S O C T E - English Arts Festival 2002-2003

Festival Syllabus

Ohio University Without Boundaries
Ohio Resource Center
Southeast Regional Professional Development Center
Southeast Ohio Council of Teachers of English

ENGLISH ARTS FESTIVAL TEACHER SEMINAR
4 Graduate Credit Hours
(Fall 1 credit, Winter 1 credit, Spring 2 credits)
Ohio University, Athens
Fall 2002, Winter 2003, and Spring 2003

Professor: Jackie Glasgow, Associate Professor of English Education, OU
email: mailto:glasgowj@ohio.edu
web: http://www.dragonbbs.com/members/1836
blackboard: http://teach.citl.ohiou.edu/
EDCI 592a_glasgow

Class Meeting:	September 25, 2002; 5:00–7:00 Lab A, Computer Services Center, then via “blackboard” in flexible scheduling: Fall, Winter, Spring Quarters
Required Texts:	Glasgow’s Using Young Adult Literature: Thematic Activities Based on Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences; Daniels’ Literature Circles; Romano’s Blending Genre, Altering Style: Writing Multigenre Papers; Zindel’s The Pigman; The Pigman and Me; The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds; The Reef of Death; Loch; The Doom Stone; Pardon Me, You’re Stepping On My Eyeball!.

INTRODUCTION
Like love and friendship, reading is neither work nor relaxation.
It belongs to that special place where all our disparate selves converge.
Literature can provide us with illumination, or its mirror opposite, escape;
it can give us both at once.
--Sam Tanenhaus--
Literature Unbound

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This online graduate course will use the 2nd OU English Arts Festival as the focal point of an investigation into middle school students’ reading of, and response to, literature. Workshop participants will read books on the English Festival list, study current methods and theories of literary response, develop and implement a thematic unit, and develop and carry out a research project that inquires into the Festival’s role in shaping students’ reading and writing practices. Teachers and students will prepare art, music, and writing projects for competitions at the English Arts Festival. The culminating event of this class will be attending the English Arts Festival to be held on April 25, 2003, at the OU Athens campus. Teachers and students will meet with author, Paul Zindel, attend breakout sessions, and share projects they have created.

Goals and Anticipated Outcomes for the English Arts Festival will be to:

build a common body of shared reading experiences through Festival Booklists.
introduce students to a wide variety of award-winning Young Adult Literature of broad interest.
provide teachers with a network of professionals to discuss books, teaching ideas and student accomplishments.
support teachers in designing best practice models for effective classroom activities with special attention to at-risk readers and writers.
support teachers in developing integrated reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing curriculum that is standards-based and research based via ORC web.
support teachers in developing curriculum that is integrated with other disciplines, esp. social studies via ORC web.
support teachers in using and integrating technology into the classroom via ORC web
provide an exciting and stimulating setting for enjoyable and worthwhile reading, writing, and artistic activities for teachers and students.
develop curriculum that nurtures students’ multiple intelligences.
develop a research base of current reading and writing best practices.
have students read books and journal with a buddy from a different school.
involve the whole community in fostering good reading, writing, and artistic skills.
recognize and reward distinctive writing and artistic projects and post them on the ORC website.
encourage parents to help their children obtain Festival books, read the books, discuss them with the students, and provide materials for artistic expression.
help students become lifelong learners and achieve higher scores on the 9th grade proficiency tests in reading and writing.
publish outstanding projects on the web.
reflect on the process, progress, and future of the English Festival.

The Primary Activities Include:

Professional development for teachers to help them access good literature for their students and employ innovative, integrated and effective teaching methods.
Discover Best Practices in teaching English/Language Arts from Ohio Resource Center website: http://www.ohiorc.org
Development of literature circles to perpetuate a dialogue among teachers about good literature and classroom strategies.
Student access and utilization of good literature.
Dissemination of best practices in teaching on SOCTE and ORC websites.
Highlight exemplary student work as examples of best practice.
Conduct an English Arts Festival with invited literary guests, students, teachers and parents to promote and celebrate good literature in the community.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Reader Response Journal (Fall and Winter Quarters)

We will be reading a total of seven books by Paul Zindel. For each book, you will journal a response composed of three parts:

(A) The first part will be an aesthetic response based in Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence activities found in Glasgow’s text or website: www.dragonbbs.com/members/1836. Choose a different intelligence and a different activity for each journal entry. Do the activity!

