Foundations of Reading Instruction
LTCY 519

Spring 2007

Instructor: Tadayuki Suzuki (Ph.D.)

Office: Tate Page Hall 355
Office Phone #: (270) 745-2418

Course Calendar

Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm or by appointment

Email:  tadayuki.suzuki@wku.edu

Required Textbooks:

Au, K.  (2006).  Multicultural issues and literacy achievement. Mahwah, New Jersey:

     Lawrence Erlbaum.

ISBN: 0805844015

Gambrell, L.B., Morrow, L.M., Neuman, S.B., & Pressley, M. (2003). Best practices in

     literacy instruction. New York: Guilford.

ISBN: 1572308753

Prerequisites: None

Course Description: Analysis of the reading and writing process with emphasis on the psychological and physiological foundations of the reading act.

Course Rationale: This course provides the graduate student in education a rudimentary study of the foundations of reading and writing instruction. This experience will expand students' understanding of the reading process. Although this is a web-based (asynchronous) course, one technology training session will be offered upon the students’ request. 

Course Objectives & Outcomes

Course Disposition Statement(s)

The teacher recognizes her/his professional responsibility for engaging in and supporting appropriate professional practices for self and colleagues.

The teacher is committed to the continuous development of individual students’ abilities and considers how different motivational strategies are likely to encourage this development for each student.

The teacher is committed to using assessment to identify student strengths and promotes student growth rather than to deny students access to learning opportunities.

The teacher has a well-grounded framework for understanding cultural and community diversity and knows how to learn about and incorporate student’s experiences, cultures, and community resources into instruction.

The teacher is committed to continuous learning and engages in professional discourse about subject matter knowledge and children’s learning of the discipline.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR BEGINNING THIS CLASS

This on-line course will start on January 22 (Monday), 2007.  It is your responsibility to keep up with necessary information and all of the due dates related to this course from the beginning!

I will contact you on Monday, January 22, 2007, via e-mail.  If you do not get an email from me, that means the email address the University has for you is your WKU email account that you may or may not ever check.  You either need to start checking your WKU email account OR have your email forwarded to the email address that you do check EVERY DAY.

The majority of our course will be conducted using Blackboard (http://bb1.wku.edu or a link is provided on my homepage).  All assignments (unless otherwise noted) will be submitted and returned via the Assignments in Blackboard (Not the Digital Dropbox!!).  Discussion boards, student homepages, course documents, and grade book will all be utilized in this course.

Course Requirements

1. Personal Homepage (20 pts.)

2. Professionalism (30 pts.)

3. 12 On-line Discussion Responses (90 pts.)

            Follow-up points (30 pts.)

4. Literacy Autobiography (50 pts.)

5. Topical Outline: Literature Review on Multicultural Education/Cultural and Linguistic Diversity and Literacy Learning and Teaching (50 pts.)

6. Annotated Bibliography: Literature Review on Multicultural Education/Cultural and Linguistic Diversity and Literacy Learning and Teaching (50 pts.)

NOTE: Assignments (5 & 6) MUST be submitted as one file! 

7. WebQuest: Technology Assignment (125 pts.) (Critical Performance)

            On-line feedback of WebQuest (25 pts.)

8. Literature Review: Multicultural Education/Cultural and Linguistic Diversity and Literacy Learning and Teaching (100 points)

Total Class Points: 570 total class points:

There is one CRITICAL PERFORMANCE for this course: WebQuest (Assignment # 6). This assignment MUST be posted to the Electronic Portfolio before a final grade can be given for this course. This assignment needs to be produced electronically so they can be uploaded to the Electronic Portfolio and opened by your instructor Remember, you must complete this requirement to receive a final grade in the course.

NOTE:  To receive a final grade in LTCY 519 you must complete all components of the field experience and related assignments required for the course AND you must upload your critical performance to the Electronic Portfolio.  Here is the link for the Electronic Portfolio: http://edtech.tph.wku.edu/~eps/.

Incomplete:

The previously-stated policy on late work applies even in circumstances when the student is given an incomplete ("X") for failure to upload an assignment to the Electronic Portfolio System. Students who want an incomplete for another reason must contact the instructor and make that request, which may or may not be granted, depending on the instructor's judgment. According to the catalog (Undergraduate Catalog p.28/Graduate Catalog, p.13) a grade of “X” (incomplete) is given only when a relatively small amount of work is not completed because of illness or same other reason satisfactory to the instructor. An “I” received by a student will automatically become an “F” unless removed within twelve (12) weeks of the next full term (summer excluded). The grade of “X” will continue to appear as the initial grade on the student's transcript, along with the revised grade.

