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ENPG 5400.001 / EDIS 5500.003
The COUNTERPOINT SEMINAR in TEACHING
20th CENTURY WORLD ANGLOPHONE LITERATURE
Spring 2013
English:
Hallie Smith Richmond
hes7x@virginia.edu
Cell Phone: (434) 409-3417
Course Instructors:
English Education:
April Salerno
ass3jw@virginia.edu
Cell Phone: (803) 840-4789
Office Hours: by appointment
Office Hours: by appointment
Instructor of Record
Margo A. Figgins
maf8q@virginia.edu
Class Meeting:
Fridays, 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
January 18-April 26, 2013
Location: Dawson’s Row 1
Description:
This course is a hands-on, practical seminar on teaching works of modern literature. Its purpose is to
provide students with an opportunity to read classic 20th century texts that are frequently taught in the
high school English classroom—or that provide context for such—and apply pedagogical strategies that
reflect “best practice” in English education. As a "Counterpoint Seminar," this course takes as its
backdrop readings covered in ENGL 383: The History of Literature in English III and invites students to
approach these "classic" works of modern literature as occasions for teaching and refining fundamental
skill sets—particularly in reading, writing, and interpretation in the context of the critical and historical
dimensions of the selected texts. It also asks students to reflect critically upon their own strengths and
weaknesses as readers of literature, with an eye toward expanding the repertoire of interpretive strategies
at their disposal as English educators.
Course Policies
Readings. In a small seminar class such as this one, it is essential that you complete the assigned
readings before you come to class. Also, please bring hard or electronic copies of the assigned readings
with you to class, as we will be referring to them continually.
Communication. Email will be a critically important part of course communications, especially within
groups, but please be courteous and mindful of your classmates' and instructors’ time. Communication
protocols among group members should be worked out within the groups, but, realistically, late-night
communications are likely not to receive a response. By the same token, email communications sent to
the instructors on the weekends or after 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays will most likely not be
answered until the following workday. In the case of death, serious illness, or other personal emergency,
do not hesitate to call the instructors’ cell phone numbers. Please address emails about the course to both
Hallie Smith Richmond and April Salerno.
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Saving work. You are expected to save copies of all your work, including writing assignments with
instructor feedback. We recommend creating an ENPG 5400/EDIS 5500 folder on your hard drive
specifically for this purpose.
University Policies
Incomplete Policy
Should circumstances arise that prevent the student from completing the requirements by the due date, a student must contact
the instructor and formally request permission prior to the end of the course. Incompletes are granted to students who have an
extenuating circumstance (such as the death of a family member or a serious illness), which precludes them from completing
the course during the scheduled semester.
The SCPS Incomplete contract must be completed and signed by the student and the instructor. A copy must be filed with your
program advisor. All incompletes must be completed by the end of the following semester. Students are advised to consult the
Graduate Record for specific information on Incompletes. http://records.ureg.virginia.edu/index.php
Students with Special Needs
It is the policy of the University of Virginia to accommodate students with disabilities in accordance with federal and state
laws. Any student with a disability who needs accommodation (e.g., in arrangements for seating, extended time for
examinations, or note-taking, etc.), should contact the Learning Needs and Evaluation Center (LNEC) and provide them with
appropriate medical or psychological documentation of his/her condition. Once accommodations are approved, it is the
student’s responsibility to follow up with the instructor about logistics and implementation of accommodations.
If students have difficulty accessing any part of the course materials or activities for this class, they should contact the
instructor immediately. Accommodations for test-taking should be arranged at least 14 business days in advance of the date
of the test(s). A student’s academic dean is also available to assist with accommodations, particularly for temporary or
emergency situation.
Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact the LNEC: 434-243-5180/Voice, 434-465-6579/Video Phone, 434-2435188/FAX. Web: http://www.virginia.edu/studenthealth/lnec.html
FERPA
Students attending or who have attended the University of Virginia are given certain rights under the Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, as (USC 1232g) and Rules of the Department of Education (34 C.F.R. Part 99)
implementing the act. http://www.virginia.edu/registrar/privacy.html
Course Texts
You will be responsible for having copies of the texts with you at our class meetings. The following
table lists the texts that are available to purchase through the UVA Bookstore (in bold font) as well as
the texts that you will be provided with on our collab site (not in bold). We may need to add additional
texts to the syllabus as the semester progresses. When we do so, you will be notified.
