Online Master’s Degree in Literacy With a Writing Concentration

Course description currently under development.

This course offers students an introduction to using tests, assessments, and other measurement tools to make organizational decisions. It is designed to encourage students to think critically about their use and efficacy and to place these practices in the context of demands for organizational effectiveness by stakeholder constituencies.

This course is designed to impart a thorough understanding of the Virginia English Standards of Learning as well as the reciprocal nature of reading and writing. Reading instruction includes phonemic awareness, concept of print, phonics, fluency, vocabulary development and comprehension strategies. Writing instruction includes writing strategies and conventions that support the composing/writing expression and usage/mechanics domains. This course includes proficiency in understanding the stages of spelling development, the writing process and fostering appreciation of a variety of fiction, non-fiction text and independent reading.

This course includes a study of the teaching and learning strategies necessary for developing basic literacy skills in the content areas. Teacher candidates will focus on assessing and improving PreK-12 student achievement in content disciplines by implementing effective, research-based practices for teaching reading and writing. In practica, teacher candidates will tutor children struggling with literacy.

In this course, candidates examine issues in the teaching of writing, study current and past research and theory in the field, and write in various modes and from different points of view, including book responses and a position paper on the teaching of writing. Candidates experience the writing workshop model from invention through revision, editing, and ultimately publication.

This course assists instructors in learning research-based strategies and best practices for using writing as a valuable instructional and assessment tool across the curriculum. As teacher-writers, participants will work on their own writing in mentorship sessions instructed by Shenandoah Valley Writing Project (SVWP) Teacher Consultants. Participants should be practicing teachers.

This is the first course in a paired field-based sequence preparing educators to serve as literacy leaders and writing coaches. Using National Writing Project-informed practices and current research, students examine effective writing instruction and coaching, identify an appropriate mentor and field setting, establish professional learning goals, observe literacy instruction, analyze the needs of learners and educators, and develop plans for coaching and professional learning. The course prepares students for applied coaching, evaluation, and leadership experiences completed in WR 643.

This is the second course in a paired field-based sequence preparing educators to serve as literacy leaders and writing coaches. Students apply research-based practices in authentic field settings through coaching, collaboration, evaluation of writing and literacy instruction, feedback, and professional learning. Students use evidence to assess the effectiveness of instructional and coaching practices, lead professional learning, reflect on their development as literacy leaders, and complete a professional portfolio documenting their work.