EDEE 385 is an introductory, basic course in the methods and materials for teaching the language arts in an elementary school setting. Opportunities to explore and develop competencies in the strategies for developing young students' communication proficiencies will be presented. A Level II practicum will provide real experiences with teaching language arts to small groups of elementary school students. This course is based on the philosophy that language arts is more than reading, writing, and reciting. It is more than handwriting, composition, English, grammar, usage, spelling, speaking, and listening.
Language arts is communication .
Instruction in language arts is important as a service skill for other subject areas as well as a subject itself. Literature is a central component of the content of language arts and must permeate every aspect of the instructional program. At least one journal entry per week consisting of multiple paragraphs and responding to some piece of reading in your children's literature heritage will be submitted for peer response every Friday. Starting with the second Friday class and continuing throughout the semester, the student will bring to class a written selection to be reviewed and responded to by peers. A few minutes of each Friday class period will be devoted to this exercise.