COURSE TITLE:
LITERACY STRATEGIES FOR GRADES 4 - 12
NO OF CREDITS:
2 QUARTER CREDITS
[semester equivalent = 1.33 credits]
WA CLOCK HRS:
OREGON PDUs:
INSTRUCTOR:
MARY ANN JOHNSON, M.ED ADM.
maryajohnson-advisor@comcast.net
206/367-8058
20
20
LEARNING ENVIRONMENT:
This course requires assignment responses to be posted in a password-secured ONLINE website hosted
by The Heritage Institute.
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Literacy Strategies for Grades 4 – 12 by Karen Tankersley is a great resource for teachers who need to
help students improve understanding of textbooks and develop thinking skills critical to success in
secondary education. It is rich in its ideas, and substantiates recommendations with excellent research
findings. It deals both with skills and motivational needs of poor readers as they progress through the
grades. There are many encouraging and interesting ideas to make the job of the secondary teacher
more successful AND more lively.
This is the second book by Karen Tankersley, amplifying on her highly successful original book Threads
of Reading: Strategies for Literacy Development, in which she explains that the teaching of reading is
sequentially based, and continues to develop throughout school years. Her books are very readable, and
her creative strategies make a teacher feel like getting started right away.
Additional cost for required textbook is approximately $21-$27 depending on purchase source.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Upon completion of this course, participants will:
1. Have acquired interesting and practical ways to help students work in textbooks with more and
more complex vocabulary
2. Have acquired motivation and encouragement for teachers of the upper grades who feel they
have never had instruction in any kind of reading strategies, but are held responsible for helping
all students deal with reading assignments in their subject areas
3. Have acquired some special suggestions including on-line resources for teachers whose students
include English-language learners
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Participants will complete assignments and post responses online to specific questions outlined for each
assignment. Completion of all specified assignments is required for issuance of hours or credit. The
Heritage Institute does not award partial credit.
HOURS EARNED:
Completing the basic assignments (Section A. Information Acquisition) for this course automatically earns
participantʼs their choice of 20 Washington State Clock Hours or 20 Oregon PDUs. The Heritage Institute
is an approved provider of Washington State Clock Hours and Oregon PDUs.
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UNIVERSITY QUARTER CREDIT INFORMATION
REQUIREMENTS FOR UNIVERSITY QUARTER CREDIT
Continuing Education Quarter credits are awarded by Antioch University Seattle (AUS). AUS requires
75% or better for credit at the 400 level (Upper Division) and 85% or better to issue credit at the 500 level
(Post-Baccalaureate). These criteria refer both to the amount and quality of work submitted.
1. Completion of Information Acquisition assignments
30%
2. Completion of Learning Application assignments
40%
3. Completion of Integration Paper assignment
30%
CREDIT/NO CREDIT
Antioch University Seattle (AUS) Continuing Education (CE) Quarter credit is offered on a Credit/No
Credit basis; neither letter grades nor numeric equivalents are on a transcript. 400 level credit is equal to
a “C” or better, 500 level credit is equal to a “B” or better. This information is on the back of the transcript.
AUS CE quarter credits may or may not be accepted into degree programs. Prior to registering determine
with your district personnel, department head or state education office the acceptability of these credits.
ADDITIONAL COURSE INFORMATION
COURSE MATERIAL and/or TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
You will need high-speed (DSL) Internet access in order to view online resources. Some of the reading
materials may be provided in the online environment as PDF documents, a format readable by with
Adobe Acrobat Reader. You may download a free copy of Acrobat Reader from our website.
REQUIRED TEXTBOOK:
• Literacy Strategies for Grades 4—12: Reinforcing the Threads of Reading by Karen Tankersley.
2005, ASCD, 202-pages, ISBN 1-4166-0154-6; About $27 from Amazon.
• For additional reading access an annotated Master Bibliography for this course that enhances any
teacherʼs toolbox. The Bibliography can be downloaded where you got this syllabus on www.hol.edu.
GETTING STARTED:
• After registering for the course, you will be sent an email with the website address, password and
course key you need to access your online course, along with log in instructions.
