English 428
ENGL 428
Planning and Teaching Seminar
Catalog Entry
ENGL 428. Planning and Teaching Seminar
One hour lecture (1).
Prerequisites: All Core Curriculum requirements; EDEF 320, EDUC 440, 441, and ENGL 402, 425, 426 and 463.
Corequisite: EDUC 452.
One-week planning seminar followed by weekly hour-long seminar meetings. Taken concurrently with EDUC 452, the student teaching field experience. All seminar meetings will allow students opportunities to collaborate on problems and planning directly related to the student teaching experience. Student may not receive credit if previously taken ENGL 427.
Detailed Description of Content of Course
Student teachers will come to campus for a week-long seminar after one full week in their schools. This planning seminar will focus on the writing and sharing of unit plans and lesson plans for their student teaching experience. These intensive planning sessions will allow students to synthesize theories and methods from their previous English Education courses and to use these theories and methods to design effective assignments and activities for their student teaching placement. The weekly or bi-weekly seminar meetings, which will begin the third week of the semester, will allow students to exchange ideas and collaborate on solutions to dilemmas they face in the field.
Detailed Description of Conduct of Course
The course may include small group collaboration, peer response to unit plans and lesson plans, and class discussion. Students will talk and write about their experiences within their field placements, relating their experience to a wide range of issues related to teaching the English language arts. Learning opportunities may include among others the following:
Planning logs: The course aims to help each student identify the best planning process for him/herself. The planning process log will document the student’s thinking process. It will record invention strategies for planning and writing of plans, and could include free writing, clustering, listing, talking and recording. It will also illustrate the later stages of the student teacher’s planning process, showing the drafting and revision of unit plans and lesson plans.
Observations: An important part of this course involves having students conduct frequent observations of the teachers with whom they will be student teaching and of other teachers in their assigned schools. Observation logs may be required of students on each day's observation in their assigned placement. Students may be asked to focus their writing specifically on what they learn from the observations and how they intend to carry this new knowledge into their work as teachers.
Unit Plan: Students may be asked to prepare a unit plan connected to the student teaching experience. Students work closely with their cooperating teachers and the university student teacher supervisors in the preparation of units.
Reflection Logs: Daily reflections will examine the student teacher’s perceptions of his/her teaching and of the learning taking place in his/her class.
Weekly Seminar Participation: Students must participate in a weekly seminar. This weekly meeting provides opportunities for tying practical application to the theories of language and learning studied throughout the course work in English Education.
Goals and Objectives of Course
Upon successful completion of the course the student will be able to:
- observe and analyze the teaching and interactions within a secondary classroom;
- synthesize the theories and methods of teaching the English language arts within a classroom setting
- apply principles of planning to a classroom setting
- work collaboratively with other professionals to solve problems related to instruction and classroom environment.
- create classroom experiences that integrate speaking, listening, and writing.
Assessment Measures
Assessment measures may include:
- Written observations/reflections
- unit plans and lesson plans
- planning log
Other Course Information
Review and Approval
October, 2009