English 216, Introduction to the Teaching of English Language Arts

An Independent Study at Greenville College, Spring Semester 2006



Dr. Donna J. Hart
225 Hogue Hall
Phone: Office: 664-6805; Home: 664-3863
Office Hours: MWF, 2:30 - 4:30; No office hours T or Th
Email: donna.hart@greenville.edu

Textbook:

Tchudi, Stephen, and Diana Mitchell. Exploring and Teaching the English Language Arts. Fourth Edition. New York: Longman, 1999.

Course Description:

 

This course explores the relationships among the four language arts:  Reading, writing, speaking, and listening. It examines what an English language arts curriculum might look like in a middle level or high school and what teaching in an English language arts classroom is likely to involve.

 

Although we will spend time in class exploring concepts and issues, you will also be in a middle level or high school, working as an aide.  A major purpose for this course is that your interaction on campus and in a public school will allow you to build a foundation for converting the concepts you will encounter in the English Language Arts Education Program into the conceptual tools you must have if you are to be an effective classroom English language arts teacher.

 

Everything in this course—the above discussion, the instructional objectives, the instructional activities—is directly related to and a logical outcome of the following three statements.

 

Teacher Education Program Mission Statement:

 

Teacher candidates will create classroom environments that promote cooperation and responsibility, support self-worth, affirm the dignity of all students, and stimulate learning.

 

Teacher Education Program Theme:

 

Preparing teachers to serve in a culturally diverse world.

 

English Language Arts Education Program Statement of Purpose:

 

The English Language Arts Education Program purposes to help students reach their full potential as human beings and as teachers. The faculty aims at building spiritual and intellectual strength, academic excellence, and pedagogical expertise.  We intend to graduate teachers who know how to learn and how to help others learn. We intend that our graduates integrate faith with the learning they foster in their classrooms and that they demonstrate their faith through their humane, compassionate concern for students, through their modeling of personal hope and redemptive servanthood, and through their rigorous teaching and intellectual pursuits. To these ends we have established and continue to develop the English Language Arts Teacher Education Program.

 

Objectives:

 

This course is designed to bring each student to--

 

1.         State the relationships among reading, writing, speaking, listening.  ( ELAO 2, 5, 6, 7; TEO 1)

2.         Locate and evaluate materials available to the English language arts teacher [trade books, commercial basals or anthologies, magazines,

            and Internet sources, for example].  (ELAO 16, 17; TEO 1)

3.         Build a classroom library appropriate to student needs.  (ELAO 16; TEO 1, 2, 3, 10)

4.         Create a physical environment appropriate for engaging students in reading, writing, speaking, listening.  (ELAO 2, 5; TEO 1, 2, 3, 4, 10)

5.         Describe accurately the diversity they are likely to encounter in English language arts classrooms [cultural, ethnic, linguistic, academic, physical, behavioral].  (ELAO 1, 3, 4; TEO 2, 3, 7, 10)

6.         State effective uses of technology resources for engaging students in reading, writing, speaking, listening.  (ELAO 1, 2, 16; TEO 4, 5, 10)

7.         State the influence of public school English language arts programs on students’ learning.  (ELAO 1, 2, 5; TEO 2, 7, 8)

8.         Describe effective means of engaging parents and involving them in their children’s learning.  (ELAO 19, 20; TEO 7, 8, 10)

9.         Assume responsibility for achieving English Language Arts Education Program outcomes and state English Language Arts Standards. ( ELAO 1-20; TEO 9, 10)

10.       Consistently model hope [and a cosmopolitan mind set for both colleagues, students, and parents].  (ELAO 20; TEO 10, 11)

 

Evaluation of Achievement:

 

1.         Objectives 1, 2, and 4-10 are evaluated through a reflection journal encompassing various practicum experiences and observation assignments during the field experience.

2.         Objective 3 is evaluated through the actual building of a classroom library and through the explanation/defense of its proposed use.

3.         Objective 9 is evaluated through a documentation journal initiated by the student in this course and completed in subsequent program courses.

4.         Objectives 1-10 are evaluated indirectly through a cooperating teacher’s evaluation of the student’s performance as a teacher’s aide.

 

Learning Experiences:

 

The first several class periods are spent on campus perusing program outcomes and state standards, exploring relationships among the four language arts, and

determining implications of outcomes and standards for individual student academic programs.  Students then begin a field experience in which they complete participatory observation assignments and serve as a teacher’s aide.  During the field experience portion of the course, the class meets once or twice bi-weekly to discuss student observations.

 

 

Learning Activities:

 

Over the course of the semester, you will complete the following activities--

 

1. Read the entire textbook and write a summary of each chapter. If you have forgotten the requirements for that type of writing, see http://www.greenville.edu/faculty/dosthart/howsumm.html . You will be evaluated according to the criteria for a good summary found at that site.

 

2. Complete 40 hours of a practicum in the public schools. See instructions at ENGED216TeachersAide . You will be evaluated according to the criteria found at ENGED216TeachersAideEvaluation .

 

3. Collect a portfolio of teaching materials that you might need in your first job. See instructions at ENGED216TeachersMaterials . You will be evaluated according to the criteria found at ENGED216TeachersMaterialsEvaluation .

 

4. Create a library of reading materials that you will use to engage your students. See instructions at ENGED216Library . You will evaluated according to the criteria found at ENGED216LibraryEvaluation .

 

5. Keep a journal of your entire observation and teacher aide experience. See instructions at ENGED216Journal . You will be evaluated according to the criteria found at ENGED216JournalEvaluation .