RED 4100: Emergent Literacy Section RVC

Professor Information Table

Dr. Jennifer Mirabal	INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION Email: Please use Canvas course messages Phone: (305) 348-3895/ (786) 423-9120 Office: ZEB 350B (MMC) Office Hours: By Appointment ONLY through Zoom

Course Description and Purpose

Focuses on the young child’s process of constructing meaning through literacy from a variety of disciplinary perspectives (Psychology, Linguistics, and Education) and analyzes the significant implications for classroom practices. It analyzes language acquisition as it pertains to four emerging skills: Listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Course Objectives 

Upon completing this course, students will be able to:

1. Apply the foundations of language and literacy development to promote appropriate reading and writing instruction.
2. Explain how different literacy trends within a national context had influenced instructional approaches throughout the years.
3. Apply the content of emergent literacy (oral language development, phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, concepts of print, motivation, text structures, written language development) to promote literacy development.
4. Implement a wide range of instructional practices, approaches, methods, and curriculum materials to support reading and writing instruction.
5. Use of data from multiple assessments and measures to diagnose students' learning needs to inform instruction based on those needs towards the learning process.
6. Design and align formative and summative assessments that match learning objectives that lead to mastery.
7. Analyze and select instructional practices to design developmentally appropriate writing strategies for developing print awareness concepts, including spelling and punctuation in a literacy-rich environment.
8. Describe sociocultural, sociopolitical, and psychological variables to facilitate ELLs literacy development in English.
9. Explain the role of play in language and literacy development.
10. Describe and distinguish between summative and formative assessment.
11. Describe and distinguish between informal and formal assessments.
12. Select and interpret appropriate and reliable informal and formal assessment tools to administer to students.

 

 

Teaching Methodology

Throughout the course, students and faculty will engage in the Visible Thinking Routines as vehicles to cultivate a “culture of thinking” in the classroom. They also serve to facilitate collaboration among students and people involved in promoting emergent literacy development in young children

This research-based approach to teaching and learning is one of the Project Zero initiatives at Harvard University and represents areas of thinking such as understanding, truth and evidence, fairness and moral reasoning, creativity, self-management, and decision-making. (Thinking Routines). Students will also analyze different case studies, reflect individually and in collaboration with their group members. Additionally, a variety of different assignments are provided in order to assist students in expressing their understanding of the topics under examination in multiple ways.

 

Important FIU Policies and websites

Please review the FIU's Policies webpage. The policies webpage contains essential information regarding guidelines relevant to all courses at FIU, as well as additional information about acceptable netiquette for online courses.

• Please visit our Canvas Support page for Canvas
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• For additional assistance, please contact FIU's Disability Resource Center.
• Learn more about academic integrity policies and
• If you or a classmate needs help, please go to Counseling and Psychological Services.
• If you think a classmate is in need of resources or support, please go to Panthers Care.
• Learn more about available resources for Academic and Career Success
• Policies for Assigning Incomplete: Incomplete Policy
• Be sure to include the Updated Academic Misconduct Policy:

 

Academic Integrity Guidelines (Excerpt from 2020-2021 Faculty Handbook p. 35):

“Florida International University is a community dedicated to generating and imparting knowledge through excellent teaching and research, the rigorous and respectful exchange of ideas, and community service. All students should respect the right of others to have an equitable opportunity to learn and to honestly demonstrate the quality of their learning. Therefore, all students are expected to adhere to a standard of academic conduct, which demonstrates respect for themselves, their fellow students, and the educational mission of the University. All students are deemed by the University to understand that if they are found responsible for academic misconduct, they will be subject to the Student Conduct and Honor Code procedures and sanctions as outlined in the FIU Regulation 2501 and the Student Handbook.”

More Information can be found here: Academic Integrity

Course Prerequisites

This course has a prerequisite: RED3313 Language and Literacy Development. Review the Course Catalog webpage for prerequisites information.

 

Requirements

Field Experience: 15 hours (This requirement will be satisfied by the completion of the Field Assignment).

Additional information regarding clinical experiences can be found at the School of Education and Human Development website or in the Office of Field Experiences, ZEB 220. Phone: (305) 348-2082

Late Work Policy

Be sure to pay close attention to deadlines—late work will be accepted with a serious and compelling reason and instructor approval. Grades will be lowered one rank on the rubric for each week that the assignment is late.

All assignments should reflect professional quality -- ideas expressed clearly, correct grammar and spelling, and neat in appearance.

Textbook and Course Materials

(Required) Kidwatching: Documenting Children’s Literacy Development 4th Ed.

Author: Owocki, G. & Goodman, Y.
Publisher: Heinemann (2002)
ISBN: 78-0-325-00461-7

Expectations of this Course

This is an online course, which means most (if not all) of the course work will be conducted online. Expectations for performance in an online course are the same for a traditional course. In fact, online courses require a degree of self-motivation, self-discipline, and technology skills which can make these courses more demanding for some students.

Students are expected to:

• Review how to get started information located in the course content
• Introduce yourself to the class during the first week by posting a self-introduction in the appropriate discussion forum
• Take the practice quiz to ensure that your computer is compatible with Canvas
• Interact online with instructor/s and peers
• Review and follow the course calendar
• Log in to the course at least twice per week
• Respond to discussion boards, blogs and journal postings within three days
• Respond to emails within two days
• Submit assignments by the corresponding deadline

The instructor will:

• Log in to the course at least twice per week
• Respond to discussion boards, blogs and journal postings within 5 days
• Respond to emails within two days
• Grade assignments within seven days of the assignment deadline

 

Course Communication

Communication in this course will take place via the Canvas Inbox. Check out the Canvas Conversations Tutorial or Canvas Guide to learn how to communicate with your instructor and peers using Announcements, Discussions, and the Inbox.

