you!)
• You may use any optional assessment, add your
  own that relate, increase the percentages of the
  required assessments, or just add attendance/
  participation/ homework checks to bring the total
  percentage to 100. Usually attendance/
  participation should not be more than 10 of a
  grade. However, the one credit practicum
  seminars, art, music, PE courses are strongly
  participatory (and only one credit) so may
  appropriately have up to 25 of the course grade
  accounted for by participation/ attendance
  points.

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Follow the Assessments section with a Grading
section.

• List each assessment and the points or
  percentage next to it. If you give grades at
  midterm, list midterm grades and final grades
  separately.
• Then list how the final grade (and midterm
  grade) will be computed based on the Saint Leo
  guidelines. The department of education has a
  standard scale that is shown in the guide based
  on 90 and higher A 80 and higher B, etc. (with
  A-, B, B-, C figured in).
• There are no C- grades given in education
  courses due to state mandates.

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Create the Course Schedule.

• Referring to the sample schedule in the guide
  and adding your own ideas about what you want to
  emphasize, in what order, and what assessments
  you will be using, plan the semester out week by
  week.
• Set up the schedule so that down the left side
  are the dates the class will meet (if it meets
  more than once a week it is your option to break
  it up by date or just by week). In the middle
  should be the topics, and possibly the
  activities, that will occur that week. On the
  right are the assignments due that day, including
  any chapters or articles to have been read. You
  may also want to put homework for the next week
  there or a reminder like study for test.

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• As you plan when to have assignments due,
  always plan to have covered the topic of the
  assignment prior to having the assignment due.
• Try to spread your due dates out- both for
  your sake and your students. There is always
  more due the last half because content has to be
  taught first, but blocking the content into
  sections and having due dates for related topics
  immediately after the topic is covered is best.
  This allows you to give feedback so students can
  improve in the next assignment and also know what
  to expect from you.

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• Finally, check with your course matrix at the
  end of the guide that aligns standards,
  objectives, topics, and assessments to be sure
  you have covered everything and all assessments
  are accounted for (details on understanding the
  matrix follow this part of the presentation for
  those who are interested in a thorough
  understanding).

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The last step is adding a Bibliography.

• You may start with the Bibliography in the
  guide and add to it or create your own. Be sure
  you include the reference to the Cannon Memorial
  Library
• Resources at Cannon Memorial Library are at the
  website leonet.sainleo.edu. The reference desk
  can be contacted via email at reference.desk_at_saint
  leo.edu.

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Congratulations

• You just completed your first draft!
• Now send a copy to the full-time education
  faculty person at the center.
• He/she will check it for completeness, send it
  back, then you will send it to the curriculum
  guide contact person listed on the guide.
• Any questions can be addressed to the curriculum
  guide contact person.

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You should ask the curriculum guide contact
person for the rubrics for the required
assessments and for sample student papers or
lesson plans. Plan to share the rubrics with the
students when you go over the expectations for
the assessment, usually at least two weeks before
it is due.
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• If your course has a culminating assessment (EDU
  335, 339, 342, or 481), ask the curriculum guide
  contact person to whom to send copies of the
  rubrics for the culminating assessment.

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Detailed description of the Education Curriculum
Guide

• The following slides provide details for a
  thorough understanding of an Education Department
  Curriculum Guide, the standards, and the course
  matrix.
• We hope you will spend an extra 20 minutes
  reading these and applying them to your guide.

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The first page

• Reread the Course Description and Course
  Overview. Put the semester your course is
  offered in your mind so you will have a better
  understanding of the level of expectation for
  your students.
• Familiarize yourself with the text by reading the
  opening chapter and reviewing the table of
  contents.

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Standards, Objectives, Topics, and Assessments
Matrix at the end of the guide

• The standards numbers in the left hand column
  correspond to the standards written out in the
  beginning of the guide under Guidelines Used in
  Developing Course Goals. These are the
  Accomplished Practices (AP), Florida Performance
  Standards for English for Speakers of Other
  Languages (ESOL), Subject Matter Content
  Standards (SMSC), Skills and Competencies for
  Certification, Professional (PEd) and/ or
  Elementary (K-6).

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• Next to the standards cell in the same row
  are the course objectives that relate to those
  standards.
• Next to the objectives are the topics, text
  chapters, and possible activities that might
  occur that relate to that objective and those
  standards (These are suggested activities there
  are many others that could be used to relate to
  this topic, objective, and chapter. We hope you
  will share some of your ideas with the course
  contact person so he/she can add them and share
  them with others who teach this course).

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• The final cell in each row lists the required
  assessments (and sometimes optional assessments
  also) that meet the standards, objective, and
  topic described in that row.
• If one of the assessments listed for that
  objective is a test, you will want to make sure
  that you include at least one question on the
  test listed that relates directly to that
  objective and those standards.
• If one of the assessments listed is a project
  or paper, there will be a rubric you will use.
  At least one of the criteria of the rubric
  includes reference to the related objective and
  standards.

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Back to the core parts of the guide

• Once you understand the matrix and have a sense
  of the standards and objectives for the course
  and how they relate to the course topics, return
  to the second, third, and/or more pages of the
  guide to see where the Guidelines (standards),
  Goals/ Objectives, and Topics are listed.
• You will notice that there is also a heading
  under Guidelines for Saint Leo Core Values
  emphasized in this course.

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• Saint Leo University has selected 6 core
  values that express the university mission and
  goals. These have been applied to the elementary
  education program by selecting one or more of the
  values that are especially relevant to each
  course. The values and their relevance to your
  course is described here. We hope you will
  discuss with the students the connection between
  the course and the value(s). There is also a
  notebook of activities that connect the values
  with each course that is available at each center
  and ultimately on the education website homepage.
  We invite you to share your ideas for adding to
  these activities by sharing your ideas with the
  course contact person.

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Find the Assessments section of the Guide.

• Here are the brief descriptions of the
  required (and some optional) assessments and the
  approximate weight the assessment should have in
  determining the final course grade. As you
  become familiar with the required assessments and
  using the rubrics for the projects and papers (a
  separate power point presentation) you may want
  to provide more specific guidelines to students
  as an assessment due date approaches.

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The last parts of the guide

• Grading is the next section of the guide.
• A possible combination of assessments is
  provided to demonstrate one way to arrive at a
  grade. Some of the assessments will be required,
  others are your option. Some guides have options
  computed by points, others by percentages.
• The grading scale for an A-F based on
  percentages is a university wide policy that you
  will follow once you have arrived at the total
  points or percentages.

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• The Field Experience Expectations for the course
  (if applicable) follow the grading scale. This is
  to let you know what the students will be doing
  in their placement classroom related to this
  course.
• The Bibliography lists professor and student
  resources that should include both internet sites
  and books and likely journals. The Cannon library
  site is included. We hope you will help us add
  to this by suggesting other resources you have
  found helpful.
• The Course Contact persons name, phone, and
  email are listed next.
• The Sample Schedule shows you one way to organize
  the course by week with assessments due and
  topics.

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Thank you for working with the Education
Department

• We look forward to your input and feedback.
  Please let us know what else we can do to help you