Methods of Reading/Language Arts in Grades 3-6

Catalog description

This course extends the theories and applications students learned about in Methods of Reading and Language Arts in Primary Grades. Teacher candidates will learn about the teaching and learning processes associated with research-based comprehensive literacy instruction in grades 3-6 elementary classrooms and will continue to emphasize the methodology around the Science of Reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension and fluency. In this course, teacher candidates will learn appropriate and varied instructional approaches used before, during and after reading (BDA), including those that develop word knowledge, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency and strategy use in the content areas. Teacher candidates will also learn about how meaning is constructed through the interaction of the reader's background knowledge and experiences, the information presented in the text and the purpose for reading. Teacher candidates will also study the communication theory, language development and role of language in learning. In this course, students will learn how to use expository text to teach critical thinking, comprehension strategies, study skills, content reading, text structures, guided reading, reading and writing workshop, literature circles and writing strategies to 3rd- through 6th-grade readers. Teacher candidates will learn classroom-based assessments to evaluate student learning in literacy. Teacher candidates will also gain experience with understanding the writing process and the importance of content learning while modeling standard conventions of written and oral communications. Teacher candidates will also understand the relationships across reading, writing and oral communication and how to integrate these components to increase content learning. Teacher candidates will learn how to use a variety of formal and informal assessments to recognize and address the reading, writing and oral communication needs of each student. Teacher candidates will also teach elementary students to develop written text appropriate to the content areas that utilize organizational text patterns, including, and not limited to, compare/ contrast, problem solution. Teacher candidates will also teach elementary students about focus, elaboration, word choice and the relationships among the four cueing systems including phonological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic cueing systems.