ENGLISH
482
SEMINAR IN TEACHING
ENGLISH I
FALL 2003
Joan DelFattore
Class hours: Mon. 3:35-6:35, 125 Memorial Hall (Section 10)
062 Memorial Hall
Tues. 6:00-9:00, 125 Memorial Hall (Section 11)
831-2987 (office)
737-7124 (home and fax) Office hours: Mon.
1:00-2:30
jdel@udel.edu
Tues. 3:00-4:30
www.english.udel.edu/jdel
Thurs. 4:30-6:00
and by appointment on other days
Required Texts
Nancie Atwell, In the Middle: New Understandings About Writing,
Reading, and Learning, 2d
edition (Boynton/Cook, 1998).
Joseph Callahan, Leonard Clark, and Richard Kellough, Teaching in the
Middle and Secondary
Schools, 7th edition (Prentice Hall, 2002).
Delaware English Language Arts Content Standards
http://www.doe.state.de.us/Standards/English/ELA_toc.html;
print the following
sections: Definition; Standards One through Four, Grades 6-8 and
9-10.
Delaware Professional Teaching Standards
http://www.doe.state.de.us/DPIServices/teacher.htm#standards; print entire
document
“The Five-Paragraph Essay,” http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Atrium/1437/
“Outline of the Five Paragraph Essay,” http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/English/essay/
“Research Papers Handbook,” http://www.research-papers-handbook.com/
“The Writing Process,” http://www.csuohio.edu/writingcenter/writproc.html
“Writing a Research Paper,”
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/ResearchW/index.html
"A Sound of Thunder," by Ray Bradbury: http://www.sba.muohio.edu/snavely/415/thunder.htm
Website on teaching “A Sound of Thunder”:
http://www.esc20.net/etprojects/formats/webquests/spring2001/taft/asoundofthunder/index.html
Technology
Announcements and some student work will routinely be circulated on e-mail
to the UD class list. Please don’t ask to have your messages sent
out separately to a different account; check whatever account you gave the
UD as your e-mail contact. If that is out of date, change it with
UD technical services so that it will be correct on the class list.
Students will also be asked to do research for the class on the Internet.
This syllabus, links to urls mentioned on the syllabus, and all instructor-made
handouts are available on the instructor’s home page (www.english.udel.edu/jdel/),
which also includes links to English Education program information.
Grading
At the end of the semester, students will submit a final project demonstrating
their ability to pull all the course topics together into a coherent set
of classroom-worthy instructional materials keyed to the Delaware English
Language Arts Standards. This final project will count as 35% of the
course grade. The only possible grades for the final project are A,
B, and “Do it again.” A grade of B indicates that the material is good
enough to be used in a real-life secondary-school classroom, and students
must display at least this level of competency in order to complete the course
successfully.
Throughout the semester, students will complete written assignments demonstrating
their ability to reflect on and utilize the material they are learning.
Some of this written work will be revised in a variety of small-group
activities, and all of it will be handed in for preliminary comments by
the instructor. It will then be revised again before being submitted
in a class portfolio, which will count as 65% of the final grade.
In lieu of a final examination, the class portfolio also includes a reflective
essay showing specifically how the student envisions using the work from
this course in real-life teaching. (It would be a good idea to look
at the instructions for the class portfolio, which appear later in this
syllabus, before starting the first assignment. That would give you
the option of making notes for your reflective essay as you go along throughout
the semester, rather than leaving the whole thing until the end.)
The only possible grades for the class portfolio are A, B, or “Do it again.”
A grade of B indicates that the material is good enough to be used in a
real-life secondary-school classroom, and students must display at least
this level of competency in order to complete the course successfully.
All out-of-class work must be typed. Since each written assignment
will be used as the basis for small-group activities in the class period
in which it is due, it is important to have the work completed on time.
Points will be deducted for assignments handed in late unless prior arrangements
were made with the instructor. Points will be deducted for mechanical
errors, such as spelling, punctuation, and so forth. In the unlikely
event that a student plagiarizes or hands in someone else’s work, the student
will fail the course and thus be disqualified from student teaching in the
spring.
Attendance Policy
ENGL 482 requires participation in seminar discussions and ongoing small-group
projects. These activities are essential preparation for student teaching
and cannot be replaced by reading on your own or by getting class notes
from someone else. Students are therefore required to attend every
class meeting, which includes showing up on time and staying until the end
of class. The only excused absences are for serious illness
or a death in the family. Car trouble, non-emergency medical or dental
appointments, family or social obligations, studying for this course or
other courses, weariness, outside jobs, romantic complications, hangovers,
existential ennui, and abduction by creatures from another planet are unexcused
absences. Except for dire emergencies, absences will be excused only
if students call ahead of time. Students who miss more than one class
for any reason will be required to provide documentation for all absences
after the first. Students who repeatedly arrive late or leave early
will receive a warning and then will lose points if the behavior continues.
