Fall 2013, ENGL 493, Teaching Literature to Adolescents : September 2013

Friday, September 27, 2013

Book Talk Selections

Michele Pindras--Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Todd Harr--The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Mackenzie Curtis--Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Brad Plummer--Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Aaron Gruis--Maus by Art Spiegelman
Hollie Clouse--The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Anna Pabst--The Giver by Lois Lowry
John McDougal--House of Hades by Rick Riordan
Breanne Hanson--The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Dominick Giguere--Anthem by Ayn Rand
Sean Pelfrey--To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
DaVena Clark--Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia by Jean Sasson
Sharon McClintock--Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli
Whitney Leavitt--13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Candice La Vanway--Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Patricia Brady--A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
Josh Gallegos--Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
Russ Carder--Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Kailie Knutzen--Feathers by Jacquline Woods

Learning Letter Assignment

ENGL 493

Learning Letter Assignment

Each student is required to complete a course reflection in the form of a blog posting. This final blog posting should fulfill three major requirements:

1) Reflect on the work you’ve completed in the course (book talks, mini-lessons, unit plans)

2) Reflect on the theories and concepts we explored in readings and discussions

3) Reflect on how you think your participation in this course has influenced your thinking about yourself as a teacher

The process of continual reflection is essential to your growth as a teacher.

The learning letter is worth 5% of the final grade for the course, and it is due to your blog by Thursday, 12/12 at noon.

3 Week Unit Plan Assignment

English 493

3 Week 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. The literature unit plan is worth 40% of the final grade for the course. It is the culminating project for all of the work we will do this quarter.

Project Objective: To construct a well-researched and applicable instructional 3 week unit that incorporates a novel, a play, poetry, a group of short stories, an author, or a specific period. This unit should integrate literature, language, composition, listening, speaking, social justice, informational texts, and technology/media. You must incorporate the theoretical work that we’ve discussed in class during the quarter. Feel free to incorporate other theoretical lenses as well. Many of you are in practicum situations. This unit plan is a great opportunity to develop materials for content currently underway in your placements. Although it is not required, the work you develop for this assignment could be used by you or your master teacher so that you can see how what you have designed works in the classroom. Feedback from your master teacher will also be incredibly useful for you.

* This project can be completed individually or in pairs. If working in pairs, it is essential that the each aspect of the project is worked on collaboratively. Please don’t split the project up and complete it separately. Thinking through each aspect of this project is necessary to prepare yourself for teaching secondary ELA skills.

Requirements:

Unit Overview/Introduction (100 pts): Write an introductory overview that captures the essence of your unit and what you plan for it to accomplish. (Three to five pages double-space typed). Introduce each section of your unit plan. In your introductory paragraph, tell the title of your text(s), the grade level for which you intend the unit, and what you plan for your project focus. Then, write a narrative describing the unit so that any reader will understand what the focus is and what the unit is generally trying to accomplish. Throughout your overview, the focus of the unit should always be clearly identifiable as you describe the intent of your individual lessons, as you show how you will integrate any extra resources (such as cultural items, texts, technology, or photocopied material), and as you explain your unit evaluation procedures. This introductory overview must be clear enough that anyone picking up your unit will know what you focused on and how you approached it from the beginning of the project to the end. Include your rationale for using your selected text(s) in the classroom.

Calendar/Timeline (20 pts): Describe the objective/focus, the classroom activities, and the assignment for each day in the calendar or timeline. Include a brief timeline of the unit that shows the progression of instruction during 3 weeks. This timeline may be in calendar form or as a one to two page description of daily activities. Each day should include the main activities and events that will be covered as well as daily assignments.

Unit Objectives (20 pts): Develop an overall question or statement that will act as an “umbrella” for your goals and objectives for the unit. When you list your goals and objectives, prioritize them, starting with the most important. Keep your list short--a maximum of four or five. Remember that these are the main objectives for the unit as a whole. The objectives for your individual lessons will be much more varied. Explain clearly what it is you want the students to learn and/or accomplish by the end of the unit. Refer to CCSS in this section.

