ELED 4323 Teaching Language Arts in the Public School

21 st century; competent, committed and ethical. The conceptual framework is consistent with the
mission of the University and is based upon research about best practices in education. It stems
from the former theme: Teacher as Manager of Learning and is comprised of the four knowledge
based domains; planning, delivering, motivating and assessing. Planning is an essential aspect of
effective teaching which involves developing and designing daily, unit and long range plans for
instruction. Delivering covers a broad range of instructional strategies and methods such as free
inquiry through questioning, demonstration, presentation and performance. The delivery of
instruction also refers to the educational practices related to creating learning environments that
promote positive social interaction, active inquiry, collaboration and engagement in educational
experiences. Successful teachers are positive motivators. They create an enjoyable classroom
environment which accommodates a variety of learning styles and individual differences.
Assessment is vital to the program for teacher candidates. They learn that assessment can be used
in a variety of ways to assess properly. They must collect, interpret and synthesize data and use
that information to modify the curriculum in such a way as to meet the needs of all their students.
RESEARCH OF PROJECT COMPONENT: The student will compile a poetry book
including a variety of poems that have been taught based on word and syllable count, free form,
model, rhymed and formula types.
The project requires that a table of contents, an author’s page and appropriate illustrations to
accompany each of the poems be included. Each of the poems must be labeled according to
which of the five major categories it fits.
A second culminating project in the course requires that students assemble a literature-based
thematic unit in which children’s trade books are utilized. Language Arts students must design a
schematic web page to include the titles of books, the specific modes utilized, and areas of
interdisciplinary curriculum that apply. The unit must include lesson plans and activities that are
adapted to meet individual learning styles and modifications to meet the needs of all levels of
learning. An annotated bibliography covering all the trade books is required.
FIELD COMPONENT: The student will be involved in a pen pal project with the public school
at the second or third grade level. Language Arts students will meet with their pen pal at the end
of the semester and plan an appropriate story telling activity using a self-constructed puppet.
DIVERSITY COMPONENT: The teacher candidates will review the issues involved with ESL
students and multicultural education is integrated into the subject matter. Biased assessment of
students from diverse cultural groups will be addressed. A specific component of the course will
deal with monitoring students’ learning, utilizing portfolios and assigning grades.
PERFORMANCE ACTIVITIES: The following enabling activities will be utilized: