Single Subject credential candidates will plan and implement content area instruction by incorporating the Learning Map model with integrated UDL principles and demonstrate the abilities to apply language/literacy scaffolds to content area knowledge for diverse learners of varying stages of literacy and language proficiency in alignment with CA-CCSS and ELA/ELA framework.

Course Learning Outcomes

1. Design a plan of instruction based on the Learning Map Design, principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) , and a Multiple Tiered System of Support (MTSS)] for content area instruction that addresses the language and literacy needs of all learners.  (TPEs 1.4,1.6,1.8, 2.2, 2.4, 2.5, 3.2, 3.7,4.4, 4.6, 4.7, 4.8) 
2. Demonstrate knowledge for organizing and managing literacy and language grouping configurations to optimize student access and understanding of content area learning with an emphasis on content-specific vocabulary, deep comprehension, and oral and written responses to the reading of increasingly more challenging content-based informational texts. (TPE 1.4, 1.6, 1.8, 2.5, 3.1, 3.7, 4.1, 4.2, 4.4, 4.6, 4.7)
3. Utilize text-based and digitally-based resources, materials, and technologies that intentionally provide equitable access and support content area learning for English speakers, English speakers, long-term English learners, standard English learners, students with disabilities, students with other learning needs –  including those who have experienced interrupted schooling, chronic migration, trauma, homelessness, foster care, incarceration and/or are medically fragile.(TPEs 1.4, 1.6,1.8, 2.4, 2.5, 3.7, 4.4, 4.6 4.7)
4. Teach a discipline-based unit plan based on the knowledge of learners by providing multimedia, varied text structures, targeted feedback, and timely interventions to create optimal content area learning within a disciplinary learning sequence, using other technologies such as hand-held devices, phones, and other online technology devices and tools. (TPEs 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8, 2.2, 2.5, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.4, 4.6)
5. Demonstrate knowledge of multiple teaching strategies and resources that develop learners’ abilities to write independently with increasingly more complex text structures for a variety of tasks, purposes, and audiences across disciplines. (TPEs 1.1,1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 2.2, 2.5, 3.1, 4,1. 4.2, 4.4, 4.6)
6. Analyze (individually and through consultation/collaboration with other educators) multiple forms of assessments to address the range of content-driven language and literacy needs of all learners in the secondary classroom. (TPEs 1.8, 3.1, 3.2, 3.4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.6, 4.7, 5.1, 5.2, 5.4, 5.6, 5.7)

Course Requirements

This is a content-based course that leads to a variety of practical applications. Students are expected to complete all assigned readings and review all the information contained in the padlets in the Content Presentation section before entering the Discussion Boards and completing the assignments.  The Content Presentation sections provide pertinent, current information via interactive padlets and are part of the required activities for each week.  Be sure to access all the required portions of each padlet. 

The course contains various assignments which directly relate to your teaching in a secondary classroom and are set forth in the following details. 

For guidance with APA format, an excellent tutorial is available at:

• APA Style – Basics 

To access the website, copy and paste the web address into your browser.  Clicking on this particular link may not work.

Course Snapshot Overview of ITL522

Each week, you will dive deep into learning, designing, and reflecting on content area literacy in your classroom. You will have opportunities to create learning experiences for students to demonstrate both their content comprehension and literacy skills! In addition, ITL 522 will prepare you to understand and apply subject-specific pedagogies and language development strategies for you to demonstrate your knowledge on the Teaching Performance Assessment (CalTPA). Here we go!

Stretch your mindset to make connections to everything you are learning, do not view them in silos as they all intersect! Here is what our month ahead will look like!

Week 1: Content-Literacy Instruction & Support

Systems of Support, UDL in Action, Content-Literacy Instructional Strategies & Assessments

By embedding literacy skills into your classroom, you will be able to provide your students with opportunities to listen, read, write, and speak in your content area! Cultivating support through frameworks like MTSS and UDL will allow you to plan, assess, and group students for appropriate interventions and scaffolds. This week, you will be focusing especially on the TPE elements of Language Development, Content Knowledge, and Foundational Skills.

Connect! Keep in mind what you learn about content-literacy instructional strategies, interventions, and assessments as you begin Week Two and make connections to the Week Two content!

Week 2: Informational Text & Assessment Strategies

Formative & Summative Assessment, Text Structures, Informational Text, Synthesis, Argumentation

Informational texts can be used in any content area to support critical thinking, vocabulary development, synthesis, and application of new learning. By learning about your students and applying that knowledge to the way you plan writing prompts and text-based activities, you are cultivating an accessible and inclusive literacy environment!

Connect! Keep in mind what you learn about assessments, informational texts, and writing strategies and how they intersect with what you know about content literacy standards and interventions, and take these intersections forward into next week.

Week 3: Inclusive Writing & Assessment Practices

Scaffolds, Syntax, Diverse Texts, Assessment and Critique in Content Area Classrooms

Your content-literacy writing task design, including diverse and inclusive voices, will support your focus on the TPE elements of Effective Expression, Meaning-Making, and Foundational Skills. You will think meaningfully this week around scaffolds for student support, authentic engagement, and student voice in your classroom writing experiences.

Connect! Think about how scaffolds, writing prompts, and inclusion intersect with what you learned about equitable literacy assessments and vocabulary development, and take these intersections into next week.