Please note that repeated late arrivals, early departures, or non-appearances
in student teaching or in a teaching job are grounds for dismissal, so this
attendance policy is consistent with the course’s goal of developing the
professional attitudes and habits necessary for teaching.
COURSE OVERVIEW
Description
The Seminars in Teaching English I and II are offered every fall.
The same students take both courses, which are designed as a unit, and everyone
who takes them has already received a student teaching placement for the
spring term. Throughout the fall, students go out into the schools
to observe secondary-school classes, interact with their cooperating teachers,
and begin doing a few basic teaching activities in preparation for student
teaching in the spring. This contact with the schools is a crucial
element of both seminars, since it gives students a real-world perspective
through which they can better understand how the ideas and approaches discussed
in these courses apply to actual secondary-school classrooms. Being
in the schools also gives students an opportunity to appreciate the practical
significance of such topics as content standards, statewide assessments,
and cultural diversity.
The combination of assigned readings, research and group projects, seminar
activities, and continuing contact with the secondary schools not only helps
students acquire new knowledge, but also encourages them to coordinate what
they have learned throughout their entire program into a coherent basis
for teaching. Students are also encouraged to adapt the innovative
teaching techniques they have experienced in some of their college classes,
such as the increasing use of e-mail, the Internet, small-group work, and
non-print media, for use at the secondary-school level. Similarly,
building on the information provided in educational psychology classes that
deal with diverse learners, including mainstreamed special education pupils,
students learn how to apply this material to the specific tasks involved
in teaching secondary-school English. The same is true of many other
pedagogical topics that are covered in general terms in education courses
and then applied in a more content-specific manner in the Seminars in Teaching
English. Examples of such topics include the use of multiple assessments,
including statewide standardized tests; the inclusion of multicultural perspectives
in teaching; and the use of the case study method as a tool for analysis
and problem-solving.
Objectives
* Students will develop instructional materials using a variety of research-based
approaches. Emphasis will be placed on serving secondary-school students
who come from varied backgrounds, live in a pluralistic culture, and exhibit
different learning styles.
* Students will plan instruction keyed to the Delaware State Content
Standards and the Delaware Professional Teaching Standards, including the
following elements: long-term goals and specific behavioral objectives
designed for diverse learners; motivational activities aimed at stimulating
pupil interest and emphasizing the relevance of the lesson to the pupils’
own lives; varied instructional strategies focusing on student-centered
approaches to whole-class, small-group, and individual learning; skills-based
as well as content-based learning; the use of technology, non-print media,
and community resources; and multiple types of assessments. Students
will also explain how the motivational activities, instructional strategies,
pupil assignments, and assessments in each of their lesson plans relate
to each other and accomplish the objectives of the lesson.
* Students will develop instructional plans that will help secondary-school
students to apply their real-life experiences to oral and written composition;
develop listening skills; speak and write for a variety of audiences and
purposes; use the writing process, including prewriting, writing, revising,
editing and evaluating; participate in cooperative and collaborative learning
environments; experience a variety of individual, small-group,
and whole-class approaches to
instruction geared toward diverse cultures and learning styles; apply knowledge
of grammar and usage to oral and written composition; and write accurately,
colorfully, and expressively in response to DSTP-style prompts.
* Working individually and in groups, students will develop plans
for using a variety of descriptive, diagnostic, formative, and summative evaluation
strategies, such as portfolios, contracts, self-evaluation, AV presentations,
observations, and tests. Students will also develop appropriate evaluation
instruments and evaluate the effectiveness of particular assessment strategies
in different kinds of situations and with diverse learners. On lesson
plans written after discussing this material, students will state explicitly
how their proposed assessment procedures relate to the lesson’s objectives,
motivational activities, class activities, assignments, and target state
standards.
* As the culminating activity of the course, students will develop a coherent
plan for teaching a writing unit incorporating all the elements and standards
defined above.
* Students will present specific plans for conveying expectations and assessments
accurately, constructively, and sensitively to pupils and parents.
* In addition to reading research-based printed
materials, students will assess the value of relevant Internet sites, such
as teacher-posted suggestions for teaching various kinds of writing, chat
rooms and online discussion groups for teachers, and homepages of textbook
publishers and professional organizations.
