course.goals
materials
assignments
grading
attendance
electronica
ethics
disability
instructor
kevin eric depew
office bal 4042
phone 757.683.4019
e.mail kdepew@odu.edu
AIM
kerdepew
web.page
http://www.odu.edu/~kdepew
office hours t 2-3, w 3-5, & by appointment
quick
links
calendar
blackboard
(email, discussion board, and readings)
resources
In English 455/555, students will learn strategies for designing curricula for teaching language arts to middle and high schoolers . As a way to inform your curricular design you will be introduced to writing pedagogy theories, as well as teachers' experience in the language arts classroom. You will be developing your own praxis for teaching a language arts class.
In this course you will learn ...
- the relationship between pedagogical theory and practice
- that writing is a process
- to question assumptions about literacy development
- to develop your own informed teaching philosophy
- to think about the local contexts and local students you will be teaching
- to design assignments and units
- how to assess and respond to students' writings
- how to respond to various issues of student diversity
- how to teach with different writing technologies
- about the profession of being a language arts teacher
Prerequisites
To best fulfill these goals, the prerequisites for English 455/555 are 12 semester hours in English–must include English 327w.
course.materials
"But
Will It Work with Real Students?" Scenarios for Teaching Secondary English
Language Arts
Author(s):
Janet Alsup, Jonathan Bush
National Council of Teachers of English
ISBN 0-8141-0389-8
Teaching
Writing in Middle and Secondary Schools: Theory, Research and Practice,
1/e
Author(s): Margot Iris Soven
Allyn and Bacon
ISBN 0-205-18897-4
Other readings will be retrieved from...
Teaching Portfolio (200 points): Throughout the course of the semester you will be developing pieces of a unit that you might teach for a middle school or high school language arts class. Although you will be submitting drafts of various portfolio pieces throughout the semester, you will submit final drafts of these assignments in a portfolio at the end of the semester. The major parts of the portfolio will include...
Progressive Annotated Bibliography: By reading above and beyond the assigned readings, you will have the opportunity to acquaint yourself with the field of language arts instruction. For this assignment, you will find and annotate four academic articles about language arts pedagogy. Your research should be geared towards a problem or an assignment that you will want to address in the subsequent assignments. (initial submissions factored into Process Grade)
Teaching Philosophy: Your pedagogy should be grounded by teaching philosophy, a statement that explains–at the very least to yourself–what you think should happen in the classroom and how you think it should be accomplished. While there is no right or wrong teaching philosophy, it should be informed by current discussions about language arts pedagogy. (initial submission, 50 pts)
Unit Plan: In this course you will be developing teaching materials for a three to four week unit. This unit will include at least one major assignment and should detail the activities and smaller assignments that prepare students for the major assignment. In addition to the unit plan, you will submit a 500-750 word rationale that justifies the pedagogical practices of your unit. (initial submission, 100 pts)
Sample Assignment: For this part of the unit, you will draft an assignment sheet, the document that provides your students with guidelines for an assignment . As you draft this document, you will need to consider your own teaching philosophy and your student audience. (initial submission, 50 pts)
Final Statement: In this 500-1000 word statement, you will draw upon language art theories and practices to justify the work that you have done this semester and explain how all the documents that you have created respond to and contribute to the conversation about language arts pedagogy.
Pedagogical Presentation: Each student will be given fifteen minutes to present a mini-lesson to the class. For this mini-lesson, you will teach your peers (who will be acting as your students) about a writing-related issue. (50 pts)
English 555 Pedagogical Workshop: All English 555 students will work together to develop a teacher training workshop. Throughout the semester, these students will submit their research and planning. On the last day of class, they will lead their peers through this workshop. (100 pts)
Three Means of Failing the Course related to Major Assignments
- Not completing a major assignment
- Major assignments will be given no credit if the assignment is not turned in prior to the instructor returning the respective assignment to the class (including initial submissions). This becomes the equivalent of not completing a major assignment
- An act of plagiarism (or other forms of academic dishonesty)
Minor Assignments
Throughout the semester you will be doing in-class activities and homework related to the topics we are discussing in the course. These minor assignments have been designed to give you low stakes opportunities for exploring various topics related to language arts pedagogy and to be prewriting for your major assignments. These minor assignments make up your process grade.
Use these writing opportunities to your advantage instead of treating them as "busy work." A lot of the work that you do for these smaller assignments can be used directly in the final assignment; therefore, you will want to take these assignments seriously. This also gives you an opportunity to get serious feedback from the instructor on your work-in-progress. So, just fulfilling these assignments will often result in twice as much work for you.
Major Assignments
I will be looking for evidence of each student's progress towards professional level work. More specifically I will be looking for evidence of...
- well supported and "original" work that responds to current language arts and composition conversations
- an understanding of language arts and composition theory and current discussions of its application
- an ability to generate sound teaching materials and justify their pedagogical use
- addressing your audiences appropriately, including fulfilling generic expectations
- prewriting and planning
- professional quality work, in terms of mechanics, design, and protocol
Process Grade
(50 points)
Your process grade will be 10% of your overall grade (50 points). All students will start with 86% of the possible process points (43 points); this point total will be adjusted positively and negatively based upon homework, class work and attendance using the system described below.
Minor assignments (e.g., class activities and homework) that contribute to the process of completing major assignments will be marked and commented upon; these marks will entail a large percentage of your process grade. Late or missing minor assignments that are no longer relevant will receive no credit. Late work will only be accepted if you consult with the instructor prior to the class period in which the work is due.
