KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY
KUTZTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
COE COURSE SYLLABUS
DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
ELU 221 Literature for Upper Elementary and Middle Level Learners
I. Course Description
A. This course focuses on literature for upper elementary and middle level students with emphasis on classroom applications. Literary theory, genre, form, and illustrations are considered in the context of lesson implementation. Approaches to evaluating the quality of literature, selecting literature for instruction, planning response experiences, and the development of specific teacher skills related to the use of literature at the fourth through eighth grade levels are included. Employing professional resources in planning literature experiences, as well as strategies for engaging in on-going professional development as a literacy educator, are also incorporated. Prerequisite: Three credit course in English literature.
3 c.h., 3 s.h.
II. Course Rationale: Upper elementary and middle level educators must demonstrate a disposition toward the use of literature in the classroom. It is essential that they employ a research based rationale for the inclusion of literature across the curriculum, as well as possess instructional skills necessary to successfully utilize literature within language arts and content area instruction. They must be empowered to serve as strong models of lifelong learning through literacy.
III. Course Objectives/ Student Learning Outcomes
A. Relationship to Competencies and Standards
Course Objectives/ Student Learning Outcomes / PDE Competencies / ACEIStandards / INTASC
Standards / ISTE
Standards
1. Demonstrate a disposition toward the use of literature in the upper elementary and middle level classroom utilizing a research based rationale for the inclusion of literature. / 1, 3, 9, 11,
12, 13 / 2.1 / 1
7
2. Apply knowledge of genre and form in the classification of literature for examination, discussion, and classroom application. / 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 / 2.1 / 1
4
6
7 / II.C
II.D
Course Objectives/ Student Learning Outcomes / PDE Competencies / ACEI
Standards / INTASC
Standards / ISTE
Standards
3. Apply literary theory in the use of literature in the upper elementary and middle level classroom. / 1, 2, 3, 4,
6, 7, 14 / 2.1 / 1
4
7
4. Utilize the contributions of illustrations within literature. / 2, 4, 6, 7,
12 / 2.1 / 1
4
6
7
5. Evaluate the quality of literature in making selections for classroom use and assisting students with selections for independent reading. / 2, 9, 12,
13 / 2.1 / 1
2
3
6
7
8
6. Apply considerations involving audience, purpose, use, control, trends, and issues in selecting literature for upper elementary and middle level learners. / 1, 2, 7, 9,
11, 12, 13,
14, 16 / 2.1 / 1
2
3
4
6
7
8 / II.A-E
7. Employ professional resources in planning literature experiences at the 4th through 8th grade levels. / 3, 7, 9, 10,
11, 12, 14 / 2.1 / 1
3
6
7
8. Apply goal and alignment considerations in planning and implementing a wide variety of response to literature experiences for the upper elementary and middle level student. / 1, 2, 3, 4,
6, 7, 8, 11,
12, 13, 14,
15, 16 / 2.1 / 1
3
4
6
7
8 / II.E
9. Employ specific instructional skills, strategies and techniques in the use of literature at the 4th through 8th grade levels. / 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7, 8,
9, 10, 11,
12, 13, 14,
15, 16 / 2.1 / 1
2
3
4
6
7
8 / II.A-E
10. Utilize the lived-through experience of literature to enhance instruction, add depth of understanding, and reflect on dispositions. / 2, 4, 5, 6,
8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14,
15, 16 / 2.1 / 1
3
4
6
7
8
11. Engage in on-going professional development as an upper elementary and middle level literacy educator. / 3 / 2.1 / 1 / II.E
Key to Selected PDE English/Language Arts and Reading Competencies:
1. Demonstrate expertise in language and reading development.
2. Demonstrate concepts, knowledge, and skills essential for direct and explicit reading instruction, particularly in comprehension.
3. Implement foundational knowledge from current literacy research.
4. Provide instruction in vocabulary and text comprehension.
5. Develop skills in listening.
6. Direct, explicit comprehension instruction, which is instruction in the strategies and processes that proficient readers use to understand what they read, including summarizing, keeping track of one’s own understanding, and a host of other practices.
7. Implement effective instructional principles embedded in content, including language arts teachers using content-area texts and content-area teachers providing instruction and practice in reading and writing skills specific to their subject area.
8. Implement text-based collaborative learning, which involves students interacting with one another around a variety of texts.
