CTL 7000H Curriculum and Teaching in Literacy

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CTL 7000H Curriculum and Teaching in Literacy

Master of Teaching

Course Outline 2014-2015

Primary/Junior

Course Instructor: Clare Kosnik

Office: 10-156

Office Hours: By appointment

Phone: 416-806-8532

Teaching Assistant: Lydia Menna

(Please notify us either by email or phone if you are unable to attend class.)

Those of us who have the privilege and responsibility of teaching literacy teachers are charged with designing learning experiences that support their development of the knowledge, skills and dispositions needed to work confidently with culturally and linguistically diverse children and families, especially those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. This charge has never been more pressing. Rebecca Rogers

COURSE OVERVIEW

In this literacy course, we will explore many issues of literacy development spanning kindergarden through sixth grade. The big question that will guide the course is “what does it mean to be literate in the 21st century?”

• We will look closely at the research on reading and writing to gain an understanding of the complexity of reading and writing andidentify strategies for effective teaching practices.
• You will be asked to draw on your own experiences of reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing and representing. Your personal history as a reader and writer will affect your work as a literacy teacher.
• You will draw on the work being done in your practice teaching classes in order to understand some of the issues facing teachers in the 21st century. This connection will help us bridge the theory-practice gap.

This course is intended to help you gain an understanding of the language acquisition process; learn skills for program development; explore theoretical issues; and acquire strategies to support students’ language learning. One of the key emphases in the course will be content area literacy which addresses literacy teaching and learning in the content areas (e.g., science, history).

The format for our classes will be varied: lectures, workshops, discussions, reading and writing. Your participation is vital! Use the course Wiki! Whenever possible please share interesting materials and insights with us. Participation, attendance, and punctuality in all in-class activities are required. In addition to completing the in-class tasks you will be invited to contribute to discussions.

In one course, we cannot fully address all literacy-related topics. We have chosen topics that we believe, based on extensive research, are relevant and appropriate for primary/juniorstudents. If there is a topic that you feel we should address (either individually or as a class) please contact us.

REQUIRED TEXTS

• Gantos, J. (1998). Joey Pigza swallowed the keyand Deborah Ellis (2000) The breadwinner. (Purchase on your own)

• Stickland, D., & Mandel-Morrow, L., (Eds) (2000) Beginning reading and writing. New York: Teachers College

– Available at Bob Miller Books180 Bloor Street West(416) 922-3557

• Course readings will be distributed in class and/or posted on Blackboard
• There is a course Wiki – MT Literacy 2011. You are encouraged to visit it, contribute to it, and offer suggestions on how to make the Wiki a key part of the literacy course.

COURSE OUTLINE

The following outline is tentative. We will regularly review the course direction and modify it to meet your needs. If you have a question or concern do not hesitate to contact us.

Date / Tentative List of Topics
Sept. 9 / Defining Literacy
- Course organization
- What does it mean to be literate in the 21st century?
- Do individual videos on what is important in literacy
Sept. 16 / Cueing systems
Stages of development
Sept. 23 / Emergent Literacy
Phonics
Strickland and Morrow jigsaw
Wiki Scavenger Hunt
Sept. 30 / Reading
Strickland and Morrow jigsaw
Precursor Literacy Skills
The Arrival
Oct. 7 / Poetry
My Grandma – Unit plan
Oct. 21 / All About Me Books due
- Class to be held at Clare’s house

Nov. 25 / Post PT debrief
Sharing and analyzing photos from PT identifying sources of literacy
Components of literacy programs
Dec. 2 / Spelling and Seasonal Literature
Jan 6 / Novel study
Responding to Literature
Deborah Ellis - The Breadwinner
Organize literature circles
Jan. 20 / Literature circles
Jack Gantos - Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
Feb. 3 / Overview of Writing
March 24 / Post PT Debriefing
Non fiction
March / Sharing of books on writing Schedule will be organized during the last class

Be a Literacy Detective

During your first PT look for sources of literacy – these could be conventional practices or not. Take photos of at least 6 places where “literacy is occurring.” Try to identify practices that are both positive and negative. And look for instances where the activities truly engage the students. These practices can relate to reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

Take photos of these literacy places. At our first class after practice teaching you will be in a small group where you will talk about your photos. Your photos can be on your phone, computer, iPad, hard copy …. In your sharing of your photos you will talk about why these were good/poor literacy practices.

Please reassure your Associate Teacher that we will NOT be posting any of these photos on social media sites. If he/she is uncomfortable with you taking some photos, only take pictures without the children (or just from behind them – not their faces). Since you will be explaining the significance of the photos, it is not necessary to actually have the students in them.

ASSIGNMENT SUMMARY

Do NOT slip your assignment under Clare’s office door. Leave it in Clare’s mailbox on the 11th floor.