English
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
James Joyce, Dubliners
T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land
Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse
Pedagogy
Carol Jago, With Rigor for All: Meeting
Common Core Standards for Reading
Literature (Heinemann), 2nd Edition
Lisa Schade Eckert, Engaging Reluctant
Readers Through Literary Theory
Andrasick, K. D. (1990). Opening texts: Using
writing to teach literature. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
Azano, A. (2011). The possibility of place: One
teacher’s use of place-based instruction for
English students in a rural high school. Journal of
Research in Rural Education, 26(10).
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F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were
Watching God
Ernest Hemingway, In Our Time
Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea
Midcentury American poetry
Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye
Blau, S. D. (2003). The literature workshop.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Brookhart, S. M. (2010). How to assess higherorder thinking skills in your classroom.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Broz, W. J. (2011). Not-reading: The 800-pound
mockingbird in the classroom. The English
Journal, 100(5), 15-20.
Emert, T. (2010). Talking to, talking about,
talking with: Language arts students in
conversation with poetic texts. The English
Journal, 99(5), 67-73.
Kajder, S. B. (2007). Unleashing potential with
emerging technologies. In K. Beers, R. E. Probst,
& L. Rief (Eds) Adolescent literacy: Turning
promise into practice.
Kirby, D., Kirby, D. L., & Liner, T. (2004).
Inside out: Strategies for teaching writing (3rd
ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). But that’s just good
teaching! The case for culturally relevant
pedagogy. Theory into Practice, 34(3), 159-165.
Malley, J. (2009). Oedipus alive. The English
Journal, 98(6), 95-99.
Ruzich, C. & Canan, J. (2011). Computers,
coffee shops, and classrooms: Promoting
partnerships and fostering authentic discussion.
The English Journal, 99(5), 61-66.
Sieben, N. & Wallowitz, L. (2009). “Watch what
you teach”: A first-year teacher refuses to
play it safe. The English Journal, 98(4), 44-49.
White, J. W. (2011). De-centering English:
Highlighting the dynamic nature of the English
language to promote the teaching of codeswitching. The English Journal, 100(4), 44-49.
Wold, L. & Elish-Piper, L. (2009). Scaffolding
the English canon with linked text sets. The
English Journal, 98(6), 88-91.
Course Requirements
Attendance and Participation. Contribution to class discussions is critical to ensure a productive and
successful seminar; hence, you will be expected to come and share in the discussion of every class.
Unexcused absences will affect your grade in this course. More than three unexcused absences will be
grounds for removal from the course.
Attendance and participation account for 13% of your final grade.
S. O. A. R. Reflections. Each week, you are assigned to read pieces of literature you might one day
consider using in your own middle or high school classroom. In choosing texts to teach, teachers assess
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the appropriateness of each piece of literature in relation to the students they have in front of them as
well as to the curriculum they are tasked with using. Sometimes, teachers are required to teach a
particular text, but assessment of the literature is still necessary in order to develop appropriate
instruction. As you develop your S.O.A.R. reflections and responses to your peers’ reflections, you will
be addressing issues necessary for assessing literature for use in your own classroom: The wider
significance of the piece, potential student objectives for using the text, considerations for student
access to understanding the text, and ways in which the text can be relevant to students. You will
alternate weeks in which you develop your own S.O.A.R reflections and weeks in which you respond to
your peers’ reflections. The reflections will be due by midnight on the Wednesday before each class and
the responses will be due Thursday at midnight. All posts will be to the week’s discussion thread on
Collab. For a more detailed description of the assignment as well as the grading criteria, please see
Appendix A.
The S.O.A. R. Reflections account for 12% of your final grade.
Teaching Exercise. In groups of three, you will be responsible for creating and delivering a 30-minute
lesson addressing the literary texts and employing the pedagogical skills for a specific week. You will
teach this lesson as if you were teaching an actual class of middle or high school students. Each member
of the three-person team should take the lead in instruction for approximately 10 minutes. After the 30minute lesson, you will hold a 15-minute debrief discussion to help you receive feedback from your
peers. (A format for this debrief will be provided.) These exercises will be scheduled throughout the
semester, based on a sign-up sheet in the second week of class. A major emphasis of this exercise is
experimentation: We urge you to use the class as a laboratory for trying out new ideas and taking
chances, as doing so is likely to benefit your future instruction. The assignment consists of the
development of a 30-minute lesson plan as well as a reflection on its relation to the four elements of
S.O.A.R. The lessons will be evaluated through self, peer, and instructor assessment. For a more detailed
description of the assignment as well as the grading criteria, please see Appendix B.
