For this first DRAFT, you will select a topic to study for your Academic Topic Overview and describe why it is an important topic for special education teachers to learn more about. 

Please note that the more work you put into each draft, the more feedback and support I can give you. 

Drafts will be graded primarily on completeness, and will count toward your final ATO grade.

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[Overview of Final ATO from syllabus:

Purpose and Objectives:

As your culminating project for this course, you will complete an Academic Topic Overview (ATO), in which you can select one of the Module topics, study it in greater depth, and write an academic paper about it. Possible topics include (but are not limited to): 1) special education law or policy; 2) an in-depth look at a specific disability classification; 3) supporting multilingual learners with disabilities; 4) culturally relevant instruction for students with disabilities; 5) collaboration with diverse families; 6) culturally relevant instruction for students with disabilities in a particular content area (e.g., math, physical education); 7) culturally relevant instruction for students with disabilities in a particular age group or stage (e.g., early intervention, post-secondary transition).

Logistics:

Your ATO should:

• be 8-10 pages long
• use APA formatting (including 12-point, Times New Roman font; double spacing; in-text citations; section headings; etc.)
• use 10 unique sources:
  • at least 5 must be peer-reviewed journal articles
  • at least 1 must be written BY someone with a disability
  • the remaining 4 can be anything that helps you better understand your topic (e.g., blogs, newspaper articles, websites)
• begin with an Introductionsection that introduces multiple perspectives on your topic and explains why this topic is important to special educators
• address Themesyou find across articles rather than trying to summarize each article you read individually
• address both Areas of Consensus AND Areas of Disagreement related to your topic
• suggest Implications for Practice – in other words, what should a special education teacher do after reading your paper? Do you have additional recommendations for others involved in education (e.g., administrators, related service providers, families, policy makers, etc.)?
• consider the strengths and needs of culturally and linguistically diverse learnersthroughout the paper(as opposed to in a particular section)*
• maintain anassets-based perspective toward students with disabilities, their families, and their communities throughout the paper

*Some of the sources you use will, unfortunately, probably not address cultural and linguistic diversity. You can offer a critiqueof those sources, explaining how incorporating cultural and linguistic diversity might change the arguments in those sources. If you are having trouble finding any sources that address cultural and linguistic diversity related to your topic, please email me for help!]