1. Literacy autobiography – Due Tuesday, September 23
2. All About Me book - Due – October 21
3. Critique and response to a professsional text on reading –Due – Week of Dec. 8th
4. Critique and response to a professsional text(s) on writing – Due – Tuesday, March 24 - schedule will be arranged

1. Literacy Autobiography

Think about yourself as a reader and writer. Briefly describe your reading and writing habits – what do you like to read, what do you dislike about writing, and so on. Your reading and writing habits were formed by many factors. Identifying them will help you understand your attitudes towards being a literacy teacher.

You have had many experiences with literacy, some positive and some negative, all of which will affect you as a literacy teacher. Select 1 or 2 literacy experiences you had (either in or out of school) that had a significant effect on you. BRIEFLY describe them and then talk about how they have impacted on you.

Give three very practical suggestions for what you wish had occurred in your schooling regarding literacy teaching/learning. All teachers from kindergarten to grade 12 must teach reading and writing!

The paper is to be 5 pages double-spaced with 2.54 cm borders in font size 12.

Due Date: Tuesday, September 23

Grading: A,B, F

20% of grade

2. All About Me Books

The creation of this book about you fulfills a number of purposes:

* it celebrates who you are

* it provides your colleagues with an opportunity to get to know you

* it celebrates the diversity of individuals in our class

* it allows your creativity to emerge and through exploration may prove new potential to you

* it provides a good resource for you to use with your students as an artifact, a way of introducing you to your students, a good lesson to use with them and ....

* it allows you to come to understand first-hand the complexity of the composing and publishing processes and it allows you to consider how various literacy formats/genres can be used with students

* it introduces you to children’s books in another way

* it is fun

Criteria

a. Meaning

The All About Me text must communicate in some way who you are - it could be descriptive, autobiographic, a metaphor, .... but it must say, “This is me!” It is important to identify your intended audience; therefore, the book must match your intended audience. If, for example, you are writing it for young children, the pictures are very important and the text must be simple and accessible to them. If on the other hand, you are writing it for an audience of adolescents, the tone, structure and theme would be very different. Use a structure/format appropriate for the age group you choose as models.

b. Structure

The All About Me book must be:

* illustrated in some way (use your imagination and ingenuity here). Any format is fine – text based, artifacts, digital …..

* durable for use in the classroom

* well planned

* well written (adhering to the convention of grammar and spelling)

Possible formats and genres for your book…

Acompanying Story on Tape / Shape Books
Fairy tale, mystery, make believe / Poetry Book
Banners / Pop-up Books
Shape Book / Wheel Book (using paper fasteners)
Accordion Book / Picture Books
ABC book / Books with Bookmarks
Books with Pictures and Clipart / Book in a box
Books with Photographs / Puppet Books
Characters from a Movie or Novel / Chart Books
Dioramas / Flip Books
Graphic novel/story; Comic format / Television Box
Newspaper / Momento book
Series of memos / Menu
Series of photographs with captions / Counting book
I Book / Other ….. (e.g. rap, song)

Grading: Pass/Fail

Due Date: Tuesday October 21

The books will be shared with colleagues at the breakfast at Clare’s house

3. Critique and Response to a Professional Text on Reading

Select and read a professional text about reading in general or one particular aspect of reading that interests you. CONFIRM THE BOOK WITH CLARE OR LYDIA! Write a paper (approx. 5-6 pages) that both critiques and responds to the text. Do not feel that you need to be critical but be thoughtful in your response. A response to the text should let us know what you learned from reading the book and your assessment of it (which could be completely positive!).

Please use the following to guide the writing of your paper:

1. The title and bibliographical information of the book you have selected.

2. A brief summary of the book which should be NO MORE THAN 2 PARAGRAPHS IN LENGTH. Everyone must reproduce the Table of Contents and attach it as an Appendix. AND YOU MUST ATTACH THE EVALUATION CRITERIA RUBRIC which is at the end of this outline.

3. A response to a text is not a retelling of the book. Provide sufficient information so that we have a sense of what the book is about but do not devote significant space to retelling the book. You can either respond to the whole book or focus on a few chapters and tell why these chapters are significant.Identify the strengths of the book? Identify the weaknesses? Explain why you agree or disagree with the author? In your response, try to relate the book to professional reading, research, course work, practicum, etc. In some cases this is not possible but wherever possible do bring in a connection to what else you have read or seen in classrooms. Describe insights you have had into the topic. What did you learn? What must you be mindful of in your practice as a teacher?

Please note that this is an academic paper SO organization, flow, and presentation are important, as well as adherence to APA Style.

Here is an example of APA format.

Dudley-Marling, C., & Paugh, P. (2004). A classroom teacher’s guide to struggling readers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann

Due Date: Week of December 8

If you do not submit your assignment during class do NOT slip it under Clare’s office door. Leave it in Clare’s mailbox on the 11th floor.

