Reading in the Elementary School
EDCI 51500
Fall, 2010
Instructor: Dr. Susan Britsch
Office: 4120 BRNG
Office Phone: 494-5893 (office)
494-2364 (secretary)
Email: sbritsch@purdue.edu
Office Hours: by appointment
Course Days and Times: Thursdays, 6:00-8:50 p.m.
Location: BRNG 1222
Course Description
The aim of this class is to prepare you to understand and guide children’s acquisition of meaning
from text. Specifically, we will focus on the current issues and techniques in instructing students
who are learning to read. We will define ‘text’ multimodally because reading today involves the
navigation of image and graphics as well as words. You will learn to identify children’s strengths
and to design classroom experiences on this basis as well as on the basis of children’s needs,
using current practice.
Course Objectives
 an understanding of the teaching and learning of reading as an active, transactional process
that links with all areas of literacy and the curriculum
 an understanding of the developmental history of language and literacy;
 practice in observing and analyzing some of the literacy behaviors of young children;
 an understanding of the rationale behind the kinds of classroom activities that are
appropriate to the strengths and needs of young children
Required Texts (All should be on reserve in HSSE.)
Bear, D., Invernizzi, M. Templeton, S. & Johnston, F. (2007). Words their way (4th ed.) Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Derewianka, B. (1990). Exploring how texts work. Primary English Teaching Association.
Durkin, D. (2004). Teaching them to read. Pearson.
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Course requirements
1. Course Readings and In-Class Activity/Discussion: 75 points total
Please come to class on time. We’ll start promptly at 6:00. Chronic lateness (i.e., more than 3
times) may result in the loss of participation points for the course.
You are expected to complete all readings for the course prior to the class meeting during
which they are discussed. I will announce the readings in class. I hope you will not only
understand and absorb the information in the course readings but also that you will use them as
branching-off points in your own ideas for instruction.
You will also be expected to participate in in-class activities and discussions throughout the
course. Some of these will be based upon assignments that you will complete as homework
and bring to class. For this reason, class attendance and constructive participation are required.
In this course, attendance and participation are two different things. Participation in this class
thus includes reading, in-class activities, discussion, out-of-class activity, and course assignments.
Merely being present and awake during class does not constitute participating. The success of a
course depends much more on the students than on the professor: the instructor is one. You
are many. Please make use of the opportunity to ask questions about anything you do not fully
understand.
2. Instructional Materials Activities: 25 points each
Students will be required to prepare and/or evaluate sample instructional materials based on
criteria drawn from the substance of the course. They are meant to be creative and will be
multimodal.
3. Instructional Materials Practicum Experiences
The major assignment for the course is an instructional materials project that you must carry
out in a K-5 classroom.
Please email me a short description of the classroom in which you wish to work. (I will detail
the contents of this description in class.) If the classroom is approved, you will carry out the
Instructional Materials Practicum experiences there. If the classroom is not approved, you will
need to locate another suitable classroom before proceeding to work on the required
products. If you have difficulty in locating a classroom, please see me; I may be able to provide
some contacts for you in schools located in Frankfort or Crawfordsville. TTT students will
work at Glen Acres Elementary School in Lafayette.
For the practicum assignments, each student will work with a small group of children (i.e., 4-5
children) in the K-5 classroom in which you are working. You will work with the same small
group throughout all 4 of the practicum assignments. You will arrange the composition of this
small group in consultation with the classroom teacher, along with workable dates and times
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for the completion of each assignment. Please note that you may be required to submit scans of
student products as part of fulfilling these assignments. The Instructional Materials Practicum
experiences will involve the completion of these products:
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Teaching must be based upon student needs. As preparation for your teaching, you will
carry out two observations of your small group in your practicum classroom. You will
reflect upon and write up your observations according to a format that will be
distributed in class. In this way, you will gain information about the students’ strengths
and needs and then apply your understandings to your lesson planning. (100 points each)
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Based on your observations, you will prepare the materials and to develop two activity
plans for your small group in the practicum classroom. You will write up the
instructional plan for each lesson, carry out the lesson in the approved classroom, and
include an in-depth post-teaching discussion of your teaching interaction. TTT students
will submit the second of these activity assignments on Taskstream. (100 points each)
General Course Policies
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You are responsible for consulting with the instructor if you are experiencing
difficulty with the course work or material.