Conceptual Framework
Seminars in Teaching English I and II are based on the University of Delaware’s
Conceptual Framework, which was developed by a multi-college committee to
define the approaches generally used in the university’s teacher education
programs. The entire Conceptual Framework document may be found at
www.udel.edu/teachered.
Reflective Practitioners: ENGL 482 encourages students to think through
problems and provides step-by-step models for doing so. The required
texts present material in a way that invites reflection and problem-solving,
and class discussions, small group work, and the materials collected into
the class portfolio include a variety of reflective exercises, such as journal
entries and self-evaluations.
Scholars: In accord with the overall goal of becoming
reflective practitioners, students are encouraged to consider ways of using
research-based information as a means of determining what more they need
to learn and how best to learn it. Students are required to include
in this effort not only traditional scholarly texts but also appropriate
Internet sites and community resources. This work is not undertaken
as a separate, isolated assignment; rather, it is part of the routine development
of motivational activities, lesson plans, unit plans, multiple assessments,
and other instructional materials the student write in the course.
Problem-Solvers: The concept of problem-solving
is inseparable from the goals of reflectiveness and scholarship defined
above. For that reason, the class discussions and seminar activities
routinely define problems that need to be solved, identify the information
or material needed to solve them, and determine how that information or
material may be acquired.
Partners: Almost every class period includes activities
that model techniques of cooperative peer interactions. More broadly,
students are encouraged to develop both the skills and the attitudes necessary
to foster routine, comfortable partnerships – formal and informal – with
parents, colleagues, business and civic groups, and other elements of the
community.
SCHEDULE AND WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS
Please bring the relevant textbook(s) to every class meeting. All
written work must be typed.
Sept. 8, 9: Introduction to the course
Introduction to diverse learning styles, instructional goals and objectives,
taxonomies,
the Delaware
English Language Arts Content Standards, and the Delaware
Professional
Teaching Standards
Assignments of Atwell chapters for next week’s class
Assignment for next week:
Read Callahan, Clark, and Kellough
(hereafter CCK), Module 2, “Middle and
Secondary School Students: Meeting the Challenge.” Pay particular
attention to the sections entitled “Styles of Learning and Implications
for
Teaching,” pp. 37-41; and “Instructional Practices That Provide for Student
Differences: General Guidelines,” pp. 41-42. It is not necessary
to complete the
exercises or end-of-chapter activities in CCK unless you are specifically
asked
to do so.
Read the Atwell chapter you were assigned
(Chapter 1, 2, or 3) and prepare
approximately one page of notes to help you present this material in next
week’s class. These notes, which should reflect what you consider
most
important about the chapter, will be handed in at the end of next week’s
class.
Like all written work in this course, the notes must be typed. Since
English
teachers are open to severe criticism from parents, students, and principals
if
our own writing contains mechanical errors, all written work in this course
must be correct in spelling, punctuation, usage, and so forth. Take
the time
to proofread your work, and if necessary consult the online grammar
guides
linked to the Writing Center website
http://www.english.udel.edu/wc/resource/index.html,
the Writing Center itself, or
your notes and materials from ENGL 183 for help with grammar questions.
This note will not be repeated on subsequent writing assignments for this
course, but it applies to all of them.
Go to http://www.doe.state.de.us/Standards/English/ELA_toc.html
and print the
sections entitled “Definition” and “Standards One through Four, Grades 6-8
and
9-10”; bring to next week’s class.
Go to http://www.doe.state.de.us/DPIServices/teacher.htm#standards
and print
the Delaware Professional Teaching Standards (entire document); bring to
next
week’s class.
Sept. 15,16: In-class reading and analysis of the Delaware
content standards
Discussion of developing goals and objectives that address the content standards
In-class reading and analysis of the Delaware teaching performance standards
Discussion of meeting the teaching performance standards through instructional
planning, reflection, and classroom practice
Review of the learning styles presented in the CCK reading;
brainstorming on
strategies for reaching different kinds of learners
Brainstorming on ways of utilizing the students’ real-life
experiences and
interests for instructional purposes
Small-group work to plan presentations on Atwell, Chapters
1, 2, and 3
Presentations on Atwell
Hand in notes on Atwell chapter
Lecture/discussion on instructional goals and objectives
Assignment of types of writing about which to write objectives
for next week
(business letter, persuasive essay, research
paper)
Assignment
for next week:
Read CCK,
Module 3, “Selecting Content and Preparing Objectives.” Pay
particular attention to the sections headed “Aims, Goals, and Objectives:
A
Clarification,” pp. 87-90; and “Clarifying Instructional Objectives,” pp.
