RE 3030-419:  Foundations of Literacy

Appalachian State University

Spring 2010

Instructor:  Mary P. Hendrix

Telephone:  336-751-0008 (home); 336-940-7920 (cell)

Email:  hendrixmp@appstate.edu

Class Meetings:  Mondays & Wednesdays, 12:00 – 1:50

Edwin Duncan Hall 212

Office Hours:  Before or after class, by appointment

Course Description

RE 3030 focuses on early reading and writing development (K-2). Students will explore critical issues of literacy acquisition, assessment, instruction, and intervention. Special attention will be given to effective methods for reading, writing, and word knowledge instruction, including materials, strategies, and organization to meet the needs of all learners.

Course Overview

Beginning readers and writers need to develop an understanding of the alphabetic principle in order to decode words.  They must begin to use their knowledge of how letters represent sounds and how those letters and sounds make up words. Through focused word study and shared, guided, and independent reading and writing, they build an understanding about written language and develop their print processing skills. This is the foundation for using literacy—reading and writing—to learn. As students solidify their print processing skills (decoding accurately and automatically) and make meaning from the text, they become more proficient readers. The focus of this course is the instruction that helps students build these foundations of literacy. For typical students, learning to read takes place in grades K through 2. When most students reach grades 3 though 6, they are ready to focus their attention on using reading as a tool to learn information. The texts they read include both fiction and non-fiction.

How do you assess students’ literacy development? How can you support students in their efforts to understand what reading is and how language is used to convey meaning? What kinds of assignments do you create that will assist students as they attempt to unlock the code between written and spoken language? How do you determine the appropriate instructional-level material that students should be reading?

This course is designed to help you begin developing answers to these questions and, through a field placement, to implement instructional methods with students. It is also an opportunity for you to participate in a social constructivist learning environment—a setting in which the primary focus is individual and collaborative student effort to construct meaning from texts.

Course Objectives

• Work as members of a community of learners who care about and enjoy our collaboration
• Become familiar with theoretical and practical issues related to oral and written language development
• Build an understanding of the practical applications and classroom teaching methods that facilitate reading, writing, and word knowledge growth
• Build an awareness of effective practices in literacy assessment and instruction for primary grade students
• Build a deeper understanding of the kinds of texts that students in grades K through 2 are expected to read
• Become familiar with the kinds of teacher and student resources used to teach reading/language arts

• Become familiar with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for English/Language Arts, and North Carolina writing assessments.

Course Materials

REQUIRED TEXTS

Morris, D. & Slavin, R. E. (2003). Every child reading. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Lobel, A. (1971). Frog and toad together. New York: Harper Trophy.

Marshall, J. (1998). Goldilocks and the three bears. New York: Puffin Books.

Osborne, M. P.  (1998). Polar bears past bedtime. New York: Random House.

Scieszka, J. & Smith, L.  (1989). The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. New York: Puffin Books.

Word Cards and Picture Cards

ADDITIONAL READING ASSIGNMENTS

*Bear, D. R., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2000). Words their way: Word Study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

Beck, I. L. & McKeown, M. G. (2001). Text talk: Capturing the benefits of read-aloud experiences for young children. The Reading Teacher, 55(1), 10-20.

Ehri, L. C. & Rosenthal, J. (2007). Spellings of words: A neglected facilitator of vocabulary learning. Journal of Literacy Research, 39(4), 389-409.

Flanigan, K. (2005). “Daddy, where did the words go?” How teachers can help emergent readers develop a concept of word in text. Reading Improvement, 37-49.

*Morris, D. (2005). The Howard Street Tutoring Manual, 2^nd ed. New York: Guilford Press.

Rasinski, T. (2004). Creating fluent readers. Educational Leadership.

Robbins, C. & Ehri, L. C. (1994). Reading storybooks to kindergartners helps them learn new vocabulary words. Journal of Educational Psychology, 86(1), 54-64.

Stahl, K. D. (2008). The effects of three instructional methods on the reading comprehension and content acquisition of novice readers. Journal of Literacy Research, 40, 359-393.

*These two articles will be given to you as hard copies.  The remaining articles can be found on the class website.

RECOMMENDED TEXTS (available at www.amazon.com)

Darrell Morris (2005). The Howard Street tutoring manual: Teaching at-risk readers in the primary grades. New York: Guilford Press.

Donald R. Bear, Marcia Invernizzi, Shane R. Templeton, & Francine Johnston (2003). Words Their Way, Third Edition. Prentice Hall.

Class Website:  http://www.ltl.appstate.edu/reading_resources/index_RE3030_419_Hendrix.html

Class Blog:  http://re3030419.wordpress.com/

Course Expectations

Attendance, Disposition and Participation: The expectations for this class are identical to those of your future school employers. Tardiness is unacceptable. Attendance is expected for all classes. If for some reason you are unable to make it to class, you must notify me prior to class (however, note grading policy below). The learning that I expect for you in this course (understanding, clarifying, testing, and justifying ideas) depends largely on your attendance and active participation. In addition, this class will involve much student participation, and it is particularly important that you come prepared for class by completing readings and other assignments prior to class. You cannot participate if you are not here and if you are not prepared. Each of you is responsible for developing a professional disposition. The professional disposition I would like you to present is one where you are excited and enthusiastic about teaching reading/language arts, where you complete every assignment to the best of your abilities, where you are engaged in class activities and discussions, and where you are in class (every class) on time and ready to work. To this end, in my grading system two times tardy is equivalent to one time absent. Leaving class early two times is equivalent to one time absent. More than one time absent will reduce your final grade.

Ethics: Again, the expectations for this class are identical to those of your future school employers. You are entering a profession in which you will serve as a model for children’s beliefs and behaviors. Parents will trust their children’s safety, health, education, and happiness to you each school year. You must, therefore, hold yourself to the highest standards of academic and personal integrity.

Academic honesty is expected of all students. Any work that your or your team submits must be your own work. Any ideas, information, approaches, images, or formats that you use based on the work of others must be acknowledged by citing the appropriate sources. Please review and adhere to the ASU Academic Integrity Code at:

http://www.judicialaffairs.appstate.edu/files/documents/academicintegrity.pdf

Learning Assistance and Accommodations: 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 www.ods.appstate.edu or 828-262-3056. Once registration is complete, individuals will meet with ODS staff to discuss eligibility and appropriate accommodations. If you have any individual needs requiring instructional accommodation, please talk to me as soon as possible to assist my ability to work with you.

Professional behavior expectations of our community of learners: As will be expected of you as an employed teacher, your most considerate, professional behavior is expected at all times. Consider the impact of your behavior on others’ learning. Cell phones and other potential annoyances should be disabled during class. If you have an idea or a question, share it. If you need clarification, ask for it. If you disagree with my views or those of classmates, challenge the ideas not the person. Be a good listener. Be an active contributor, and work hard to be a good colleague to me and to your classmates. Class work and lifework beyond the focus of any given class meeting should be put on hold during class. If you have any individual needs requiring instructional accommodation, please talk to me as soon as possible to assist my ability to work with you. Please feel welcome to discuss with me concerns you have about our class. I am here to assist your learning.

Grading System

*Indicates an assignment that will be placed on TK-20 and will be part of the student portfolio

Grading Criteria