I & L 2209

Reading/Writing Methods 2: Grades 2-4

Spring 2015

M, T, W, & Th

12:45 – 4:15 PM

5130WWPH

“Reading and writing are more than skills: They are sustenance

for well-being in life” (Hampton Resnick , 2009, p. 6).

Teacher: Michelle Sobolak, Ph.D.

Office: 5318Wesley W. Posvar Hall

Phone: (412) 648-7304 (office)

E-mail:

Office Hours:by appointment

Course Overview

This course is intended for teacher candidates who are pursuing PreK-4 certification. It is the second in a two-course sequence and builds on concepts introduced in Reading/Writing Methods 1. It is also part of a set of courses that focus on literacy development and instruction. Other courses in this set include: Language and Literature for the Young Child, and Literacy Assessment and Instruction for Children with Disabilities in Inclusive Settings.

Beginning readers and writers learn how letters represent sounds and how those letters and sounds make up words. Through shared and independent reading and writing, they build an understanding about written language. As students progress through the elementary grades, this foundation allows them to focus on vocabulary, comprehension, and composition. Intermediate grade students are faced with the challenge of more difficult and different reading material. These texts include literature but also texts for science, social studies, and mathematics.

How can you support students in navigating these types of texts? How can you support students in becoming stronger readers and more effective writers? How can you encourage students to respond to texts in meaningful and creative ways? This course is designed to help you begin developing answers to these questions.

Course Learning Goals

  • To begin to build a deeper understanding of the kinds of texts that students in grades two through four are expected to read
  • To become familiar with the kinds of resources used to teach reading/language arts
  • To become familiar with the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts for grades 2-4
  • To begin building an understanding of instructional approaches that support student comprehension of texts
  • To begin building an understanding of vocabulary development and instructional approaches to support that development, including direct instruction of elements of word study
  • To begin building an understanding of instructional methods to support students’ decoding and fluency
  • To begin building a deeper understanding of the writing process and approaches to writing instruction
  • To become familiar with national and state assessments administered in upper elementary grades
  • To develop thoughtful reading and language arts assignments and rubrics based on children’s literature and content-area texts

Course Texts

Bear,D.R., Invernizzi, M.A., Templeton, S., Johnston, F.R. (2012). Words their way: Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction, 5th edition. Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Beck, I, & Beck, M. E. (2013). Making sense of phonics: The hows and the whys. New York, NY: Guildford Press.

Beck, I.,L, McKeown, M.G. & Kucan, L . (2013). Bringing words to Life: Robust vocabulary instruction, 2nd edition. New York: Guilford Press.

MacLachlan, P. (1985). Sarah, plain and tall. New York: Harper Collins.

Additional Readings:

Kieffer, M.J., & Lesaux, N.K. (2007). Breaking down words to build meaning: morphology, vocabulary, and reading comprehension in the urban classroom. Reading Teacher, 61(2), 134-144.

Lane, H.B., & Allen, S.A. (2010). The vocabulary-rich classroom: Modeling sophisticated word use to promote word consciousness and vocabulary growth. Reading Teacher, 63(5), 362-370.

PA Common Core Standards:

Course Requirements

Grading Policy

The assignments for this course are designed to give you opportunities to reflect on your learning and to structure your weekly participation in the course. Assignments are also opportunities for you to receive feedback on your progress and performance. Detailed course assignment sheets and grading rubrics will be available for each assignment.

Late assignment policy: The pace of the class requires that you do not fall behind in assignments; thus, late assignments will not be accepted unless arrangements have been made with the course instructor in advance of the due date. If an extension is needed for assignments, this must be arranged before the due date and will be granted for only the most extenuating of circumstances.

Note: if you are granted an extension with an agreed-upon new due date and the assignment is not turned in by that date, there will be no credit given for the assignment.

All late assignments will result in a penalty of 10% per day late (weekends included). No assignment will be accepted after 3 days after the due date (weekends included).

All assignments are expected to be carefully crafted and edited. As a graduate student and future teacher, it is important that work is carefully proofread and free of typographical and grammatical errors. Scores on assignments will be reduced for work that does not meet this criteria. If this is an area where you require assistance, please reach out to the University’s Writing Center.

