Course Summary
Our nation's classrooms include students with widely diverse literacy profiles. The secondary teacher, regardless of discipline, must have a broad repertoire of teaching techniques in order to meet the needs of his or her students. This course prepares teachers of secondary students to plan and implement text-based lessons, to recognize and account for literacy differences among students, and to provide appropriate strategies so that students will become independent learners.
As the title indicates a fundamental purpose of the course is to help you think about how to "teach" reading and writing in your particular content areas. In order to do so, you need to be able use such things as prereading and postreading strategies, readability tests, and be familiar with documents such as the Vermont Standards. You also need to learn something about general pedagogy—that is, how to teach what you know using a broad set of teaching strategies. Hence, TEDU 0320 is partly a methods course. You are also required to spend several hours a week in schools learning how teachers "teach" reading and writing. In that sense this is also a lab course! And, it all happens in a twelve -week semester.
To help define the goal of the course we will work with the following definition of literacy from McKenna & Robinson (2002): "Using printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential"(p. 5). Our job as teachers is to help our students become literate. At the same time we need to keep in mind the famous principle attributed to John Dewey that "no thought, no idea, can possibly be conveyed as an idea from one person to another." In other words, you cannot transmit literacy through lecturing. What to do? Stay tuned.
Texts
McKenna, M. C. (2002). Teaching through text, 3rd ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Brooks, J. G. & Brooks, M. G., (1999). In search of understanding: The case for constructivist classrooms. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Rose. M. (1989). Lives on the boundary. New York: Penguin.
Danielson, C. (1996). Enhancing professional practice: A framework for teaching. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Semester Overview
| Week |
Tuesday |
Thursday |
| One |
9/9. Introduce course. Questionnaire. A little Cloze. Examples of concepts and their critical attributes. Movement: I disagree.
Assignment: Read chapters 1 & 2 in McKenna and Robinson. Develop a list of six concepts that are extremely important to your discipline. Be prepared to defend their selection. Ask your peers and professors. No need to develop the attributes yet. |
9/11. Names. Review final syllabus. In major groups, compare lists of concepts. Cull the six down to four. Then as class compare disciplines. Review M & R, chapters 1 & 2. Figure 2.4, p. 23. What would your schema look like? Movement: I disagree.
Assignment: Complete critical attributes for concepts one and two. Bring four copies. Look at Vermont Standardsfor your discipline as a guide to determine if the concepts match what the state says students need to be learning. |
| Two |
9/16 Share critical attributes of concepts one and two in small groups. Leading Seminars using a fishbowl: Jane Addams and de Tocqueville selections. Movement: I disagree.
Assignment: Read Brooks & Brooks Part One with this focus question in mind: What do B & B suggest we need to do to make these concepts meaningful to students? Work on critical attributes of concepts 3 and 4. Revise concept summaries one and two for turning in on Thursday. |
9/18 TURN IN CONCEPT SUMMARIES 1 & 2. Discussion of Brooks and Brooks. So what? What does this mean in relation to teaching your four concepts? Moving from critical attributes to a Concept Formation lesson. Concepts: compound word and conflict. Movement: I disagree.
Assignment: Finish Brooks & Brooks. Select one concept for which you will develop a lesson. Using the concept formation lesson plan format begin developing a lesson for the grade level you are interested in working with. |
| Three |
9/23 Judith Vail and School Placements. What questions do you have? Time permitting we will preview the concept formation lessons.
Assignment: M & R chapters 5 & 6. Complete concept summaries 3 & 4 and bring draft of CF lesson. |
9/25 TURN IN COCNEPT SUMMARIES 3 & 4. In content relevant small groups review the CF lessons you are developing. Four types of classification questions should be completed along with data retrieval chart. What needs fixing? Any questions regarding placements? Assignment: Revise your CF lesson and prepare to micro teach your CF lesson. Read J. Kleinfeld article on Teaching Styles. |
| Four |
9/30 Micro teach your CF lesson in mixed, small groups. Plan to take fifteen minutes. Have classmates complete half the data retrieval chart. Observations begin this week. How to focus your observing.
Assignment: Complete targeted observation this week. Using the article on teaching styles by J. Kleinfeld come ready to discuss what type of teacher does your CT appear to be? What evidence do you have to support your claim? |
10/2 TURN IN CONCEPT FORMATION LESSON. Possible trade of class. Go to hear Steven Lombardo. He translated the Iliad and the Odyssey and will read from his work. Friday, October 3, late afternoon. (Oral traditions)
Assignment: McKenna & Robinson, chapters 7, 8, 9. Find a brief text that has relevance to your CF lesson (HINT: look in the classroom you are in or look in Twilight B-12 and B-14. Ask me for the code that unlocks the secret door.) Prepare to lead a seminar of that lesson in class on 10/9. |
| Five |
10/7 Debrief Lombardo and Debrief Observations. Seminar: The Pledge. Review seminar guidelines. Movement: I disagree.