Week 4: Representing Your Students in a Content Literacy Classroom

Academic and Content Specific Vocabulary, UDL Principles, Inclusion, Writing Purposes, Citations

Now, you will use all Weeks One through Three content to help inform your final reflections on stage 4 of your Learning Map! You will design opportunities for students to: cite evidence with written analysis, comprehend text meaningfully, write for different purposes, and see themselves represented in your classroom.

The connections you made in ITL522 are your foundation moving into ITL526! You will continue to build your knowledge and skills as you have designed: an in-depth learning map, content-literacy assessments, scaffolded vocabulary strategies, high-quality rubrics, and individualized supports. As you move into ITL526, you will apply a deeper understanding of becoming an inspired teacher by integrating the content and pedagogical practices you practiced in ITL520 and ITL522!

Reflective Discussion Posts

The rationale of using video reflection as a medium: As a teacher, you need to get comfortable with having others watch you teach as well as watching yourself teach. Teachers in the 21^st Century do not teach in a silo with their doors closed; inclusive classrooms include co-teaching, intervention specialists, and many other support roles who will be in your classroom. Gaining confidence in presenting in front of others is an important aspect of teaching. Also, to pass the CalTPA, you will be recording yourself teaching and will have to annotate your instruction. ITL will scaffold your ability to present in front of others as well as how to reflect deeply. The CalTPA will not judge you on your APA, but it does require you to be able to reflect in writing on your teaching: planning, instruction, assessment, and reflection.

Detailed Course Assignments and Method of Assessment/Evaluation:

1. Threaded Discussion Board Postings

The threaded discussions ask you to apply what you have been reading and viewing in the required videos.  You will be presented to several prompts each week and also to respond to your colleagues.  Further details regarding each week are contained in the course itself.

• Synchronous Session Guidelines

Zoom synchronous sessions will be held weekly in this course.  We encourage you to attend in person since that will allow you to interact with the instructor and your fellow students and ask all the questions you have about the course, the text, the assignments, and the topics under discussion.  If you cannot attend in person, each session will be recorded, and you can listen to the archived SS recording for the week. 

Following is a brief description of the weekly assignments. Further details regarding each of the assignments are contained in the course itself.

3. Learning Map Stage 1 Assignment – Week 1 Assignment 1

This week, you will begin to design learning experiences focusing specifically on your content area’s literacy skills.  By the end of the month, your learning map will include strategies for students to access challenging informational text related to your subject area, be assessed on their writing, and have opportunities to engage in discourse with meaningful and relevant text and writing prompts. This week, plant the foundation for your students to make literacy connections to your content area!

4. Instructional Strategy Assignment – Week 1 Assignment 2

Connections: Analyze and identify instructional strategies for building language/literacy skills in your content area; create a writing assessment to deliver one of your identified instructional strategies; create groups of students based on their level of proficiency with the writing assignment.  For this assignment, utilize the medium of your choice.

5. Learning Map Stage 2 Assignment – Week 2 Assignment 1

Candidates Utilize the Learning Map Template to complete Stage 2. You will complete the following sections in Stage 2: Student Assets, Learning Needs, Content of the Lesson, Assessments/Checking for Understanding, Structured Student Learning Activities, and Instruction to Support Learning.

6. Learning Activity Informational Text Assignment – Week 2 Assignment 2

Identify a challenging piece of informational text that relates to your content area. Create a learning activity with the informational text you selected. Design a writing prompt based on the informational text that will require students to answer with a claim, evidence, and reasoning statement. Explain how the writing prompt you designed will allow for you to measure each student’s language and literacy needs. What will you do for students based on how they answer the writing prompt?

7. Learning Map Stage 3 Teaching Assignment – Week 3 Assignment 1

Utilize the Learning Map Template to complete Stage 3. You will complete the following items in Stage 3:  Analysis of prior knowledge and student work, development of instruction for focus students, student assets as they relate to informed instruction, and your written narrative.

8. Utilizing Inclusive and Diverse Text Assignment – Week 3 Assignment 2

Identify an inclusive and diverse piece of text that is connected to your content area. Create a writing prompt for your students to answer after they have read the text. Describe two challenges a focus student may have when trying to understand or access the writing prompt and offer two scaffolds to help support them in writing. Build a rubric for the prompt you designed that students could use to self-critique their writing.  Design an engaging and interactive activity that will allow students to give and receive feedback from their peers on their writing pieces.

9. Learning Map Stage 4 Assignment – Week 4 Assignment 1

Utilize the Learning Map Template to complete Stage 4. You will complete the following in Stage 4:  describe what you have learned to inform instruction, provide the next steps for instruction, describe targeted instructional adaptations, and describe in detail how to support all students in an inclusive and safe learning environment.

10. Writing for Different Purposes Assignment – Week 4 Assignment 2

Develop three active (or “hands-on”) learning experiences for students in your content area. Create a writing prompt for each of the three learning experiences to measure student comprehension. Describe how each of your three learning experiences is inclusive and allows for each student in the room to be represented.

Alternative to Fieldwork Assignment 7 – Teaching Your Learning Map

If you do not have your own classroom in which to teach your Learning Map or if you are restricted by external factors from teaching in a classroom (such as COVID restrictions), here are some alternative options for conducting this fieldwork assignment:

• Conduct your lesson to a class via Zoom.
• Conduct your lesson to a group of your colleagues “functioning” as a class via Zoom.
• Conduct your lesson in a “pretend” class.