• Access each assignment listed here in the online course environment and enter your responses.
• Write your responses in a WORD document and then ʻcopy/pasteʼ them into the Responses box.
• When all assignments are completed, CLICK the 'ALL ASSIGNMENTS COMPLETED'. The instructor
will be notified that you have completed all assignments.
• After the instructor reviews your work and enters his responses you will be notified by email. You will
be instructed to log in and view those responses. SAVE a copy of assignments and responses.
NOTES TO ALL PARTICIPANTS:
• You are not required to be present (i.e. online) specific days or times. You will work at your own pace.
• All responses will be posted online. Large documents, files, photographs or PowerPoint presentations
may be attached as part of your response by using the “Share A File” option.
• You may work collaboratively and submit similar responses on all assignments except the Integration
Paper, which must be individually authored.
• To maintain privacy, please do not refer to students in your papers by their actual names, but rather
use an alias or designation such as “Student A.”
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ASSIGNMENTS REQUIRED FOR HOURS OR UNIVERSITY QUARTER CREDIT
A.
INFORMATION ACQUISITION
Assignment #1:
(a) Briefly introduce yourself and explain your interest in the topic.
From the “Introduction”
(b) What does the “Matthew Effect” mean?
(c) How has the No Child Left Behind laws changed the way your school operates? What new pressures
do you face that you have not had to deal with in the past?
(d) Is it realistic to expect all content teachers to learn how to enhance student reading and writing
performance even though they have not directly been trained to do this?
Assignment #2:
From Chapter 1: “The Struggling Reader”
How are struggling readers different from good readers? What implications do these differences have for
classroom teaching?
Assignment #3:
From Chapter 1:
(a) Cite some good ideas for motivating the students we have today?
(b) Vygotsky reminds us that learning should be a “social” activity. How can you build more social
interaction and interdependence in your classroom?
(c) How might you incorporate student choice and a greater variety of materials and text levels into your
studentsʼ classroom work?
Assignment #4:
From Chapter 1: Select and discuss three (3) strategies that would work best with your students.
Assignment #5:
From Chapter 1: The author states that reading aloud by the teacher has positive effects.
Discuss any role that reading aloud has in your classroom.
Find and share at least one piece of text that you could use as a read-aloud for your students.
Describe something you have (or could) read to provide a read aloud experience for your students.
Assignment #6:
From Chapter 2: “Fluency”
Consider at least three strategies that you could use with students to provide good modeling or feedback
from short oral practices.
Assignment #7:
From Chapter 2: From having read the chapter, what strategies have proven least effective in improving
student fluency?
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Assignment #8:
From Chapter 3: “Vocabulary”
What were four key ideas about teaching vocabulary that need to be known before choosing specific
activities?
Assignment #9:
From Chapter 3: List at least four new ways to help students build their vocabulary in your classroom or
school.
Assignment #10:
From Chapter 4: “Comprehension”
Why is comprehension the “essence” of reading?
Assignment #11:
From Chapter 4: There is a great deal of information in this chapter about the importance of metacognition strategies for reading comprehension. What is the role of meta-cognition in reading? What are
some important meta-cognition reading strategies you can do with your students?
Assignment #12:
From Chapter 4: Explain the purpose of pre-reading activities, and what are at least two pre-reading
strategies that you havenʼt tried, that you would use to improve learning for your students?
Assignment #13:
From Chapter 4: List reading strategies that might be useful for students in your classes.
Assignment #14:
From Chapter 5: “Higher Order Thinking”
Select several strategies that you have (or could) use to enable higher level student thinking.
Assignment #15:
From Chapter 5: Examine some childrenʼs books on content material that you teach. How can you (or
did you) incorporate a childrenʼs book on a key topic into your lesson plans?
Assignment #16:
From the Conclusion and Appendices
(a) After reading this book, what are five key understandings about reading that you now have?
(b) What is a key learning you took from any of the three “Appendices”?
This completes the assignments required for Hours.
Continue to the next section for additional assignments required for University Quarter Credit.
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ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENTS REQUIRED FOT UNIVERSITY QUARTER CREDIT
B.