Plagiarism Policy:
To represent ideas or interpretations taken from another source as one's own is plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious offense. The academic work of students must be their own. Students must give the author(s) credit for any source material used. To lift content directly from a source without giving credit is a flagrant act of plagiarism. To present a borrowed passage after having changed a few words, even if the source is cited, is also plagiarism.

As you begin your first assignments, be sure that you are not crossing the line into plagiarism. It is a serious issue and will not be taken lightly. Please read about avoiding plagiarism.

In PLAIN ENGLISH:  Do not turn in work to me that you copied that belongs to someone else, or that you did not personally write every word of yourself.  With past literature units and other materials posted on the Internet, you might be tempted to borrow some of the writing and present it as your own.  I urge you to resist that temptation.  No plagiarism or cheating will be tolerated. 

Please remember that I reserve the right to have other faculty members blind score your paper and/or submit your paper to an anti-plagiarism website if I suspect plagiarism when I grade your paper.

For information about plagiarism, what it is, and how to recognize it and avoid it, see
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html

http://www.pampetty.com/plagiarism.htm

Important:
It is expected that ALL assignments will be submitted on their due dates. Late assignments will be penalized 20% of their possible point value if submitted within two consecutive days of their due date. Further penalties will be assessed for assignments turned in beyond that point. 

However, your first assignment (personal homepage) will be excluded from the above rule.  If you upload your homepage by the due date, you will receive 20 points.  If you forget to upload your homepage by the due date, or you upload your homepage after the due date, you will receive no points since you cannot prove the date and time that you uploaded your homepage to Blackboard by using the Blackboard functions.  Again, I will not be able to give you partial credit if you cannot prove the date and time that you uploaded your homepage.  NOT NEGOTIABLE!

I am not supposed to discuss your grade (any grade) in this course through e-mail.  Be aware that I cannot respond to you if you e-mail me regarding your grade.

I consider that online discussion is part of class attendance but not part of the course assignments.  Thus, I will not honor partial credit if you miss the due date of each online discussion response.  If you are confused about the due dates for some reason, please go ahead and upload your response before the due date.  I will not respond to your e-mail if you forget this rule and try to negotiate with me for partial credit. Some students in the past e-mailed me that they were sick, their children were sick, or they had some family issues.  Thus, they could not upload their responses to Blackboard before the due date.  Remember that I will never accept these excuses. 

During the semester, I will announce in class stating the last date by which late work can be submitted for a grade in the course. This policy is instituted primarily to prevent students from becoming overloaded at the end of the semester. However, please do not work ahead of the instructor.

It is expected that you will read and reflect on required course readings prior to each specific class e-discussion session.

Keep an electronic copy of all assignments. If an assignment is lost, the burden of proof that you completed the assignment rests with you.

Once your assignment is graded, your assignment grade is final.  I will not let you resubmit your work again in order to improve your assignment grade. 

I am happy to answer your questions regarding your course assignments.  However, please do not e-mail me an unedited draft or an unfinished paper expecting feedback from me. Once you submit your assignment, I have to grade that assignment.

Once you submit your assignment to Blackboard, I will send you an acknowledgment e-mail.  Please allow me 48 hours to respond after you turn in your assignment.  Keep the acknowledgment e-mail from me as a proof that you submitted the assignment by the due date.  If you do not receive acknowledgment after 48 hours, you must contact me individually.  It is your responsibility to check your WKU e-mail account after you submit your assignment and contact me if needed. 

Also, remember to contact me within 24 hours if you upload a wrong assignment to Blackboard.  If you fail to take this action, you are fully responsible for whatever happens regarding the assignments you mistakenly uploaded to Blackboard.

This is an online course.  You have to be able to log in to Blackboard and understand how to use it.  If this is your first time taking an on-line course, please make sure that you can access Blackboard whenever you need.  I will not be able to provide each of you with technical supports.  That means that it is your own responsibility to contact an appropriate department such as the IT helpdesk (270) 745-7000 in order to fix any problems regarding Blackboard before the semester starts.  If you submit your assignment after the due date due to the technical problems, your points will still be docked based on the guidelines.

If you do not intend to take this course or keep taking this course, you MUST DROP the course immediately.  If you stay in this course without fulfilling the course requirements until the end of the semester, you may jeopardize your status as a student such as losing your financial aids or scholarships and / or plunging your GPAs.  You are fully responsible for whatever happens if you fail to take this action. 

Finally, I am not available online over the weekends (normally from Friday afternoon through Sunday evening), or on holidays.  However, most assignment due dates are on a Monday.  That means that you have to ask me questions well in advance.  Avoid asking me questions at the last minute or on weekends or holidays. 

