• Due each week:

• Due even weeks in Math grade-band (starting Week 2) and odd weeks in Literacy grade-band:

Week 2 - Tuesday, Jan. 13^th

• The Joy of Teaching Literacy - Poetry, Hand-made Books, D'Nelian, Asking Questions
• What Do You Believe About Reading? Why Does It Matter? - An Overview of the Reading Process

1.  Read:

Guiding Readers and Writers Grades 3-6, Chapter 10
Reading Process and Practice, Chapters 1-5, 11 & 13
2.  Keep answers to section and chapter questions from Reading Process and Practice in your Literacy Workshop notebook or binder section. Also make a list of questions or issues you want to discuss from each of the books. Keep them in your notebook for easy reference.
3.  Be prepared to explain the reading process and to define terms such as cueing systems, syntax, semantics, grapho-phonics, pragmatics, phonological awareness, syllable, onsets, rimes, phonemes, phonics
4.  Be prepared to participate in a debate about the relationship of phonemic awareness and learning to read
5.  Before giving The Burke Reading Inventory (the interviews are due Week 4), watch the video on reserve labeled, Burke Reading Inventory. It will be cued to the appropriate spot for the first group that watches it. After you watch the section on the "Burke", stop the tape at the point where the interviewer asks the child if she is ready to do some reading), reset the tape for the next group.  As you watch, notice how the interviewer attempts to set the child at ease, how the conversation progresses, how the interviewer moves from casual conversation to the Inventory questions, and how she probes the child's responses.

• Firming Up Your Definition of the Reading Process
• Phonemic Awareness and Learning to Read
• Invented Spelling and Phonemic Awareness
• Responding to Children's Book Letters
• Anticipation Guide
• Field Journals

1.  Read:

• In Search of Understanding
• Reading Process and Practice, Chapters 10, 12, 14, 15

2.  Keep answers to section and chapter questions from Reading Process and Practice in your Literacy Workshop notebook or binder section. Also make a list of questions or issues you want to discuss from each of the books. Keep them in your notebook for easy reference.
3.  Bring your field observation journals to class. BE SURE THAT YOU ANALYZE WHAT YOU OBSERVE USING THE THEORISTS WE HAVE STUDIED!
4.  Before giving The Burke Reading Inventory, watch the video on reserve labeled, Burke Reading Inventory.  It will be cued to the appropriate spot for the first group that watches it.  After you watch the section about the "Burke" (stop the tape at the point where the interviewer asks the child if she is ready to do some reading), reset the tape for the next group.  As you watch, notice how the interviewer attempts to set the child at ease, how the conversation progresses, how the interviewer moves from casual conversation to the Inventory questions, and how she probes the child's responses.
5.  Bring written summaries of the responses you received from administering The Burke Reading Inventory to five people, your ideas about your next step with these readers if they were your students, and a video-tape of at least two of the interviews.

Week 4 - Tuesday, Jan. 27^th

• Children's Book Letters
• Burke Reading Inventory
• Setting Up a Primary Literacy Program
• Big Books and Shared Reading
• Yes, Even Very Young Children Can Write

• Linda Lee and Apprentice Into Thinking
• Field Journals
• Quiz

ASSIGNMENTS for Feb. 10th (Week 6)

• Apprentice Into Thinking
• New graded reading and writing EALR's linked to our home page

 
• explain why the "Apprentice Model of Teaching and Learning" is research-based,
• understand the arguments for using Readers' Workshop and for teaching thinking strategies in the primary grades,
• explain the essential components (the components are listed on page A 14 but you need to read the chapters on each to understand their significance) and outline the organization of the readers' workshop schedule,
• list and describe several "read to" and "shared reading" mini-lessons (skim the entire book before answering this question!),
• explain the following individual or small group teaching strategies - individualized reading conference, shared reading/strategy groups, guided reading, literature circles/book clubs,
• explain the significance of "easy books", "interesting books", and "just right" books and how you help children learn to select each of these,
• describe the 3 categories of "fix-up strategies", why you teach them to kids, and how,
• explain what schema instruction is and why it is important to reading,
• explain the significance of share circles and list at least 5 activities from the text that fit this part of readers' workshop,
• discuss the role of assessment in this model of teaching and learning,
• describe how this model allows a teacher to meet the needs of children at a range of reading/writing developmental levels,
• assess how the model described in this book meets the Reading and Writing EALR's.

