Course+Description+and+Objectives

COURSE DESCRIPTION
In this seminar, participants discuss strategies to increase opportunities for students to read and write using informational texts. In the secondary schools, the vast majority of reading and writing students do is informational: they must navigate the demands of reading and writing in content areas such as science, social studies and mathematics. Teachers use the PLN frameworks to develop strategies for helping students access and produce the academic language of content area texts. Areas of focus include reading textbooks, primary source materials, writing informational and persuasive papers, notemaking, response building, and research writing.

OBJECTIVES
This continuing education graduate level, credit-bearing course examines approaches for incorporating reading, writing, talking, listening and thinking across the curriculum. Specifically, it addresses the PCRP II (Pennsylvania Comprehensive Reading Program) and the PLF (Pennsylvania Literacy Framework) in which varied language experiences are seen as integral to learning. Participants read, talk, write, listen and think about the implementation of this framework. In addition, they develop and facilitate lessons that incorporate reading, writing, talking, listening and thinking in their content areas.

Central to PCRP II are __Four Lenses of Learning__ that reflect the framework’s perspective on language, literacy, and learning. These lenses identify teaching and learning as:
 * Meaning-centered
 * Social
 * Language-based
 * Human

The framework also includes the __Five Critical Experiences__ that immerse students in reading, writing, talking and listening across the curriculum:
 * Transacting with text
 * Composing texts
 * Extending reading and writing
 * Investigating language
 * Learning to learn

These four lenses and five critical experiences are the foundation of this course and this initiative. Participants will think about the implementation and support of best practice in classrooms in terms of how it reflects the PCRP II framework. Type in the content of your page here.