CBL: Literacy Tutoring in the Elementary Classroom

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Drawing on Lave and Wenger's (1991) theory of legitimate peripheral participation, this Community Based Learning course is structured to allow students to participate in two communities: (1) an elementary classroom during English Language Arts instruction time to both observe the teacher's pedagogy and work directly with children and (2) as a developing literacy researcher with students in the course. Students will learn about research based best practices in literacy instruction during seminars and apply these strategies and approaches in the classroom while working with small groups and individual children. Students will also learn about and apply qualitative approaches to data collection and analysis to study 2-3 children's growth over the semester and to make meaningful and insightful connections between theory and practice. Since the majority of students' time will be dedicated to read-alouds and teaching multicultural children's literature, students will develop an extensive annotated bibliography of children's literature to deepen understanding and appreciation for literature for children. On-Site: Students should plan to spend 3 hours per week at Muessel Elementary School (based on when ELA is taught, typically in the morning, and ND students' schedule). Beginning Week 3, we will only meet on Tuesdays for seminar on campus. Students are responsible for their own transportation.