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Online Literacy Master’s Courses

Curriculum Details

  • 10 courses
  • 30 credits
  • 3–6 residency hours
  • 8-week course duration

In the CAEP-accredited online master’s in literacy program, you will take 10 courses totaling 30 credit hours. The Residency Course is a required summer course that connects you to a local education-oriented organization. You will engage in three core literacy courses and seven concentration courses. All courses are eight weeks long, so you will be prepared to graduate after two years.

Customize your graduate degree to your teaching career when you choose a required concentration from SU’s wide range of in-demand options. To ensure you select the Shenandoah program that fully aligns with your personal and professional goals, contact us now.

Literacy Core Courses

Credits

Students will examine their own teaching and learning experiences, as well as research-based best practices for PreK-12 literacy education. Through collaborative activities and assignments, students will examine and assess the impact of collaboration on literacy teaching and learning.

Students will investigate and critique major issues in current literacy publications and curricula. Students will identify research interests in literacy education and conduct in-depth inquiries in order to propose action plans for the targeted problems.

Students will conduct collaborative projects focused on identified PreK-12 literacy achievement concerns. In order to increase peer knowledge and professional development, students’ projects will implement research-based best practices in teaching and assessment.

Required Courses Early Literacy Concentration

Credits

Learn more about the Children’s Literature Conference

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.
The language development of children from school years Pre-K through 12 is discussed. Consideration is given to instructional strategies that focus on language acquisition and its relationship to reading and the communicative arts of spelling, writing and speaking.
This course examines issues, theories, processes and contexts involved in oral language and early literacy development. Additionally, this course explores the implications for curriculum and instruction in early childhood settings for children from birth through grade two, including the role of English language learners and language development for exceptional learners. Students will develop competencies in the components of emergent literacy, which include oral language development, phonological and phonemic awareness, the alphabetic principle, high frequency vocabulary development, decoding and spelling strategies, and fluency development.
This course is a study of research-based literacy assessment and instructional practices useful in guiding developmentally appropriate learning for emergent readers. The course will provide participants with instruction and experience in the evaluation of abilities and achievement in literacy using formal and informal assessment procedures. Participants will design instructional programs based upon identified needs of individual children.
This course examines effective family involvement programs and current research underscoring the interaction among families, schools and the community and the impact of these factors on the academic success of preschool children. Participants will have opportunities to examine different approaches to and programs for family literacy. Emphasis is placed on developing understandings of cultural diversity and ethics when working with families and children. 
This course is a study of research-based literacy assessment and instructional practices useful in guiding developmentally appropriate learning for emergent readers. Through field experiences, students will improve their instructional and assessment practices by evaluating abilities and achievement in literacy using formal and informal assessment procedures. Students will design instructional programs based upon identified needs of individual children.

Required Courses Writing Concentration

Credits

This course brings together up to 25 distinguished local teachers from public and private schools, K-University levels, who have been invited by their institutions to participate in this four-week intensive summer experience to become Shenandoah Valley Writing Project (SVWP) Teacher Consultants. Students will examine issues in the teaching of writing; compare theories and research studies in the field; compose analytical and persuasive papers; and design, develop and present lessons demonstrating best practices. Participants are required to provide in-service workshops to their individual institutions for course completion. Course participation is by invitation only.

Learn more about the Children’s Literature Conference.

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 class examines and implements research-based best practices in learning and teaching grammar and linguistics as integrated with writing and reading instruction. This course includes strategies, workshops and assessments to help participants understand how to improve oral and written performance.
Participants will follow National Writing Project (NWP) protocols as they learn to examine, implement and reflect on best practices as writing coaches. In both field and class settings, participants will demonstrate research-based best practices in evaluating writing to increase student skills and achievement.

Writing Concentration (Select one)

Credits

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 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.

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