LEARNING APPLICATION
(Required for 400 and 500 Level)
In this section you will apply your learning to your professional situation. This course assumes that most
participants are classroom teachers who have access to students. If you are not teaching in a classroom,
please contact the instructor for course modifications. If you are a classroom teacher and start or need to
complete this course during the summer, please try to apply your ideas when possible with youth from
your neighborhood, at a local public library or parks department facility, (they will often be glad to sponsor
community-based learning), or with students in another teacherʼs summer classroom in session.
Assignment #17:
Option A) Create at least one lesson plan that you could use based on an idea you learned from the book
used for this course. Describe the idea or essential question(s) you are employing, the grade level and
subject for which the lesson is intended, specifics for introducing the lesson, steps of the content, student
work requested, and expectation for gauging effectiveness.
OR
Option B) Reflect on the results of use of a strategy from this book, either one you have tried or hope to
try. Start by describing the strategy you employed (or hope to employ) and analyze the outcomes (real or
possible) with specifics.
OR
Option C) Analyze what reservations you think a teacher, administrator, parent and/or student might have
about using a strategy or issue advocated in this book. Describe why you think there is a reservation(s).
Create a response which acknowledges the reservation and presents information you have found in this
book or in additional reading you have done on this subject. (If you also have reservations, describe both
sides of the issue.)
500 LEVEL ASSIGNMENT
Assignment #18:
(500 Level Only)
In addition to the 400 level assignments, complete one of the following:
Option A) Create a presentation that could be given for a group of colleagues, based on your reading. It
can be in the form of a Power Point, or a “lesson plan.” The presentation should include a copy of any
handout(s) you will use. (If you ask for feedback, follow the “Peer Response as Part of Assignment
Response” directions in Choice #3.)
OR
Option B) Compare and contrast the material in this book with information you find in another book or
online research of articles. For online research, quote any important URL, write a summary of information
you found, and then compare/contrast with information in the book for this course.
OR
Option C) Do first hand interviews, including peer responses, of teachers/administrators in the district or
parent(s), student(s), or some other appropriate individual(s), and determine things like policy issues,
personal points of view, other important sources of information, and what does or doesnʼt work currently
in the area involved. Each interview event or individual response is rated as equivalent to three-four hours
of your work. How to do peer or interview response(s): -- use the following format:
a) Describe your interview questionnaire or topic you are presenting for peer review, and then
b) Post peer or interview response(s) to that assignment in the same response box. Use the
following format.
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PEER RESPONSE or INTERVIEW RESPONSE
Respondent(s) Name:
Relationship to you:
Date of response:
Comments of respondent (or summary of group response):
OR
Option D) Create an annotated bibliography of five or more books or articles related to the subject of your
course. The annotation should include Title, Author, Publisher (or URL), length of the book or article and
your review of information contained. Add your opinion of the value or your criticism of the contents of
each book or article, and rate the importance of the material in contrast to the subject of your course.
C.
INTEGRATION PAPER
(Required for 400 and 500 Level)
Assignment #19:
Complete the requirements for university quarter credit by submitting a final Integration paper (1-2 pages).
A heading is required; please use the following format.
Your Name:
Date:
Course Name:
Course Number:
Number of Credits:
Level: (400 or 500)
Advisorʼs Name:
Respond online to each of the 5 questions below. (First list the question and then write your answer)
1. What did you learn vs. what you expected to learn from this course?
2. What aspects of the course were most helpful and why?
3. What further knowledge and skills in this general area do you feel you need?
4. How, when and where will you use what you have learned?
5. How and with what other school or community members might you share what you learned?
INSTRUCTOR COMMENTS ON YOUR WORK:
Be sure to mark the “All Assignments Completed” section in the online course environment to
notify the instructor that you have completed the course.
Upon receiving notification of your completion of all course assignments, your instructor will provide final
written comments in the HOL online environment.
QUALIFICATIONS FOR TEACHING THIS COURSE:
Mary Ann Johnson, M.Ed Adm. has worked with students of all levels, from alternative high school to
gifted classes. She has also been a junior high vice principal and is now working with teachers for
continuing education in classes, distance learning and building leadership groups.
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