Course Catalog

The primary purpose of this course is to bring together students and faculty who are engaged in all kinds of community and public interest projects, to make connections between projects, to read and discuss social and political theory articles, and to meet interesting outside guests. Permission of instructor.

Prerequisites: Graduate standing.

Provides key theoretical underpinnings to research and instruction in literacy. Investigates current theories of reading/literacy and their historical roots as well as current trends in practice. Ties these trends in practice to the question: “What is typical and atypical development and how does context affect judgments about typicality and atypically?”

Focuses on the child in her or his own varying life contexts, including home, school, clinic, and community. Studies the ways individual children who are experiencing literacy problems understand and express their knowledge of literacy within and across these contexts. Uses this portfolio of information in the design of effective interventions and assessments for young children in their classrooms.

This course surveys new media and literacies and examines definitions of learning in classroom and out-of-class contexts. Each week, we will examine various media, the literacies they demand or produce, and methods for studying new media effects, and consider debates about the value of new media and literacies for learning.

Prepares secondary education students to critically examine the teaching and learning applications of a variety of technology tools and resources, situating this examination in the context of contemporary and historical issues related to technology use, access, and the broader purposes of schooling. Explores notions of what it means for both a teacher and learner to have a digital presence by developing an understanding of oneself as a professional, and offers hands-on experience and opportunities for engaged reflection.

Enables students to successfully meet the needs of middle and high school students with literacy problems with regard to assessment, instruction, and curriculum development/modification. Attends to the transition from learning to read and write to using reading and writing to learn, the literacy demands of the context areas (science, history, and mathematics), the relationship between in and out-of-school literacies, and developmentally appropriate technological tools that enhance the learning of students experiencing learning difficulties.

Introduces students to current theory and research in the processes of learning and teaching in schools. Focuses primarily on educational psychology; emphasis placed on urban education and diversity. This course is closely tied to EDUC 650, which entails an internship in schools in an urban area.

The purpose of the course is to introduce students to the use of digital records of practice (RoP) as a method for understanding their own practice as well as the practice of others. Students will work with new technologies to develop a professional language and theoretical and conceptual frames that will guide them in their gathering, examining, analyzing, and evaluating a variety of RoP.

The purpose of the course is to develop a professional voice and dispositions by examining and learning from one's own practice. In this course, students will work in a technology rich environment to understand how the use of digital records of practice can guide their learning and deepen their knowledge and skills of teaching. Students do this by sharing their digital records of practice in a professional context.

This seminar will provide a deep understanding of the complexity of race, ethnicity, and culture within the stories of historic and contemporary Detroit. Emphasis will be on skills for critical analysis, creativity, and communication, place-based literacies and learning, and learning from and advocating for the city and its people.

In this course, we will explore:

• The long history of Detroit, as well as its contemporary relevance (Miles, Sugrue, Foley)
• Detroit’s outsized contribution to 20th and 21st century poetry (Blair, Levine, moore, Hughes, Murray, Langford, Rogers)
• A multiple award-winning dramatic cycle (Morriseau)
• Books for young readers (Shapiro and Brantley-Newton, Yoo, LaDelle)
• Literary novels (Flournoy, Eugenides, Foley)
• Graphic novels (Ahmed, other)
• Literary communities in Detroit (Source Booksellers, others)

Students will engage in a number of high-interest activities throughout the course of the semester, including several field trips and visits with guest speakers, building toward a final project rooted in one of the areas above.

This course meets with EDUC 313.

Provides an overview of behaviorist, constructivist, and sociogenic theories and their application to early childhood education settings. Students use narrative specimen records, structured inquiry, and case studies to explore relationships between theory and practice.

Considers a number of issues of concern to the field such as day care, work and family, readiness testing, and poverty and public responsibility. Course is focused on one or two issues each semester.

This course explores objectives, methods, and content in PK-6 mathematics instruction, emphasizing concept development in several areas of PK-6 mathematics; refers to pertinent contributions from research; and provides opportunities for engaging in core teaching practices around discussion-based mathematics lessons.

This course supports interns in using mathematical practices to deepen their understandings of mathematical content learned in previous mathematics courses and taught during student teaching.

This course provides an orientation to educational inquiry appropriate for a range of education stakeholders. In interdisciplinary work groups students investigate a specific contemporary educational policy/practice issue as it plays out in real-world contexts, conduct a guided inquiry into the issue, and design a response to the issue.