Reading & Writing MEd Course of Study

Course of Study

As a Reading & Writing master’s student, you’ll build knowledge in four areas: learners; speaking, listening, writing, reading, representing, and viewing; learning and teaching multiliteracies; and the interplay among the sociocultural processes and practices of schools, families, and communities. In each of these areas, we draw upon the insights of disciplinary fields (e.g., anthropology, sociocultural theories of learning, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and educational research), research methodology (modes of inquiry, teacher research), and students’ reflections on their own experiences and social practices as language users, learners, curriculum developers, and teachers.

33 credits total

Courses shared with the bilingual, ESL, & multicultural education master’s program

*Seminar in Crosscultural Communication (EDUC 615L) OR Foundations in Multicultural Education (EDUC 677)

**Not taken by reading specialist licensure students

Reading & Writing License Courses

Reading & Writing Non-license Courses

***Students determine program courses and electives in consultation with their advisor

EDUC 615S Language, Literacy Policy, and Planning

This is an introductory course in the field of language planning and policy which is situated in the broader field of sociology of language.  Selected case studies will provide a basis for critically examining issues such as:  ideology and language planning efface, language education policies, literacy movements, and language shift and death.

EDUC 692L Workshop on Leadership Project Development

Designed to provide support for developing an original curricular or research leadership project integrating principles derived from theoretical premises central to the BEM, Reading and Writing, and LLC concentrations.

EDUC 677 Foundations of Bilingual, ESL & Multicultural Education

This course examines the political, philosophical, and pedagogical foundations of multicultural education through various approaches to knowledge construction and production that shape from education institutions to teaching culturally and linguistically diverse student populations. The course presents perspectives on issues of access and provision of high quality public education particularly for students in underserved communities (Latinos in the U.S./Indigenous peoples in the Americas). Through the analysis of sociocultural and sociopolitical variables such race, ethnicity, language, gender and social class the course addresses issues of inequality in structures, policies, and practices in schools in the United States and globally.

EDUC 681 Teaching of Reading and Writing for Content and Language Learning

Principles, methods and materials for teaching reading and writing to adolescents.  For students preparing to teach in middle and high schools.

EDUC 687 Language Development and Literacy

Current theory and research on children's development of oral and written language and its implications for reading, writing and language instruction.

EDUC 692L Workshop on Leadership Project Development

This course is designed to support the development of an original curricular or research leadership project that integrates pedagogies and/or understandings that draw on theories central to the Bilingual, ESL, and Multicultural Education, the Reading and Writing programs, and the LLC concentration.

EDUC 709 Seminar in Reading

This seminar will consider the academic and public debates of "What counts as literacy?" and "What counts as reading?" in school contexts. Drawing on the research of multiliteracies, multimodalities, and critical literacies, course participants will explore how these pedagogies can support diverse learners for critical engagement their schools, communities, and society.

EDUC 784 Social Issues in Children's and Young Adult Literature

This course creates a space for pre-K to grade 12 teachers, literacy coaches, and researchers of languages, literacies, and literatures to refine and fortify their critical multicultural reading of social issues in children's and young adult literature. We will consider the social issues of family, linguistic, and cultural diversity; gender, sexuality, class, and race; war and peace, and the like. Participants will select and analyze relevant social issues or design an action plan based on their new understandings of critical teaching literature.