Courses in Literacy Teaching and Learning
E LTL 404 (formerly E RDG 404) Children's Literature (3)
Students read and respond to multiple genres of children’s literature, including nonfiction texts, across both print and electronic platforms. Topics include: supporting and appreciating students’ complex responses to literature; analyzing the symbiotic relationship of words and pictures in visual texts; using technology to promote literary understanding; and meeting the standards by designing literature instruction informed by critical literacy perspectives.
E LTL 406 (formerly E RDG 406) Young Adult Literature (3)
Students read and respond to multiple genres of literature for young adults, including nonfiction texts. Topics include: understanding how adolescents build identities and worldviews through engagements with literature; supporting and extending students’ responses to literature through dialogic teaching; designing literature instruction to support close readings of complex texts informed by literary theory and disciplinary knowledge; using technology to promote literary understanding; analyzing the symbiotic relationship between words and pictures in visual, digital, and multigenre texts.
E LTL 410 (formerly E RDG 410) Literacy in Social Contexts (3)
This course examines historical and contemporary aspects of literacy, focusing particularly on the relation between literacy and forms of social and cultural life. Topics include: (1) perspectives on literacy; (2) the role of literacy in society; (3) implications of diversity on literacy development; (4) relationships among diverse communities of practice.
E LTL 487 (formerly E RDG 487) Institute in Education (2-9)
A special program, not part of the pattern of regular offerings, designed to meet particular nonrecurring needs. Available for department use and subject to department approval.
E LTL 490Z (formerly E RDG 490Z) Literate Thinking (3)
This class is designed to strengthen the reading, writing, and critical thinking skills of participants using a variety of challenging texts and rigorous writing exercises. Beginning with a discussion of folk tales and creation myths, the class will move through a variety of texts (including short fiction, novels, poetry, essays, journalism, and film) to examine how “story” addresses and expresses human experience. Throughout the semester the course examines why humans are drawn to narrative and why certain topics/themes appear repeatedly in stories of all cultures and periods. The course will also spend time thinking about the role of language in thinking and how language serves to limit expression.
E LTL 491Z (formerly E RDG 491Z) Reading and Writing the Happier Self (4)
Reading and writing transform the way we think, and how we see ourselves in the world. This writing-intensive class presents a set of cognitive tools and practical skills that will help students refine and enhance their educational goals while examining a broad range of life issues. Relying on texts from psychology, neuroscience, literature and narrative theory, this writing-intensive class will examine patterns of human behavior and thinking that tend to produce lasting fulfillment and deep reward. In addition to classroom work a special two-hour laboratory session, with attendant readings and writing exercises, will be required each week to demonstrate how mindfulness exercises help to reduce stress. Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor.