Assignment: Find a brief text that has relevance to your CF lesson (HINT: look in the classroom you are in or look in Twilight B-12 and B-14. Ask me for the code that unlocks the secret door.) Prepare to lead a seminar of that lesson in class on 10/9. Readings on planning a seminar. |
10/9 Micro-Seminars in small groups of four. Each seminar to last fifteen minutes. Debrief as class.
Assignment: Danielson, chapters 1&2. Rose Lives on the Boundary. Revise your Seminar lessons. |
| Six |
10/14 TURN IN REVISED SEMINAR LESSON. We will meet in the library. Hans Laub & VT history. R&W in early Vermont . Research Project.
Assignment: Develop research topics for research project. Debrief Observations using Danielson framework. |
10/16 Mid-term recess |
| Seven |
10/21 Your own road to literacy. Guest Speaker: Teacher of the Year Michele Forman, MUHS, What schools look like.
Assignment: Lives On the Boundary. Complete 4-5 page essay in which you react to the book and describe your own journey to literacy. When and how did you become aware of developing reading and writing competency? |
10/23 21 TURN IN ROSE ESSAY. Discussion of Rose Essays. Inquiry Method, demonstration lesson.
Assignment: Take one of your other three concepts and design an inquiry lesson around that concept in light of what you now know about reading and writing. M&R, 3, 4, 10, 11. Inquiry handouts. |
| Eight |
10/28 Katherine Scribner on Special ed.
Assignment: Prepare Inquiry lessons. |
10/30 Micro teach inquiry lessons. 15 minutes each in two groups of eight. Videotaping and to larger class group. Practice here before you practice there.
Assignment: Inquiry lesson and/or research project |
| Nine |
11/4 Micro teach inquiry lessons. 15 minutes each in two groups of eight. Videotaping and to larger class group. Practice here before you practice there.
Assignment: Inquiry lesson and research project. |
11/6 TURN IN INQUIRY LESSONS. Class focus: Analysis of School Observations.
Assignment: Research Project. Class Handouts: Apple, Hidden Curriculum and the Nature of Conflict. |
| Ten |
11/11. Seminar on Apple handout. Particular emphasis on comparing Apple to your own observations and the way in which you organized your lessons and what you are finding out from research project.
|
11/13 JML at Conference. Guest Speaker TBA.
Assignment: Review the 12 attributes of the concept "Constructivist Teacher". How close are you? What evidence do you have in which to evaluate yourself on those 12 criteria? What about the classrooms you have observed? |
| Eleven |
11/18 Brooks and Brooks. Constructivist Classrooms. How close are you to the 12 attributes? Do you want to be closer or not? Thinking of Danielson: What counts as evidence?
Assignment: Research Project. |
11/20 Marianne Doe on portfolios.
Assignment: Research project. |
| Twelve |
11/25 TURN IN RESEARCH PROJECTS. Individual presentations in class. |
11/27 Thanksgiving Break |
| Thirteen |
12/2 Go back to key concepts. What would you change? Review definition of literacy that we started with. How has understanding increased? Assignment: Exam review. |
12/4 Exam review. Cloze test #2 |
| Fourteen |
12/9 Exam week |
12/11 Exam week |
| Fifteen |
12/16 Last day of Exams. |
Assessment
Four concept formation-critical attributes summaries. 2 x 4 = 8 points
Personal literacy story 3-4 pages. 10 points
Two page analysis of Brooks and Brooks 4 points
Micro teaching 3 x 6 points each = 18 points
Completion of Observations 20 points
(Twice a week for 80 minutes each time)
Research Project 15 points
Final Exam 10 points
Attendance and participation 15 points
TOTAL 100 points
Every unexcused absence from our class is minus 10 points.
Every unexcused absence from your Observations is minus 10 points.
Resources
Here are some texts that are worth exploring. There are many more, but after you take a look at these, let's talk.
Multicultural education: Transformative knowledge & action. James Banks (Ed.) 1996.
Savage inequalities: Children in America's schools. Jonathan Kozol, 1991.
The schools we need and why we don't have them. E.D. Hirsch, 1996.
Culturally responsive teaching, Geneva Gay, 2002.
A nation at risk: The imperative for educational reform. NCEE, 1983.
The call of stories: Teaching and the moral imagination. Robert Coles, 1989.
Other people's children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. Lisa Delpit.1995.
We can't teach what we don't know: White teachers, multiracial schools. Gary Howard. 1999.
Educational Journals
Here is a list of some of the journals we have in Twilight Hall. There are two rooms, B-12 and B-14 in the basement of Twilight that are dedicated for Teacher Education. You will find two computers, a printer, scanner, useful texts as well as the following journals that are worth your time. Language Arts, National Council of Teachers of English. Check November, 2001 issue.
The Reading Teacher, International Reading Association.
Reading Research Quarterly, International reading Association.
Educational Researcher, American Educational Research Association.
Educational Leadership, Association for Supervisions and Curriculum Development.
Phi Delta Kappan, Phi Delta Kappan International.
Bread Loaf Rural Teacher Network, Bread Loaf School of English. Fall/Winter 1999 issue.