English 493: Teaching Literature to Adolescents
Fall 2013
M/W/F
2:00pm-3:25pm
Sean W. Agriss,
PhD Office Hours: M/W 12:30m-1:30pm
Office: Robert
Reid Laboratory School 160C
or by appointment
Phone:
509-359-6863 Email: sagriss@ewu.edu
Course Description:
The course
involves the study and analysis of adolescent literature and of methods for
teaching literature to various grade levels. It is designed primarily for those
who will be teaching and dealing with adolescent responses to literature.
Course Objectives:
1. Provide
students with a range of critical lenses for analyzing texts and interrogating
the beliefs, attitudes, and ideological perspectives encountered in literature
2. Organize
literature curriculum around topics, themes, and issues
3. Infuse
multicultural literature and emphasize how writers portray race, class,
ethnicity, sexuality and gender differences
4. Employ of a
range of methods of teaching literature
5. Integrate
English Language Arts Common Core State Standards in teaching practice
6. Learn
strategies to provide attention to students who have difficulty succeeding in
literature classes due to reading difficulties, disparities between school and
home cultures, attitudes toward school/English, or lack of engagement with
assigned texts or response activities
7. Incorporate
social justice ideals into English and Language Arts curriculum
Required
Texts:
Tovani, Chris. I Read It, But I Don’t Get It: Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent
Readers.
Stenhouse
Publishers, 2000.
The literary texts selected for class
include literature written specifically for young adults, as well as classic
and contemporary literature written for general audiences. As a teacher of
adolescents, you will want to familiarize yourself with as much literature as
possible that speaks to a younger reading audience.
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart.
Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. New York: Little,
Brown,
2007.
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet.
Wiesel, Elie. Night.
Yang, Gene Luen. American Born Chinese.
An additional young adult text of your
choice--As a teacher you need to know what your students' interests in reading
are, and what their individual abilities are, when it comes to reading and
analyzing a text. Then you can build on this knowledge, perhaps even helping to
expand their interests as you build their reading skills. Note that many literature
texts address sensitive issues and that the authors expect the readers to be
mature enough to handle them. Consider these texts carefully, avoiding
dismissal just because they address an issue differently than you would.
Consider, always, the merits of the text and
the maturity of the students you are working with.
Course
Requirements:
Blog Postings 25%
of final grade
Mini-Lesson on
Literary Text 20%
of final grade
Book Talk of
Young Adult Text 10%
of final grade
Literature Unit
Plan 40%
of final grade
Learning Letter 5%
of final grade
Brief Description of Course Requirements (extensive
instructions to follow):
Blog Postings: Throughout the course you will
be asked to respond in writing to texts that we are reading in class. Each
student will create a blog (we’ll look at this together in class). Completion
of these blog postings is essential to your success, and your colleagues’
success, in this course. These responses are intended to give you an
opportunity to think and reflect on the content and to prepare you for what
will happen in class on the day that they are due. Also, you will be able to
access your colleagues’ blog postings to read and comment on if you wish.
Please be sure to title each of your blog posting with the title of the reading
that you are responding to. Credit for blog postings will be earned on a
complete or incomplete basis. Because the purpose of these assignments is to
prepare for the day’s activities, no partial credit will be given for
incomplete work and no late assignments will be accepted. Blog postings are to
be a minimum of 300 words are worth
25% of the final grade for the course.
Mini-Lesson on Literary Text: All students
will have the opportunity to teach a lesson using one of our course texts. Students
will form groups and select which of the five texts to use. Each student in
each group will be responsible for teaching a mini-lesson focused on one aspect
of the text. You will consider your 493 classmates as your students, and we’ll
be respectful secondary students at your request. Each student will provide the
class with a TPA lesson plan for his/her mini-lesson (we’ll review these
requirements together in class). Following each lesson, the class will
participate in a feedback session designed to help us all consider what worked
well and what can be improved. Additionally, each student will complete a
self-evaluation after reflecting on his/her teaching. Note: All students are
responsible to know every text presented. The presenters need your
participation to grow as teachers, and you will depend on their participation
as well. Consequently, the class is not only responsible for reading the texts,
but also for participating in the lesson and the discussion following the
lesson. The mini-lesson on a literary text is worth 20% of the final grade for
the course.
Book Talk of Young Adult Text: Each student is
required to choose a young adult text and prepare a short talk to introduce the
text to the class. As a teacher of adolescents, you will want to familiarize
yourself with as much literature as possible that speaks to a younger reading
audience. These book talks will assist you in becoming familiar with the text
that you choose, as well as the variety of texts that your classmates choose.
Each student will be asked to provide a detailed handout for his/her
classmates. The book talk of a young adult text is worth 10% of the final grade
for the course.
Literature Unit Plan: Using texts
other than those being covered in our class, each student will prepare a three
week unit plan. Preparing this unit will help you in a variety of ways. You
will get feedback on the feasibility of your lessons working in the classroom
and on your methods of evaluation. You may be developing materials for a text/texts
already used in the curriculum that you may/will encounter again in your own
teaching. You may be developing materials for a text/texts that you can make
the case for why it should be included in the curriculum. Or you may be
developing materials that include English Language Arts instruction in a
different content area. Whichever option you choose, you will gain experience
in planning a meaningful unit for your future students. This will be a very
detailed project. I will provide you with much more detail early in the
quarter. The literature unit plan is worth 40% of the final grade for the
course.