Evaluation Plan (40 pts): Consider how you will evaluate this unit, what assignments will work best for evaluating your selected objectives, and describe in detail your plan (point system, percentages, etc., including the rationale for using them).

Daily Lesson Plans (120 pts): Follow the TPA lesson template to plan each day of your 3 week unit. In each lesson plan, provide details of activities and the timing of these activities as a narrative so that anyone could understand where your lesson is moving and how you will accomplish it (this includes outlines, handouts, and lecture notes, if used). In bibliographic form, be sure to list all materials used. Attach all supplementary material used in the lesson, including quizzes, worksheet, handouts, poems, stories, pictures, overheads, etc.

Annotated Bibliography (50 pts): Make an annotated bibliography for all the sources you used as well as those you might use later (10 minimum). Some of these should be from course material, but please use a minimum of 3 outside sources as well. Your annotation should be descriptive and evaluative and should run from three to four sentences.

Self-Evaluation of Final Project (30 pts): When you have completed your project and are ready to turn it in, write a self-evaluation of your entire final project, looking at the strengths and weaknesses of your unit. Include what you have learned from doing this unit. Looking ahead, consider what you might change based on what you’ve already learned from preparing this unit.

Organization of Teaching Materials (20 pts):

Organize your information. Make it as easy as possible for you—and others that you are sharing your project with—to find items.

A few suggestions:

1. Use Section Dividers. Use subject dividers or tabs to identify each section. Consider breaking up large sections into smaller, more easily accessible sections. For example, lesson plans could be divided up week by week, or even day by day.

2. Add a Table of Contents and Paginate. List each individual section in the order presented.

3. Edit. Also, have a friend/colleague edit. Edit for your friend/colleague.

4. Proofread. Also, have a friend proofread. Proofread for your friend/colleague.

This assignment is worth 40% of your final grade in this course. Please feel free to consult with me throughout your process of putting this project together. I’m happy to look at drafts of pieces of the project to give you feedback. I’m available for discussions of ideas, texts, assignments, etc. For those working in pairs, both students will earn the same grade.

Mini-Lesson Assignment

ENGL 493

Mini-Lesson on Literary Text:

All students will have the opportunity to teach a lesson using one of our course texts:

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart.

Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet.

Wiesel, Elie. Night.

Yang, Gene Luen. American Born Chinese.

Students will form groups and select which of the five texts to use. Each student in each group will be responsible for teaching a 25 minute 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.

Specific requirements for individual students:

1. Each student will provide the class with a TPA lesson plan for his/her mini-lesson. Prior to completing this project, we will discuss the requirements and the purpose of the TPA. This lesson plan will be a thorough explanation of what is planned and implemented.

2. Each student will complete a 2 pg. self-evaluation after reflecting on his/her teaching. In this self-evaluation, each student will:

*reflect on what was successful about the lesson and teaching,

*reflect on what he/she might do differently next time, and

*address issues that are brought up during the feedback session

Specific requirements for groups:

1. As a group, you must discuss what aspect of the text each of you would like to teach. It is essential that each person teach a different aspect of the text.

2. Each group must include some aspect of popular culture, social justice, and informational text. Please note that every group member does not need to include all of these, but each of these must be included for each of the texts.

It’s expected that you use the content of the course to guide your lesson preparation. This assignment is a great opportunity to take some risks and attempt things you haven’t tried before. As a class, we are here to support and help each other to become better teachers. My hope is that you take this opportunity to do that.

Evaluation Rubric

The mini-lesson teaching exercise is worth 20% of the final grade for the course. Students will be evaluated by the following.

