Catalog 2009-2010
Lewis & Clark
Graduate School of Education and Counseling
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Reading Endorsement (Language and Literacy Program)
Lewis & Clark's Language and Literacy Program applies a dynamic view of literacy to reading and writing instruction in the schools. The program's theoretical base owes much to the work of Linda Rief, Stephanie Harvey, Ellin Keene, Stephen Krashen, Donald Graves, Louise Rosenblatt, and others who believe that reading, writing, listening, and speaking are all language processes. Language users interact with text—oral, written, and visual—to construct meaning and create meaningful stories.
The Language and Literacy Program builds on the knowledge that language, in all its richness of form and function, is the foundation from which effective literacy evolves. The program takes an integrated and holistic approach to the teaching of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Students and teachers develop flexible strategies to support the reader's construction of meaning from text. Adopting the stance of teacher-researchers, students and faculty explore issues in the teaching of reading and writing. What is literacy? How does our own literacy affect our instruction of language arts? What are the politics of literacy? What can we learn from current research in thought, language, reading, and writing?
To apply this philosophy to the realities of the school world, teachers of language and literacy must know how people—especially children—learn. Teachers must also be able to apply this understanding to language and literacy development in a wide variety of cultures and subcultures. The goal of this program is to give educators the tools to observe, describe, and learn from the behaviors of their students and to build cohesive theoretical bases for learner-centered literacy programs.
The courses in the Language and Literacy Program lead to the Reading Endorsement, allowing candidates to teach reading K-12. The program can be completed in 18 months of part-time coursework or may be completed in conjunction with a master of arts in teaching (M.A.T.) degree.
Endorsement Requirements
A minimum of 14-15 semester hours
A passing score on the Praxis II reading specialist test
Required Courses
LA 500/634 or ESOL 507 Language Acquisition and Development, 3 semester hours
LA 502/620 Innovations in Reading, K-12, 3 semester hours
LA 534/614 Reading Comprehension: Theory and Practical Application, 3 semester hours
ED 532/625 Assessing Reading Strategies: Practicum, 3 semester hours
(Although courses are not arranged in a fixed sequence, LA 500 is considered the foundation course and LA 502 the culmination of the program.)
Elective Courses
Each program participant selects a language arts elective in consulation with an advisor. Possible subject-area electives include:
LA 501/632 Researching and Teaching the Language Arts, 3 semester hours
LA 515 Drama for Learning and Social Action, 2 semester hours
LA 523 Teaching Writing to Adolescents, 2 semester hours
LA 530/630 Children's Writing, 3 semester hours
LA 531/610 Writing and the Writing Process, 2 semester hours
Other electives may be approved by the faculty advisor.
Note: Courses offered through Lewis & Clark's Northwest Writing Institute and the Oregon Writing Project enrich the programs of M.A.T. students. Interested students should consult their advisors for more information about courses in creative writing that can be integrated into their programs.
Summer Studies - Reading Endorsement
Over the course of two summers, licensed educators may undertake degree-applicable coursework for a graduate endorsement in Reading, which may be pursued in conjunction with a master's degree or a Continuing Teaching License. Summer studies coursework is offered in four- to six-week blocks of full-time study.
LA 500/634 - Language Acquisition and Development
Same as ED 529, ESOL 507/607.
Prerequisite: None.
Credit: 3 semester hours.
LA 502/620 - Innovations in Reading, K-12
Organizing, managing, and evaluating both classroom and school-wide K-12 reading programs. Students examine the textbook adoption process, participate in the development and use of a tool for evaluating reading texts, assess components of reading and writing programs, and learn to integrate reading and writing processes throughout the school grades to extend learners' experiences and enhance their own and students' capacities to solve literacy problems. This capstone course of the Language and Literacy Program must be taken at the end of the sequence.
Prerequisite: Completion of Reading Endorsement courses or consent of instructor.
Credit: 3 semester hours.
LA 534/614 - Reading Comprehension: Theory and Practical Application
In-depth exploration of current models and trends in reading comprehension and its cognitive and linguistic components. Students read widely from professional journals, explore and reflect on their personal reading processes, and do theoretical and practical projects to further their understanding. Examines factors that contribute to reading difficulty (from early childhood through adulthood), as well as important issues and questions about standardized tests, observational diagnostics, readability formulas, and the effectiveness and theoretical validity of published programs.
Prerequisite: None.
Credit: 3 semester hours.
ED 532/625 - Assessing Reading Strategies: Practicum
Seminar practicum for classroom teachers and reading specialists at all grade levels. Topics include a language orientation for diagnosing reading problems, diverse causes and correlates of reading difficulties, assessment procedures in reading, and strategies to facilitate readers' improvement. Each participant assesses a reader, develops a profile of personal strategies, and designs and implements an instructional plan to help the reader develop effective, efficient reading strategies responsive to individual differences, interests, and developmental levels. Participants consider reading issues for students at all four license levels (early childhood, elementary, middle level, and high school).
Prerequisite: None.
Credit: 3 semester hours.
LA 501/632 - Researching and Teaching the Language Arts
Development of a framework, based on a wide range of research findings, from which to make informed decisions about curriculum and teaching approaches that engage students in listening, speaking, reading, and writing experiences that are responsive to individual differences, interests, developmental levels, and cultural contexts. Emphasis on framing teachers' own classroom inquiry through the adoption of habits of teacher research that focus on personal and scholarly reflection.
Prerequisite: None.
Credit: 3 semester hours.
LA 515 - Drama for Learning and Social Action
Interactive exploration of drama in the K-8 curriculum that prepares teachers to use drama to engage students in learning experiences responsive to individual differences, interests, developmental levels, and cultural contexts. Through workshops, participants experience drama as an art form; as a medium for language and literacy development and inquiry-centered, multidisciplinary content learning; and as a powerful mode for meaning-making. Through discussion and presentation, students explore historical and current perspectives on educational drama and its potential to support creative, cognitive, physical, emotional, and social development for all children. Reflects a pluralistic drama education perspective that prompts children to engage issues of diversity, examine how cultural knowledge is constructed, critique the dominant culture, and confront questions of social justice. Also listed as THED 515, CORE 542.
Prerequisite: None.
Credit: 2 semester hours.
LA 523 - Teaching Writing to Adolescents
Writing process as it relates to thinking and learning in adolescence. Emphasizes a writing workshop approach to composition, as well as use of response groups and conference procedures and strategies that are responsive to adolescents' individual differences, interests, developmental levels, and cultural contexts.
Prerequisite: None.
Credit: 2 semester hours.
LA 530/630 - Children's Writing
Teaching writing to children. Explores ways to create an environment for teaching writing as a process. Teachers read from whole language and writing process theorists and examine ways to implement writing instruction that is responsive to elementary students' individual differences, interests, developmental levels, and cultural contexts.
Prerequisite: None.
Credit: 3 semester hours.
LA 531/610 - Writing and the Writing Process
Increasing teachers' understanding of the writing process, primarily by working on their own prose writing. Students write, read their work to peers, and receive feedback. This personal experience provides opportunities to reflect on common writing problems and issues teachers across disciplines encounter in their classrooms. Topics include recent research and theory in composing as well as practical teaching techniques that can be integrated to enhance learners' experiences. Required introductory course in the Middle-Level/High School Program.
Prerequisite: None.
Credit: 2 semester hours, CR/NC.