Students occasionally engage in a peer review of their writing before they submit it to the professor. Students will keep a weekly observation journal in which they reflect on issues of educating the exceptional child as they manifest themselves in the classroom where they are observing. For a final paper, they will report on the action research project they conduct during their field experience. This course examines how feminist educational theories and practices challenge American educational traditions. Students must submit a thesis question for the final paper which is discussed individually with the instructor and then as part of class discussion.
Students begin by writing a literacy autobiography.
They write poetry collaboratively and individually to experience current philosophies themselves. They make numerous instructional presentations in small groups and write analytical reflections on the instruction they observe in three or four classrooms. For each of three children of varying ages with whom they interact, they write a case study which includes performance assessments of the child's reading and writing abilities and analyses of subsequent literacy conferences with the child. Based on research and theory from course readings, students compose and analyze three lesson plans individually and plan collaboratively a two-week integrated thematic unit which they teach in a local school. Students create a portfolio in which they reflect on all of their work and include an essay on their philosophy of teaching literacy.