ALL ASSIGNMENTS MUST BE SUBMITTED IN MICROSOFT WORD, RICH TEXT FORMAT, OR POWERPOINT (WHEN APPROPRIATE!  Please get permission from the course instructor!).  Your Literature-based Reading Strategies have to be submitted in a paper format.  That means that Powerpoint is not permitted.

Do not include broken internet links in your assignments.  Your grade will be severely docked based on the guidelines in the scoring rubric. 

Description of Assignments

1.     First Assignment Personal Homepage (20 points)

 (Due Date: Midnight, 1/26/07)

One of the benefits of Blackboard is that it gives us the ability to meet each other through Student Homepages found under the Communication button.  To design your homepage, click Student Tools, then click on Edit Student Homepage.  If you have a photo that you would like to include-- I would like to put your face with your name-- you can upload a digital file.  If you don't have a digital picture of yourself, you can scan a photo and create one.  Please include your information in paragraph form.  You can make it read as if you were just orally telling us about yourself.  Tell us the name you would like for us to use when talking to you (i.e., David=Dave), the town where you live or come from, your major area of interest, some information about yourself that makes you unique or interesting, and any family information you want to share with us.

NOTE: If you want to have a good start in this course, please do not miss the due date of this assignment.  As already mentioned, partial credit will not be given if you miss the due date.  Thank you for your understanding!

2. Participation and Professionalism (30 points) (Participation Dates: 1/22-5/11/07)

Professionalism is an important requirement for all teachers.  It is usually demonstrated by a set of behaviors which indicate your commitment to your profession. Active participation through email and discussion board is mandatory!  Professionalism is expected with regard to your electronic communications to one another and to the professor. Your communications should be informative, polite and professional.  It is vital that you share your ideas both clearly and respectfully to all who will be reading your responses.  When you are sending e-mails to me, please begin with a salutation (Dear Dr. Suzuki), complete your e-mail with your name, and always remember to put the subject of your e-mail in the subject tag line before you e-mail it to me.   If you do not comply with this rule, I reserve the right not to respond t o y our e-mail.  For further information, please take a look at the scoring rubric. 

 You are expected to be a fully participating member of this class. This also includes punctuality in completing assignments, participation, collegiality, and effort.  All students are expected to contribute to this community of learners by being active participants in all in-class discussions. Again, check the rubric about professionalism. You are required to regularly check your e-mail, check Blackboard for announcements, explanation of assignments, recommended resources, etc., and respond and discuss the discussion board prompts.  You are also expected to communicate regularly with me via e-mail when you have questions.

Again, plagiarism will never be tolerated and will result in a student unconditionally receiving zero (0) point for professionalism.  All students should exhibit professional behavior when conversing with classmates, and faculty, and the instructor of the course. For example, if you have concerns or questions related to the course, you should contact me directly. Professionalism points will be awarded based on your continuous engagement in the class, professional demeanor in all areas, and graciously assisting others.

NOTE: Professionalism will be given in the final week of this semester. 

3. Discussion Boards (90 points: 7.5 points for each discussion response and 30 points for follow-up responses.)

To facilitate students’ ability to become reflective educators and decision makers, and to foster an understanding of the interrelationships and application of educational theory into classroom practices, students will respond to discussion board prompts. You must respond to all of the prompts. These prompts will be based on the chapters of our text. All discussion board prompts are accessed through Blackboard. Due dates are posted on the course calendar. Complete directions for responding to the Discussion Board are found below.
 

Click HERE for RUBRIC for scoring this assignment.

Posting: I will post a discussion prompt every Monday.    

Responding: In order to get credit for participating in a discussion board, you must reply to the prompt by midnight on Thursday of each week.  I will assign the points for your response on Friday of each week.  I will post a discussion prompt and read each of your responses every week, but I will not be directly involved in your online discussion.  That means that I will not directly leave any comments to your responses.  You have to respond to one another in order to make your online discussion more interactive.  (Read follow-up responses!) 

Length of Response:  I do not have particular criteria for the length of your response.  However, your response is a reply to an open-ended discussion question.  That means that it should be more than a few sentences.  I expect at least a few (3-4) solid paragraphs.

Scoring:  Credit will also be given for class participation. Scoring of these assignments will be based on the following criteria:  thoughtful insights; all responses posted by due dates; and specific references to information from our text.  If the quality of your discussion responses is obviously poor, however, the points will be partially or fully docked based on my evaluation. 