Attendance and Participation

Because of the way this course is structured and the nature of the assignments, you cannot do well if you are not actively engaged in course activities. Your active engagement and participation in course meetings and your timely completion of course assignments are crucial for the success of this course as well as your own learning. Being on time and prepared for every class session is expected. You cannot make up a missed class by doing alternative work.

Unexcused absences are not permitted. However, the reading faculty members recognize that in some circumstances you must miss class because of illness or a family or other emergency. If you must miss class, it is expected that you will communicate with the course instructor about your absence. Furthermore, if you miss more than one class (even if they are excused because of illness or family emergency), your grade will be reduced by 10 points. Arriving to class late and leaving early will counts as absences.

Please be respectful of the course instructor and classmates during class by refraining from using electronic devices. Please turn your cell phone off or to silent mode. Text messaging and use of social networking during class is not permitted.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a key component of professionalism. Any work that you or your team submits must be your own work. It is expected that all candidates uphold the principles of academic integrity in their work during this course as specified on the University of Pittsburgh Office of the Provost. These guidelines are available for download at: Candidates who do not follow these guidelines may be subject to disciplinary action.

Grievance Policy

The purpose of grievance procedures is to ensure the rights and responsibilities of faculty and students in their relationships with each other. The rights and responsibilities of faculty and students are described in the University’s Academic Integrity Guidelines at:

Confidentiality

During this course and throughout your teaching career, you will have access to information about students that demands discretion. You may not share information about students in any setting beyond the confines of our work together. Within our group, you may discuss students in only the most professional ways. This means that students and their work are spoken about only for instructional purposes, without veering into gossip or “venting” frustrations. Your access to students is predicated on a disposition of care, respect, and a generous interpretation of their actions.

Confidentiality also means that you may not refer to students in ways that would identify them outside of the course setting including digital forums such as Facebook, Twitter or personal web spaces, such as blogs. Additionally, you may not share images of them or their work for any purpose outside of this course. This includes videotaped or audiotaped records, anecdotal notes, written work, assessments, and photographs. Any infractions will be considered professional misconduct and will jeopardize your standing in Pitt’s graduate programs. If you have any questions about confidentiality matters, it is your responsibility to seek answers from the course instructor.

Pennsylvania requires students to take the PECT (Pennsylvania Educator Certification Tests) to become certified. There are three modules to this test. Module 2 focuses on language and literacy and social studies. The reading faculty strong suggests you plan to take the PECT module 2 following the completion of IL 2209 this spring.

Additional information about the PECT test can be found at I strongly suggest that you become familiar with the modules, objectives, and practice test. The PECT tests are comprehensive exams that will ask that you draw upon content knowledge, pedagogy and age appropriate teaching practices and content. Therefore, it is important to be aware of these tests and prepare throughout your coursework.

Special Learning Needs

If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your instructor and Disability Resources and Services (DRS), 216 William Pitt Union, 412-648-7890 (412-282-7355 for TTY), as early as possible in the term. DRS will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this course.

Major course assignments/assessments include:

Assignment/Due Date / Possible Points
Sarah, Plain and Tall Novel Packet -Thursday, January 8 / /50 points
Integrated Novel Unit – Thursday, January 15 / /100 points
Vocabulary Lesson Sequence – Tuesday, January 20 / /50 points
Word Study and Syllasearch Assignment–Wednesday, January 21 / /30 points
Basal Critique: completed in class as group– Thursday, January 22 / /10 points
Writing Portfolio – Thursday, January 22 / /50 points
Memoir (original, revisions, peer work, final copy) / /20 points
Interactive Reading Guides – ongoing / /40 points
TOTAL / /350 points

Grading:

94-100% = A90-93 = A-87-89% = B+83-86%= B

80-82% = B-74-79% = C69-73% = D

Course Calendar (subject to change)

