Wilmington University College of Education
RDG 302
Bachelor of Science in Early Care in Education
Course Number: RDG 302
Course Title: Literature for Children
Faculty Contact Information:
Course Description: This course is a study of literature for children, ages birth through grade 2 and is designed to introduce teacher candidates to a wide range of genres including classics and contemporary materials. Particular attention is given to diverse representations in children's literature and the importance that diversity and equitable representation in children's literature play in social and emotional development. In this course, teacher candidates utilize their knowledge of the major components of literacy and learner development to create literacyrich learning environments with attention to student development, culture, and families. Candidates explore instruction connected to the Language Comprehension strand of Scarborough’s Rope as they design activities to build vocabulary, text comprehension, and oral language. Candidates develop interactive read-aloud to develop morphological and phonemic awareness in young readers. Candidates build activities to strengthen student’s written expression as well.
Use of Video: The use of technology is an integral part of the teaching/learning process and a necessary skill for success in teaching. As such, teacher candidates will engage in multiple forms of assessment including but not limited to creating and uploading digital recordings of various forms for evaluation and guidance. Candidate work is uploaded to secure sites and is not available to the public.
Minimum Time Requirements (in clock hours):
College Education Program Attributes
The manner in which we prepare educational personnel is informed by eight essential attributes:
1. ensuring that programs are knowledge-based;
2. viewing educational personnel as learners, including a focus on deconstructing past experiences as learners in coursework and field experiences and developing appropriate knowledge of the content and discourse of the disciplines to be taught;
3. contextual and cultural sensitivity;
4. facilitating inquiry and reflection, i.e., providing structured opportunities for critical reflection on and acting in one’s daily work;
5. enabling authentic participation, collegiality and collaboration;
6. building an ongoing developmental program that allows for continuous improvement, experimentation, and professional growth;
7. ensuring that programs are standards-driven; and
8. ensuring that programs promote the effective use of technology.
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Delaware Teacher Standards: Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC)
Specialized Professional Association Standards: NAEYC Professional Standard and Competencies
Technology Standards: International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)
Wilmington University Graduation Competencies: Undergraduate Educational Competencies
Dispositions: Model Code of Ethics for Educators
Delaware Teacher Growth and Support System: DTGSS
Common Core Standards for English/Language Arts: CCSS
Global Awareness: Global awareness is knowledge of the interrelatedness of local, global, and international cultures. It is the understanding that our world is an interconnected system. Cultivating global awareness involves the ability to understand, respect, and get curious about challenges, trends, and systems present on a global level. College of Education and Liberal Arts Educator Preparation Programs foster global awareness by preparing and empowering teacher candidates to integrate that knowledge in their PreK - 12 classrooms. In this course, future educators will explore how fine arts and literature serve as powerful vehicles for cross-cultural communication and appreciation of diverse worldviews. Future teachers will explore the necessary tools and strategies to engage students in meaningful discussions about art, literature, and their relevance in a global context.
Cultural Differences: Culturally responsive practices acknowledge and honor the experiences and perspectives of children and their families as a tool to support them more effectively. This practice emphasizes the incorporation of different perspectives that create an inclusive, relevant, and supportive environment for learners from various backgrounds. The College of Education and Liberal Arts Educator Preparation Programs incorporate culturally relevant instruction that integrates a wide variety of instructional strategies connected to different approaches to learning. Through literary analysis, teachers will learn how to guide students to explore the experiences of characters from diverse backgrounds. This process of perspective-taking encourages empathy, helping students connect with the emotions, struggles, and joys of people from different cultures.
Learning Methods: A variety of teaching methods including inquiry–based learning, game-based learning, personalized learning, differentiated instruction, collaborative projects, and class participation will be used in a student-centered approach to learning. Candidates will engage in observation, reflection, and analysis of teacher practice. Candidates will utilize reflective practices in planning for and evaluating instruction. Candidates are encouraged to move from passive receivers of information to active participants in their learning, where creativity and innovation are encouraged. The purposeful integration of technology is required.
Driving Question for the Course: How can the purposeful integration of children’s literature in early childhood classrooms, inspire creativity, foster empathy, build language and linguistic skills, and cultivate a deeper understanding of the world for all students?
To address this, we will consider these four related questions:
How does the use of high-quality children’s literature promote the development of language comprehension in young readers?
How does the use of carefully selected children’s literature promote equity and diversity in inclusive classrooms?
What does intentional, systematic instruction look like when using children’s literature?
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How can children’s literature be used as a model and springboard for written expression?
Learning Outcome # 1 – Early childhood educators understand that children learn and develop within relationships and multiple contexts, including families, cultures, languages, communities, and society (NAEYC Standard 1).
Learning Activities/ Performance Tasks:
1. Candidates will identify fundamental theoretical models of developmental periods of early childhood across physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and linguistic domains.
2. Candidates will support young children in ways that respond to their individual developmental, cultural, and linguistic variations.
3. Candidates will describe developmentally appropriate decisions, plans, and adjustments to practice in response to individual, developmental, cultural, and linguistic variations of young children.
Learning Outcome #2- Candidates understand that teaching and learning with young children is a complex enterprise, and its details vary depending on children’s ages, characteristics, and the settings within which teaching and learning occur (NAEYC Standard 4).