If you miss class, you are responsible for all announcements, assignments, and
information presented or discussed in your absence.
Guidelines and due dates for the course assignments will be detailed on assignment
sheets that your instructor will distribute in class throughout the semester. You will
submit all assignments to me in class on the deadlines specified on the assignment
sheets. These assignments are in addition to readings and materials activities.
You are expected to turn in all work on the deadlines specified on the assignment
sheets. Deadlines for all written work are absolute and all assignments are due by
the end of class on those dates even if you are absent on that day. If you are absent
on the day an assignment is due, you must email the assignment to me by the end of
class time on the due date listed on the assignment sheet or give it to a colleague to
turn in for you in class.
Assignments turned in later than the deadline specified on the assignment sheet will
receive a 10% reduction in grade for that day and for each subsequent late day.
Emailed assignments to which you have forgotten to attach your paper will count as
late assignments. There will be no exceptions to this policy.
I am happy to provide feedback on any of the course assignments before you turn
them in. Please make an appointment to see me or send an email. I do not, however,
provide feedback the day before—or the day that—an assignment is due. 
There are no make-up points or assignment ‘redo’ opportunities for this course.
I can only return graded papers directly to the individual student author.
Alternatively, I will mail end-of-semester projects to students who provide selfaddressed, stamped envelopes.
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Grading
Final grades for the course will be assigned as follows:
A+: 97-100%
A: 93-96%
A-: 90-92%
C+: 77-79%
C: 73-76%
C-: 70-72%
B+: 87-89%
B: 83-86%
B-: 80-82%
D+: 67-69%
D: 63-66%
D-: 60-62%
F: <60%
Attendance Policies
Please do not come to class or to a practicum experience if you are ill (e.g., with a fever, a
cough, or other flu symptoms). Medical absences will be excused with original medical
documentation (i.e., not Xeroxed) showing your name and the dates on which you were ill or
were prohibited from attending class. Medical documentation can be obtained from PUSH, from
your personal physician, or from the Dean of Students’ office. If you are absent on the day an
assignment is due because you are ill, email the assignment to your instructor by the end of
class time on the due date listed on the assignment sheet or give it to a colleague to turn in
during class time.
Being called for jury duty or participating in an activity that is University-sponsored and officially
documented through the University are also excused absences. University documentation with
your name included in this documentation, not penciled in, must be presented to your
instructor PRIOR to the University activity or jury duty.
All other absences are unexcused and will result in a 5% deduction in your final grade for each
unexcused absence. There will be no exceptions to this policy.
Each student is allowed ONE personal, unpenalized absence from the on-campus sessions of
the course for the semester. This does not apply to practicum experiences. Attendance and
completion of practicum experiences for this course is mandatory unless you have written
medical documentation from PUSH, from your physician, or from the Dean of Students office.
In addition, if you are called for jury duty or are representing Purdue at a University function
(e.g., athletics, PU related performance or event), you must provide your instructor with official
University notice prior to the event showing your name printed in the announcement, not
penciled in somewhere on the page. You will need to make arrangements for any make-up
practicum experiences that are needed with the teacher you with whom you are working. You
must make up the practicum experience within one week.
Purdue University policy states that all students are expected to be present for every meeting
of classes in which they are enrolled. All matters relative to attendance, including the make-up
of missed work, are to be arranged between you and the instructor. Only the instructor can
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excuse you from classes or course responsibilities. In the case of an illness, accident, or an
emergency, you should make direct contact with your instructor as soon as possible,
preferably before the class. If the instructor cannot be reached directly a message should be left
in the instructor’s department mailbox or with the instructor’s secretary. If you will be absent
for more than five days, have not been able to reach the instructor in person or by
telephone or through leaving notification of your circumstances with the instructor's secretary,
you or your representative should notify the Office of the Dean of Students (765-494-1254) as
soon as possible after becoming aware that the absence is necessary. Be advised, you may be
asked to provide documentation from an authorized professional or agency which supports an
explanation for your absence.
Beering Hall Emergency Statement
Students are required to visit http://www.education.purdue.edu/ODFD/resources.html to
review the response procedures for emergencies in Beering Hall. It is necessary that you
review these directions within the first week of your Beering classes. If you have any questions
see your instructor.
Emergency Statement
In the event of a major campus emergency, course requirements, deadlines and grading
percentages are subject to changes that may be necessitated by a revised semester calendar or
other circumstances. Here are ways to get information about changes in this course.
Instructor’s email address: sbritsch@purdue.edu; instructor’s office phone: 494-5893;
secretary’s office phone: 494-2364.
Disabilities Statement
Students with disabilities must be registered with the Disability Resource Center in the Office
of the Dean of Students before classroom accommodations can be provided. If you are eligible
for academic accommodations because you have a documented disability that will impact your
work in this class, please talk with your instructor during the first week of class to discuss your
needs.
Academic Dishonesty Statement
Purdue prohibits "dishonesty in connection with any University activity. Cheating, plagiarism, or
knowingly furnishing false information to the University are examples of dishonesty." [Part 5,
Section III-B-2-a, University Regulations] Furthermore, the University Senate has stipulated that
"the commitment of acts of cheating, lying, and deceit in any of their diverse forms (such as the
use of substitutes for taking examinations, the use of illegal cribs, plagiarism, and copying during
examinations) is dishonest and must not be tolerated. Moreover, knowingly to aid and abet,
directly or indirectly, other parties in committing dishonest acts is in itself dishonest."
[University Senate Document 72-18, December 15, 1972]
All work that you turn in for this course must be strictly your own. Academic dishonesty
means plagiarism of any sort, cheating, representing another student’s work as your own,
furnishing false information to the instructor or university, or any other form of academic
dishonesty. Any form of academic dishonesty will result in a failing grade for the entire course.
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Elementary Education course Completion Policy Statement
Elementary Education majors have two opportunities to enroll in and pass required EDCI,
EDPS, AND EDST courses with a minimum grade of C. Withdrawal from a course (W or WF)
constitutes one of the two opportunities. Failure to successfully meet these requirements will
result in dismissal from the Elementary Education Program. Courses repeated to improve a
grade must be taken at the West Lafayette campus. [Approved by the Elementary Teacher
Education Committee, April 20, 2007.]
Course Evaluation Statement
During the last two weeks of the semester, you will be provided with an opportunity to
evaluate this course and your instructor using Purdue’s online course evaluation system. Near
the end of classes, you will receive an official e-mail from evaluation administrators with a link
to the online evaluation site. You will have up to two weeks to complete this evaluation. Your
participation is an important part of this course, and your feedback is vital to improving
education at Purdue University. I strongly encourage you to participate in the evaluation
system.
Tentative Course Calendar
This course is primarily driven by concepts and by your needs as students, not by a schedule.
We will investigate the concepts shown below. At the time we visit each one, which I’ll
announce I class, you are expected to do the designated readings. I reserve the right to add,
delete, or reorder readings as necessitated by our interests and needs as a class.
Week 1: Course Introduction / Acquiring Meaning from Text
Week 2: The Reading Process
 Durkin: Chapters 1, 2
Week 3: Visual Literacy and Multimodal Literacy
 I will supply the reading for this week.
Week 4: Literacy at the Beginning
 Durkin: Chapters 4, 5
 Bear: Chapters 1, 3
 OBSERVATION #1
Week 5: Emergent Literacy
 Bear: Chapters 4, 5
Week 6: Developing Orthography
 Bear: Chapter 2
 OBSERVATION #2
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Week 7: Within Word and Intermediate Readers (and Writers)
 Bear: Chapters 6,7
Week 8: Grapho-phonemic and Structural Cues
 Durkin: Chapters 8, 9
 Durkin: Chapter 10
 ACTIVITY #1
Week 9: The Role of Genre
 Derewianka: Chapters 1-7
Week 10: Catch-Up Session
 I will supply you with reading for this week.
Week 11: Developing Comprehension
 Durkin: Chapters 3, 11, 12
 ACTIVITY #2
Week 12: Developing Reading Vocabularies
 Durkin: Chapters 6 and 7
Week 13: The Role of Materials
 Durkin: Chapters 13, 14, 15
Week 14: THANKSGIVING BREAK; NO CLASS THURSDAY
Week 15: Making Professional Decisions
 Durkin: Chapter 16
Week 16: Summary
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