Reading, Writing, and Literacy

This course examines current theories, research and effective practices for teaching reading comprehension. Using a constructivist model of understanding, factors influencing students' understanding of text are analyzed. Special attention is given to teaching all students, particularly those with disabilities, in regular classroom settings.

This course examines concepts and skills needed for teaching critical media literacy to students in grades 4-12.  Critical literacy is one of the national standards in reading and it is particularly important for children and adolescents who have mastered decoding and are moving deeply into comprehension.  Critical media literacy consists of the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and produce communications in a wide variety of forms; these forms include those found in print and the graphic arts as seen in newspapers, books, and billboards, and the new technologies of digital photography, movies, television, and the Internet.  Critical media literacy uses the skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening with the new technologies.  It crosses the curriculum and is essential for being literate in today's information age.  The interactive components of critical media literacy are exploring, reflecting, and analyzing.  Students in this course will critically analyze and produce critical media projects.

This one credit hour on-line course expands and supports teachers' use of technology for literacy instruction in grades K-12 and is framed in the context of the balanced literacy model.  Candidates will be expected to sue course information to design instruction that effectively integrates technology as a tool for supporting literacy instruction across the curriculum.  Candidates will become knowledgeable about sound principles of technology that facilitate interdisciplinary learning, supplement instructional strategies, and enhance hands-on experience inquiry.  Topics will include defining digital literacy in an ever-changing world, cyber safety, basic digital literacy skills (podcast and PPt with narration), digital collaboration and advanced digital literacies (video and webquests).

This course explores theories and practices for the teaching of writing in grades 4-12.  Best practices for teaching writing are examined with emphasis for integrating new technologies into lessons and units to better engage and motivate student writers.  Teaching practices embracing the social and cultural aspects of composing will be examined.  Additional emphasis is placed on strategies for teaching writing across the curriculum and ways to assess tudent writing to inform teacher practice.  Candidates will focus on creating language-rich writing experiences that are based on their students' interests and stages of writing development.

This course addresses the theoretical underpinnings and the realities of assessment in the age of educational accountability. General assessment concepts including psychometrics, distinguishing formative and summative assessment as well as specific literacy assessments including standardized—group and individual, performance, and informal are explored in this course. Candidates will learn strategies to assess learners’ literacy abilities enabling them to link assessment data to their instructional planning. Using case studies and conducting assessments with students, candidates will explore the relationships between authentic assessments and standardized tests in hands-on and simulated literacy assessment environments.

Materials, methods, and procedures appropriate to reading and writing diagnosis are the focus of the course. Students learn to work closely with families and develop authentic assessment strategies. Fifteen tutorial hours are required in addition to class meetings.

This course is a combination of content pedagogy and instructional practice with at-risk students in elementary/middle schools that focuses on teaching phonemic awareness, word analysis, sight vocabulary, vocabulary development, fluency, oral/silent reading and comprehension of narrative materials for striving learners.  Similarly, spelling, word work and writing associated with fiction materials are emphasized.  Attention is paid to formal and informal assessment measures, competency in interpreting performance-based data for instruction, and teaching narrative and fictional texts.  A minimum of 25 hours of fieldwork is required.

This course addresses literacy challenges encountered when teaching at-risk youth in elementary and middle schools.  This content pedagogy and instructional practice course focuses on teaching non-fiction/informational text to at-risk students, with emphasis on graphic novels, rigorous text choices as well as Common Core State Standards.  Content literacy skills and digital literacy skills are addressed.  The course also prepares candidates to teach research projects that are age-grade appropriate.  In preparation for becoming literacy specialists, collaboration skills development of candidates is central within the course wherein candidates coach, co-teach, co-develop curricular webquest, co-present in-services of colleagues, and interpret data for host school representative(s).  Candidates continue to use data and professional literature to inform instruction, to administer formal and informal assessments, and to document striving learners' literacy growth.  A minimum of 25 hours of fieldwork is required.

The practicum is a supervised clinical experience in the diagnosis and remediation of reading and writing difficulties for learners encountering serious problems in schooling. Test data, material from records and interviews, plus observational information are used to develop treatment plans and subsequent evaluation.