Course+Description

= Brief Description of the Course =

== Today’s adolescents read, learn, and communicate with print, digital technologies, and media. This course focuses on effective reading and digital literacies instruction for adolescents and pre-adolescents (grades 5-12). Drawing on research-based practices, students will learn how to design, enact, and assess effective reading instruction. The course will focus on reading comprehension, literacy in the disciplines, digital literacies, and teaching students with diverse learning needs and interests. ==


 * __ Texts __**

In addition to journal articles, book chapters, literature, Internet resources and media, we will draw heavily on the following texts:


 * 1) Alvermann, D, Hinchman, K. A., Moore, D. W., Phelps, S. F., & Waff, D.R. (Eds.). //Reconceptualizing the literacies in adolescent’s lives// (2nd Ed.). Mahweh, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
 * 2) Schoenbach, R., Greenleaf, C.L. & Murphy, L. (2012). //Reading for Understanding: How Reading Apprenticeship Improves Disciplinary Learning in Secondary and College Classrooms//, 2nd Edition ISBN: 978-0-470-60831-9


 * __ Course Objectives: __**

Course activities are designed to help each student to:
 * 1) Demonstrate and apply knowledge of research-based practices in literacy for students in grades 5-12, including best practices in the teaching of reading and multimodal comprehension, critical literacy, and inquiry learning.
 * 2) Demonstrate and apply knowledge of how literacy practices and needs differ across content areas.
 * 3) Demonstrate knowledge of language development and reading acquisition and the variations related to cultural and linguistic diversity.
 * 4) Demonstrate and apply knowledge of strategies and tools to develop digital literacies and support inquiry learning on the Internet.
 * 5) Demonstrate knowledge of the role of reader’s prior knowledge, of the reader’s social/cultural/linguistic background, and of the role of social interaction in constructing meaning.
 * 6) Demonstrate knowledge of how to evaluate text difficulty and appropriateness of reading material for a variety of instructional purposes in print and digital contexts.
 * 7) Create, evaluate, and select developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive materials and environments.
 * 8) Affirm and respect culturally and linguistically diverse learners, support home language preservation, and promote anti-bias approaches through the creation of learning environments and experiences

This course provides the following experiences to meet the NCATE and state certification guidelines. The reading/language arts professional will develop:
 * 1) knowledge of current trends in literacy teaching and learning by reading professional journals and publications
 * 2) a plan for engaging in the process of teaching and for reflecting upon and critiquing one’s own practice or development of practice;
 * 3) understanding of subject matter to be taught;
 * 4) understanding of how students learn and develop;
 * 5) strategies to promote and facilitate teacher and classroom-based research;
 * 6) understanding the role of curriculum;
 * 7) understanding and appreciation of individual and cultural diversity;
 * 8) knowledge of the theoretical and evidence-based foundations of reading and writing processes and instruction, with special attention to struggling readers;
 * 9) understanding of how to use a wide range of print and new media instructional practices, approaches, methods and curriculum materials to support reading and writing instruction for struggling readers;
 * 10) a plan for using a variety of print and digital assessment tools and strategies to support effective reading instruction, with special attention to the needs and development of struggling readers;
 * 11) Understand the research on diversity and how it relates to digital literacies and struggling readers.