Each minor assignment will be given a score from -2 to +1.
check (or 0) = You did the work satisfactorily and on time. It will need some revisions or rethinking before the final assignment
+1 = You demonstrated various degrees of engagement with the ideas and you turned it in on time. If it is prewriting for a major assignment, the work will need little revision
–1 = Your work demonstrates a misunderstanding of the assignment or minimal effort, shows that you did not do the assigned reading, or was not turned in on time. Significant revision will be needed if this is prewriting
- 2 = No submission
This style
of grading allows the instructor to evaluate the process of your work–how
each student's work develops throughout a project–instead of only
grading each minor assignment as a separate entity. The major assignment
grades are final; therefore consider the questions and comments that the
instructors poses to you in your minor assignments.
Grade
Scale
Your final grade (500 or 600 points) and assignments will be graded on the following point scale* :
| A =92-100 % | A -= 90-91.9 % | B+ = 87-89.9 % | |
| B = 82-86.9 % | B- = 80-81.9 % | C+ = 77-79.9 % | |
| C = 72-76.9 % | C- = 70-71.9 % | D+ = 67-69.9 % | |
| D = 62-66.9 % | D -= 60-61.9 % | ||
| F = 0-59.9 % |
*
= The instructor reserves the right to adjust this scale based on the
students' performance throughout the semester. Any adjustments will 1)
apply to the entire class and 2) never deny a student the grade that she/he
earns based upon this posted scale.
attendance
Students are required to attend every class. If you miss a class, for whatever reason, you are responsible for making up any missed work.
You are not only required to to attend every class, but you are required to come to class prepared. If you do not come to class prepared, you will be receive an absence–whether you stay or not. Therefore, it is recommended that you pay attention to the calendar.
In this class, you will do a lot of work and discussion of ideas in the classroom. Therefore the attendance policies are:
- you
are allowed two absences, excused or unexcused. More than two
absences will result in failing the course
- on the first day that you return from an absence you are responsible for submitting any major assignments that you missed due to absence, yet you are encouraged to submit your work through email at the earliest possible convenience. To learn what work you have missed consult the instructor or the calendar.
- being
late to class will be marked as a tardy and noted as part of your process
grade.
- students who miss between fifteen and eighty minutes will receive a half-absence
- students who miss more than eighty minutes will receive a full absence
As a general rule, a student missing a class assignment because of observance of a religious holiday shall have the opportunity to make up missed work. Students must notify the instructor of anticipated absences before the absence occurs. Likewise, students who represent ODU at any official extracurricular activity shall have the opportunity to make up missed assignments, but the student must provide official written and/or email notification to the instructor no less than one week prior to the missed class(es). Both of these situations are still counted toward your absence total.
Electronica refers to technology-related issues.
E.mail
Accounts
Having an email account
is required; a lot of information for this class will be exchanged via
email including some
assignment
submissions and class updates. You will want to establish a consistent
email account that you will use throughout the entire semester.
Because Blackbaord's "Send Email" function "talks to"
your ODU account, it is recommended that you work with this account. At
the very least, you will want to forward your ODU mail to the account
you use most. To get an ODU account go to OCCS.
You are responsible for making sure that files and messages
are successfully received by the instructor and your peers; other email
providers cannot provide this security. Also you will want to be aware
that some evaluated course work will be returned via email; if you are
concerned about other parties reading these messages, please make alternate
arrangements with the instructor.
E.mailing
Protocol
When emailing the
instructor or the class list make sure that you include a subject line
that includes the nature of the email. A subject line, such as "assignment"
is vague. Instead be specific and state whether it is a "assignment
submission," "need assignment clarification," or "assignment
problem."
Also use the priority setting rhetorically; in other words, make your email message stand out when you really need to draw the recipient's attention to your message. Do not use the priority setting on your standard assignment submissions.
LAN
Accounts
LAN accounts will
be necessary to use the computers in the computer labs throughout the
semester. If you do not already have a LAN account, please register for
one with OCCS.
Protecting
Your Work
Backup your document
files frequently. Also save all email transmissions for this course. Keep
your files on your home machine, floppy disks, cds, and/ or flash drives.
You can also email documents to yourself as a means of backing up your
work. The excuse "that was my only copy" is not a valid one.
Some tips for protecting your work–and yourself–are:
- Save all English 455/555 work until the course is over
- Maintain copies of drafts and work-in-progress
- Create folders on your hard drive and in your INBOX (email) for this class.
- Keep copies of your email messages related to the course as a record of your work. For all messages that you send to the instructor, you should either have the message sent to your "Sent" folder in your email account or cc: yourself the message so that you have a copy for verification
Electronic
Ethics and Respect
Electronic media allows
us some freedoms that print media does not allow. Consequently, it is
also subject to abuse. Please be respectful of your peers throughout the
semester by not displaying, viewing, or posting web pages, files, or emails
that may make others uncomfortable. Violations of this respect can be
considered harassment according to university
policy and will be handled as such.
As per the University's Honor Code, you must do your own original work in English 455/555–and appropriately identify that portion of your work which is collaborative with others, or which is borrowed from others, or which is your own work from other contexts. Whenever you borrow graphics, quote passages, or use ideas from others, you are legally and/or ethically obliged to acknowledge that use, following appropriate conventions for documenting sources. In English 455/555, the most serious form of academic dishonesty is to recycle another individual's major project under your own name.
If you have doubts about whether or not you are using your own or others' writing ethically and legally, ask the instructor. Follow this primary principle: If in doubt, ask. Be up front and honest about what you are doing and about what you have contributed to an assignment.
If you have a documented disability, make sure you register with Disability Services 757. 683.4655. Once you do so, feel free to talk to me about any special accommodations that you may need to fulfill the requirements of this course.
At the end of the semester, you will have an opportunity to evaluate the instructor and the course. This is very important for helping the instructor and the department access the course. Please take the time at the end of the semester to do these online evaluations.
last.updated 8.1.06