Professional Development Schools
Financial Aid and Student Employment
This course focuses on materials and strategies (techniques) which support literacy in all content areas.
Teachers are taught how to plan and execute text-based lessons for the diverse population of students in accordance with Illinois Standards. Students study diverse literacy needs, including a variety of learning styles, different language backgrounds, and special learning needs. They gain an understanding of the process of reading and demonstrate instructional abilities to teach reading in their specific content areas. In addition to text based literacy, students gain insight and skill in developing secondary school students’ speaking, writing, and listening skills in a variety of contexts using a variety of processes.
The classroom of the 21st century has students with widely diverse literacy needs, including a variety of learning styles, different language backgrounds, and special learning needs. Recognizing this, the Illinois Content Area Standards - Reading in the Content Areas stress competent teachers (of math, science, etc.) understand the process of reading and demonstrate instructional abilities to teach reading in their specific content areas. With this in mind, the Illinois State Board of Education, beginning in 2003, intends to test all teacher education candidates on the Core Language Arts Standards. This course, therefore, has been designed to prepare secondary teachers to plan and execute text-based lessons for the diverse population of students in accordance with Illinois Standards. Furthermore, by focusing on all students, especially those on the margins, and by stressing both the intellectual and moral virtues, this course fosters development of the institutional standards for teacher education, Realizing the Democratic Ideal.