Wednesday 5:30 – 8:20 p.m
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
1. Understand the components of literacy, including reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing, and how they are related.
2. Understand children’s language and literacy development and how to identify and accommodate for factors that impact student language and literacy learning.
3. Understand aural/oral/visual literacy processes and skills (i.e. types of and purposes of listening, speaking, and viewing; phonological awareness processes and concepts of print awareness; types of and purposes for oral expression activities.)
4. Know the developmental reading processes from birth to age eight and how to best foster literacy at each stage of development.
5. Know and understand the writing process, as well as developmental early writing and the stages of writing development.
6. Know about and use children’s literature to foster reading, language, and vocabulary development for each stage of reading from birth to age eight.
7. Know how to encourage parents to use and apply family literacy skills.
8. Understand how to assess student strengths and needs in order to document student progress in language and literacy development.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND ASSIGNMENTS:
Professional Disposition and Attendance: Attendance for this class is required. Professional teachers are dependable, reliable, and responsible; therefore, students enrolled in an education course are expected to be in attendance, on time for class, and to stay for the entire class. Absence, tardiness, and leaving early are considered evidence of lack of dependability and will be noted for each class session. Students who are more than 15 minutes late to class or who leave early will be counted absent for the class session. Students who are less than 15 minutes late to class, but who are chronically tardy, will lose 10 percentage points (equivalent of one letter grade) from their final course grade. Students may be dropped from the course by the professor if a student misses more than three classes.
The content of this course is presented via class discussions, modeling and demonstrations, lectures, readings, case study scenarios, small group activities, and Blackboard (WebCT). Your attendance and participation are required to obtain a complete understanding of course material. It is your responsibility to make up any missed work. If you miss class, it is your responsibility to obtain notes, class announcements, assignments, and handouts from another student prior to the next scheduled class time. Pair up with someone in class to collect handouts and take notes if necessary.
Merely attending class is not sufficient, but you must be present in order to participate. Come to class prepared and ready to actively participate in each class session: ask questions, answer questions, share your knowledge and experiences, and actively participate in whole class and small group discussions and activities. Read any assigned course materials, bring the appropriate texts and course materials to every class session, and take responsibility for your share of discussion. One of the privileges of a community of learners is gaining feedback from others as you learn. Take advantage of this privilege—ask others to proofread your assignments, study with members of the class, and discuss ideas with group members.
Professional Journal Article, 10% of grade: Students will select a journal article from a professional education source and write a two-page paper, participate in a class, and provide a written reflection on insights. Work should be typed (12 font), free of grammatical errors, titled, and double-spaced. A short synopsis (less than half a page) is expected with more emphasis on the reflection of each article (at least a page and a half). Reflection requires analysis and thoughtful examination by relating the articles to your intended educational profession, class discussions, past experiences, and the text. More information will be provided about the journal articles.
Chapter Application Activities, 10% of grade: Researchers indicate that reading and writing are interconnected and that writing about reading helps improve comprehension. There will be four written chapter assignments. The purpose of each written chapter assignment is to assist you in learning information from specific chapters (and help you apply these to the Documentation assignment). Ten percent of the final grade will be determined by the assigned chapter’s application activity/case study analysis (should be thoroughly analyzed and examined using information from class discussions, past experiences, and the text). These assignments should be appropriately titled (i.e. Chapter 2 Application Activity/Case Study) and turned in before class starts each date they are due. Students who are absent should turn in the assignment the day before or e-mail them to me prior to the start of class. Please see course calendar for specific due dates. One word responses and incomplete answers will result in zero credit for the application activity/case study. Case studies should be typed (12 font), free of grammatical errors, titled, double-spaced, and at least two full pages in length.
Documentation-Observation of a Child and Learning, 15% of grade: Students will observe a child’s language and literacy development over the course of the semester. Documentation will be presented of the child’s progression on a specific area of language and literacy covered in the course. Chapter application activities/case studies may comprise a part of the documentation, but documentation should be individualized to the particular child observed and evidence should be substantial. Feedback provided on chapter application activities will inform your progress on the documentation. See additional handout.
