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=Theory Into Practice Wiki= (Acknowledgement: this assignment has been adapted from a Theory Into Practice assignment developed by Dr. Marg Iveson at the University of Alberta.)

The purpose of this wiki is to provide a location for students in PED 3177/4177 at the University of Ottawa to collect and share professional resources related to the the teaching of English language arts at the junior, intermediate, and senior divisions.

If you are visiting this wiki in the hopes of finding resources or ideas for your language arts classroom. The three pages that might best help you navigate the wiki are the selected topics page (which serves as an index of pages on this wiki) and the Assessment Tools page (which list examples of assessment tools for language arts classes), the ELA Unit Plans page (which contains unit plans for a range of topics and grade levels), and the theories of literacy page.

Purpose
The goal of this assignment is to introduce you to relevant academic and professional literature related to the teaching of English language arts at the junior, intermediate, and senior divisions. Through your engagement with this literature it is expected that you will develop and represent your awareness of current issues, approaches, and discourses in English education.

Activity
Research one of the suggested topics listed on the selected topics page (selection sheets will be provided in class to minimize overlap between chosen topics). Find at least five articles, book chapters, web-based resources in current journals, or on reputed websites. Based on your research, develop a wiki page that both highlights relevant theory in English language arts education, and that demonstrates how that theory can be translated into practice.

Content and Format
Think about your wiki page as a quick professional resource. Your emphasis should be on developing a page that is practically oriented (while being theoretically grounded), easy to navigate, and visually appealing. Content should equal approximately three pages of formated text.

You should think of your colleagues as your primary audience for your wiki.

Content should include a mix of the following: theoretical frameworks, teaching ideas, mini lessons, teacher resources (e.g. lists of appropriate films, texts, websites), assessment ideas. When self-assessing your wiki, your primary questions should be, "Would this wiki page be useful to my colleagues? Is this a page I would turn to if I was looking at short notice to plan a lesson or two on my topic?"

Timelines
Draft wikis should be posted to the site by week three of the course. Final drafts must be posted by week 5. Peer review/feedback of drafts will take place on week three of the course.

** Assessment Workshop: ** I have uploaded the assessment workshop assignment to the wiki. Enjoy :-) You can upload your handouts to the following page: Assessment Tools



Notice:

If multiple people have chosen the same general topic. Each member must provide on the general topic page, a brief description of his or her narrowed topic (think abstract length). Included in that description should be a link to a new page, that contains your wiki assignment. You create your own page by completing the following steps:


 * 1) Click on "New Page" at the top of the left hand column of the wiki.
 * 2) Enter a title for your page where prompted.
 * 3) Return to the general page where your abstract is published and add a link to your new page. You add a link by completing the following steps:
 * 4) Write the name of your new page as the title of your abstract.
 * 5) Highlight this abstract title.
 * 6) Click on the link button.
 * 7) Under page name, select the new page you had just created.
 * 8) Click "Add Link"


 * Unit Planning Materials: ** I've uploaded the ppt slides here from the class on unit planning. I've also uploaded an example unit plan based on backwards design. It isn't perfect but it should help you get the idea. [[file:Unit planning example.docx]][[file:Responding to Literature 3177 f2010.pptx]]