9. Provide instruction from multiple sources of diverse texts, which are texts at a variety of difficulty levels and on a variety of topics.
10. Include technology as a tool for and a topic of literacy instruction, including using technology-based reading materials.
11. Use content-area texts and content-area instruction and practice in reading and writing skills specific to subject areas.
12. Utilize a variety of text material at different difficulty levels and on a variety of topics.
13. Making overt connections between and across the curriculum, students’ lives, literature, and literacy.
14. Planning lessons that connect with each other, with test demands, and with students’ growing knowledge and skills.
15. Supply prompts that support thinking.
16. Design follow-up lessons that cause students to move beyond their initial thinking.
B. Relationship to Conceptual Framework:
Knowledge: / Conceptual Framework Elements:Communication / Objectives 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 through participation in group projects involving sharing of literature, co-planning and implementation of novel projects, and presentation of author talks.
Interpersonal Skills / Objectives 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 through group projects and presentations.
Skills:
Scholarly Inquiry / Objectives 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 through tasks requiring analysis of literary merit and response to literature.
Reflective Wisdom / Objectives 8, 9, 10 through critiques of candidate completion of the self-evaluation component of the reflective response required within all lesson plans.
Integration of Discipline / Objectives 2, 7, 8, 9, 10 through sharing of a variety of literary forms and genres across content areas and the text set component of the literature project.
Dispositions:
Cultural Awareness
And Acceptance / Objectives 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 through the variety of authors, themes, and selections within the required reading list and additional selections shared in class.
Integration of Technology / Objectives 2, 6, 7, 8, 9. 11 through completion of course requirements which include use of literature data bases for text set creation, web posting of literature reviews, and on-line author studies.
IV. Assessment
A. Core Assignment
Will be added when faculty teach the course
B. Other Assessments as a subset of the following:
- Presentation of storytellings, book talks, literature sharings, read aloud, and author presentations.
2. Projects such as creating text sets, literature based displays and learning stations, author based displays and learning stations, and literature related instructional materials.
3. Written lesson plans for literature based lessons.
4. Classroom implementation of literature based lessons.
5. Demonstration of response to literature experiences and facilitation of literature conversations.
6. Written literature based units of study.
7. Written summaries and reading logs.
8. Written literature reviews and critiques.
9. Quizzes and tests.
V. Course Outline
A. Outline of Course Content
I. Rationale for literature in the upper elementary and middle level classroom.
A. Schema development, world knowledge.
B. Vocabulary development: listening, speaking, reading, writing, image.
C. Flow of language, language pattern, influence on writing ability.
D. Instruction in language arts and content areas, addressing standards.
E. Enjoyment, entertainment.
F. Communication, connection versus isolation, the human experience.
G. Lifelong learning, the literate person.
H. Literary tradition.
II. Classification of literature for examination, discussion, and classroom application at the 4th through 8th grade levels.
A. Examination by content/meaning of literature – genre.
1. expository text
a. concept
b. informational
c. biography, autobiography, memoir
2. fiction
a. traditional fantasy (fairy, pourquoi, tall, beast, cumulative, numbskull, realistic, fable, myth, legend, epic, etc.)
b. modern fantasy (nonsense, animal, enchantment, modern folktales, science fiction, etc.)
c. contemporary realistic fiction (self/friends/family, sports, humor, mystery, crime, romance, etc.)
d. historical fiction (events, figures, eras, culture, war, etc.)
B. Examination by shape of literature – form.
1. storytelling
2. wordless
3. graphic
4. picture book
5. chapter book
6. short story
7. novella, novel
8. poetry
9. drama
10. periodicals
11. reference
12. journal, diary
13. correspondence
14. electronic and on-line
C. Identification, characteristics, and application of sub-categories of each genre and each form.
D. Application and significance of exposure to and use of a wide variety of genre and form.
E. Application and significance of exposure to and use of genre across forms of literature.
F. Implications of the artificial nature of categories. (documentary narrative, etc.)
III. Application of literary theory within the upper elementary and middle level literature experience.
A. Elements of literature.
1. setting
2. character
3. plot
4. point-of-view
5. theme
B. Literary devices.
1. figurative language (simile, metaphor, personification,
metonymy, symbolism, allegory, paradox, overstatement,
understatement, connotation, denotation, irony, etc.)
2. musical language (alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia, rhyme, rhythm, meter, etc.)
3. emotional devices (comic relief, suspense, surprise observation, tone, etc.)
