Course Description
Service-learning class that takes current and potential Language Education and English students into local classrooms to teach and learn from literature at all educational levels. Aimed towards those interested in a future teaching career or passionate about the civic, social, and human value of literature.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will immerse themselves in the literature and
practice of service-learning as well as in the study of
literature and pedagogy at a high level. Graduate students will
be held to a higher standard than undergraduate students in the
class, completing fuller and more detailed "low-stakes" writing
assignments and, in addition, a substantial final project and a
teaching portfolio showcasing their commitment to
service-learning. They will construct a discipline-specific
final project that is appropriate to their program of study,
such as a publishable paper on literature, including a full
bibliography and a meta-critical review, for literature
students; or a syllabus and curriculum for Language Education
students.
Athena Title
Literature in Schools
Non-Traditional Format
Course includes a service-learning project during the semester that either employs skills or knowledge learned in the course or teaches new skills or knowledge related to course objectives. The course uses service-learning as the primary pedagogical tool for teaching course objectives. Students will work on a comprehensive project(s) and may be required to send considerable time outside the classroom. Students will be engaged in the service-learning component for approximately 75-100% of overall instructional time.
Undergraduate Prerequisite
Permission of department
Graduate Prerequisite
Permission of department
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
1) Students will become familiar with the methods used in schools to teach literature and language arts 2) Students will become intimate with the literary texts most frequently taught in schools 3) Students will reflect upon the value of service-learning and upon the importance of Language Arts in general 4) Students will learn to write clearly, reflectively, and precisely about service-learning and literature
Topical Outline
The instructor will come up with the topical outline in collaboration with local schoolteachers and thus it will vary from year to year. A sample set of readings might include: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and texts from the Civil Rights movement; assignments for such a course would include developing a concordance, a filmography, a set of assignments, and a series of content modules for use in the classroom. Another syllabus might require students to become familiar with the Georgia classroom performance standards for the relevant grades and to be able to develop rubrics for particular texts and to identify content in the plays that might be used for the performance standards, including the standards for integrated curricula in the Junior International Baccalaureate and International Baccalaureate diplomas currently being explored in the ACC School District.