Following-up Responses: In order to make the online discussions more vivid and active, all of the students are required to respond to the responses from their classmates.  All students are required to reply to at least two peers for each discussion.  Please complete your follow-up responses by midnight on Thursday of each week. 

NOTE: Follow-up points (30 points) will be given to you in the end of the semester.  

NOTE: Final Course Reflection (Discussion 12): The guidelines will be given later.

NOTE: I consider that online discussion is part of “class attendance and participation.”  Thus, partial credit will not be given if you respond to the prompt after the due date.

Click Here for the Rubric

4. Literacy Autobiography (50 points) (Due Date: Midnight, 2/12/07)

Students will compose a reflective literacy autobiography that includes the following components:

• Your first recollections of reading/writing/literacy experiences.  Interview family members, etc., to refresh your memory, if necessary. Include titles and impressions of the first books you remember reading. Include any samples of your early writing (some people save these things) or descriptions of stories you remember having written at a young age.
• Elementary, middle and secondary school literacy experiences (be reflective and "dig deep").
• Personal introduction and description of your previous and current home literacy environment, culture, attitudes and daily literacy practices.
• Your learning experiences in second or foreign languages and/or the restrictions of and interests in linguistic diversity in your home literacy environment.
• How previous and current oral and written literacy experiences impact your current attitudes, practices, uses and literacy instruction (reading, writing, oral language use) in the classroom (be specific using real life examples and application)
• Current changes occurring in your attitudes and practices (be SPECIFIC and reflective)
• Discuss your awareness and the definitions of literacy in your instructional environment or learning community.

Click Here for the Rubric

Your autobiography should be 5 pages long.  Shorter or longer submission will be automatically penalized. (20 % deduction from the possible point value)  Present the specific events with specific examples in your written discussion.  You are not required to cite or quote sentences and ideas from any professional journals and books because this assignment is not a literature review.  However, your written discussion should be formal.  Thus, I expect you to compose your autobiography in a professional and academic manner. Your paper should be typed double-spaced, 12 pt font, Times New Roman, Arial, or San Serif fonts ONLY. 

5. Topical Outline (50 points) (Due Date: Midnight, 3/5/07)

Assignment 5 should be submitted together with Assignment 6.

Literature Review of Multicultural Education/Cultural and Linguistic Diversity and Literacy Learning and Teaching (50 pts.)

As a part of the preparations, you are required to compose a topical outline for your Literature Review of Multicultural Education/Cultural and Linguistic Diversity and Literacy Learning and Teaching (Assignment # 8). The due date for this assignment is found in the course calendar.  The following are the specific guidelines for the topical outline:

Write a two-page double-spaced typed topical outline regarding your Assignment # 8 (Literature Review).  You MUST clearly spell out the multicultural issues or cultural and linguistic diversity and literacy issues that you intend to discuss in your literature review.  You MUST also state the possible title, and give a brief overview and outline of your literature review.  In the topical outline, you should clearly evaluate the significance and the relevance of the topic and the availability of the literature that you want to focus on in this assignment.  (20 % deduction from the possible point value)

NOTE: Writing a topical outline will help you plan and organize your literature review.  However, be aware that your topical outline does not guarantee your success on this assignment.  Credit for this assignment will also be given as class participation. That means that I do not use the scoring rubric in order to assess your performance on this assignment.  However, late submission will be penalized based on the guidelines stated in this course syllabus. 

6. Annotated Bibliography (50 points) (Due Date: Midnight, 3/5/07)

Assignment 6 should be submitted together with Assignment 5.

Begin to find articles for your Literature Review (Assignment 8).  Write 10 bibliographic annotations from current periodicals (7 articles from research -oriented journals and 3 articles from practitioner-oriented journal.  The articles you choose for the annotated bibliography should have been published within the last eight years (1998-2007).  Refer to APA Publication Manual. (5^th ed.)  Be as specific as possible. Your annotated bibliography should be at most three typed pages, singled-spaced. 

NOTE: Credit will also be given for class participation. That means that I do not use the scoring rubric in order to assess your performance on this assignment.  However, late submission will be penalized based on the guidelines stated in the course syllabus.  (20 % deduction from the possible point value)

ATTENTION: I consider Assignments 5 & 6 the parts of the preparations in order for you to write the Literature Review (Assignment 8).   So, again, please submit these two components as one file together. 

7. WebQuest: Technology Assignment (125 points) (Due Date: Midnight, 3/26/07)  Feedback (25 points) (Critical Performance) (Due Date: Midnight, 3/29/07)

The purpose of this assignment is to allow LTCY 519 students to demonstrate technology literacy and to share literacy instruction, resources, and links to other educational websites.  An additional purpose of this assignment is to provide LTCY 519 students with an opportunity to plan a WebQuest focusing on literacy instruction using quality trade books and demonstrating the ability to plan exemplary literacy instruction for vocabulary development and pre-reading/during reading/and post-reading strategies for increased comprehension of print.  All of the students in this course are required to select one multicultural book (either a picture book or a chapter book) for this assignment and develop a WebQuest based on your selection. 