95-99.
Do Exercise
3.11, “Preparing My Own Instructional Objectives,” p. 101, for a
lesson on the type of writing you were assigned (business letter, persuasive
essay, research paper).
Bring the
Delaware state content standards to next week’s class.
Sept. 22, 23: Lecture/discussion on goals, objectives, taxonomies
Small-group work: for each type of writing
(business letter, persuasive essay,
research paper), develop one good objective in each category of Exercise
3.11
and write them on the blackboard
Whole-class discussion of objectives
Modeling and practice in correlating lesson objectives with the Delaware
state
content standards
Hand in Exercise 3.11
Small-group work to develop set inductions and motivational activities for
each
lesson
Preliminary discussion of sequencing standards-keyed goals, objectives,
set
inductions, and activities into a lesson plan (see format in CCK, pp. 139-40)
Assignment for next week:
Read CCK, pp. 133-40, 147-52.
Read CCK, Module 6, “Student-Centered Instructional Strategies.”
Read CCK, Module 7, “Teacher-Centered Instructional Strategies.”
Read "A Sound of Thunder," by Ray Bradbury:
http://www.sba.muohio.edu/snavely/415/thunder.htm
Look over the website on teaching “A Sound
of Thunder” (no need to print
unless there’s something you want to keep):
http://www.esc20.net/etprojects/formats/webquests/spring2001/taft/asoundofthunder/index.html
Bring the Delaware content standards to next week’s class.
Sept. 29, 30: Discussion of Exercise 4.5, “Analysis of a Lesson That
Failed,” p. 153.
Small-group work on formulating activities and assignments to fulfill the
objectives for lessons on business letters, persuasive essays, and research
papers. Each group must employ both teacher-centered and student-centered
strategies
Modeling and practice in adjusting instructional strategies to allow students
with
diverse learning styles to meet the goals and objectives
Modeling and practice in correlating instruction with the Delaware standards
Review of material on set induction, motivation
Introduction to the Delaware Student Testing Program (DSTP)
Assignment for next week:
Print out and read all sections of “The Five-Paragraph Essay,”
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Atrium/1437/
Print out and read all sections of “Outline of the Five Paragraph Essay,”
http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/English/essay/
Using the structure described in the readings, write your own five-paragraph
essay
on the topic, “Why I Am (Or Am Not) Looking Forward to Teaching the Five-
Paragraph Essay.” Your essay should be approximately two pages long.
Read (no need to print out) the information about the DSTP at
http://www.doe.state.de.us/AAB/DSTP_intro.html.
Take notes as needed for
your own use (not to be handed in),
and be sure you understand what this
testing program is and how it works.
Go to http://www.doe.state.de.us/AAB/writing_report2002.pdf
and scroll down to
page 19 of the document, where you will find the rubric for scoring the
writing portion of the DSTP. Print that page. Then scroll down
to page
31. Beginning on that page and continuing for the rest of the document,
you
will find sample papers by eighth-grade and tenth-grade students.
Print
those pages. Be careful to indicate on the Print screen that you want
to print
only certain pages to avoid unnecessarily printing out the whole document,
which takes
forever in that pdf format. There’s no need to read the material
for homework,
as we will be going over it in detail in class. Just print it and
bring it to next week’s class, together with CCK and the Delaware content
standards.
Oct. 6, 7: Guest speaker: Bonnie Albertson, who has served
on committees to design and
implement the DSTP
Discussion of the five-paragraph essay structure, reasons for teaching it,
its advantages
and disadvantages
Discussion of the effect of writing a five-paragraph essay on one’s understanding
of
the form
Brainstorming on approaches to teaching the five-paragraph essay to students
of
diverse backgrounds and learning styles, using prompts from past DSTPs.
The
discussion will include open-book reviews of CCK’s teacher-centered and
student-
centered instructional strategies as they pertain to teaching the five-paragraph
essay
Five-paragraph essays will be checked off as being handed in on time; students
will
retain them pending revision as part of a future assignment
Assignment for next week:
Read Atwell, Chapter 4, “Getting Ready”; and Chapter 5, “Getting Started.”
Pay
particular attention to the sections entitled “Establishing Expectations,”
pp. 110-
14; “Rules for a Workshop,” pp. 114-17; and “Writing Territories,” pp.
120-32.
Write a two-page journal entry reflecting on the following issues:
Does Atwell’s
approach resemble the way you yourself were taught writing as a high school
and
college student? Is Atwell’s approach attractive to you as a teacher?
Why or why
not?