Literacy Development Lesson and Presentation, 15% of grade: Students will be required to work with a small group to prepare a lesson and literacy center teaching a skill from one of the following areas: oral language development, creative storytelling, comprehension, phonemic awareness, word study, and writing. The group will teach this lesson in the form of a presentation to the class. Each presentation should be no longer than 30 minutes but at least 20 minutes long. Students will sign up for presentations in class. There will be two to three people in each group depending on the number of students enrolled in this class. Please bring a copy of your lesson plan for the teacher and copies of any samples of papers/activities that are handed out to the students or used in the lesson presentation. A reflection of how your lesson and literacy center are considered developmentally appropriate will also be required.
After each group’s lesson presentation, students will be required to find four strengths and one weakness for each presentation relating to the guidelines handouts. You will find a copy of this form on Blackboard/WebCT. Please make one copy for the total number of presentations, complete the form after each presentation, and turn into the teacher at the end of each presentation. The completed forms will be passed on to each group with their graded presentation. This will be for the group to learn from this experience and to grow as a teacher. Also, each student will be required to bring one copy of the guidelines handout for each of the skill areas to use as a guide for determining the strengths and weaknesses. See additional handout.
Children’s Literature Sample for Language and Literacy Development, 5% of grade:
This assignment is tied to the group lesson presentation and allows you to preview children’s literature and tie children’s literature to the curriculum (this is an individual assignment, however). Choose a children’s book and present a book and activity demonstrating their use for facilitating a child’s language or literacy development. You should not include books previously discussed by the professor or your classmates. The book and activity should focus on some aspect of language and literacy development covered in the course (for example phonological awareness would include word awareness, syllable recognition, or phonemic awareness which involve rhyme recognition, phoneme matching, and phoneme manipulation). The book and paper should focus on the aspect you have targeted. Do not use any Dr. Seuss books for this assignment. Instead, look for recent books, such as Caldecott winners or honor books that have been published within the last 20 years.
You will prepare a paper, one and one half to two pages, one-inch margins, double-spaced, 12 font, Times New Roman font. The paper includes four parts:
Group Discussion of Children’s Literature Sample:
You will discuss the children’s literature books and activities in groups. You must be present in class for the scheduled discussion and you must bring the children’s book to class. You must include the book and the written paper in the discussion.
Interactive Journaling, 5% of grade: Students will journal throughout the course to reflect on class readings, class discussions, and class activities. Each entry should provide a topic, indicate its importance (to child development, your professional growth), and show clarity of writing or visual representations. To encourage dialogue across the course, students should exchange journals each week with a different classmate. The journal will be submitted on the due date according to the calendar.
Midterm and Final Exams, each 20% of grade:
The midterm exam addresses the first half of the course material. The final exam is over the remainder of the course. Prepare for and complete the mid-term exam and the final exam. You will be successful with these exams if you keep up with the required readings, actively participate in class sessions, review and study course materials, and apply critical thinking skills at all times.
GRADES: Grades are determined by weighing the course requirements in the following manner:
Chapter application assignments 10%
Professional education journal 10%
Documentation 15%
Children’s literature sample 10%
Group lesson & literacy center presentation 15%
Interactive journaling 5%
Midterm Exam 20%
Final Exam 20%
Grading Scale:
Assignments submissions will include hard copy and electronic submissions in Blackboard.
Some assessments will be uploaded to TK20.
a
Late work will be accepted only in cases of emergency at the discretion of the professor. Late work will lose 10 percentage points (one letter grade) for each day that it is late.
OTHER CLASS POLICIES:
Cell Phones: Please turn off all communication devices (cell phones) during class. Please use your cell phones on break and not during class.
Syllabus Changes: This syllabus is subject to change. Any changes will be announced in class or via e-mail.
Disability Access: Students with disabilities who believe they may need accommodations in this class are encouraged to notify the professor and to contact the MSU Counseling and Disability Office at 940 – 397 – 4618.
MSU Writing Center: For assistance with your writing projects, you may want to contact the writing lab for assistance.
Plagiarism Statement: Plagiarism (submitting another person’s work as your own or using another person’s words without giving them proper credit) is academic dishonesty and will be considered grounds for failing this course (see Student Handbook). By enrolling in this course, the student expressly grants MSU a “limited right” in all intellectual property created by the student for the purpose of this course. The limited right shall include but shall not be limited to the right to reproduce the student’s work product in order to verify originality, authenticity, and for educational purposes.