It is recommended that students check their emails routinely to ensure up-to-date communication.

Discussion Forums

Keep in mind that your discussion forum postings will likely be seen by other members of the course. Care should be taken when determining what to post.

• Open Forum: Use the open forum for general discussion regarding this course.
• Introduce Yourself: Use this forum to introduce yourself to your peers by answering the questions on the forum description.

You are expected to post a message to answers the questions posed in each forum when requested. You are also expected to reply to messages in each forum that responds to postings of other classmates by expanding or questioning his or her comments by the date indicated. Each module will explain whether or not you need to post messages, replies to messages, and how many messages.

Quality postings are postings that not only require you to agree or disagree with a classmate, but they also include an explanation of the reasons for which you agree or disagree. If you disagree with a classmate, provide reasons to support your position.

As you write your discussion posts, refer to the above parameters and the “Interact Moves” as they will be the criteria on which I grade your posts. Make sure your posts include the following format:

• Appreciate: Share what you like, appreciate or value in the post you’ve read. Be specific.
• Probe: Probe for more details. Ask questions that will help give you a better sense of another person’s perspective.
• Snip: Cut and paste a phrase or sentence from the original post into your comment. Ask a question about it or say what you find interesting or important about what is being said.
• Reflect Back: Say what you think you are hearing. “What I hear you saying is… Is that what you are trying to say? The goal here is to confirm your understanding of what is being communicated or to “get on the same page.”
• Connect: Make a connection between something is in the post and your own experience, feelings, or interests.
• Extend: Describe how the post extended your thoughts in new directions or gave you a new perspective.

Adapted from the “Dialogue Toolkit” developed by Carrie James, Project Zero - Harvard Graduate School of Education. Dialogue Toolkit Rubric (Word Doc)

Assignments

Please review the important information about the assignments page.

Every week you are required to submit assignments related to the readings, videos, and other materials provided to you to understand the content. These assignments will be a combination of reflections, discussion board posts and replies, videos, films, pictures, symbols, images, songs, etc. Each assignment will give you a maximum number of points you may earn.

Dropbox Rubric (Word)

Major Assignment 1: Case study – group project (TaskStream) > Major Assignment 1 Details.

Summary: Candidates will collaborate in groups to conduct a case study on a young ELL child. Candidates should observe a young child during whole and small group language arts activities and conduct an interactive journal writing activity with the same child in. Candidates should analyze and apply data from multiple assessments and measures to diagnose students’ learning needs. They should design and align formative and summative assessments that match learning objectives and lead to mastery Upon gathering data, candidates should write a report to analyze the child’s language and literacy development and inform instruction based on those needs, and drive the learning process. Finally, candidates must effectively communicate with their fellow classmates about the case study subject’s current abilities and the instructional practices needed for ongoing success.

Major Assignment 2: Formal Miscue Analysis – group project – the same group as the Case Study > Major Assignment 2 Details.

Formal Miscue Analysis

Summary: Candidates will conduct a Formal Miscue Analysis to the child under examination for the case study to demonstrate their understanding of and ways to apply measurement concepts and characteristics of reading assessments (RC 1.A.2, 3.1).

Final Exam

Candidates will take a final exam at the end of the course.

Test

Candidates will take A Pre-FTCE test to assess their prior knowledge.

Zoom

Zoom Meeting is an online meeting room in which you can interact with your Professor and fellow students by sharing your computer, screens or files, chat, broadcast live audio, and take part in other interactive online activities. We will be utilizing this tool to conduct:

Mental Health and Wellbeing

• The global pandemic has changed our daily lives in unprecedented ways. It’s understandable for us to experience fear and concern when facing immense change and adversity. To look for ways to cultivate calm and a clear perspective amidst the chaos, check out the Guide to Well-Being During Coronavirus from the University of California Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center.
• Check out applications that include meditation, sleep, and movement exercises, such as Headspace. 
• If you are interested in seeking support from a mental health professional, please call FIU's Counseling & Psychological Services at 305-348-2277 (MMC) or 305-919-5305 (BBC).
• Don’t forget to take breaks while working on assignments and studying. Taking a break while going over the course material is important because it gives your brain time to rest and recover, which leads to boosts in everything from your productivity to your wellbeing.
• Nobody signed up for this! Know that we are all in this together, so let’s prioritize supporting each other as humans, finding simple solutions that make sense, and sharing resources and communicating clearly.

Grading Criteria

Grading Criteria

COURSE REQUIREMENTS	Points	GRADED BY
Case Study	24	a week after submission
Formal Miscue Analysis	21	a week after submission
Field Hours Assignment	10	a week after submission
Final Exam	100	a week after submission
Weekly Assignments	306	the end of the semester.
Case Study Presentation	15	a week after submission
Pre-FTCE Test	15	a week after submission
Total	491

 

Note: To calculate your percentage grade, take the total numbers of points possible, divided by your total points accumulated, and multiply by 100. Use the Grading Schema below to match the percentage with the letter grade.

Grading Schema

A (95% or above)

A- (90 - 94%)

B+ (87 - 89%)

B (83 - 86%)

B- (80 - 82%)

C+ (77 - 79%)

C (70 - 76%)

D (60 - 69%)

F (59% or less)

 

Access your Course Calendar for course topics and assignments.

 

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