Oct. 13, 14: Discussion of journal entries
Outlining and comparison of personal lists of writing territories
Discussion of ways to use Atwell’s approach to further the Delaware content
standards and prepare secondary-school students for the DSTP
Hand in journal entries
Introduction of mini-lesson concept
Development of a peer evaluation sheet for mini-lessons (written on the
blackboard);
students copy it in preparation for next week’s class
Assignment for next week:
Read Atwell, Chapter 6, “Minilessons.”
Using the lesson plan format from CCK, write plans for two mini-lessons
(no more
than five minutes each). One of the mini-lessons should be based on
“Lessons
About Conventions of Writing,” pp. 184-201. The other may deal with
any
other suggestion in the chapter. Be prepared to present either one
in class.
Oct. 20, 21: Discussion of the concept and usefulness of mini-lessons,
both planned and
spontaneous, while the peer evaluation sheet is put on the blackboard
Each student draws a checker from a box to determine whether s/he will teach
a
mini-lesson on conventions of writing or on other topics
Each student gives a mini-lesson, followed by a class discussion based on
the peer
evaluation sheet
Hand in the plans for both mini-lessons
Assignment for next week:
Read Atwell, Chapter 7, “Responding to Writers and Writing.”
Using the five-paragraph essay you wrote earlier, do “Having a Writing
Conference with Yourself,” pp. 247-49. Revise your essay. Bring
in a single
copy of the original draft and three copies of the revised draft.
Do not put
your name on the revised draft; just give it a title you’ll recognize as
your own.
Oct. 27, 28: Presentation of remaining mini-lessons, if any
Review of Content Conference Guidelines (pp. 224-29) and of Conventions
Conference Guidelines (pp. 255-61)
Work in pairs: read each other’s essays and develop conference
questions/topics
based on the Atwell chapter; write them
legibly and include the name of the reviewer
Student A, acting as the instructor, conducts a conference with Student
B about
Student B’s writing. Student B then provides Student A with feedback
on
his/her effectiveness in that role. Then the students switch roles.
If time
permits, each student will go through this process with at least two different
partners.
Assessment of the efficacy of conferencing
Discussion of ways of incorporating conferencing into secondary-school classes
Review of the principles of conferencing
Assignment of websites to read for next week’s class
Hand in the original five-paragraph essay, all copies of the revised version
that have
been annotated in the conferences, and all conference notes (be sure it’s
clear
who was responding to whose paper)
Assignment for next week:
Print out and read the material on the website you were assigned:
“Research Papers Handbook,” http://www.research-papers-handbook.com/
“The Writing Process,” http://www.csuohio.edu/writingcenter/writproc.html
or
“Writing a Research Paper,”
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/ResearchW/index.html
Picture yourself preparing to teach a unit on the research paper based on
the
material you read, and answer the following questions in writing:
1. How much time will you allow for working on the research paper,
from
the day you first introduce that unit to the day the students hand in their
final drafts? Will you have your students work on the research paper
full-
time during that period, or will you intersperse it with other activities?
2. Make a numbered list showing the class periods you will teach during
the
time the students are working on their research papers. Next to each
number, write a few words indicating what will go on during that class
period (e.g., “Work in the school library on data collection” or “Hand
in
index cards.” If you plan to do other things while the students are
working on their research papers, just write “Nothing on the research
paper” to indicate class periods that will be entirely spent on other things.
3. How will you handle the selection of topics for the research paper?
If
you will give the students a list of topics from which to choose, how will
you go about selecting the topics to put on the list? If you will
allow the
students to choose their own topics, what guidelines will you give them?
4. Will each student write his/her own research paper, or will students
be
allowed/encouraged/required to work in groups? If each student works
alone, what guidelines will you give the students regarding permissible
interactions? In other words, will they be allowed to talk to each
other
at all about their papers?
Nov. 3, 4: Small-group work: students who used each online
source will prepare a brief but
informative presentation describing it to the rest of
the class
Presentations of online sources
Circulation
of numbered list of classes during the research paper unit
Discussion of similarities and differences among the approaches students
would use to teach the research paper: length of time allotted, etc.
Brainstorming to think of other baseline decisions a teacher would have
to make
before beginning to flesh out a unit on teaching
the research paper
Hand
in responses to the questions assigned for this class
Assignment for next week:
In CCK, Module 9, “Assessing and Reporting
Student Achievement,” read pp.
337-47. Be sure that you understand Figure 9.2 (p. 342).
Examine the rubric for scoring research
papers (CCK pp. 366-67).