The teaching exercise accounts for 20% of your final grade
“Challenge” Discussion. You will be responsible for facilitating a class discussion on a text we’re
reading once during the semester. This assignment is called a “challenge” discussion because it will
have an interesting twist. When you sign up for your discussion date, you will also suggest or pick a
“challenge” that you might face in leading discussions in a secondary classroom. (See assignment sheet
below for a suggested list). You will then structure your discussion to try to minimize disruption from
this challenge. Afterwards, you will lead a debrief discussion of the structure you picked and its pros and
cons. (It should be noted that the challenge is for planning purposes. We will not plan to simulate actual
disruptions, as we want to maximize class time.) See Appendix C.
The discussion accounts for 10% of your final grade
“Free Day” talks.
Two “Free Days” have been built into the schedule. On these days, each student should come prepared
to give a mini presentation of a text that s/he has picked to pair with one of the previous readings. These
would likely include short texts that might be more accessible to students at a broad range of reading
levels. Texts might come from a variety of genres, including fiction and non-fiction, and can include
nonprint sources or digital texts. (Our definition here of text is broad). Where possible, you should post
an electronic copy of the text to appropriate Resources folder in Collab prior to our class meeting.
During class, you should be prepared to give a brief overview of the text, tell why it’s connected to the
text we read in class, explain how you would teach the text in class, and answer questions from your
peers. These texts might include, but are not limited to, pairing texts you wrote about in your SOAR
reflections. See Appendix D.
Each talk will account for 5% (a total of 10%) of your final grade
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Final Project: Drafts. Throughout the semester you will be asked to turn in drafts of five different
pieces of your final project. You will receive 2% of your grade each time one of these assignments is
turned in on time and completed. As this is a drafting process, this will be a completion grade, not a
grade of quality. You will receive feedback and be expected to respond to the feedback in time for the
final draft, when quality will be assessed.
Each assignment will account for 2% (a total of 10%) of your final grade
Final Project: Course Plan. For the course’s final project, you will create your own course that you
might someday teach to middle or high school students. Think of this as an elective course that brings a
new element to a typical curriculum. You will create a “course plan” similar to what you might need to
show an administrator when proposing your course. For a more detailed description of the assignment as
well as the grading criteria, please see Appendix E. Drafts of portions of this assignment will be due
throughout the semester, as noted below. The completed final draft will be due on the final day of
classes, 4/26/12.
The final paper accounts for 25% of your final grade.
Course Calendar
Class
Date
Lit.
Readings
Yeats (on
Collab)
Pedagogy
Readings
 Jago
introduction
Theory
Focus
Pedagogy
Focus
Introduction
Assignments
1
1-18
2
1-25
Conrad
 Eckert, Chs.
1&4
 Andrasick,
Ch. 5
(Collab)
Reader
Response
theory
Critical reading,
Part 1
SOAR log, Group
1
SOAR response,
Group 2
3
2-1
Joyce
 Eckert, Ch.
3
 Jago, Chs.
1&2
 Broz
(Collab)
 Discussion
Formats
Objective
theory
Critical reading,
Part 2
SOAR log, Group
2
SOAR response,
Group 1;
Challenge
Discussion
(Stephanie &
Christina)
4
2-8
Eliot
 Eckert, Ch.
2
 Jago, Ch.
3&4
 Kirby,
Kirby, &
Liner
(Collab)
Myths &
Archetypes
Writing about
literature, Part 1
SOAR log, Grp. 1
SOAR response,
Grp. 2
Drafts of final
project title, basic
course overview,
description of
student population;
Challenge
Discussion
(Myles)
6
5
2-15
Woolf
 Eckert, Ch.
6
 Sieben &
Wallowitz
(Collab)
 Blau
(Collab)
Gender/
Class
theories
Writing about
literature, Part 2
6
2-22
Fitzgerald
 Ruzich and
Canan
(Collab)
 Jago, Ch.