4. plot devices (major dramatic question, foreshadowing, flashback, etc.)
5. other devices (aside, allusion, imagery, pattern, etc.)
C. Reader response theory.
1. significance and contribution of the reader
2. theorists
3. theories
D. Interaction of elements, devices, and reader response and their
varied roles and significance across genre and form.
IV. Contribution of illustrations within literature for the upper elementary and middle level learner.
A. Media, technique, style. (painterly techniques, cartoon art, collage, etc.)
B. Function. (set mood, establish setting, communicate plot, reinforce plot, extend
storyline, contradict storyline, elaborate beyond the text, etc.)
V. Evaluation of the quality of literature for use at the 4th through 8th grade levels.
A. Approaches to evaluation.
1. reader taste (prior experiences, interests, meaningful to reader, etc.)
2. literary merit (development and cohesion of elements, effective devices, precise vocabulary, flow of language, suspension of disbelief, etc.)
3. scale of value (achievement of central purpose, significance of central purpose, range and depth of revelation, etc.)
4. truth (inclusion/omission, subjectivity/objectivity, accuracy, sources, etc.)
B. Interaction of taste, merit, value, and truth.
C. Recognition of indicators of low quality literature.
1. dumbed-down text
2. condescension
3. sentimentality
4. didacticism
5. commercial literature
6. vanity press
VI. Considerations in selecting literature for upper elementary and middle level learners.
A. Audience (reader, listener, viewer)
1. level (emergent, developmental, corrective, remedial)
2. habit (reluctant, regular, prolific)
3. taste/interests
4. prior experiences
C. Purpose and Use
1. entertainment, instructional
2. individual, small group, total class
D. Control
1. free choice
2. limited choice
3. assigned
E. Current Trends
F. Ideology
G. Censorship Issues
VII. Employing professional resources in planning literature experiences at the 4th through 8th grade levels.
A. Professional organizations, publications, and on-line resources. (ALA, NCTE,
IRA, etc.)
B. Award lists. (Newbery Medal, Michael Printz Award, Scott O’Dell Award,
Outstanding Trade Book in Science, Coretta Scott King Award, Caldecott, etc.)
C. School, community, and on-line librarians.
D. School, community, and on-line library collections.
E. Local storytelling groups, book clubs, community library organizations.
VIII. Planning response to literature experiences for the upper elementary and middle level student.
A. Goals of structured response to literature experiences.
1. Communication. (opportunity to interact with, reflect upon, share,
discuss, extend, challenge the literature, etc.)
2. Connections. (opportunity to relate the literature to oneself, others,
society, additional literature, content areas, etc.)
3. Continued learning. (opportunity to extend learning beyond the
literature; learn more about self, others, society, additional literature,
content areas, etc.)
B. Menu of response experiences and activities, importance of variety, role of
choice.
C. Importance of alignment between the literature selection, goal of response,
and response experience or activity.
D. Applications for teacher selected/implemented, student selected/implemented,
and independent reading.
IX. Employing specific instructional skills, strategies and techniques at the 4th through 8th grade levels.
A. Conducting storytellings.
B. Previewing and promoting a selection, presenting a book talk.
C. Sharing a selection, reading aloud.
D. Conducting and facilitating literature discussions, grand conversations.
E. Conducting author studies, presentations, displays.
F. Utilizing literature for enjoyment, direct instruction, supplemental materials,
reference, research.
G. Employing literature to integrate instruction.
H. Creating literature based units of study.
I. Building and utilizing text sets.
J. Assisting students in selecting literature.
K. Conducting literature circles.
L. Creating literature based learning stations.
M. Creating reading areas in the classroom.
N. Building and maintaining a classroom library.
O. Evaluating routines for implementing and methods of managing
independent reading and making modifications to increase effectiveness.
(Sustained Silent Reading, Accelerated Reader Program, etc.)
P. Applications for use of literature in a departmental setting.
Q. Serving as a resource person for an instructional team.
X. Utilizing the lived-through experience of literature to enhance instruction, add depth of understanding, and reflect on dispositions.
A. Content area instruction. (historical sense, environmental awareness, etc.)
B. Diversity. (cultural, social, exceptionalities, etc.)
C. Universality. (core values, human experience, etc.)
XI. Engaging in on-going professional development as an upper elementary and middle level literacy educator. (continued reading, conference attendance, professional memberships, etc.)