Print out and read the sample rubric
for scoring persuasive writing that appears at
http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/departments/oipd/mspap/writing/SRubWTP.pdf
Print out and read the sample rubric
for scoring expository writing that appears at
http://www.online2.org/lessons/writing-rubic.htm
Read Atwell, Chapter 9, “Valuing and
Evaluating.”
Bring the rubric for scoring the DSTP
to next week’s class.
Nov. 10, 11: Discussion of the various philosophies and rules for
grading student work
represented in the readings
Discussion of using rubrics to score student writing
Assessment of the various rubrics read for this class
Discussion of the art and science of writing rubrics
Discussion of incorporating the Atwell material on conferencing (Chapter
7) into
summative as well as formative assessment of student writing
In-class reading of sample papers written by a secondary-school students
Group scoring of one or two sample papers according to the DSTP rubric
Assignment for next week:
Using the DSTP rubric, grade five secondary-school student papers
Bearing in mind the principles and examples provided in Chapters 7 and 9
of the
Atwell book, write comments on each paper.
Write brief answers to the following questions:
1. How long did it take you to grade these five papers? Why
do you think I’m
asking this question?
2. Was the rubric satisfactory? If not, how would you change
it?
3. Assuming that the papers you graded were representative of
the entire
class, identify two areas of weakness that you would plan to address in
future lessons.
4. Recalling the various instructional strategies discussed in CCK
and Atwell,
briefly explain at least one strategy you would use to remediate each of
the
weaknesses you identified.
Nov. 17, 18: Small-group work to compare the grading of each student
paper
Discussion of grading policies and standards, setting high but reasonable
expectations and communicating them
clearly, composing rubrics that
accurately represent the basis for
assessing student work, adhering to rubrics
once they have been distributed
Discussion of remediating identified weaknesses, including
deciding when to use
whole-class instruction and when/how to
work with individual students
Hand in graded papers and responses to the questions
assigned for this class
Assignment
for next class:
Assemble the
class portfolio
Complete the
final project except for the sample daily lesson plans
Nov. 24, 25: Individual work on portfolio, final project
Dec. 1, 2: Work in pairs: peer editing of final projects; each student
will work with at least two
other students
Hand in class portfolios
Assignment for next week:
Complete the sample daily lesson plans for the final project
Dec. 9, 11: Class portfolios returned
Small-group peer review of final projects
Hand in final projects
CLASS PORTFOLIO INSTRUCTIONS
Rationale
The purpose of the class portfolio is to consider, not
each separate assignment in isolation, but your class work in its entirety.
Throughout the semester, whenever you complete a written assignment, it
will first be discussed with other students. After you have made any
necessary revisions, you will hand it in to me, and I will return it to
you the following class period with written feedback. You are expected
to revise the assignments again in accord with these comments and include
the original draft, the first revision, and the second revision in the class
portfolio. You will be graded on both the adequacy of your original
draft and the effectiveness of your revisions.
Since the written assignments in this course serve as
the basis for small-group work during class, it is very important to bring
in each assignment on the day it is due. For that reason, even if
the class portfolio is handed in on time, the grade may be lowered if you
were late with the original drafts of the assignments.
Format
Your class portfolio should be presented in a three-ring
looseleaf binder. All assignments and revisions must be typed unless
they were handwritten in class.
Contents
Unless otherwise indicated, the dates listed here reflect
the date on which each assignment was made, not the date on which it was
due. Your class portfolio should include all of these items, arranged
in the following order:
Notes
on Atwell, Chapter 1, 2, or 3 (Sept. 8, 9)
CCK,
Exercise 3.11 (Sept. 15, 16)
Original
draft of the five-paragraph essay (Sept. 29, 30)
Revised
draft of the five-paragraph essay following your self-conferencing (Oct.
20, 21),
including all
annotated copies of the revised five-paragraph essay following the
in-class student
conferences on Oct. 27, 28
Journal
entry on Atwell’s approach to teaching writing (Oct. 6, 7)
Lesson
plans for two mini-lessons (Oct. 13, 14)
Answers
to questions on teaching the research paper (Oct. 27, 28)
Graded
secondary-school student papers and answers to questions about grading (Nov.
10, 11)
Reflective
essay written for this portfolio according to the directions provided below.
Reflective Essay
The first step in writing the reflective essay is to think about all the
various topics covered in this course: diversity of student backgrounds
and learning styles, state standards, goals and objectives, teacher-centered
and student-centered instruction, mini-lessons, writing workshops, set inductions,
lesson plans, unit plans, multiple ways of assessing students, techniques
for grading papers, and Internet research. It would be a good idea
to go back and skim over any of the readings that are not fresh in your mind,
along with any notes you may have taken.