___/10 Lesson Plan

___/10 Effectiveness of Lesson Activities

___/10 Teacher Effectiveness/Poise/Presence

___/10 Level of Class Engagement

___/10 Self-evaluation Paper

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Links to your Colleagues' Blogs

Anna Pabst--APAPST.blogspot.com
Josh Gallegos--joshuag792.blogspot.com
Todd Harr--harrtodd.blogspot.com
Whitney Leavitt--whitneysecondarystrategies.blogspot.com
Michele Pindras--michelepindras.blogspot.com
Brad Plummer--bradplummer.blogspot.com
Hollie Clouse--holliekclouse.blogspot.com
Dominick Giguere--dsgiguere.blogspot.com
Sharon McClintock--stmcclintock.blogspot.com
John McDougal--hugoaustenscard.blogspot.com
Russ Carder--russcarder.blogspot.com
Candice La Vanway--candicelavanway.blogspot.com
Breanne Hanson--motivatetoread.blogspot.com; http://motivatetoread2.blogspot.com
DaVena Clark--thatonedavenagirl.blogspot.com
James Raub--james-engl493.blogspot.com
Mackenzie Curtis--makenziescurtis.blogspot.com
Patricia Brady--patriciajoyner.blogspot.com
Danika Morgan--dmorgan-teachinglitforadolescents.blogspot.com
Sean Pelfrey--seanpelfrey.blogspot.com
Aaron Gruis--argengl493.blogspot.com
Kailie Knutzen--knutz247.blogspot.com

Introductory Letter Assignment

Description:

Please post an introduction of yourself to your blog. Introduce yourself as a student in this course and as a teacher candidate. Please include coursework and experiences (including current practicum situation) that are relevant to this course. Also, please address what you feel are your strengths and weaknesses as a potential teacher of English and Language Arts. Finally, please provide a summary of your goals for this course. What is it that you want to accomplish in this course?

Requirements:

This assignment should be long enough to communicate the required information.

Notes:

This assignment is intended as a way for all of us to get a glimpse of who you are as a student, as a teacher, and as a person. Good teachers know their students well and create space for students to get to know one another. Please include any information that you feel is important for me to gain this understanding.

Book Talk Assignment

Book Talk of a Young Adult Text

Engl 493

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 handout detailing the text for his/her classmates. The book talk of a young adult text is worth 10% of the final grade for the course.

What to include in your presentation and handout:

1. Please include a detailed description of the text. Take into consideration that your colleagues might not be familiar with the text that you have chosen. A detailed descriptiono will include everything necessary for your classmates to gain an understanding of the text without reading it. Your job is to introduce the text in a complete way so that it is possible for others to decide when, where, and how this text might be appropriate.

2. Please explain why you chose this text. What was your rationale? For whom is this text appropriate? Please consider age, ability, and any other factor you find important. Why is it appropriate for this group of students?

3. Please include some teaching ideas. How do you envision this text being used in a secondary classroom? Provide at least 3 specific ideas for what is possible with this text.

4. Please consider some obstacles to using this text. What are the potential issues that may arise from using this text? Predict an administrator’s response to the use of this text. Predict parents’ responses. Predict students’ responses.

5. Anything else you think is important for us to know and understand about this text and its use with students.

Book talks will be about 10 minutes each with an additional few minutes for questions and brief discussion about your text. When you have decided on a text, please email me (sagriss@ewu.edu) with your selection. This way we can avoid overlap of texts. One of the goals of this assignment is to increase your potential library of texts, so it is important that we each choose something different. I will OK texts based on the order in which I receive emails. If you choose a text that someone else has already chosen, I will ask you to choose a different text.

Book Talk of Young Adult Text

Evaluation Rubric

____ / 10 Detailed outline of text

____ / 10 Rationale for choosing the text

____ / 10 Teaching ideas

____ / 10 Obstacles

____ / 5 Handout

____ / 5 Presentation

Course Syllabus

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

Chapter 1 at http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/philosophy/education/freire/freire-1.html

Week 3

10/7—Reading: Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” Chapter 2

Chapter 2 at http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/philosophy/education/freire/freire-2.html

10/9—Reading: Peter McLaren’s “Critical Pedagogy: A Look at the Major Concepts” available at http://cidocstudents2012.wikispaces.com/file/view/Critical+Pedagogy+Major+Concepts.pdf

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

10/16—Reading: Langer’s “A Response-Based Approach to Reading Literature” available at http://www.albany.edu/cela/reports/langer/langerresponsebased.pdf

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.