SEC/534 - Reading in the Content Area

Course Description

This course focuses on the most current research on the design, delivery, and assessment of content-based literacy strategies in single-subject classrooms at the middle and high school levels. Foundations and trends in content area literacy, academic language strategies, disciplinary reading and writing strategies, and inquiry-based strategies are addressed in this course. The integration of new literacies and technology into content area instruction, strategies for effectively studying texts, approaches to lesson and unit planning, and benefits of collaborative learning are explored. Candidates use this knowledge to prepare a comprehensive content area literacy unit at the end of the course.

This course is not available for enrollment to residents of Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming and individuals who reside outside the United States.

This graduate course is 6 weeks.

This course has a prerequisite. Please see details in the Prerequisite section below.

PLEASE NOTE:
Attendance and participation are mandatory in all university courses, and specific requirements may differ by course. If attendance requirements are not met, a student may be removed from the course. Please review the Course Attendance Policy in the Catalog for more information.

Additionally, this course has an assigned field experience assignment which requires students to interview two teachers (an ELA teacher and a content area teacher) and observe a content area lesson.

Course Objectives

Week 1

• Examine characteristics of effective 21st-century content area literacy teaching and the impact on student learning.
• Analyze content area reading to learn as a strategic, meaning-making process for your discipline.
• Generate methods for integrating local and global issues across disciplines using interdisciplinary themes to develop social and cultural perspectives and promote content area literacy.

Week 2

• Examine appropriate formative and summative assessments to assess student interest, prior knowledge, present level of understanding, and application of content area learning.
• Identify tools and strategies for assessing the complexity, appropriateness, interest, and accessibility of content area texts.
• Evaluate strategies for planning units of study with active student engagement incorporating instructional activities to connect literacy and content area learning across disciplines.

Week 3

• Integrate academic language appropriate for your content area into your lesson planning.
• Evaluate methods to apply word knowledge and promote independent word learning of discipline-specific vocabulary.
• Examine language supports for vocabulary instruction to promote academic language development for diverse learners.

Week 4

• Identify pre-reading strategies that activate prior knowledge and raise interest in a subject or topic.
• Evaluate the use of reading strategies to guide learners to understand, question, and analyze knowledge, skills, and abilities that are central to your discipline.
• Adapt instructional strategies that support thinking and learning with text to fit your content area.
• Justify the use of interdisciplinary connections to analyze ideas from diverse perspectives and promote learners’ achievement of content standards.
• Justify the use of inquiry-based instructional methods to enhance learning and literacy in the content area.

Week 5

• Analyze the importance of integrating reading and writing across the curriculum.
• Differentiate between writing-to-learn activities and writing in the disciplines.
• Evaluate the use of the writing process to guide learners to understand, question, and analyze the knowledge, skills, and abilities that are central to your discipline.
• Integrate strategies for engaging learners in the assessment of writing, including identifying quality work, applying feedback, and setting individual goals.
• Evaluate frameworks, procedures, and strategies that support students in effectively studying texts.

Week 6

• Justify technology integration to promote literacy growth across disciplines.
• Incorporate technology tools and strategies for using new literacies into content area lesson planning.
• Identify ways to collaborate with colleagues to promote academic language use, interdisciplinary connections, and a common culture that supports high expectations for students.
• Evaluate strategies for student-to-student and student-to-teacher collaboration to enhance learning and literacy in the content area.

Notes

Disclaimers

The University of Phoenix reserves the right to modify courses.

Although our continuing education for teacher’s courses are accepted by some state agencies in the United States toward teacher certifications and endorsements, this may not be the case in all states or foreign jurisdictions. If you plan to use courses for certification or endorsement, please check with your own state agency and your school district for applicability. Continuing education for teachers’ courses is not eligible to apply to degree programs at University of Phoenix. These courses are not eligible for federal financial aid.

Transferability of credit is at the discretion of the receiving institution. It is the student’s responsibility to confirm whether credits earned at University of Phoenix will be accepted by another institution of the student’s choice.

While widely available, not all programs are available in all locations or in both online and on-campus formats. More information about eligibility requirements, policies, and procedures can be found in the catalog or please check with a University Enrollment Representative.