The basic process for developing the WebQuest:

1.      Learn about the WebQuest.  Do some web searching and learn about WebQuest.  

2.      Choose one quality multicultural trade book (a picture book or a chapter book).  It is not required, but award winning books are normally good quality books. 

3.      Determine your audience for this assignment.  You can target teachers, target students, or both in this assignment.  If your audience is students, specify the grade level. 

4.   Start to write the following required components:

      a) Introduction

      b) Content Areas

      c) Objectives

      d) Implementation Overview

      e) Tasks

            Tasks integrating literacy issues

            Tasks supporting diversity

      f) Online Resources

      g) Process

      h) Evaluation

      i) Conclusion

      j) Credits

NOTE: Since many of the students are not familiar with a composing software and the file transfer protocol (FTP), you do not have to develop a homepage unless you want.  I will allow you to generate your WebQuest by utilizing the Powerpoint presentation in this course.  Then, you can focus on the quality of the contents in your assignment.  Develop a WebQuest focusing on aspects of ACTIVE reading strategies and supporting diverse learners. You can begin to read about WebQuests by clicking HERE.

Online feedback of WebQuests (25 pts.)

I will upload your WebQuests to the Discussion Board.  Leave feedback to at least five people. Check the course calendar for the due date. 

Click Here for the Rubric

NOTE: I will grade your WebQuest based on the guidelines in the scoring rubric.  It is your own responsibility to make sure that you have covered all of the specific guidelines spelled out in the scoring rubric before you submit this assignment to me.

As part of the objectives for this assignment, all of you are required to develop your WebQuest based on a multicultural literary work.  If you do not comply with this requirement, I have to give you a failing grade since I cannot grade your work based on the guidelines that I set up for this assignment.  Please ask me if you have any questions regarding the definitions of multicultural literature well in advance of when you begin to prepare for this assignment.

Since this assignment is a critical performance, all of you are required to upload this assignment to the Electronic Portfolio before the semester is over.  Here is the link: http://edtech.tph.wku.edu/~eps/. 

8. Literature Review of Multicultural Education/Cultural and Linguistic Diversity and Literacy Learning and Teaching (100 points) (Due Date: 4/23/07)
Students will engage in self-selected readings from professional educational journals published within the last eight years (1998-2007) and write a 5-7 page paper synthesizing and critiquing the readings selected.  Papers are to be typed in 12 font, double-spaced, with citations using APA Publication Manual (5^th ed.).

1) Topic: You will write about literacy learning and teaching, tailored to your specific interests (e.g., comprehension, decoding, literature-based instruction, literature groups/circles, fluency, classroom interaction, etc.) as they relate to some aspect of multicultural education and / or linguistic and cultural diversity and literacy teaching and learning issues.

2) APA format is required for bibliographic information.  Refer to the APA Publication Manuel (5^th Edition).

3) The paper must be at least 5 pages, but no more than 7 pages

Shorter, longer, and/or late submission will be automatically penalized. (20 % deduction from the possible point value)

4) The bibliography must include a minimum of 5 articles published within last eight years (1998-2007).  You may include the same articles that you used when you wrote your annotated bibliography.

5) Papers are to include:

• 1. A summary of each of the articles synthesizing the contents (with transitions that tie the readings together).
  2. Your reaction to the reading as well as what you have learned. (Reactions and responses are to be based on evidence rather than on feelings.)
  3. A well developed explanation or description of how you will use what you have learned as a classroom teacher working with students

Cleck Here for the Rubric

NOTE: MAKE SURE YOUR PAPER IS A COHESIVE PAPER --NOT JUST A SERIES OF SUMMARIES-TIE YOUR READINGS TOGETHER THROUGH YOUR TOPIC/THESIS USE HEADINGS AND SUBHEADINGS TO ORIENT THE READER!

I will grade your Literature Review based on the guidelines in the scoring rubric.  It is your own responsibility to make sure that you have covered all of the guidelines spelled out in the scoring rubric before you submit this assignment to me.

YOU SHOULD NOT WRITE ONLY ABOUT THE LITERACY ISSUES!  If you do not include multicultural and/ linguistic and cultural diversity issues in your paper, I will not be able to grade your literature review based on the scoring rubric.  That means that I have to give you a failing grade.