Grading: A,B, F

40% of grade

4. Responding to a text on writing

Pick one aspect of writing that interests you (spelling, grammar, narrative writing, expository writing, writing workshop, assessment of writing, strategies for supporting struggling writers, etc.). Look through some academic journals and/or texts to gather information on the topic. Find at least three to five peer reviewed articles OR one strong text on the topic. If you choose to use articles they should be from peer reviewed journals. Read between 3-5 articles depending on the length --3 longish articles or 5 short to medium length articles. A response to a text is not a retelling of the book. Provide sufficient information so that we have a sense of what the book is about but do not devote significant space to retelling the book. You can either respond to the whole book or focus on a few chapters and tell why these chapters are significant.Identify the strengths of the book? Identify the weaknesses? Explain why you agree or disagree with the author? In your response, try to relate the book to professional reading, research, course work, practicum, etc. In some cases this is not possible but wherever possible do bring in a connection to what else you have read or seen in classrooms. Describe insights you have had into the topic. What did you learn? What must you be mindful of in your practice as a teacher?

Rather than do a written response you will do an oral presentation and use 1 digital technology. You will present to a small group of students (possibly 5 students). You will give a brief overview of the book/articles talking about some of the following:

• Main ideas/key concepts
• What you learned
• Research base
• Limitations of the book
• Questions you have for the author
• Strengths of the book
• A connection to what you have learned in the MT academic program

Include in your presentation what you learned about being a teacher of writing. You must link the information to your practice teaching class (e.g. was the writing process being implemented, would this particular strategy work for my students…).

• In your presentation you MUST use a digital technology; for example, PowerPoint, iMovie, a graphic organizer, Prezi, a web quest, a comic book template, Wordle, Word Puzzle, digital photos, music, podcast, something from the Read, Write, Think site, or .... You can use any digital technology you want to support your presentation.

• You must discuss the technology you used in the presentation (how and why you used it to support the audience’s learning)
• You must present 1 or 2 practical strategies that teachers can use.

You will have a total of 10 minutes for your presentation.

Submit a synopsis of the book, the Table of Contents, and full bibliographic information for your book or articles and include the EVALUATION CRITERIA RUBRIC which at the end of this course outline. Your grade will be based on the content of your presentation and the use of a digital technology. See our Wiki for examples from last year.

Due Date: The presentations will be organized on the last day of the course which is Tuesday, March 24 and will occur probably on the Wednesday March 25.

Grading: A,B, F

40% of grade

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TEXTS

*** Allington, R. (2006). What really matters for struggling readers: Designing reseach-based programs. Toronto: Pearson.

Alverman, D. & Phelps, S. (1998). Content reading and literacy; Succeeding in today’s diverse classrooms. Toronto: Allyn and Bacon.

Atwell, N. (1998). In the middle: New understanding about writing, reading and learning. Toronto: Irwin.

Ball, A. (2006). Multicultural strategies for education and social change: Carriers of the torch in the United States and South Africa. New York: Teachers College Press.

Banks, J. et al. (2005). Teaching diverse learners. In L. Darling-Hammond & J. Bransford, Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to do (pp. 232-274). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

*** Beers, K. (2003). When kids can’t read: What teachers can do. A guide for Teachers 6-12. Porstmouth, NH: Heinemann.

***Booth, D.,& Lundy, K. (2007). In graphic detail Markham: Pembroke.

- Available from Scholastic Trade and Education. It can be ordered at 1 800 268 3848.

Booth, D. (1998). Guiding the reading process: Techniques and strategies for successful instruction in K-8 classrooms. YOU CANNOT USE THIS BOOK FOR YOUR BOOK CRITIQUES

Booth, D. (1996). Literacy techniques for building successful readers and writers. Markham: Pembroke. YOU CANNOT USE THIS BOOK FOR YOUR BOOK CRITIQUES

*** Booth, D. (2002). Even hockey players read: Boys, literacy and learning.

Markham: Pembroke Publishers.

Braunger, J. & Lewis, J.P. (2001). Building a knowledge base in reading. Newark DE: International Reading Association.

Calkins, L., Hartman, A., and White, Z. (2005). One to one: The art of conferring with young writers. New Hampshire: Heinemann

Cary, S. (2000). Working with second language learners: Answers to teachers’ top ten questions. Portsmouth: Reed Elsevier Inc.

***Cunningham, P., & Allington, R. (2007). Classrooms that work: They can ALL read and write. Toronto: Pearson. (Second edition is much better than the first edition)

Dudley-Marling, C., & Paugh, P. (2004). A classroom teacher’s guide to struggling readers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann

Fletcher, R., & Portalupi, J. (2001). Writing workshop: The essential guide. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

***Fountas, I.& Pinnell, G. S. (2001). Guiding readers and writers: Teaching comprehension, genre, and content literacy. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Graves, D. (1994). A fresh look at writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Graves, D.H. (1991). Build a literate classroom: The reading/writing teacher’s companion. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

International Reading Association (1996). Standards for the English language arts. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Jobe, R., & Dayton-Sakari, M. Info-Kids:How to use nonfiction to turn reluctant readers into enthusiastic learners. Concord, ON: Irwin Publishing.

Kosnik, C. (1998) . Spelling in a balanced literacy program. Scarborough:

Nelson. Peterson, S. (2003). Guided writing instruciton: Strategies to help students become better writers. Winnipeg: Portage and Maine Press.