Literacy (LIT)

This course will examine the role of technology integration in the four main tenets of traditional literacy instruction- reading, writing, speaking and listening, as well as provide the opportunity to examine the pedagogical decisions for integrating technology in the classroom. The focus throughout the course is to teach candidates to integrate technology with literacy instruction in a dynamic way that affords students the opportunity to access content and learning in a way that was not possible prior to the advent of specific emerging technologies.

This course examines current trends, best practices, research, and challenges in the teaching of reading and writing at a variety of grade levels. Degree candidates are exposed to professional resources from the field of literacy that invite an exploration of reader's/writer's workshop and readers/writers notebook. Additionally, candidates will focus throughout the course on the development of effective lessons and assessments for student readers and writers.

This course examines theory and application related to teaching reading and writing to second language learners. The emphasis is on various instructional strategies and materials facilitating the assessment and development of English language learners in elementary and middle grade levels.

The intent of this course is to study the effective engagement of K-9 students whose motivation and interest in reading and/or writing is lacking. The course will take a focused look at affective elements related to literacy instruction such as rapport, student choice, teacher modeling, and authentic assignments. Throughout this course, students will have opportunity to make use of a variety of specific strategies intended to increase motivation and interest in reluctant readers and writers in their own classrooms..

This course will focus on the types of literature and various oral methods which can be used in teaching literature in elementary and middle school. The ongoing focus of the course will be drawing in the interest of students through the creative use of solo and group oral reading. This approach combines performance with some stagecraft. Literature will draw from children's books, poetry, short story, newspapers, diaries and the novel. The course will develop the vocal capabilities of the participants, such as pitch, pace, pause and force.

The culmination of this degree program will be a literacy conference featuring a variety of contemporary literacy topics explored and expounded upon by experts from around the country. Students will be actively involved in hosting this annual event.

In order for students to become mindful consumers of research, this course will introduce students to foundational and current research in literacy. This course will cover the major quantitative methods, qualitative methods, mixed methods, and action research processes. Students will also learn sampling, data collection, and analysis techniques associated with these methods. Students will accomplish these objectives through large-group discussion of readings and individual projects, small-group discussion on topics related to literacy research, instructor and student presentations, written assignments, and feedback through group and one-on-one interaction.

This course will help the students to better communicate as an individual and orally in group presentations by studying and practicing strategies and methods for exceptional presentations to a variety of audiences and readers in an educational setting.

In order for students to develop the research skills discussed in LIT 601, they will be guided through the processes of researching an area of literacy, developing a literature review, and designing and implementing a small-scale study to be conducted in the student’s classroom. Students will also go through the process of analyzing data to report findings. Students will accomplish these objectives through large-group discussion of readings and individual projects, small-group discussion on topics related to literacy research, instructor and student presentations, written assignments, and feedback through group and one-on-one interaction. This course is the first in a two-part series.

In order for students to develop the research skills discussed in LIT 601, they will be guided through the processes of researching an area of literacy, developing a literature review, and designing and implementing a small-scale study to be conducted in the student’s classroom. Students will also go through the process of analyzing data to report findings. Students will accomplish these objectives through large-group discussion of readings and individual projects, small-group discussion on topics related to literacy research, instructor and student presentations, written assignments, and feedback through group and one-on-one interaction. This course is the second in a two-part series.

This is the first of a two-part course series whose purpose is to help students develop graduate-level writing skills. Students will write a publication-ready articles that combined both the literature review and the findings of the small-scale study they implemented in LIT 610. Students will develop the Applications and Implications sections of this article in order to convey practical application of the findings to the reading audience. This course will also provide grammatical instruction to help students avoid common errors in their writing. Students will also format and document their papers following APA style rules.

This is the second of a two-part course series whose purpose is to help students develop graduate-level writing skills. Students will write a publication-ready articles that combined both the literature review and the findings of the small-scale study they implemented in LIT 610. Students will develop the Applications and Implications sections of this article in order to convey practical application of the findings to the reading audience. This course will also provide grammatical instruction to help students avoid common errors in their writing. Students will also format and document their papers following APA style rules.

This course a wide variety of literature for children including fiction, nonfiction, traditional literature, picture books, big books, short novels, plays, and poetry. Emphasis will be on both expanding the teacher's knowledge of books, authors, and illustrators in contemporary literature as well as creating engaging, meaningful, best-practice curriculum for children that uses literature to support and extend content and literacy learning. Discussion will extend the teacher's ability to implement literature in the classroom and creating in students a lifelong love of reading. Students will choose a focus area in either grades K-3 or grades 4-12.

In order to contribute to the field of literacy education, this course will help students navigate the publication process of writing for professional journals. Students will investigate a variety of journals and understand article submission requirements. Students will revise, edit, and submit articles to professional journals according to specific journal requirements. This course will guide students through the submission process as students submit articles to professional journals.

