EASTERN CONNECTICUT STATE UNIVERSITY

2. Practice traditional and constructivist approaches to promoting reading, writing, and language, based on these models.

3. Describe classroom scheduling and environments which are supportive of literacy growth focusing on physical setting, routines, and transitions.

4. Use knowledge of how children develop and provide literacy experiences that support the physical, social, emotional, language, cognitive, and aesthetic needs of children.

5. Understand national standards in reading, writing and language arts, including those of IRA and NCTE, the Connecticut Common Core of Teaching, Standards for Improving Reading Competency, and NAEYC Standards and Code of Ethics.

6. Discuss the components of a curriculum to support literacy growth, including the use of literature, environmental print, writing, and language experience.

7. Demonstrate the ability to develop and integrate meaningful literacy activities into other areas of the curriculum through the use of themes, learning centers, and the "project approach."

8. Use and explain the rationale for developmentally appropriate methods in engaging children in reading and writing activities through play, small group projects, cooperative learning, open-ended questioning, and problem-solving experiences.

9. Describe ways to support literacy growth among children of diverse cultures, supporting home language preservation, and creation of an anti-bias, multicultural environment for literacy and language.

10. Describe ways to modify environments and literacy experiences to meet the needs of all children, including individuals with disabilities and developmental delays.

11. Understand, practice, critique, and adapt direct instructional strategies prevalent in public schools, including reading groups, guided reading activities, and published reading writing, and language arts series.

12. Observe, record and use authentic, performance-based assessment of children's reading and writing.

13. Understand traditional, formal methods of reading assessment and use data from these in conjunction with authentic observations to plan curriculum and adaptations.

14. Describe methods and strategies for involving parents and families in assessing and planning for individual children and developing a collaborative relationship between home and school.

15. Discuss appropriate uses of technology and software in supporting reading and writing , including assistive technology for children with disabilities.

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Clay, Marie. (2000). Running Records for Classroom Teachers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Graves, Donald. (1994). A Fresh Look at Writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Strickland, Dorothy. (1998). Teaching Phonics Today: A Primer For Educators. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Taberski, Sharon. (2000). On Solid Ground: Strategies for Teaching Reading K-3. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

OPTIONAL TEXTS:

Au, K.H., Mason, J.M. & Scheu, J.A. (1995). Literacy Instruction for Today. NY: Harper Collins.

Au, K.H. (1993). Literacy Instruction in Multicultural Settings. TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

1) Attendance

Attendance is essential. Any more than one absence will affect your grade by one whole grade level. If you must miss any session, please notify me in advance. Please refer to the Education Department Attendance Policy (attached).

2) Class Participation

We will come to class session prepared to participate actively and in an informed manner through discussion and response.

3) Readings

We will read all assigned readings as well as reading material of your own choice, according to the time frame on the syllabus.

4) One-pagers and One-pager Responses. You will write weekly papers on topics of your own choosing although they must be based on your readings. You may also include responses referring to classroom work, practicum experiences, research, questions, concerns, triumphs, failures, or anything else you deem fit. These will be no more than one page, single-spaced. These will not be polished pieces, but writings that allow you to reflect, respond and create consistently. They will not be graded except in that you did them. One-pagers can serve as excellent organizing and rough draft material for your larger writing projects. Each week you will make five or six copies: one for yourself, one for me, and one for three or four of your colleagues. Your colleague’s writing may be the most important material you read.

Each week you will also respond to one other person’s one-pager, in the form of a paragraph. You will have two copies per week: one for the writer, and one for yourself.

5) Four Field Experience Assignments

You will participate in four teaching/learning experiences with students. Be sure to discuss these assignments and their due dates with a teacher immediately so that you both allocate time to work with the students. A letter to the teacher explaining the assignments can be provided. Once you have finished each experience, you create a report describing what you did and evaluating your experience. Each paper will be approximately three typed, double-spaced pages (you will not have one-pagers due on these dates). You will also include any materials you and/or the student used during the experience. If possible, include samples or copies of students' responses. (You will find a description of each field experience assignment below.)

6) Annotated Bibliographic Entries

You will annotate 25 books. These books must represent all types of diversity: cultural, ethnic, SES, gender, family, and sexual orientation.

