College of Education
Elaine Cheesman
Assistant Professor of Special Education
College of Education
1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
(719) 262-4861
Elaine Cheesman, Ph.D., is assistant professor of special education at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Her primary research interests are reading and writing instruction for students with dyslexia and the preparation of teachers who work with students with dyslexia. She is a Certified Academic Language Therapist, and received her training at Teacher's College, Columbia University. Prior to her position at UCCS, she was an educational consultant in Connecticut and Massachusetts, where she conducted professional development courses in intensive reading instruction for general and special educators. She was the founding director of Read to Succeed Adult Reading Clinic, a research-based reading program for adults with reading disability located in Hartford, Connecticut. News about her work with adults has been reported in The Hartford Courant , the New York Times , and Overcoming dyslexia: A new and complete science-based program for reading problems at any level (Shaywitz, S. E., 2003, Knopf). From 1980 to 1990, Dr. Cheesman was the Director of Education at the Mark Twain House Museum, in Hartford, Connecticut, where she directed the Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe Teacher Institute for middle and high school teachers. She is the editor of The Twain-Stowe Sourcebook: Curriculum Resource Materials for the study of Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe (1989) .
Education
Ph.D., Special Education
University of Connecticut - 2004
M.A., American Folk Culture, Cooperstown Graduate Programs
State University of New York - 1980
B.S., Elementary Education
Western Oregon University - 1972
Teaching
SPED 4010 / 5010
Multisensory Structured Language Education
This course includes both content knowledge and principles of instruction regarding
explicit, systematic instruction for students at-risk for reading failure and older
students who struggle with reading. The scope of the course covers the five essential
elements of reading and spelling instruction, including phonemic awareness, systematic
phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension skills. Teacher candidates
plan and organize instruction for a beginning-level reading tutorial student based
on ongoing assessment. Students evaluate his / her instruction and the instruction
of peers through small-group coaching sessions.
SPED 4012 / 5012
Differentiated Instruction
This course focuses on expanding teacher candidates' knowledge of the structure
of English, including syllable types, reading and spelling multisyllabic base words
and derivatives, morphology, Latin affixes, Greek combining forms. Teacher candidates
plan and organize instruction for an intermediate-level reading tutorial student
based on ongoing assessment. Students evaluate his / her instruction and the instruction
of peers through small-group coaching sessions. This course also covers differentiated
instruction in mathematics.
SPED 3002 / 5002
Professional Seminar
For this team-taught course, Dr. Cheesman provides instruction in educational technology,
including TaskStream™, graphing, and PowerPoint™ presentations.
Scholarship
Publications
- Cheesman, E. A. (2004).
Teacher education in phonemic awareness instruction,
unpublished doctoral dissertation,
University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut
HTTP Link
PDF Link - Cheesman, E. A. (2006).
Isabelle Yoffe Liberman
In C. R. Reynolds & E. Fletcher-Janzen (Eds.),
Encyclopedia of Special Education (3rd ed.).
PDF Link - Cheesman, E. A. (2006).
Madeline Cheek Hunter
In C. R. Reynolds & E. Fletcher-Janzen (Eds.),
Encyclopedia of Special Education (3rd ed.).
PDF Link - Cheesman, E. A. (2006).
Performance-based Standards
In C. R. Reynolds & E. Fletcher-Janzen (Eds.),
Encyclopedia of Special Education (3rd ed.).
PDF Link - Cheesman, E. A. (2006).
The Tuskegee Airmen: 1940 - 1950
Freedom's Song: One Hundred Years of African American Struggle and Triumph
Los Angeles, CA: Farmers Insurance Group.
PDF Link - Cheesman, E. A. (2006).
African Americans in the Great Depression: 1930 - 1940
Freedom's Song: One Hundred Years of African American Struggle and Triumph
Los Angeles, CA: Farmers Insurance Group.
PDF Link
Service
University
- Chair,Technology Committee,
College of Education - Chair, Admissions Committee,
Department of Special Education
Community
- Member, Break Time Respite Program in Colorado Springs
- Member, Professional Development Council, Pike's Peak Region
State
- Member, Colorado Reading First Higher Education Advisory Council