This course will focus on the rationale and methods for developing expertise in writing instruction. The emphasis throughout the course is on recognizing the developmental aspects of writing ability and devising appropriate lessons and methods of assessment to help students become better writers. Students will choose a focus area in either grades K-3 or grades 4-12.

This course will focus on the implementation of effective reading instruction for a range of readers. The emphasis will be on utilizing both formal and informal assessment data to guide in the planning and implementation of a comprehensive reading curriculum. Students will choose a focus area of grades K-3 or grades 4-12.

In today's classrooms, greater emphasis has been placed on the use of complex discipline-specific texts. In this course, candidates will explore the discipline-specific literacy practices and discuss ways to explicitly make those practices known to students. Candidates will practice a variety of literacy strategies and adapt them to fit the discipline-specific needs of content courses. Through examination of current research and theories, candidates will explore the pedagogical shift from content area literacy instruction toward disciplinary literacy instruction. (2 or 3 credit hours - The three credit option includes a ten hour practicum experience in a secondary school setting.)

Storytelling has strong links to literacy. The purpose of this course is to develop the understanding of story and the skills to create and perform storytelling. Students will analyze the components of narrative communication while they develop verbal and nonverbal skills through the experience of personal performance. Creativity and imagination will be explored and applied by adapting of written stories and through original story development.

The growing diversity of the American population is becoming evident in the literature being published for both children and adolescents. This course will familiarize candidates with diverse and award-winning K-12 literature focused on various cultural groups. Issues of multiculturalism, the history of multicultural children's books, stereotyping, authenticity of perspective, and criteria for evaluating literature used with students will be developed through class activities. Identifying bias-free literature and the effective use of it with K-12 students will be addressed through a variety of learning experiences.

This course surveys the history of literature for children from earliest times to present day. A wide range of literature for preschool-aged children all the way up to works written for students in grade six will be explored. A key focus of the course will be the evolution of such works in response to changes in society's social beliefs, attitudes, and customs. The most influential books written for and about children in the past 100 years will be discussed and considered.

This course will provide a historical survey of literature written for and about adolescents. The inception of literature written for a young adult audience will be traced through a study of works by authors of classic as well as contemporary novels. A key consideration will be the role young adult literature plays in shaping perceptions of gender, race, and class. Candidates will carefully consider the foundation of canonical literature and its implications on classroom instruction past and present for students in grades 7-12. Discussion of when, where, how, and for whom the works that comprise the young adult canon can be most effectively introduced will be examined in this course as well as the concept of the contemporary YA novel's effectiveness both as a bridge to classic works and a genre worthy of significant study in its own right.

With the ever-changing demographic make-up of America's school system, literacy leaders are faced with the challenge of designing curricular programs that reflect both an understanding of and respect for student identity. By looking at a variety of literary and academic publications, this course will examine ways to inform public discourse regarding social equity and determine ways to best portray a powerful voice in improving the materials and intellectual conditions of students of all ages.

Multiple factors contribute to literacy learning. In this course, candidates will discover how to evaluate these factors through the use of various formal and informal assessments. Candidates will administer, score, analyze, and interpret a variety of assessments to collect data and determine a student's strengths and areas of need. The development of student profiles based on a wide range of data and the subsequent reporting of the information in a professional setting will be a focal point of this course.

This course will build on concepts previously presented in LIT 690 and will include a 20-hour practicum. Coursework will focus on research-based strategies for improving student learning in identified areas of weakness. Candidates will plan and deliver intervention in response to assessment data for a specific student by introducing strategies to build on the student's strengths and improve identified areas of need to ensure growth and success. A case study report will be prepared at the conclusion of the course.

This course will build on concepts previously presented in LIT 690 and will include a 20-hour practicum. Coursework will focus on research-based strategies for improving student learning in identified areas of weakness. Candidates will plan and deliver intervention in response to assessment data for a specific student by introducing strategies to build on the student's strengths and improve identified areas of need to ensure growth and success. A case study report will be prepared at the conclusion of the course.

This course will introduce doctoral candidates to foundational and current research methodologies such as quantitative, qualitative, mixed methodology, action research, literature review, case study, etc. Candidates will begin to identify and develop individual research interests which will ultimately lead to their dissertation topics as well as the theoretical framework(s) which will become the underpinnings of the dissertation. Candidates will generate their dissertation research question(s) and determine the appropriate research approach(es) and theories to utilize in order to practically answer the research question(s) posed.

Candidates will explore significant historical developments and seminal studies in educational systems in America providing important perspectives and implications for instruction, curriculum, and assessment in schools today. In this course, candidates will gain insight on the impact of theories and research; early methods; leaders in the field of education; fads and trends; technology; and cultural, social, and economic issues. Major issues in the development of instruction over time will be examined which include social purpose, systems of power, and education as a force for democratization. Engaging discussion will focus on a variety of perspectives and personal insights.

