Appalachian State University
Department of Language, Reading, and Exceptionalities
RE 5130-375
Spring Semester 2008
3 credit hours
Teaching the Language Arts
Class Meetings
Hickory Metropolitan
Higher Education Center
Room 1114
Wednesday 5:00-8:00
Dr. Beth Frye
201 F Edwin Duncan Hall
262-7623(office)
Email: fryeem@appstate.edu
Website: www.lesn.appstate.edu/fryeem
Office Hours in Hickory:
Wednesdays- 4:00-5:00; 8:00-9:00
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
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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.
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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
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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
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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, including the conventions of grammar, mechanics, and usage
!To develop thoughtful and motivating language arts assignments and rubrics
!To become aware of professional resources and organizations that support and inspire language arts teachers
NCATE/IRA STANDARDS
· 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.
· 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.
· 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.
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)
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)
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.
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).
Professional Development Opportunities:
North Carolina Reading Association Conference---http://www.ncreading.org/wst_page9.html
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://www.americanreadingforum.org/conference_information/ConferenceInformation.htm
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 (40) 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