5&6
New
Historicism
Discussion and
collaboration
7
3-1
Hurston
 Ruday
(Collab)
 Azano
(Collab)
 LadsonBillings
(Collab)
Race/Class
theories
Culturally
Responsive
Teaching
8
3-8
“Free Day”
talks
 Jago, Ch. 8
 TBD
Motivating
Reluctant
Readers
3-15
No Class
Spring
Recess
Hemingway
 Wold &
Elish-Piper
(Collab)
 TBD
Connections
with YA lit
 Jago, Ch. 8
 Kajder
(Collab)
 Malley 2009
Using
technology to
engage with
literature
9
3-22
10
3-29
Rhys
SOAR log, Group
2
SOAR response,
Group 1;
Teaching Exercise
(Sally, Myles,
Amber);
Challenge
Discussion
(Abbey)
SOAR log, Group
1
SOAR response,
Group 2;
Drafts of
pedagogical goals,
reading list;
Challenge
Discussion
(Kavetta)
SOAR log, Group
2
SOAR response,
Group 1;
Drafts of rationale
for the texts
included in final
project due;
Challenge
Discussion (Sally)
Free Day talk
prepared
SOAR log, Group
1
SOAR response,
Group 2;
Teaching Exercise
(Stephanie, Tim,
Abbey, Kelie);
Challenge
Discussion (Sarah)
SOAR log, Grp 2
SOAR response,
Group 1;
Draft of final
project lesson plan
7
(Collab)
11
4-5
midcentury
American
poetry
 Emert
(Collab)
 TBD
12
4-12
Morrison
 Jago, Ch. 7
 Brookhart
(Collab)
 TBD
Issues of
assessment in
teaching
literature, Part 1
13
4-19
Free Text
Day/
Workshop
 Jago, Ch. 10
Issues of
assessment in
teaching
literature, Part 2
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4-26
due;
Challenge
Discussion (Tim)
SOAR log, Group
1
SOAR response,
Group 2;
Teaching Exercise
(Sarah, Kavetta,
Christina);
Challenge
Discussion 8
(Amber)
SOAR log, Grp 2
SOAR response,
Grp 1;
Draft description
of major
assignments and
final assessment
due;
Challenge
Discussion 9
(Kelie)
Free Day talk
prepared
Presentations of
Final Projects
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Appendix A
S.O.A.R. Reflections
Weekly Reflections about Literature
Purpose:
Each week, you are assigned to read pieces of literature you might one day consider using in your own
middle or high school classroom. In choosing texts to teach, teachers assess the appropriateness of each
piece of literature in relation to the students they have in front of them as well as to the curriculum they
are tasked with using. Sometimes, teachers are required to teach a particular text, but assessment of the
literature is still necessary in order to develop appropriate instruction. As you develop your S.O.A.R.
reflections, you will be addressing issues necessary for assessing literature for use in your own
classroom: The wider significance of the piece, potential student objectives for using the text,
considerations for student access to understanding the text, and ways in which the text can be relevant
to students.
Instructions:
Each week as you read the assigned literature, consider the four aspects of S.O.A.R. (Below you will
find a detailed explanation for your consideration of each aspect.) After you have read the literature as
well as the assigned pedagogical texts, do the task assigned to your group for the week:
1. Construct a written reflection and post it on the course’s Collab site in the “Discussion and
Private Messages” section by midnight on Wednesday or,
2. Construct a written response to the reflections posted. You may begin this task after midnight on
the Wednesday before class, and it must be completed by midnight Thursday.
***Please write directly into the discussion space or cut and paste from your own document—do not
upload a document as this inhibits easy sharing of ideas.
Grading:
Completing the 12 S.O.A.R reflections are a requirement of this course and they account for 12% of
your final grade. Though the reflections are personal, you will be expected to address all four aspects
thoroughly, incorporating not only your personal experiences and ideas but also those accumulated from
the course readings and activities. After your first reflection and your first response, the instructors will
give you personal feedback indicating if you are fulfilling the requirements of the assignment as well as
to prompt you with ideas for expanding your reflection if necessary. After that, you will receive credit
for completing the reflection appropriately or no credit for not completing the reflection appropriately.