Class Meeting / Class Activities/Topics / Assignments due for next class meeting
Monday, January 5
Reading and Responding to Literature /
  • Getting to know you
  • Getting to know the course
  • Sarah, Plain and Tall Building background and introducing vocabulary
  • Rationale for robust vocabulary instruction
  • Word tiers and student friendly explanations
/
  • Read Chapters 1-3 in Sarah, Plain and Tall
  • Read Chapter 2 in Bringing Words to Life

Tuesday, January 6
Reading and Responding to Literature / Novel Activities
  • Journal Writing
  • Vocabulary
  • Characters in Sarah, Plain and Tall
  • Author’s Craft
  • Poetry
/
  • Read Chapters 4-6 in Sarah, Plain and Tall
  • Read Chapter 3 in Bringing Words to Life
  • Bring copy of Common Core Standards (or electronic access)

Wednesday, January 7
Reading and Responding to Literature / Novel Activities
  • Journal Writing
  • Vocabulary
  • Author’s Craft
  • I poems
  • Reader’s Theater
  • Literature Circles
/
  • Read Chapters 7-9 in Sarah, Plain and Tall
  • Read Chapter 4 and pages 82-93 in Chapter 5 in Bringing Words to Life
  • Bring copy of Common Core Standards (or electronic access)
  • Bring crayons, markers or colored pencils

Thursday, January 8
Reading and Responding to Literature / Novel Activities
  • Journal Writing
  • Vocabulary
  • Author’s Craft
  • Poems for Two Voices
  • Story Quilt
  • Common Core Standards
NOVEL PACKET DUE /
  • Read the article, Breaking down words to build meaning: Morphology, vocabulary, and reading comprehension in the urban classroom (on courseweb)
  • Complete interactive reading guide (on courseweb)
  • Read Chapter 1 in Words Their Way
  • Read Chapter 10 and Appendix 3 in Making Sense of Phonics

Monday, January 12
Word Study and Vocabulary /
  • Article Discussion
  • In class reading and reading guide completion: The vocabulary-rich classroom: Modeling sophisticated word use to promote word consciousness and vocabulary growth.
  • Syllable types
  • Syllasearch
/
  • Read Chapter 3 and 6 in Words Their Way

Tuesday, January 13
Word Study /
  • Instructional Approaches to Word Study
  • Within Words Spelling Stage
  • Syllables and Affixes stage
/ Read: Comprehension and Comprehension Instruction(available on Coursweb)- bring to class
Bring Sarah, Plain and Tall for next class
Wednesday, January 14
Discussion of Expository Text: Text-based discussions /
  • Discussion as a context for comprehension
  • Discussing expository text
/
  • Integrated Novel Unit Assignment
  • Read Harnessing the Winddiscussion plan (available on Courseweb)—bring to next class

Thursday, January 15
Discussion of Expository Text: Text-based discussions /
  • Planning for text-based discussions: developing learning goals, preparing launch and exit, segmenting the text, preparing discussion questions, prompts and cues
  • Effective instructional moves
INTEGRATED NOVEL UNIT ASSIGNMENT DUE /
  • Vocabulary Lesson SequenceAssignment (Due: Tuesday)
  • Word Study and Syllaserach Assignment (Due: Wednesday)
  • Read 6+ 1 Traits of writing handout (available on Courseweb)

Monday, January 19 / NO CLASS
Tuesday, January 20
6 + 1 Traits of Writing /
  • Approaches to writing instruction
  • 6 + 1 Traits of writing
  • Introduction to memoir
VOCABULARY LESSON SEQUENCE ASSIGNMENT
DUE /
  • Revise memoir and have copies available to all members of writing group
  • Word Study Assignment

Wednesday, January 21
6 + 1 Traits of Writing /
  • Teaching the traits
  • Writing Circle- peer review and editing
WORD STUDY ASSIGNMENT DUE /
  • Prepare final draft of your memoir and rubric for your Writing Portfolio
  • Final copy of memoirs-bring enough copies for entire class
  • Writing Portfolio
  • Basal Critique (in class)

Thursday, January 22
6 + 1 Traits of Writing
Basal Series /
  • Author’s Chair
  • Basal Series/critique
MEMOIR AND RUBRIC DUE
WRITING PORTFOLIO
DUE

1