A. Attendance and Class Participation.

Full and positive class participation is expected. Excellent attendance is required for an “A” or a “B.” Two or more absences may impact your grade. Full participation in class discussions requires that assignments and reading be completed in a timely manner.

Assigned Texts. Throughout the semester you will be assigned readings in the assigned texts.

1. Good Teaching: An Integrated Approach to Language, Literacy, and Learning, by Carole Stice, Nancy Bertrand .

2.Teaching the Dimensions of Literacy, by Cecilia Silva and Stephen B. Kucer

B. Professional Readings.

Read a minimum of 4 additional self-selected articles or chapters from a professional text. The 4 articles must be from accepted professional, juried journals or professional texts approved by the instructor (such as Language Arts, Reading Teacher, Reading Research Quarterly, Kappan, Young Children, etc.) on literacy topics that are interesting to you. These reflections should be a minimum of 2 pages in length and consist of a short 1 paragraph synopsis of the article or chapter and the balance consisting of your text-to-self, text to world and text-to-text connections.

Suggested resources: Tucson Area Reading Council Fall Workshop; Tucson Teachers Applying Whole Language Conference; The Southern Arizona Association for the Education of Young Children Conference; and the Arizona Reading Association State Reading Conference.). See the instructor if you have any questions.

C. Group Presentations.

Each group will give a 45 minute oral presentation of teaching methods and related theoretical bases (No more than 4 in a group.) Please include handouts for class members.

D. Individualized Inquiry Projects.

Choose one major researcher or area of interest that is important to you and is approved by the instructor for your major paper for the class. There will be a short individual oral presentation and a formal write-up due at the end of the semester.

Project topics should be unique to your individual professional needs. They should have authentic purpose in your lives as readers, writers, researchers and teachers. The bibliography should cite at least 6 readings from outside the class assignments.
Examples may include but are not limited to:

* Compiling a portfolio that represents a comprehensive case study of a specific student over the course of the semester. Oral and written language/writing samples would be collected and analyzed.

* Writing an scholarly article for professional publication.

* Compiling a curriculum notebook or website for your own teaching which contains resources, teaching strategies , schedules, possible student work and your reasoning for change and the choice of activities/strategies.

* Writing a formal paper outlining the contributions of a significant researcher in the field of Language, Reading and Culture (Such as Donald Graves, Brian Cambourne, Marie Clay, Yetta Goodman, Richard Ruiz, Luis Moll, David Yaden, Constance Weaver, Shirley Brice Heath, Stephanie Harvey, Alfie Kohn, Maria Montoya-Harmon, etc.)

* Documenting or planning a major shift in your curriculum (ie, Spelling, Readers Workshop, Writers Workshop, Literature Study, Vocabulary, Fluency, Evaluation/Assessment, Parent Component, etc.). You would be providing specifics on what would be changing, how the changes would be implemented, the professional reasons for making the changes and what the desired outcomes and affects would be on students and yourself as a learner.

E. Final Exam.

You will be asked to write an 6-8 page reflection that shares your growth as a reader, writer, researcher, and learner in this class over the course of the semester. The final reflection should specifically reference the impact that course readings, presentations, discussions and assignments had on your professional thinking.

Grades

All work completed satisfactorily = B grade.
Evidence of scholarly and unique work beyond the confines of the assignments = A grade.
In the final self reflection, you may justify the grade you believe you have earned.

Grades for the class will be based on the following:

20 pts........attendance/class participation

20 pts........quality and depth of research reflections

20 pts........quality and depth of group lesson plan presentation

20 pts........quality of individual inquiry project

20 pts.........level of reflection and articulation of final reflection

Grading

90 - 100 pts	= A
80 - 89 pts	= B
70 - 79 pts	= C
60 - 69 pts	= D
below 60 pts	= E

Policies against plagiarism. There is specific instructor policy regarding plagiarism in this course, as per the Student Code of Academic Integrity http://dos.web.arizona.edu/uapolicies

N.B. Information contained in the course syllabus, other than the grade and absence policies, may be subject to change with reasonable advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.

Please see attached LRC Statement of Principles

Students with Disabilities: If you anticipate issues related to the format or requirements of this course, please meet with me. I would like us to discuss ways to ensure your full participation in the course. If you determine that formal, disability-related accommodations are necessary, it is very important that you be registered with Disability Resources (621-3268; drc.arizona.edu) and notify me of your eligibility for reasonable accommodations. We can then plan how best to coordinate your accommodations.