These reflections will be used in class activities.
The Four Aspects of the S.O.A.R. Reflection
Significance: Discuss the wider significance of this piece of literature (outside the context of middle or
high school).
 Why do we read it?
 What are the critical and/or historical dimensions of the text?
Objectives: Discuss potential objectives you might have when using this piece of literature with
secondary-level students.
 What are concepts/themes you might address through the use of this text?
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
What reading, writing, or language skills might be introduced or practiced
during a study of this piece of literature? How about speaking, listening, or
viewing skills?
Access:
Discuss considerations in ensuring that all students (not just honors or AP level students)
have access to this piece of literature. When a student can comprehend a text, they have
accessed it in a manner of speaking; however, in an English class, we must also consider
our students’ ability to analyze a text for multiple purposes: interpretation, evaluation,
criticism, and deeper reader response. In this part of your reflection, consider how we can
scaffold our students’ access not only for comprehension purposes, but also for those
analytical purposes.
 What aspects of this text might inhibit students’ access to this piece of literature?
 What are some practical strategies you might consider using to help your
students access this piece of literature?
Relevance:
Discuss how this piece of literature holds relevance for middle or high school students.
Keep in mind the importance of engaging and motivating students through the use of
material, activities, and assessments that they recognize as relevant to their own lives.
Consider also if there are other books, films, games, etc., that might enable students to
see the relevance of this text to themselves. These could be potential sources for your
“Free Day” mini-presentations.
Responses:
Responses should thoughtfully – and professionally – consider the postings of your peers.
Minimum responses should include a paragraph addressing either the general themes of
previous posts or specific points raised in the current week’s reflections. Responses
should also raise at least two new questions for either continued discussion or further
reflection. You may feel free, as well, to bring in your own points that were not
previously addressed. (Please be prepared to introduce your questions into the class
discussion the following day.)
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Appendix B
The Teaching Exercise
Purpose:
This exercise allows you to put into practice in a safe environment the strategies and content you have
been studying in this course. You have been learning about how literature can be used best with middle
and high school students, and this exercise is a way for you to pull together that knowledge and
experiment with ideas that you have been developing and receive feedback on those ideas.
Instructions:
Signing up...On the second day of class, you will sign up for a specific class period (and the
corresponding literature) in which you will conduct your lesson. Please check your calendars carefully
before signing up as it will be difficult, if not impossible to make changes.
Getting feedback...You will use the “Model Lesson Plan” template to develop a detailed lesson
plan that you would use with a specific middle or high school grade and group of students. This lesson
plan will be submitted to the instructors via email no later than Wednesday at midnight before the Friday
class period in which you teach the lesson. The instructors will provide feedback by 9 p.m. on the
Thursday before the Friday class period in which you teach so that you can incorporate it for the big
day!
Submitting your work...You will submit the final lesson plan to the assignment space in our
Collab site by the start of the class period in which you teach. Be sure to upload any and all
supplementary materials you develop or use.
S.O.A.R reflection...In addition to the lesson plan, you will reflect (as a team) on how you
considered the four aspects of S.O.A.R as you developed this lesson plan. This reflection will be
submitted as a part of your lesson plan document before the class you teach, and you will not be
responsible for completing the regular S.O.A.R reflection.
Assessment:
The following table illustrates how your final grade will be determined for this assignment. In addition,
you will receive feedback from your classmates and you will conduct a self-evaluation as well.
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Outstanding
This lesson had objectives that were both
appropriate for the text(s) being used as well
as for the targeted students.
This lesson provided the means for the
targeted students to access the text(s) in order
to accomplish the objectives of the lesson and
to explore the relevance of this text(s) to
themselves.
The lesson fit in the time constraints, and
each member of the presenting team took the
lead in instruction for about 10 minutes of the
lesson.
3
Nice
job — a
few
glitches
2
Needs
improve
-ment
1
Not
yet
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This lesson incorporated literary theory into
the instructional activities in a manner
appropriate for both the text(s) and the
objectives of the lesson.
The lesson plan document illustrates a
complete lesson (all elements of the template
have been completed thoughtfully). It was
emailed to the instructors by the appointed
time to receive feedback as well as submitted
to Collab by the appointed time.