As you well know by now, you didn’t learn this material for the purpose
of regurgitating it on a test. You learned it in preparation for real-life
teaching, starting with the classes you’ll teach next semester. Accordingly,
this reflection invites you to engage in some synthesis and application.
As you picture the classes you’ll teach in the spring, how do you see yourself
putting all this material together to form your style of teaching -- what
you’ll present to your students, how you’ll present it, what you’ll invite
them to do, what you think they’ll get out of it? There is, obviously,
no single right way to address this topic, but do avoid a generalized response
along the lines of “X was very useful. Y was very useful. And
I really liked Z.” How, specifically, do you see yourself putting
together the various things you’ve learned and using them for your students’
benefit? Of course there’s no need to cover each and every topic we
discussed in class, but your response should provide a good sampling of
your plans to bridge the gap between learning something as a student and
applying it as a teacher.
The essay should be approximately 3-5 pages long, but length is not a major
factor -- feel
free to run longer or shorter if necessary.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FINAL PROJECT
This assignment is your chance to demonstrate your ability
to incorporate all the elements you worked on this semester – goals and
objectives, classroom activities, evaluations, and so forth -- into a coherent
design for teaching a particular type of writing. Because of the emphasis
that today’s schools place on state testing programs, you are being asked
to focus on writing that directly addresses the relevant skills: the
five-paragraph essay, the memoir (see Atwell, Chapter 11), or the research
paper. Choose one of these three types of writing as the subject
of your final project. After choosing your topic, complete the following
steps:
1. Find at least three websites that offer effective help in planning
your unit. Students who elect the memoir may use the Atwell chapter
and at least one website that is not related to Atwell. Students who
elect the five-paragraph essay or the research paper should not use the
websites we discussed in class. The material you print out from the
websites should be included with your final project.
2. Complete the Unit Description Form (attached).
3. Write lesson plans for one week of your unit, following the Directions
for Lesson Plans sheet (attached).
CRITERIA FOR GRADING THE FINAL PROJECT
* Includes all the elements listed in the instructions.
* Relates to the secondary-school students’ interests
and experiences.
* Takes diverse learners and varied learning styles
into account.
* Includes a variety of teacher-centered and student-centered
activities.
* Includes class discussions that are not limited
to recitations of factual material or to
question-and-answer interactions
between teacher and students.
* Uses a variety of methods to assess whether
students have met the objectives.
RUBRIC FOR GRADING THE FINAL PROJECT
Do It Again: Fails to meet one or more of the criteria listed above.
Is, in whole or in part, inadequate for use in a secondary-school class.
Contains significant or numerous mechanical errors.
Is sloppy or disorganized.
B: Meets all the criteria at a level that is adequate
for classroom use.
Contains few, if any, mechanical errors and is neat and well-organized.
A: Meets all the criteria at a level that is adequate
for classroom use.
Includes particularly creative, varied instruction/assessment.
Is exemplary in its organization and completeness.
UNIT DESCRIPTION FORM
You are welcome to take as much space as you need to
complete each item on this form.
Please fill out this form for the secondary-school class to
which you will teach the unit you are designing. Even if you plan to
use the unit with more than one class, select one of them for purposes of
this class project.
General Information:
Name:
Secondary school:
Class year and level:
Number of class periods per week:
Length of each class period:
Class Description:
Number of students in the class:
Are there either mainstreamed special education students or gifted students
in the class? Explain.
Describe the class in terms of student diversity, such as gender, race,
background, academic motivation, divergent learning styles, and anything else
that should be considered in determining appropriate instruction.
Are there any issues with your cooperating teacher that are relevant to
this unit plan -- for instance, does he/she either require or forbid the use
of certain methodologies? (Note: If it’s possible to fulfill all
the requirements for this unit plan while also honoring the cooperating teacher’s
preferences, that’s fine; as an example, if the cooperating teacher wants
you to do vocabulary drill every Friday, you can either incorporate that
into your writing instruction or simply do it before or after you teach the
writing portion of that day’s lesson. If, however, the cooperating
teacher’s preferences are incompatible with the requirements of this assignment
-- for instance, if he/she forbids the use of computers, peer editing, or
small-group instruction -- you’ll have to ignore that for purposes of this
unit plan. It’s understood that when you teach the unit this spring,
you may have to make adjustments. Bear in mind, though, that no matter
how adamant the cooperating teacher may sound at this early date, when you
get to know each other better and a relationship of trust and mutual respect
has had time to grow, he/she may allow you more flexibility than you’re
now expecting.)
