ED2094 - English Education for Early Childhood

Credit points:	03
Year:	2010
Student Contribution Band:	Band 1
Administered by:	School of Education

Compulsory for all students specialising in the Early Childhood area. External Offering available only to ECE online students only.

The basis of this subject is teaching young children in subject English across the areas of speaking, listening, reading, viewing, writing and designing, with particular reference to appropriate national and state curriculum frameworks and policies. Topics include a critique of several models of instruction which influence teaching across the language/literacy area, with a view to maximising learning opportunities for young children in today's P-3 classroom; a review of children's literature; investigation of a variety of text forms; issues of language diversity and learning styles and their impact on best teaching practice; and a variety of means for assessing and reporting such learning. There is a focus on meaning and relevance within the schooling and other contexts, as the basis for selecting literacy instructional techniques and materials to be used. Consideration of the profound changes in literacy demands for young children today and the major role media and technology play are featured.

Learning Outcomes

• use materials in motivating young learners to build new knowledges in age-appropriate ways and contexts;
• demonstrate an awareness of the diversity in classrooms and develop ways of accommodating such diversity in the Early Childhood English teaching and learning context;
• be familiar with the English Essential Learnings for Queensland and a range of instructional models for achieving these for children in the Early Childhood years;
• show an understanding of the changing nature of literacy demands today and means of teaching, assessing and reporting these dynamics;
• use this knowledge to build on a personal theory of English language and literacies that will inform the future classroom praxis for the teacher, including planning, assessment and reporting strategies;
• develop skills at modelling how speaking, listening, reading, viewing, writing and designing have important roles to play in life in and out of school across a variety of contexts;
• highlight the use of children's literature within a variety of genres and incorporate these in teaching across the subject English.

Graduate Qualities

• The ability to adapt knowledge to new situations;
• The ability to select and organise information and to communicate it accurately, cogently, coherently, creatively and ethically;
• The acquisition of coherent and disciplined sets of skills, knowledge, values and professional ethics from at least one discipline area;
• The ability to reflect on and evaluate learning, and to learn independently in a self directed manner;
• The ability to speak and write clearly, coherently and creatively.

Assumed Knowledge:	Lesson planning skills are assumed knowledge in this subject.
Prerequisites:	6 credit points of level 1 ED subjects
Inadmissible Subject Combinations:	ED2001 and ED2092

Availabilities
Townsville, Internal, Study Period 2
Census Date 26-Aug-2010
Coordinator:	Dr Geoff Ward
Contact hours:	26 hours lectures 13 hours workshops/Seminars
Assessment:	end of semester exam (50%); assignments (50%).
External, Study Period 2
Census Date 26-Aug-2010
Coord/Lect:	Dr Geoff Ward.
Method of Delivery:	WWW - LearnJCU
Assessment:	end of semester exam (50%); assignments (50%).
Cairns, Internal, Study Period 2
Census Date 26-Aug-2010
Coord/Lect:	Mr Eric Wilson.
Contact hours:	26 hours lectures 13 hours workshops/Seminars
Assessment:	end of semester exam (50%); assignments (50%).

Note: Minor variations might occur due to the continuous Subject quality improvement process, and in case of minor variation(s) in assessment details, the Subject Outline represents the latest official information.