(B) The second part is to be a critical analysis of some aspect of the novel. You may compose a critical aspect to discuss of your own or you may use any of the ideas in the handout on approaches to critical analysis to give you ideas and approaches.

(C) The third part is to describe and document an intervention or best practice strategy for at-risk middle school readers and writers that would be effective with this particular novel. For this part, refer to Ohio Resource Center website: http://www.ohiorc.org. Please document the website that you use for this part of the journal. Journal entries are due on the 15th and 30th (31st) of the months indicated on the course schedule. (As an alternative, these three parts may be submitted as lesson plans that you plan to use with your students. These should be documented with best practice ideas you find on the ORC websites.)

Literature Circle Participation (Fall and Winter Quarters)Literature Circle Participation (Fall Quarter)

We will use an adaptation of Harvey Daniels’ Literature Circles for our online discussions of Zindel’s books. You will be asked to select and prepare for a different role (Discussion Director, Illustrator, Word Master, Connector, or Summarizer) in the discussion for each book. In Blackboard under “course documents,” you will find a sign-up sheet and directions for each of the roles. In the course schedule, you will find the week in which you are expected to post your entry and respond to the discussion questions. (See Assessment Rubric for evaluation criteria). To complete these activities you will need to read Daniels’ Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in the Student-Centered Classroom.

Inquiry Project

For this inquiry project, you should select a topic that looks into some aspect of middle school reading and writing practices that you are interested in pursuing. Instead of the traditional research paper format, I would encourage you to represent your research in a series of creative pieces that tell a story. See Romano’s Blending Genre, Altering Style: Writing Multigenre Papers (2000) for additional information about this type of multigenre research paper. By asking you to compose creative pieces, you will learn to fuse your academic and personal voices. You will nurture your multiple intelligences through active research strategies. See Handouts for specific requirements and assessment rubric for evaluation criteria.

Festival Projects (Spring Quarter)

By Spring Quarter, your students should have completed their reading of the Zindel books and are ready to prepare or finish up their projects for the Festival. We will award trophies for projects in the following categories: poster, art/sculpture, multimedia, music, dance, essay, poetry, and creative and impromptu writing. At the Festival, each school will have at least two tables for displaying the projects museum style.

Festival Response/Analysis Paper (Post Festival, Spring Quarter)

This 2-3 page paper provides on opportunity to reflect on the year and consider what worked, what didn’t work and what we could do better next time! Please comment on all aspects of the Festival as well as the preparation to participate in it. Also comment on the various aspects of the course and the technology aspects (i.e. using Blackboard as a meeting place). What did you learn? What happened? What aspects were meaningful? What aspects were frustrating? How well did the technology serve you? How satisfied were your students? What are other onsiderations or concerns that emerged? This is the time to reflect on your participation and experiences in the Festival and let us know what’s going on and how we are doing!

ATTENDANCE:

As per the university expectations for in-class and out-of-class preparation and instruction, you will be expected to spend four hours a week on this class. You should spend approximately one hour a week online discussing issues, responding to questions, and posting your assignments. The other three hours will be spent reading the course materials and completing the assignments. Your participation grade will depend on your participation online in the Blackboard environment.

Academic Honesty Academic Honesty

Ohio University supports collaboration, but frowns on academic dishonesty such as plagiarism, cheating, submitting others work as ones own, etc. BE HONEST and document your work!

Grades will be issued only at the end of Spring Quarter

Reader Response Journal for the novels including (a) a personal (affective reaction), (b) an analytical (critical) discussion of something in the book, and (c) a documented research-based or best practice teaching strategy for at-risk students (As an alternative, these three parts may be submitted as lesson plans) (35%).
Online Literature Circle discussion of the books (21%).
Inquiry Project into some aspect of middle school reading and writing practices (20%).
Attendance at the Festival with your students (19%).
Festival Response/Analysis paper about your experiences during the year and at the Festival (5%).

EVALUATION -- Grade Scale:

A	96% -- 100%	C+	78% -- 79%
A-	93% -- 95%	C	74% -- 77%
B+	89% -- 92%	C-	72% -- 73%
B	85% -- 88%	D+	70% -- 71%
B-	80% –- 84%	D	67% -- 69%

Grade Sheet:

Course Requirements	Possible Points	Your Points
Reader Response Journal – 7 entries (5 points each)	35
Literature Circle Participation – 7 tasks (3 points each)	21
Inquiry Project	20
Festival Attendance with Student Projects	19
Festival Response/Analysis Paper	5
Total	100