Donald Lanctot
Northridge High School
825-2142

Kathy Meyer Reimer
Office: CC 115D
Office phone: 7443
Home phone: 533-3995

Course Description:

Surveys the nature and scope of reading as a process. Combines theory and practice related to reading skills in the content areas with emphasis on diagnosis, instructional materials, access and strategies. Class assignments and field work will be individualized to meet specific needs of the students.

The major emphasis of this course will focus on the incorporation of reading instruction into the content or subject matter areas of the curriculum rather than on teaching reading as a special "course" or as corrective-remedial instruction in a reading laboratory.


Guiding Principles:

The syllabus for this course is based on the Guiding Principles of the Education Department at Goshen College. The Principles are listed below to make links between the Guiding Principles and the syllabus explicit.


At Goshen College we seek to graduate teachers who...

1. comprehend the content disciplines to be taught so as to draw relationships a) within disciplines,
b) between disciplines, and c) to students' lives.

2. build a learning community based on the diversity of students' backgrounds and the ways in which they learn by a) starting from each individual's strengths and cultural resources, b) sharing responsibility for teaching and learning, and c) advocating for alienated and powerless students.

3. flexibly employ a wide variety of teaching and evaluation strategies that enable students to make meaning of content disciplines.

4. manage a classroom effectively, incorporating principles of peacemaking, in a wide variety of
settings.

5. sense a strong call to serve and to nurture students with patience and humor.

6. develop a sense of self as an educational facilitator and leader who continually reflects on
her/his teaching in reference to her/his own guiding principles.
Intents:


1. To understand what it means to be a learner or "doer" of your discipline.

2. To explore the concept of different communicative styles and how mainstream social norms and rules affect teaching and learning in the classroom.

3. To explore the variety of ways we create and communicate meaning through sign systems.

4. To understand the learning process and the role of reading and writing in learning your discipline.


5. To learn strategies to help students gain access to printed materials in your classroom.

6. To know how to help middle and secondary school students to use reading and writing as vehicles for learning in a particular content area.

7. To become familiar with a variety of books for adolescents.

8. To become familiar with strategies that are useful when working with students who are experiencing difficulty with printed material.

Class meeting time:

Thursday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.


Course texts:

Brozo, William G. (1995). Readers, Teachers, Learners: Expanding Literacy in the Secondary Schools (2nd edition). NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. (on reserve in the library)

Zinsser, William. (1988). Writing to Learn. NY: Harper & Row. (selections from the library)

Avi. Nothing But the Truth

Cole, Brock. The Goats.

Wolf, Tobias. A Boy's Life.

Selection from other books/articles available from the library or the bookstore.


Course Requirements:

1. Readings and response to readings.


Readings will be from the text and from professional books and journals in your own discipline. Along the way you will be responding to readings, articles, and the different strategies you will be using.





2. Expert project.


You will learn to do something you have been wanting to learn to do for the past while (change the oil on your car, play a simple tune on the guitar, make tamales, breathe correctly with the freestyle stroke or turn flips when swimming laps, etc.) in order to monitor how you learn and what you think about as you are learning something new. You will decide what you want to learn, find someone who can teach it to you, and spend no more than 8 hours (total) learning it. As you learn, you will record what you are learning, how you are learning it, and what implications that might have for your own teaching.








3. Professional stance.


Assume a professional stance with regard to field placement (joint with Senior High and Middle School Curriculum Studies) and attendance.





4. Professional library and annotated readings.


You will read a professional book or a series of articles with at least one other person from your field for a book discussion and to become familiar with the resources available. During the term you will become familiar with at least 3 journal article sources and 3 books in your field that you can tap into as a professional resource. While we will only have a group discussion on one of the readings, the others will be included in your annotated bibliography.





5. Field placement and engagement project.


Most of you will be placed in the same content area classroom for both Senior High and Middle School Curriculum Studies and this course. John Smith will oversee all details concerning those of you who are enrolled in Senior High and Middle School Curriculum Studies. Those of you who are not enrolled in this course will participate in a ten (10) hour field experience which is tailored to suit your needs.





The engagment will include a placement in a classroom of your content area (which would include preparing materials, teaching segments of the class period, working with small groups of students, leading discussions, assisting in activities, etc.), tutoring an individual having difficulty with a course in your content area, meeting with some of Donald's students or submitting a proposal of your own choosing for our discussion. The point is to have some time to both observe and engage high school students -- particularly in relation to your field of study.





6. Exploration of strategies and techniques.


During your field experience you will be trying various strategies and techniques to help students in your own content area. A tentative list of the strategies (depending on the needs of your students) follows:


a. Content area attitude/interest survey


b. Cooperative learning experience


c. Vocabulary exercise


d. Comprehension activity


e. Semantic map of topic or area


f. Write-to-learn activity


g. Evaluation of your ability to organize material (use a tape recorder while teaching a lesson and then analyze your organizational ability as you follow along)


h. Directed Reading Learning Experience


i. Assessment of one student's communicative style


j. Assessment of prior knowledge


k. Text set or appropriate literature discussion plan





9. Complete mid-term and final evaluations and self-evaluations.

Evaluation:

Grading for this course will be based on self-evaluation and feedback from the teaching team--with special attention to the following areas:
· Attendance
· Class Participation
· Thoroughness and quality of work on written assignments
· Taking responsibility for your own learning
· Completing the reading for the course on time
· Mid-term and Final
· Quizzes
· Professionalism in your relationships in the school and course contexts is assumed