Learning Letter: At the end of the course, each
student will be required to complete a course reflection in the form of a
learning letter to me. The process of reflecting on the work you’ve completed
in the course and on the ideas discussed in the course is essential to your
growth as a teacher. The learning letter is worth 5% of the final grade for the
course.
Evaluation:
A
Range 96-100% 4.0 B
Range 89% 3.6
94-95 3.9 88 3.5
92-93 3.8 87 3.4
90-91 3.7 86 3.3
85 3.2
84 3.1
83 3.0
82 2.9
81 2.8
80 2.7
C
Range 79% 2.6 D
Range 69% 1.6
78 2.5 68 1.5
77 2.4 67 1.4
76 2.3 66 1.3
75 2.2 65 1.2
74 2.1 64 1.1
73 2.0 63 1.0
72 1.9 62 0.9
71 1.8 61 0.8
70 1.7 60 0.7
F 0-59% 0.0
Please remember the 3.0 grade point average
requirement for this class.
Attendance Policy:
o
If
a student misses more than two days of a
three-day-a-week course, the instructor has the option of reducing a
student’s final grade by 0.5 for each subsequent absence.
Be
aware that there is a point at which a student cannot satisfactorily complete
the course assignments because of absences; should this occur, the instructor
has the option of failing a student during the second half of the quarter. All
holidays or special events observed by organized religions will be honored for
those who show affiliation with that particular religion.
Class Conduct Policy:
All
students are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that does not interfere
with an instructor’s ability to teach or a student’s ability to learn, as
outlined in the EWU Code of Student Conduct: http://www.ewu.edu/x4708.xml. Any
violation of the Code of Student Conduct may result in the student being asked
to leave for a single class session and/or the instructor pursuing disciplinary
proceedings through the Dean of Students office and could result in sanctions
such as suspension or dismissal from the University. Examples of disruptive
behavior include
- disrespectful and/or hostile language,
posturing, or gestures that interfere with the instructor’s ability to
teach and/or a student’s ability to learn
- using cell phones, mp3 players, portable games,
laptops, or other electronic devices for purposes unrelated to the class
(the only exception is note-taking equipment)
- talking while other students and/or the
instructor is talking
- arriving late or leaving early
Academic Integrity Policy:
Eastern
Washington University students are responsible for upholding the Code of
Academic Integrity, available through the office of the Dean of Students’
office and online at http://www.ewu.edu/x4319.xml.
Any question of Academic Integrity will be handled as stated in the EWU
Academic Integrity policy.
Americans with
Disabilities Act Accommodations Policy:
Eastern Washington University is
committed to providing support for students with disabilities. If you are a
student with physical, learning, emotional, or psychological disabilities and
need an accommodation, you are encouraged to stop by Disability Support
Services (DSS), TAW 124 to speak with Kevin Hills, the Manager of DSS or to
call 509-359-6871. For more information on DSS, visit http://www.ewu.edu/x2336.xml.
Tentative
Schedule for Fall 2013:
Week
1
9/25—Introductions, Syllabi, Assignments,
Expectations, etc…
9/27— Introductions, Syllabi,
Assignments, Expectations, etc… cont.
Week
2
9/30— Discussion of Introduction Letters
and “Discussion as a Way of Teaching” (Handout)
10/2—Reading:
English Language Arts Common Core State Standards available at www.corestandards.org (Please focus on
the Reading Standards for Literature, Informational Text, and Foundational
Skills)
10/4—Reading: Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy
of the Oppressed” Chapter 1
Week
3
10/7—Reading: Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy
of the Oppressed” Chapter 2
10/11—Reading:
Duncan-Andrade and Morrell’s “Critical Pedagogy and Popular Culture in an Urban
Secondary English Classroom” (Handout)
Week
4
10/14—What is
Social Justice? Why is it important for our classrooms?
Reading: Individual Exploration
10/18—Reading:
Tovani’s “I Read it, but I don’t get it,” Chapters 1-5
Week
5
10/21—Reading:
Tovani’s “I Read it, but I don’t get it,”
Chapters 6-end
10/23—Differentiated
Instruction
Reading: Individual Exploration
10/25—Creating
Lesson Plans
Reading: TPA guidelines (Handout)
Week
6
10/28—Book Talks (Anna, Hollie, Sean, Aaron, Dominick, DaVena, Michele)
10/30—Book Talks (Josh, Sharon, Breanne, Kailie, John, Whitney, Patricia)
11/1—Book Talks (Candice, Russ, Brad, Danika, Makenzie, Todd, James)
Week
7
11/4—Mini-lessons (Achebe 1 and 2) *Achebe blog post due
11/6—Mini-lessons (Achebe 3 and 4)
11/8—Mini-lessons (Alexie 1 and 2) *Alexie blog post due
Week
8
11/11—No Class, Veterans Day
11/13—Mini-lessons (Alexie 3 and 4)
11/15—Mini-lessons (Shakespeare 1 and 2) *Shakespeare blog post due
Week
9
11/18—Mini-lessons (Shakespeare 3 and 4)
11/20—Mini-lessons (Wiesel 1 and 2) *Wiesel blog post due
11/22—Mini-lessons (Wiesel 3 and 4)
Week
10
11/25—Mini-lessons (Wiesel 5 and Yang 1) *Yang blog post due
11/27—No Class, Thanksgiving Break
11/29—No Class, Thanksgiving Break
Week
11
12/2—Mini-lessons (Yang 2 and 3)
12/4—Mini-lessons (Yang 4)
12/6—Unit Plans Due, Discussion of Unit Plans, Course Evaluations
*Learning
Letters Due to your blog by Thursday, Dec. 12 at noon.
