Current Undergraduate Classes at the University of Sydney
Teaching English 1
Teaching English 1 is the first of three English methodology classes in the Sydney School of Education and Social Work. In this class, pre-service teachers build on their craft knowledge and develop a richer understanding of how adolescents become readers and writers, use modes and semiotic resources, and engage in interactive learning within the secondary English classroom. Pre-service teachers design lesson plans, participate in micro-teaching activities, and read young adult literature. (Semester 1)
Teaching English 2
In this class, pre-service teachers deepen their knowledge of the New South Wales Years 7-10 English Syllabus. Building on the previous semester’s class, they develop a unit of work, consider Indigenous film, and engage in literature circles focused on Australian literature. (Semester 2)
Teaching English 3
In Teaching English 3, students delve into the New South Wales English Syllabus for Years 11-12. In order to prepare their future classes for the Higher School Certificate exam, they read prescribed literature, examine NSW Education Standards Authority resources, and critically consider the role of formative and summative assessment within the English curriculum. (Semester 1)
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Previous Undergraduate Classes at the University of Sydney
Youth and Digital Culture
This elective class investigates the impact of technology on the ways in which young people live and learn in both in-school and out-of-school contexts. Open to first year students across the university, topics include historical and contemporary perspectives on digital culture, cognition, collaboration, identity, social networking, gaming, and remixing. (Semester 2)
Australian Theatre, Film, and Learning
This elective class considers how Australian culture is expressed through theatre, spoken word, television, and film. Through excursions to performances around Sydney, including to the Bankstown Poetry Slam, and through the creation of their own short film, students critically engage with historical and contemporary conceptualisations of Australian culture. (Semester 1 and 2)
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Previous Graduate Classes at the University of Wisconsin – Madison
Literacy Across the Curriculum
This course explores how reading specialists, literacy coaches, and other educators can support literacy across the curriculum in secondary schools. Students will focus on how to make connections between students’ culturally valuable ways of knowing and communicating and the discipline-specific Discourses. This will include discussions of how to meet the needs of English language learners. (Summer 2010 and Spring 2011)
Literature and Literacy
Literature and Literacy investigates how literature across the curriculum can facilitate hands-on learning, critical thinking, and classroom discussion. Students will learn how to select and implement print and digital texts into the secondary classroom that are culturally informed, sensitive, and relevant to children’s interest in and interpretation of literature. (Fall 2009)
Literacy and Language Development
This course examines balanced approaches to the teaching of literacy at the elementary level, sociocultural aspects of literacy learning, and new literacies engendered by a digital age. Included in this course is a project that asks students to conduct action research within the context of their own classroom. (Fall 2008 and Fall 2010)
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Undergraduate Classes at the University of Wisconsin – Madison
The Teaching of Reading
This methods course is part of the literacy semester and it investigates the theories, research and practices involved in reading instruction in order to prepare pre-service teachers to design elementary and middle school curriculum. Drawing on a balanced literacy approach, this course situates reading within a sociocultural view of language and learning. Students learn how to design and implement a variety of reading assessments, interpret results, and plan interventions. There is a focus on meeting the needs of diverse learners, including English language learners. (Spring 2011)
Language and Literacy Across the Secondary Curriculum
Language and Literacy Across the Secondary Curriculum explores how content area teachers can foster middle school and high school students’ reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. There is a focus on process approaches to learning, classroom discourse, and the use of digital tools. As part of this course, pre-service teachers engage in action research at their practicum site. (Spring 2010)
The Teaching of Children’s Literature
This course is part of the literacy semester and is designed to help pre-service elementary teachers plan ways of sharing, discussing, and using literature that are culturally informed, sensitive, and relevant to children’s interests in and interpretations of literature. The course is designed to foster social justice education and propels pre-service teachers toward developing strategies to address issues of equity through literacy. (Spring 2010)
Young Adult Literature for Schools
Young Adult Literature for Schools examines the theory and practice of teaching young adult literature and other media in secondary schools. In addition, issues of selection, censorship, and publishing trends are addressed. (Spring 2009)
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