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Appendix C
“Challenge” Discussion
This assignment provides an opportunity to practice (and learn from peers) about creative ways to
structure and facilitate discussions, based on real challenges that student teachers in the past have faced
in facilitating discussions in secondary classrooms. You will sign up for a date and a challenge for this
discussion facilitation on the second week of class. The discussion should last about 20 minutes and
should be followed by a 10-minute debrief of the challenge you chose and how you addressed that.
During the debrief, you should ask peers for input. A format for this debrief section will be provided.
(You are strongly encouraged to sign up for a different date than the date you will complete the
Teaching Exercise.)
Possible “challenges” include:
-You have one or two students who monopolize discussion in class.
-In discussions you’ve led in the past, students just shout out answers without listening to each other.
-You have several students who never speak in full-class discussions.
-You have two English Language Learners in your room, and you’re not sure if they are able to keep up
with the quick pace of oral discussions.
-You have often seen that students talk or hold side conversations while others are talking.
-You have noticed that students never dig into the “deeper” questions but just stay on the surface level of
their discussions.
-Your students seem to waste time in small-group discussions.
-Your students always wait for you as the teacher to tell them “the correct answer.”
-You may suggest a challenge of your own on a first-come, first-served basis.
Instructions:
Based on the challenge that you pick, you will structure a discussion of one of our texts for the week.
We will not actually simulate the challenge in class, as we want to have a productive discussion of the
text, but it should be apparent that you have thought about the challenge and carefully considered ways
to address the challenge. Discussions can take on whatever kinds of formats you think best address the
challenges. They can involve the whole group or small groups, and you may bring in whatever types of
activities you like while keeping in mind that the main purpose of the activity should be to facilitate
meaningful discussion. After the discussion, we will have a shorter debrief discussion in which you will
talk about the choices you made in your discussion structure, and the class will talk about pros, cons,
and possible modifications.
2 pts.
1.5 pts.
OutstandNice
ing
job — a
few
glitches
The facilitator structured a discussion that
helped students consider the text in
meaningful ways.
The facilitator used a creative and appropriate
approach in addressing the discussion
challenge.
There was opportunity provided for all
students to take part in the discussion.
Management of the discussion structure was
1 pt.
Needs
improvement
0.5
pts.
Not
yet
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well thought-out and executed.
The facilitator was able to articulate in the
debrief afterwards why s/he structured the
discussion in the way chosen so as to address
the challenge and to consider other
alternatives to the approach.
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Appendix D
“Free Day” Mini-Presentations
Twice during the semester, instead of having a new assigned text, we will have “free day” minipresentations in which each student will bring in one text that s/he could pair with one of the previous
texts (either from the first or second half of the course, depending on which Free Day it is).
Once you have chosen a text (but no later than 24 hours prior to the class presentation), you should sign
up with an instructor, so we make sure that we have a variety of texts chosen. If you sign up for a text
already taken, you will be asked to select a different text.)
Each student should come prepared to give a 10-minute mini-presentation of a text that s/he has picked
to pair with one of the previous readings. These would likely include short texts that might be more
accessible to students at a broad range of reading levels. Texts might come from a variety of genre,
including fiction and non-fiction, and can include nonprint sources or digital texts. (Our definition here
of text is broad). Where possible, you should provide an electronic copy of the text to the instructors to
post to Collab prior to our class meeting.
During class, you should be prepared to:
-give a brief overview of the text
-tell why it’s connected to the text we read in class
-explain how you would teach the text in class (This point is important, particularly if you
are picking a nontraditional text. It should be clear what you would do with the
text.
-answer questions from your peers.
These texts might include, but are not limited to, pairing texts you wrote about in your SOAR
reflections. The idea is that we will all take away a toolkit of texts and how to use them in secondary
classrooms.
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Appendix E
Final Project
Elective Course Plan
Purpose:
This project allows you to imagine a course of your own design, one that brings literature to secondary
students through a unified theme or topic. The conception is similar to developing a unit plan; however,
the scope is larger and there are fewer restrictions because there is no need to embed the “unit” into a
series of other units. You are developing your own curriculum.
Instructions:
You are to develop a course plan and then share it with your peers on the final day of class, April 26th.
First you must use your imagination to identify the course you would like to teach. For example, one of
our colleagues once proposed and taught an elective course called “The City in American Literature.”
