Appalachian State University
Department of Language,
Reading, and Exceptionalities
RE 5130
Fall Semester 2008
3 credit hours
Teaching the Language Arts
Class Meetings
Edwin Duncan Hall
Room 224
Tuesday 5:15-8:30
Dr. Beth Frye
201 F Edwin Duncan Hall
262-7623(office)
bethfrye@gmail.com
Office Hours in Boone:
Tuesdays-
11:30-12:30; 3:00-5:00; 8:30-9:00
INVITATION
If
you are a dreamer, come in.
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer . . .
If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire,
For we have some flax golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!
Shel
Silverstein
Like the journey motifs in children’s
literature, where the main character goes off on adventure and returns changed
in some way, students are transported beyond the written word to new
understandings of self and the world. They perceive and look at things with
increased sensitivity and sensibilities; confront writing problems and gain new
confidence; and learn patience, commitment, and discipline. These destinations
are important to life work and should not be overlooked on this journey.
Carolyn. L. Piazza |
If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write.
Stephen King |
Write what you want to read. The person you know best in this world
is you. Listen to yourself. If you are excited by what you are writing, you have
a much better chance of putting that excitement over to a reader.
Robin McKinley
|
A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how
they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so
they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight.
Ursula K. LeGuin |
We need to create classrooms where our students can
truly be themselves, where they can bring their passion, knowledge, quirky humor
and authentic voice to . . . writing.
Joann
Portalupi and Ralph Fletcher |
"…look, listen, and then sit down and try to
capture it. But underlying all the looking and listening and trying to hold on,
there should be—there must be—curiosity, amazement, a sense of wonder.”
Kate DiCamillo |
I admire anybody who has the guts to write anything at all.
E. B. White
|
Writers are pretty ordinary people, except for at least one important
difference. Other people have daily thoughts and feelings, notice this sky or
that smell, but they don’t do much about it. All those thoughts, feelings,
sensations, and opinions pass through them like the air they breathe. Not
writers. Writers react. And writers need a place to record those reactions.
Ralph Fletcher |
Course Overview
This course is an opportunity for you to focus
your attention on writing: writing as a tool for learning, as a means for
communicating with others and with yourself, and as an invitation for
self-expression and creativity. It is a chance for you to experience personally
the power of writing to support building understanding and to provide
imaginative entry into other places, times, lives, and ways of being in the
world. Based on your experiences, you should be able to begin formulating a
perspective about the teaching of writing in your classroom and specific plans
for implementing that perspective.
Teaching Methods
- interactive
lectures/discussions
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- projects and presentations
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Course Goals
- To
work as members of a community of learners who care about and enjoy our
collaboration
- To
begin building a deeper understanding of writing and aspects of the craft of
writing
- To become a writer; to develop your personal and academic writing including: journaling, poetry, memoir, and multigenre writing
- To
develop thoughtful and motivating language arts assignments and rubrics for 21st-Century Learners
- To
become aware of professional resources and organizations that support and
inspire language arts teachers
NCATE/IRA STANDARDS
Standard 2: Instructional
Strategies and Curriculum Materials: Candidates use a wide range of
instructional practices, approaches, methods, and curriculum materials to
support reading and writing instruction.
· 2.1: Use instructional grouping options (individual,
small-group, whole-class, and computer-based) as appropriate for accomplishing
given purposes.
· 2.2: Use a wide range of instructional practices,
approaches and methods, including technology-based practices, for learners at
different stages of development and from differing cultural and linguistic
backgrounds.
· 2.3: Use a wide range of curriculum materials in effective
reading instruction for learners at different stages of reading and writing
development and from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
Standard 4: Creating a Literate
Environment: Candidates create a literate environment that fosters reading and
writing by integrating foundational knowledge, use of instructional practices,
approaches and methods, curriculum materials, and the appropriate use of
assessments.
· 4.1: Use students' interests, reading abilities, and
backgrounds as foundations for the reading and writing program.
· 4.2: Use a large supply of books, technology-based
information, and non-print materials representing multiple levels, broad
interests, and cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
· 4.3: Model reading and writing enthusiastically as valued
life-long activities.
· 4.4: Motivate learners to be lifelong readers.
Standard 5: Professional Development:
Candidates view professional development as a career-long effort and
responsibility.
· 5.1: Display positive dispositions related to reading and
the teaching of reading.
· 5.2: Continue to pursue the development of professional
knowledge and dispositions.
· 5.3: Work with colleagues to observe, evaluate, and provide
feedback on each other's practice.
· 5.4: Participate in, initiate, implement, and evaluate
professional development programs.
Course Readings
Arnberg, A. (1999). A study of
memoir. Primary Voices K-6, 8, 1, 13-21.
Cassady, J.K. (1998). Wordless
books: No-risk tools for inclusive middle-grade classrooms. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 41, 6, 428–432.