Description of Four Field Experience Assignments:

1. READING AND WRITING INTERVIEWS

Using the sample reading and writing interviews distributed in class, administer each one to 2 students in the class. Transcribe all answers to all questions. Your transcriptions should be attached to your written report. Compare and contrast each student's answers. How are the answers alike and different? What do the answers tell you about each student as a writer and as a reader? See attached handout. DUE ON October 8^th

2. ADMINISTRATION OF A RUNNING RECORD

You will conduct two Running Records with one student according to the guidelines demonstrated in class. Your student should be a kindergartener who is reading, or a first or second grader, or an older student who is reading at a first or second grade level. One Running Record should be on a familiar text and the other on a text the student has not seen. Your report will discuss what you have learned about the student as a reader. You must attach the text and scoring sheet that you used. See attached handout. DUE ON October 29^th

3. SHARED READING SESSION

Choose a book, chapter of a book, or a poem you can read aloud to the class or a small group of students in the class. Be sure to prepare the students for the reading by involving them in some type of pre-reading activity. Plan a response activity to the read aloud. It can be either a written or artistic response. In your paper describing this activity, be sure to list the book and the author and why you selected this book. If possible, include at least some of the students' responses so that you can share this activity with your classmates. DUE ON Nov. 19^th

4. INDIVIDUAL WRITING CONFERENCE

You must conduct an individual Writing Conference with a student, or a small group of students using the guidelines and suggestions outlined in the Graves book and discussed in class. It does not matter at what stage in the writing process you conduct the conference. Your report will include a transcription of what was said during the conference and an analysis of what learning you think took place. You will want to discuss what was good about the conference and any changes you might make if you were to do the conference again. Include copies of any student writing upon which the conference was based. THIS ASSIGNMENT IS DUE ON Dec. 10^th

COURSE EVALUATION:

Evaluation is the cornerstone of the whole class. Teaching and learning are processes of continual self-reflection, self-evaluation, and personal goal setting: we document our progress weekly through our portfolios and other venues, and use what we learn to guide our subsequent action. You will be given time in class on days when assignments are returned to you to write a reflection on what value you place on the assignment, what learning took place, and what you might do differently next time. The evaluation breakdown is as follows:

ATTENDANCE/CLASS PARTICIPATION 10 POINTS

FIELD EXPERIENCE PROJECTS 20 POINTS EACH

Read Aloud Session

Reading & Writing Interviews

Running Records

Individual Writing Conference

MULTICULTURAL ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 10 POINTS

COURSE SCHEDULE

DATE	TOPIC	ASSIGNMENT
9/3	Introduction. What Do We Know about Literacy?
9/10	Defining Reading: Theory for Practice.	Read: Taberski, Chapters 1 & 2 Anderson, “What in the World is Constructivism?” Hand In: One-pager
9/17	Running Record Demonstration	Read: Taberski, Chapters 5 & 6 Clay, entire text Hand In: One-pager One-pager response
9/24	Literacy Learning in Early Childhood	Read: “Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children” (IRA Position Statement). “Literacy Development and Pre-First Grade” (Childhood Education) To be announced Hand In: One-pager One-pager response
10/1	Organizing for Literacy Instruction Reading Methodology	Read: Taberski, Chapter 3 To be announced
10/8*	Word Identification: Phonics and Beyond Discussion about Running Records	Read: Strickland, entire text Taberski, Chapter 9 Routman and Butler, “Why Talk About Phonics?” Have Completed: Running Record sessions with students and draft of Running Record write-up *Hand In: Reading & Writing Interviews
10/15	Helping Students Make Meaning from Texts (Comprehension and Other Strategies)	Read: Taberski, Chapters 7, 8, &13 [Vacca, Vacca, & Gove: “Reading Comprehension”] Maxim and Five, “The Teaching of Reading Strategies” Routman and Maxim, “Invented Spelling: What It Is and What It Isn’t”
10/22	Progressive Literacy and Literature-Based Instruction	Read: Taberski, Chapters 11 & 12 2002 IRA Position Statement One-pager response
10/29*	Literacy to Literacy Instruction Across the Curriculum A Multicultural Perspective	Read: To be announced *Hand In: Running Records
11/5	Progressive Writing Instruction, Part 1	Read: Graves, Preface and Part I-Chapters 1-6 Hand In: One-pager One-pager response
11/12	Progressive Writing Instruction, Part 2	Read: Graves, Part II & III-Chapters 7-17 Hand In: One-pager One-pager response
11/19*	Progressive Writing Instruction Part 3	Read: Graves, Part IV-Chapters 18-22 Hand In: Shared Reading*
11/26	Thanksgiving Recess
12/3	Basal Approaches and Materials	Read: Shannon, Broken Promises: Reading Instruction in Twentieth Century America: “The Deskilling and Reskilling of Teachers of Reading” Henke, “Beyond Basal Reading: A District’s Commitment to Change” To be announced One-pager response
12/10*	Evaluation Means Finding Value Summary Book Share	Read: “High Stakes Assessment in Reading” (IRA Position Statement) Rief, “Finding the Value in Evaluation: Portfolios” To be announced *Hand In: Hand In: Writing Conference Assignment Annotated Bibliography**

Fall 2002

Department: Education Course Number: ECE 507 Title: Reading and Writing in the Primary Years

Instructor: Dr. Theresa Picard

DATE

TOPIC

ASSIGNMENT

A Multicultural Perspective

Progressive Writing Instruction, Part 1

Book Share