AUBURN UNIVERSITY
SYLLABUS
Course Number: CTRD 6030
Course Title: The Reading of Adolescents
Credit Hours: 3 semester hours
Prerequisites: CTRD 6710 and admission to Teacher Education or COI
Corequisites: None
Date Syllabus Prepared: August 1998
Texts: Bushman, John H., and Kay Parks Bushman. Using Young Adult Literature in the English Classroom. Merrill, 1997.
Cormier, Robert. I am the Cheese. Dell, 1977.
Ley, Terry C. Resource Packet for Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools. Curriculum and Teaching, Auburn University, 1996.
An NCTE annotated book list: Books for You (Senior High) or Your Reading (Middle School/Junior High).
Course Description:
Use of young adult and popular adult literature in secondary reading and English language arts programs. Patterns of reading interests, attitudes, and instructional needs of adolescents; motivation of unskilled and reluctant readers; criteria for evaluating reading materials; and self-selection/self-pacing reading programs in middle school and high school classrooms.
Course Objectives:
As a result of their work in this course, students will be better able...
1. To relate psychological-developmental needs of adolescents to what
research has discovered about the skills, the interests, and the attitudes of
adolescent readers.
2. To use a variety of motivational strategies to encourage students to read
and build positive attitudes toward reading for both knowledge and pleasure. ELA(1)(a)6
3. To assess the potential appeal and usefulness of reading materials. ELA(1)(b)6
4. To recommend appropriate and appealing fiction and nonfiction to
individuals and groups of students with diverse backgrounds and reading skills.
ELA(1)(a)4; PS(2)(c)2(x)
5. To use current annotated book lists and review columns in selecting
reading materials for classroom libraries and for recommending books to groups
and to individuals. ELA(1)(b)6
6. To examine reading materials for information pertinent to its projected
use in the classroom: approximate readability level; highlights of dominant
plot and subplots, including major conflicts and their resolution; depth of
character development; motivation of major characters; similarities to other
selections; and special challenges to reading skills that suggest the need for
direct instruction. ELA(1)(b)6
7. To use young adult literature as the basis for teaching skills and
strategies necessary for reading texts in a wide range of content areas. ELA(1)(a)9
8. To plan and manage a self-selection/self-pacing reading component
appropriate for individuals in a given English or reading class. ELA(1)(a)10;
PS(2)(b)2(ii)
9. To offer alternative to traditional book report formats, alternatives
that encourage thoughtful response and self expression.
10. To deal wisely and ethically with potential and real problems of
censorship related to assigned and voluntary reading of adolescents.
11. To respond freely to literature themselves and to invite and extend the
honest responses of their students to their reading. ELA(1)(b)6
ELA = Alabama Standards for English Language Arts
PS = Alabama Standards for Professional Studies, Basic Programs
Course Content:
I. Motivating the Reading of Adolescents (Weeks 1-3)
A. What psychology and linguistics tell us about adolescents
B. What research tells us about the reading interests and attitudes of adolescents and about their habits of reading for knowledge and pleasure
C. Ways of discovering and extending the reading interests of adolescents, e.g., through book talks, storytelling, and dramatizing stories
D. How literature currently popular with adolescents tends to reflect the psychological needs of adolescents
E. The short history of young adult literature
II. Becoming Familiar with a Wide Range of Young Adult Literature (Weeks
4-10)
A. Book lists, reviews, catalogs (Week 4)
B. Skimming procedures (Week 4)
C. Reading young adult literature -- with emphasis on ethnic, cultural, and national diversity; relating young adult literature to classics; poetry collections for young adult markets (Weeks 4-10)
D. Creating teacherīs BiblioFiles, including bibliographic information, plot summary, and critical and professional observations and judgments (Weeks 4-10)
E. Criteria for judging quality and potential usefulness of young adult
literature (Weeks 4-5)
III. Using Young Adult Literature to Teach Reading (Weeks 11-15)
A. Selecting suitable reading materials for groups or individuals (Week 11)
B. Estimating readability level quickly (Week 12)
C. Stimulating and extending response to reading materials (Week 12)
D. Using literature circles (Week 13)
E. Extending options for individuals through reading workshops and Directed Individualized Reading (DIR) (Weeks 14-15)
F. Book selection and censorship issues (Week 15)
Course Requirements:
1. Read and respond to at least thirteen full-length works of young adult literature or popular adult literature that are likely to appeal to adolescents. Write and submit critiques or BiblioFiles for eight books. Use alternative feedback methods for sharing the others with peers.
2. Keep a response journal in which you write spontaneously about reading and the books that you read for the course.
3. Write a paper based upon interviews with at least three adolescent readers concerning their reading experiences, attitudes, and habits.
4. Conduct individual book conferences with peers who have read a book of their choice.
5. Take a progressive examination that consists of (a) a series of questions assigned throughout the semester, some of them answered in class and some answered outside of class; (b) a series of objective questions based upon assigned reading; and (c) several essay questions completed during the scheduled final examination period. A single examination grade will be determined by the total credit earned on all three examination components.
Evaluation:
40% BiblioFiles (8)
20% Response Journal
15% Interview-based Research Project
25% Progressive Examination (Graded on a ten-point scale)
Students must satisfy all course objectives to pass this course.
Class Policy Statements:
Attendance and Participation: Plan to participate fully in
discussions, small group activities, and book sharing sessions. Participation
will strongly influence borderline course grades. Regular attendance will
affect the frequency and quality of class participation and thus can affect the
course grade, especially if absences occur during class periods when all
students participate in small group/collaborative or laboratory activities.
Academic Honesty: Evidence of plagiarism will result in application
of measures outlined in the Auburn University Student Academic Honesty Code
(Chapter 1208, Constitution of the Student Government Association, published in
the Tiger Cub).
Special Accommodations for Students with Disabilities: Anyone who
needs special accommodations should make an appointment, as soon as possible,
to discuss the Accommodation Memo with me in my office, preferably during
office hours. If my office hours conflict with your classes, an alternative
appointment time can be arranged. If you do not have an Accommodation Memo, but
you need special accommodation, contact The Program for Students with Disabilities
in 1244 Haley Center (844-2096 TDD/V).
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SEMESTER TRANSITION
For 6000-Level Credit
COURSE CTRD 6030 -- The Reading of Adolescents
ATTACHMENTS
2. Justification
This course meets Standard (1)(a)(4) required by the Alabama State
Department of Education and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher
Accreditation for undergraduate certification of English Language Arts
teachers for grades 6-12. It also provides instruction related to numerous
competencies listed by the International Reading Association (Standards for
Reading Professionals, 1992) for positions as reading teacher, reading
consultant/coordinator, or reading teacher educator, certified only at the graduate
level in Alabama. Enrolled in this course will be seniors in English
Language Arts and graduate students in English Education and Reading Education
who have not previously enrolled in a similar course.