Course Instructor: Dr. Patricia Bricker, 828-227-3352, bricker@email.wcu.edu
Course Description: This course begins with a 5-day institute offered in collaboration with Western Carolina University’s Center for Mathematics and Science Education. The institute, SITE: CARSAM, is a program of the North Carolina Science and Mathematics Education Network. During the institute, instructors will focus on strategies that enable students in upper elementary, middle, and high school to cope more effectively with reading and writing in these important content areas. This is a hands-on institute; all lessons will be applied directly to various kinds of texts used in participants’ classrooms. Instruction will involve analyzing texts, designing lessons to help students use those texts and other written materials more successfully, and ways to use writing to enhance student learning in science and mathematics. The examples used during the institute will focus on the specific nature of reading and writing inherent to science and mathematics but the strategies are appropriate for other content areas. Topics to be covered include but are not limited to:
• Comprehension strategies
• Principles of working with struggling readers
• Readability of texts and other written materials
• Writing strategies
• 5E lesson structure and metacognitive strategies
The coursework will continue online after the 5-day institute. Students will use the WCU online course delivery system (WebCAT) to collaborate with classmates and the course instructors as they apply ideas from the previous week to their particular needs. By the end of the second week, each participant will create a portfolio of materials to use in his or her own classroom.
Role in WCU’s Elementary and Middle Grades Education Master’s Programs: This course can count as a subject matter elective for Elementary Education (MAEd) or Middle Grades Education (MAEd or MAT) in Mathematics or Science. (Student chooses one of these areas.)
Instructors:
• Dr. Patricia Bricker. Assistant Professor of Science Education, Department of Elementary and Middle Grades Education, Western Carolina University
• Melissa Hedt – Literacy Coach, Asheville Middle School
Course schedule: June 15-26, 2009
Logistics: This course will meet face-to-face daily from Monday June 15th through Friday June 19th, 9:00am-3:30pm on the UNCA campus. The online portion of class will extend through Friday June 26. All students should have consistent computer access and reliable internet connections.