Learning Activities/ Performance Tasks:
1. Candidates understand positive relationships and supportive interactions as the foundation of their work with young children.
2. Candidates will use an understanding of effective strategies and tools for early education, including appropriate uses of technology.
3. Candidates will use a broad repertoire of developmentally appropriate teaching /learning approaches when planning language lessons and activities.
4. Candidates will describe developmentally appropriate decisions, to plan and adjust practice in response to individual, developmental, cultural, and linguistic variations of young children.
Learning Outcome #3- Early childhood candidates demonstrate an understanding of the knowledge of language and literacy. Educators understand pedagogy, including how young children learn and process information in language development and literacy development, the learning trajectories for reading and writing, and how teachers use this knowledge to inform their practice Educators apply this knowledge using early learning standards and other resources to make decisions about spontaneous and planned learning experiences and curriculum development, implementation, and evaluation to ensure that learning will be stimulating (NAEYC Standard 5).
Learning Activities/ Performance Tasks:
1. Candidates will utilize print knowledge around genre to select and utilize high-quality literacy as a basis for language development.
2. Candidates use an understanding of foundational concepts of oral and written language to build meaningful learning activities.
3. Candidates plan vocabulary instruction including explicit instruction and modeling reflecting research-based practices to foster a breadth of understanding of meaning related to the precision of word choice and linking to prior knowledge.
4. Candidates provide experiences for children to develop an understanding of morphology through explicit instruction and modeling including the interaction between affixes and roots.
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5. Candidates utilize an understanding of the relationship between listening and reading comprehension to plan literature-based literacy lessons.
6. Candidates develop lessons focused on language structure using syntactic awareness to build sentence-level comprehension skills.
7. Candidates design lessons to provide experiences building student awareness of text structures in narrative, and expository text.
Learning Outcome #4- Candidates demonstrate and apply understandings of major concepts, skills, and practices, as they interpret disciplinary curricular standards and related expectations within research-informed literacy instruction (NAEYC Standard 5).
Learning Activities/ Performance Tasks:
1. Candidates explain the significance of the Simple View of Reading and its connection to children’s literature.
2. Candidates build lessons reflecting strong knowledge of the Language Comprehension aspects of Scarborough’s Rope.
3. Candidates explain and defend the position of the four-part processing model for work recognition vs. the three-cueing system model.
4. Candidates use an understanding of verbal reasoning to design lessons related to inference and figurative language.
Week Week at a Glance Essential Questions
1 How do oral language and literacy skills develop and how can development be supported through the use of children’s literature?
2 How do educators utilize an understanding of genre and high-quality text to make instructional decisions related to vocabulary development, listening and reading comprehension, and language structures?
3 How do educators utilize their understanding of developmentally appropriate teaching and specific learning practices including explicit instruction and the gradual release of responsibility model to facilitate meaningful comprehension development for all learners?
4 How can educators use high-quality instructional materials to guide instructional planning to improve reading achievement for all students?
5 How do educators utilize modeling and explicit teaching to develop narrative and expository writing skills appropriate to early childhood learning?
6 How can educators use literature to reinforce language comprehension development?
7 How do educators plan inclusive lessons using literature to support the learning of each student?
Assignments and Grading
1. Class Discussions (10%)
2. Assignments and Activities (25%)
3. Mock Teaching (40%)
4. SEA (25%)
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These required projects are briefly described in the “Learning Outcomes” section of the syllabus. Additional details and resources, including Open Educational Resources (OERs), and the course outline, can be found on the course site.
Academic Policies
Procedure/Guidelines for Receiving Special Accommodations
College of Education and Liberal Arts Attendance Policy:
In the College of Education, faculty must approve all requests for absences that are exceptions to the University policy. Vacations are not considered legitimate reasons for missing classes. Faculty must be contacted prior to class in all cases except valid emergencies. Failure to obtain approval for exceptions may result in lowering the final passing grade or assigning a FA (failure due to absence).
Students who have registered for a course and never attended the class at all will receive a grade of NA (never attended). Early departures and late arrivals will be cumulative toward class absences. It is the student’s responsibility to obtain and complete assignments on the due dates. Students who register and enter the course on the drop/add date have four days to complete the first week’s assignments.
Course Materials:
Course Reading List:
Other readings and lectures/presentations as assigned in Canvas
Course Resource Links
- Blooms Taxonomy
- 4 learning modalities
- Concept Maps
- Summarizing
- QAR (Question - Answer - Relationship)
- Shared Reading
- Think-Alouds
- Onset & Rime
- Differentiated Instruction
Structured External Assignment
Using the Wilmington University Lesson Plan Format found within the SEA description on Canvas and Common Core Standards, the teacher candidate will complete and submit an age-appropriate lesson plan which include a variety of methods and materials to teach reading. The lesson must address cultural differences, different developmental levels, different learning styles and ability levels. It must also include both formative and summative assessment strategies, and digital-age learning experiences to plan, evaluate and strengthen instruction that will promote continuous intellectual, social, emotional, and physical development of each elementary student. The teacher candidate will facilitate one lesson to demonstrate the teaching of either language comprehension or word recognition, and to build student understanding for personal and social applications.
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© 2024. Wilmington University. All Rights Reserved. This syllabus and its contents are the intellectual property of Wilmington University. Unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or modification, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without written permission from Wilmington University.