This course will introduce candidates to foundational and current research in literacy and will focus on the development of the first three chapters of the dissertation: advancing the foundational framework, ensuring the need for and significance of the candidate’s study, refining research questions, structuring the methodology of the study, selecting appropriate research participants, and preparing for the dissertation proposal defense. Major quantitative and qualitative methods, mixed methods, and action research processes will be considered as candidates develop instruments for collecting data and conduct pilot studies (if need be). Once the dissertation proposal has been accepted, candidates will seek approval from the Institutional Review Board as well as appropriate stakeholders in their school communities.

Once the dissertation proposal and IRB application have been approved, candidates will begin their dissertation studies. In LIT 720, candidates will learn how to manage and organize the collection of data. They will also learn how to begin preliminary data analysis. As a precursor to LIT 770 and LIT 775, candidates will reflect on their data and will begin to refine analytic methods. Candidates will also conduct ongoing reflection regarding the data collection and analysis phases of their research. Additionally, in this course, candidates will learn how to form their research into a proposal for a scholarly conference.

With data collection completed, candidates will process what their data mean in the literacy arena. This course will not only emphasize the analysis of the study's results but what the findings mean. Candidates will learn to construct the following sections for the final chapters of the dissertation: results expressed and discussed, conclusions drawn, limitations described, implications for literacy stated, and recommendations for further research delineated. At the completion of this course, the candidate will be prepared for his/her dissertation defense.

This course explores the principles of effective leadership in general and specifically in the field of literacy. The strong leader's ability to function as both inspired visionary and skilled manager will be discussed. Doctoral candidates will develop process skills to build consensus, communicate effectively, and resolve conflict in order to align resources with a shared vision. Opportunity to dialogue with significant literacy leaders past and present and to explore leadership opportunities will be made available. The research, writing, and submission of literacy grants will be a key facet of this course.

The delivery of presentations in a wide range of venues is an important facet of contributing to the profession and serves as a benchmark of doctoral study. This course will focus on the components of preparing a professional presentation from the inception of an idea through its execution before an audience. Various methods of delivery will be explored, and doctoral candidates will be immersed in an ongoing critique process as they work to strengthen specific presentations designed for a variety of audiences.

This course is designed to help students examine in-depth the theoretical models of reading and writing processes. This theories course will be predominantly driven by reading texts and watching videos. Candidates will explore the positionalities of themselves and their peers as well as interrogate their epistemological and ontological stances and worldviews. In this course, we synthesize various theoretical descriptions of reading and writing processes, relate theoretical explanations to evidence, and encourage reaction to theory.

This course provides an introduction to statistical methods and their implications for educators and educational researchers. The logic underlying research investigation, methodology, analysis, and interpretation of data will be emphasized. Candidates will utilize readings, discussions, and appropriate computer applications to investigate populations and samples; organize, display, and summarize data; and determine probability, normal distribution, tests of significance, and correlation/simple regression. Candidates will develop competence in reading and understanding statistics provided in various sources such as dissertations, journals, and/or technical reports related specifically to the field of literacy.

This workshop-style course will provide the candidates with the opportunity to pragmatically apply qualitative analysis techniques to their own and their peers' research findings. Paired with LIT 730, which runs concurrently, candidates will employ coding and dissemination strategies as they determine and explain what their raw data mean. In addition, the assigned journal articles and texts will include scholarship on the practice and philosophical underpinnings of qualitative research. Class sessions will follow a workshop format with discussions and activities related to weekly readings that explore the current terrain of qualitative research in the literacy field.

This workshop will concentrate on the revising and editing all chapters of the dissertation. Sophisticated writing and grammatical concepts appropriate for the seasoned writer will be explored. Methods for successfully using the peer review and editing processes will be incorporated into the course. Candidates will receive significant feedback from the instructors on the final chapters and will have considerable opportunity for revision throughout the workshop. Completion of the entire dissertation will be an objective of this course.

The process of developing belletristic manuscripts for submission will be the focus of this course. A variety of writing formats will be explored including but not limited to children's picture books, lengthier works of fiction, and poetry. Doctoral candidates will learn to identify a market-based need as well as potential outlets for their own written work. The preparation of two manuscript drafts will take place during this course.

This course will provide candidates with experience in the scholarly publishing process. In addition to studying the professional writing process and reviewing manuscript guidelines from key scholarly journals, doctoral candidates will synthesize their dissertation research into an article suitable for submission to a literacy research journal. The receipt and delivery of criticism as part of the professional writing community will be a key component throughout the course. Manuscripts will be finalized and submitted for consideration by the end of this course as one of the doctoral benchmarks.

Doctoral candidates must complete between four and six hours of electives as part of their program. Candidates may select from a wide range of courses to fulfill these electives; however, they may also pursue independent study for up to three hours under the supervision of a professor, advisor, or program director at Judson University.