Secondary English Language Arts Methods II

Catalog description

This course is the second of a three-part English Language Arts teaching methods series. ED 261 will introduce residents to specific instructional methods for textual discussion, analysis, and composition in ELA. The course will begin by helping residents lay the groundwork for rich textual discussion in their classrooms. Residents will learn dialogic approaches to discussion, and examine classroom video through the lens of question and interaction types (e.g. I-R-E, known-answer vs. authentic questions, uptake). Residents will also discuss methods for crafting classroom environments wherein “challenging” conversations about texts can occur. This will include considerations for when the topic may be challenging emotionally or interpersonally (e.g. race, class, sexuality) or when the language in the text is complex and students may struggle to comprehend it. Residents will learn and practice specific techniques for textual discussion during this course, such as the Socratic Seminar, and will practice these techniques in their own classrooms through lesson enactments. Residents will also learn a genre-based approach to reading and writing texts. They will practice distinguishing subtle differences in text structure, word choice, audience, purpose, and tone between text types, and will learn ways to help their students acquire metalinguistic awareness of genre. They will practice a reading or writing lesson that incorporates a genre approach through another lesson enactment.