Certo, J. (2004). Cold plums and the old men in the water: Let children read and write “great” poetry. The Reading Teacher, 58, 3, 266-271.
Espinosa, C. (2006). Finding memorable moments: Images and identities in
autobiographical writing. Language Arts, 84, 2, 136-144.
Higgins, B., Miller, M., & Wegman, S. (2006). Teaching to the test…not! Balancing best practice and testing
requirements in writing. The Reading Teacher, 60, 4, 310-319.
Kucan, L.
(2007) "I" poems: Invitations for students to deepen literary understanding. The Reading Teacher, 60, 6, 518-525.
Moulton, M. R. (1999). The
multigenre paper: Increasing interest, motivation, and functionality in
research. Journal of Adult and Adolescent Literacy, 42, 7, 528-539.
Reese, C. (1996). Story
development using wordless picture books. The Reading Teacher, 50, 172–173.
Trade Books and Textbooks to Purchase:
Best Practices in Writing Instruction (Solving Problems In Teaching Of Literacy) by Steve Graham (Editor), Charles A. MacArthur (Editor), Jill Fitzgerald (Editor)
Writing Without Boundaries: What's Possible When Students Combine Genres by Suzette Youngs (Author), Diane Barone (Author)
My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother by Patricia Polacco
Shortcut by Donald Crews
Family Pictures, 15th Anniversary Edition / Cuadros de Familia, Edición Quinceañera by Pat Mora (Afterword), Carmen Lomas Garza (Illustrator)
Amelia's 5th-Grade Notebook by Marissa Moss
Flicker Flash by Joan Bransfield Graham (Author), Nancy Davis (Illustrator) OR Technically, It's Not My Fault by John Gandits
Silver Seeds by Paul Paolilli (Author), Dan Brewer (Author), Steve Johnson (Illustrator), Lou Fancher (Illustrator)
Dirty Laundry Pile: Poems in Different Voices by Paul B. Janeczko
I Am the Mummy Heb-Nefert by Eve Bunting (Author), David Christiana (Illustrator)
Atlantic by G. Brian Karas
Sierra by Diane Siebert (Author), Wendell Minor (Illustrator)
Where I Live (Hardcover) by Eileen Spinelli OR Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson
Owly Volume 2: Just A Little Blue (Owly (Graphic Novels)) (Paperback) by Andy Runton
To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel (Hardcover) by Siena Cherson Siegel
Love That Dog (Paperback) by Sharon Creech
Brown Angels: An Album of Pictures and Verse (Paperback) by Walter Dean Myers
All the Small Poems and Fourteen More by Valerie Worth
This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness (Hardcover) by Joyce Sidman
Course Requirements:
You are strongly encouraged to be prompt for each class. Regular attendance is required. More than 1 absence will result in the lowering of your grade. For every class absence after 1, you will have 5 percentage points deducted from your final course grade average. I expect each of you to closely and carefully read each assignment; in addition, I expect your active participation during class discussions as well as BLOG Dialogue. Also, you are expected to check your ASU email account. If you would like to forward mail to another account, please feel free to do so. But our communication will be through ASU's system.
Academic honesty and integrity are expected of all students. Any work that you or your team submits must be your own work. Any ideas, information, approaches, or formats that you use based on the work of others must be acknowledged by citing the appropriate sources. Please review the Appalachian State University Academic Integrity Code (http://www.AcademicAffairs.appstate.edu/academic_integrity_index.htm).
Appalachian State University is committed to making reasonable accommodations for individuals with documented qualifying disabilities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Those seeking accommodations based on a substantially limiting disability must contact and register with The Office of Disability Services (ODS) at
http://www.ods.appstate.edu/ or 828-262-3056. Once registration is complete, individuals will meet with ODS staff to discuss eligibility and appropriate accommodations.
Professional Development
Opportunities:
North Carolina Reading Association Conference---http://www.ncreading.org
International Reading
Association---http://www.reading.org/
read*write*think http://www.readwritethink.org/index.asp
NCTE-National Council of
Teachers of English http://www.ncte.org/
The American Reading Forum http://americanreadingforum.org/
LRE Web Site:
http://www.ced.appstate.edu/departments/lre/ReadingProgramInformation.aspx
After you have completed two courses in our program, please complete your Degree Program of Study Form and Admission to Candidacy Form:
http://www.graduate.appstate.edu/gradstudies/forms_graduate/index.html#Program
Major assignments/assessments include:
Journal/Writer's Notebook Invitation and Your Writer's Notebook (40)
Individually Created Educational Blog (48 points)
Poems-Created By You (50) Free Verse, Acrostic, Found, Concrete and I POETRY
Poetry
Writing Assignment and Analysis (55 points)
Memoir(30)
Multitext/Multigenre Project (100 points)
Grading
94-100% = A 90-93% = A- 87-89%
= B+ 83-86% = B
80-82% = B- 74-79% = C
69-73% = D
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