He had to provide the school’s administration with a rationale, syllabus, series of lesson plans, and list of
major assignments before they approved the course. In this course, Sean asked his students to consider
how cities functioned as transformative forces in various works of American literature and helped the
students look critically at the ways the authors described the cities in their works. He taught this course
to juniors and seniors at an urban high school. Since these students’ lives had been influenced by the city
in which they lived, there were numerous opportunities for personal connections. This is just one
example; your course could take a number of forms.
Your course plan will contain the following:
 The title of your course.
 A description of the student population toward which this course is targeted.
 A basic overview of the course that answers questions such as: What is this course? What does it
seek to do? What “big questions” guide it?
 A discussion of the pedagogical goals for the course.
 A reading list of at least five texts that includes at least two of the texts from the Counterpoint
Seminar.
 Rationales for the texts included in your course.
 One complete lesson plan that you would teach during the unit (please use the lesson plan format
found in Appendix B of the syllabus).
 Descriptions of each of the major assignments for the course, including the final assessment
Drafts of the sections above will be due in class, according to the following schedule (also listed on the
syllabus calendar above):
Feb. 8 – Title, basic overview of course, description of student population
Feb. 22 – pedagogical goals, reading list
March 1 – rationale for the texts included
March 29 – lesson plan
April 12 – description of major assignments and final assessment
Assessment
The following 50-point rubric will be used to grade your final project.
The final project accounts for 25% of your final grade.
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Project
component
Course title
Description
of student
population
Course
overview
Pedagogical
goals
Reading list
Text
rationales
Lesson plan
Major
assignments
Mechanics
Evaluation questions
*NOTE: Important to receiving full credit in all the sections below will be
that the student has taken into account and made necessary changes in
responding to feedback provided on project drafts.
Does the course have an engaging title that accurately captures the major
themes and concepts in the course?
Is the targeted student population adequately described in terms of grade
level, location, school environment, socio-economic status, race, and
performance level?
Does the course overview provide a general description of what “big
questions” guide the course, what the course seeks to do, and why it might be
appealing to students?
Is the overview written with the appropriate amount of detail to convince an
administrator to approve the course?
Does this section include the major pedagogical goals for the course?
Are these goals appropriate for the student population, texts, and assignments
described?
Are the goals clearly explained?
Are the decisions to focus on these goals supported?
Does the reading list contain at least five texts, including at least two works
from at least two authors from our syllabus?
Is there a conceptual link between the texts on the reading list and the goals
for the course?
Do the readings work together to provide a perspective on the course topic
that is distinct in some ways, yet related in others?
Are the readings appropriate for the student population described?
Are there rationales for each of the texts you would include in your course?
Do the rationales explain how each text fits with your overall vision for the
course and the pedagogical goals you developed?
Do the rationales appear to be convincing to a reasonable administrator who
would be deciding whether or not to approve your course?
Do the rationales provide an appropriate amount of detail (at least three
sentences per text) regarding the way the texts fit with the course goals?
Is the included lesson plan written in the English education format used in the
team teaching activities?
Does the lesson plan work toward a major pedagogical objective of the
course?
Does the lesson plan incorporate an aspect of a pedagogical text we studied in
this class?
Is the lesson plan accessible to your student population?
Does the plan account for a variety of student characteristics, needs, and
learning styles within that population?
Are all of the major assignments of the course listed and described?
Is extra attention given to describing the course’s final assessment?
Do the assignments assess the students on how they have mastered the
course’s pedagogical goals?
Does the final assessment evaluate the major learning objectives of the
course?
Does the writing utilize proper mechanics?
Is the writing free of grammatical errors?
Pts.
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6
6
6
6
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Organization
Voice
Does it demonstrate an understanding of proper punctuation?
Are sentences clear and representative of complete thoughts?
Is capitalization used at appropriate times?
Is parallel structure used when appropriate?
Note: Either APA or MLA style is acceptable as long as one is consistently
used.
Is the project organized into distinct sections?
Are those sections indicated with headers?
Are subheaders within sections used when appropriate?
Does the content of each section match the heading of that section?
Is the project written in a way that captures the author’s individual style,
personality, and interests?
(Although a course proposal is more formal than other writing more
commonly associated with voice, it is important to make the writing readable
and to avoid stilted language when possible).
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