ELEMENTARY METHODS - READING/LANGUAGE ARTS

Week 1

• Contrast the major theories of cognitive development and of reading.
• Describe the active, constructive role of students in literacy tasks.
• Identify the main stages in literacy development.
• Evaluate the major approaches to the teaching of reading and their underlying principles.
• Examine the integration of language arts with other areas of the curriculum through a balanced literacy approach.
• Compare the concept of emergent literacy with that of reading readiness.
• Identify techniques for teaching and reinforcing alphabet knowledge.
• Investigate the importance of teaching concepts of print in emergent reading.
• Examine the value of reading aloud to, with, and by children in a shared reading lesson.
• Explore the concept of writing as part of emergent literacy.
• Identify a series of prompts to encourage students to use graphophonic, semantic, or syntactic cues.
• Explore assessment tools for evaluating phonemic awareness and phonics skills.
• Identify techniques for developing phonological and phonemic awareness, the importance of knowledge about phonics, sight words, and structural analysis and the basic principles for teaching each in an integrated, functional, meaning-centered fashion.

Week 2

• Identify the basic principles of effective vocabulary instruction including strategies and activities.
• Plan a vocabulary lesson that reinforces morphemic and contextual analysis.
• Explore assessment tools for evaluating vocabulary.
• Define reading fluency and identify methods for improving reading fluency.
• Explore assessment tools for evaluating reading fluency.

Week 3

• Describe pedagogical strategies for activating schemata and background knowledge.
• Identify major comprehension strategies. 3.3 Identify methods for teaching and for reinforcing metacognitive awareness.
• Plan a guided reading activity or a directed reading -thinking activity.
• Identify the major comprehension difficulties posed by content area texts.
• Describe effective techniques to enhance retention of expository material.
• Explore assessment tools for evaluating comprehension.
• Examine the procedures for developing literature-based, cross-curricular integrated units.

Week 4

• Define the steps of the writing process.
• Compare the stages of the reading and writing processes.
• Explain the concept of writing as part of emergent literacy.
• Explore the use of the Six Trait Writing rubric in the writing process.
• Provide examples of ways that students can share or publish their writing.
• Identify appropriate ways to use journals in the classroom.
• Explore assessment tools for evaluating writing skills.
• Explore the characteristics of differentiated instruction, including rigorous, relevant, flexible, and complex.
• Examine differentiation of the content, process and products students use to demonstrate learning.
• Analyze how to address students’ reading and writing deficiencies by using differentiation methods.

Week 5

• Examine the role of assessment in instruction.
• Assess the reading interests of pupils.
• Explain the uses, strengths, and weaknesses of formal and informal assessment measures.
• Explore the use of portfolios and rubrics as assessment tools.