Is there another instructor, such as a TAM instructor, in the room?
If so, what will be his/her role in this unit?
Unit Rationale:
What is the topic of your unit: the five-paragraph essay, the memoir,
or the research paper?
What are the goals of the unit? That is, when students have finished
the entire unit, what will they know, or what will they be able to do, that
they do not know or cannot do now? Please be specific. For instance,
“Students will improve their organization” would be too general, whereas
“Students will be able to formulate clear thesis statements that are relevant
to the assigned topic and sufficiently narrow to be covered in five paragraphs”
would be excellent.
What state content standards will the unit fulfill? Please do not
simply list them by number; write them out. The list will probably be
quite long, since it should include all the standards that will be met anywhere
in this unit, even if it is in only one lesson.
Identify the four standards that are most central to this unit: the
ones that will appear on almost every lesson plan. Mark these standards
by typing three asterisks at the beginning of each of them.
How will this unit help to prepare students for the DSTP?
How is this unit based on the approaches to teaching writing covered in
the course readings and in the material taken from the Internet? Be
specific.
Overall, what makes you think that this particular unit will meet the needs
of these particular students?
Unit Description:
What relevant instruction will this class have had before beginning this
unit? For instance, are you doing remedial or advanced work after
the students have already been taught the five-paragraph essay, the memoir,
or the research paper, or are you introducing it for the first time?
How long will this unit take?
Will the writing unit be the only thing students will do, or will they
work part-time on the writing project and do other things (such as reading
literature) in between? It is not necessary to identify exactly what
else the class will be working on; the purpose of this question is simply
to impel you to be precise about the amount of class time you are allotting
to this unit.
Write a week-by-week summary of what the students will accomplish in this
unit. First, indicate how that week’s instruction will address one
or more of the unit goals, which you defined in the previous section.
It is understood that the students might not meet the goal completely by
the end of that week, but you should indicate clearly what progress the students
will make toward it. (Be sure that by the end of the entire unit,
all the goals have been met.) Second, briefly describe the types of
class activities the students will engage in and the assignments they will
do for homework that week. Be sure that all assignments and activities
address the goals of that week’s instruction -- that is, stay focused not
on filling a week’s worth of time but on making sure that the students are
learning what they are supposed to be learning. Third, indicate how
you will know whether the students have made the progress they were supposed
to have made toward fulfilling the goals of the unit. You should use
a variety of assessments, such as informal class polling (“Does everyone
understand?”), teacher-monitored small-group work, class recitations and
discussions in which students are called on at random, and journal entries
as well as more traditional evaluations, such as quizzes and graded homework.
Note: Your unit should include at least two instances in which your
students will use the Internet. (Assume that the school or the public
library has computers for the students to use if they do not have them at
home.) Those instances do not necessarily have to be in the lesson
plans, but student Internet work should appear somewhere in your discussion
of what the students will achieve in this unit.
DIRECTIONS FOR LESSON PLANS SHEET
1. Use the lesson plan form from CCK.
2. The length of each period and the number of periods in a week
should correspond to the schedule of the school in which you will student
teach.
3. The plans you write do not have to be for the first week of the
unit, although they may
be.
4. The lesson plans should follow the format in CCK.
5. The goal(s) for each lesson should be one or more of the unit
goals you defined in the
unit outline (the form you filled out). The objectives should show
what portion of those broad goal(s) the students will master as a result
of today’s lesson.
6. Each day’s lesson plan should conclude with a listing of the Delaware
state standards it meets. Please do not simply give a number for each standard:
write it out. If you find that the lesson meets a huge number of standards
at least to some degree, choose the three or four that are most central
to it. If, for instance, your students will give some form of prepared
oral presentation as a major part of the class, you should include the relevant
Delaware state standard; but if the oral portion of the class will consist
of ordinary discussion and small-group work, omit that standard.
7. The first activity of each lesson plan should be a set induction.
8. If a major activity of the lesson is a discussion, include a few
sample questions or
topics. If it is small-group work, be sure that the instructions
for the group work are clear. Do not, for instance, simply say, “Students
will work on their papers in small groups.” What, exactly, will they
do?
9. It should be clear in each lesson plan what the students are meant
to get out of that
day’s lesson (objectives), how the activities will meet the objectives,
and how you will know whether they have done so. Each objective must
be met by at least one activity, and the lesson should include no activities
that are irrelevant to the objectives. Similarly, the evaluations
should correspond to the objectives and activities. (You may want
to review the CCK material and your class notes on sequencing of instruction.)