• Letters to Students
• Primary Literacy Programs - Language, Reading, and Writing Development through songs, predictable books, and theme-based studies
• Systematic Phonics Instruction

• A phonics lesson using a word game, a song, writing stories, or manipulatives
• A book choice mini-lesson (easy, interesting, just right)
• Two "fix-up strategy" mini-lessons (one that focuses on word analysis and one that focuses on meaning)

Week 7 - Tuesday, Feb. 17^th

• Field Journals
• Children's Letters
• Try Out Teaching
• Making Stories 3-Dimensional: Story Mapping, Puppets, Readers' Theater

ASSIGNMENTS for Feb. 24^th (Week 8):

• A "summary" mini-lesson using a flannel board (you need to make the flannel board and characters and use them during the lesson)
• A "summary" mini-lesson that teaches story mapping
• Two "making connections" mini-lessons using non-fiction story/picture books (create one lesson that you would use in the early stages of teaching this type of strategy and one lesson that is more advanced)
• A "clarifying question" mini-lesson and a "pondering question" mini-lesson

2.  Bring your field observation journals to class. BE SURE THAT YOU ANALYZE WHAT YOU OBSERVE USING THE THEORISTS WE HAVE STUDIED!

Week 8 - Tuesday, Feb. 24^th

• Children's Letters
• Try Out Teaching
• ReQuest - An Approach to Guided Reading

1.  Read:

Guiding Readers and Writers Grades 3-6

2.  When you have finished reading, studying, and creating concept-based notes (advice: see Appendix pp. 26-44 for ways to organize conceptual notes), you should be able to:

• describe the goal of the intermediate literacy program,
• outline and describe the framework for the intermediate literacy workshop,
• summarize the major points for each section (Sections 1 - 6),
• explain the purposes of the forms and lists in the Appendix,
• discuss the role of assessment in this model of teaching and learning,
• describe how this model allows a teacher to meet the needs of children at a range of reading/writing developmental levels,
• assess how the model described in this book meets the Reading and Writing EALR's,
• keep a list of questions or concerns you have about this approach to teaching reading in the intermediate grades.

• Field Journals
• Setting Up Intermediate Reading Programs
• Group Strategy Lessons - Probable Passages
• Children's Letters.

1.  Try Out Teaching

a.  You need a group of 4 other people to help you with this assignment. You are going to practice a ReQuest session using the scripts and feedback sheets provided. You will once again be video-taping your lesson. We will talk more about the logistics of this assignment in class. When you have finished, hand in the video, the feedback from peers, and a self-reflection.

b.  Create and submit a lesson plan for each of the following types of lessons. Be prepared to teach the one by your name - that means finding and bringing the materials you need. Use Guiding Readers and Writers Grades 3-6 and Reading Process and Practice as a resource but create your own lessons. Lessons should be under 10 minutes.

• A management mini-lesson
• A literary analysis mini-lesson
• A strategies and skills mini-lesson
• A guided reading lesson

2.  Field Observation Journals

• Children's Letters
• Try Out Teaching
• Strategy Lessons

1.  Create and submit a lesson plan for each of the following types of lessons. Be prepared to teach the one by your name - that means finding and bringing the materials you need. Use Guiding Readers and Writers Grades 3-6 and Reading Process and Practice as resources but create your own lessons. The lessons should be under 10 minutes each.

• A book sharing session using at least 4 genre with a unifying theme (one genre should be poetry, one non-fiction)
• A reading conference (see section on appropriate questioning)
• A lesson introducing and modeling literature circle

2.  Complete Poetry Anthologies and bring to share

• Children's Letters
• Try Out Teaching
• Keeping Track
• Sharing Poetry Anthologies

This project is your final assessment for the literacy component of grade-band. It should include plans for 3 grade levels: 1^st grade, 3^rd grade, and 6^th grade.

For each grade level, provide:

• An organization chart that shows the components of your program and the approximate time allotments for each component.
• Scope and sequence charts for the first three weeks of school for each grade level. Your charts should indicate your objectives for each day, for each part of your literacy program.
• A plan for gathering and organizing on-going assessment information about your students at each grade level.
• A one-paragraph response for each grade level to a series of questions often asked at interviews: