ERDG 625: Integrated Literacy Instruction, B-6
Program Requirements and Prerequisites: ERDG 625 is a required course for the Childhood Education and Early Childhood Education programs
(students admitted prior to Summer 2013), and must be taken in the last semester. This is an elective course for Literacy B-6 and for Childhood
Education and Early Childhood Education students admitted in Summer 2013 or later.
Course Description: Theory and practice of integrated literacy instruction. Topics include: historical perspectives on integrated language arts,
different kinds of integration (within language arts, between language arts and subject areas, within and across grade levels, etc.), developing
integrated units of instruction, teaching skills within themes, and assessing children’s literacy progress.
Attributes
 Literacy as Social Practice*
 Equity
 Generate Productive Learning Communities*
 Engagement
 Reciprocal Relationships Across Modes of Communication**
 Strategic Teaching to Promote Self-Extending Learning*
 Assessment of Literacies and Their Development
 Research Based Professional Learning*
Core Content
TOPIC 1: Literacy Integration: What Does it
Mean?
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Attributes (continued)
 Respectful Representation of Students, Families and Communities
 Critical Literacies*
 Disciplinary Literacy/Knowledge Building**
 Data Based Decision Making*
 Technologies and Digital Media*
 Materials and Resources**
 Prevention and Intervention*
 Standards**
Possible Assignments
Learning Logs.
Students are expected to read a minimum of 4
professional books and many articles from
journals. In each module, students complete
learning logs that summarize, critique, and reflect
on the readings/viewings/podcasts, relating them
to the student’s prior knowledge and teaching
experience, making connections to other texts,
and drawing implications for integrated literacy
instruction.
Theoretical and research perspectives on
literacy integration
An analysis of the different ways in which
integration is defined in the professional
and research literature (e.g., within
language arts, between language arts and
subject areas, within and across grade
levels, etc.).
A review of different kinds of integration Reflection/Reaction Assignments.
(theme studies, theme immersion, inquiry- Students answer questions on each course topic,
related to theoretical, research and practical
Possible Readings
Brock, C.H., Goatley, V.J., Raphael, T.E.,
Trost-Shahata, E. and Weber, C.M. (2014).
Engaging students in disciplinary literacy,
K-6: Reading, writing, and teaching tools
for the classroom. New York: Teachers
College Press.
Chatton, B. and N. L. D. Collins (1999).
Blurring the edges: Integrated curriculum
through writing and children's literature.
Portsmouth, NH, Heinemann.
Harvey, S. & Daniels, H. (2009).
Comprehension and collaboration: Inquiry
based themes, project approach, etc.)
TOPIC 2: Creating themes: Selecting topics
 Overview of the different sources for
themes (e.g., content areas, calendar,
concepts, form, etc.)
 Techniques for exploring dimensions of
topics (opening up possibilities,
narrowing focus, ensuring that topics are
worth exploring, identifying big ideas)
TOPIC 3: Enlarging teachers' knowledge of
topics; blocking themes
 Rationale for teachers enlarging their own
knowledge of themes
 Techniques for enlarging teacher's
knowledge
 Techniques for blocking a theme.
TOPIC 4: Teaching Themes: Activities, skills
 Creating authentic teaching and learning
experiences for themes.
 Teaching literacy skills within a theme
(directly, indirectly)
TOPIC 5 : Assessment of Learning Within
integrated literacy instruction
 Techniques for assessing content
knowledge developed in a theme.
 Techniques for assessing literacy
development/progress within a theme.
 Techniques for assessing the effectiveness
of a theme.
TOPIC 6: Completion of a proposed/actual theme
perspectives on literacy integration.
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Examine the way in which your own
school (or grade level) integrates its
elementary or middle school curriculum.
In light of the class readings and
discussions, what seems to be missing,
and what possibilities are there for further
integration?
Read several articles on the topic of
integration, and write a reaction piece on
them. What are the major theoretical and
practical issues?
Examine in detail your own curriculum,
and reflect on the extent to which you
integrate its components. What do you
think can and ought to be further
integrated?
Final Theme Project. Students select a topic and
develop a theme project that will be usable in a
B-6 classroom. The project is developed over the
course of the semester and submitted at the end of
course. Students create their own integrated
instructional unit (theme) by selecting a topic and
providing a rationale for it, showing why it is
worthy of students’ time and energy, what its
learning goals and big ideas are, how it relates to
the curriculum, and why a particular theme
approach would be appropriate. Students further
develop and extend their own knowledge of the
topic(s) they have chosen for their theme. They
then propose how their theme is to be blocked
(making decisions about the duration of a theme,
the sub-topics to be covered, the overall
organization, sequence and content of learning
episodes). For each major component of their
theme, students propose and provide a
justification for: read-alouds, independent
circles in action. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
Kucer, S., C. Silva, et al. (1995). Curricular
Conversations. York, ME, Stenhouse
Publishers.
Pappas, C. C., B. Z. Kiefer, et al. (2006). An
integrated language perspective in the
elementary school: Theory into action. NY:
Pearson.
Parker, D. (2007). Planning for inquiry.
Urbana, IL: NCTE.
Walmsley, S. A. (1994). Children exploring
their world: Theme teaching in elementary
school. Portsmouth, NH, Heinemann.
Sample Articles
Clyde, J.A., et al. (2006). Teachers and
children inquire into Reggio Emilia.
Language Arts, 83(3), 215-326.
Gill, S.R. (2010). What teachers need to
know about the “new” nonfiction. The
Reading Teacher, 63(4), 260-267.
Guccione, L.M. (2011). In a world of
mandates, making space for inquiry. The
Reading Teacher, 64(7), 515-519.
Hapgood, S. , & Palincsar, A.S. (2007).
Where literacy and science intersect.
Educational Leadership, 64(4), 56-60.
Maloch, B., & Horsey, M. (2013). Living
reading, guided/shared reading and/or close
activities; writing; projects (if any); culminating
activity (if any). Of particular importance is
proposing and justifying teaching and learning
experiences that will meet the needs of diverse
students, and students with a range of literacy
abilities. Students propose and provide a
justification for how they intend to assess
children’s knowledge of the content of their
theme and literacy skills within the various theme
activities. They also propose and justify how they
intend to evaluate the effectiveness of the theme
itself.
inquiry: Learning from and about
informational texts in a second-grade
classroom. The Reading Teacher, 66(6),
475-485.
Ray, K.W. (2005). Exploring inquiry as a
teaching stance in the writing workshop.
Language Arts, 83(3), 238-247.
Strickland, D. S. and L. M. Morrow (1990).
Integrating the emergent literacy curriculum
with themes. The Reading Teacher, 43(8),
604-605.