reading curriculum redesign team

The goal of the Reading Curriculum Redesign Team is to increase preservice teachers' knowledge of urban student populations and develop the performance skills and strategies needed to succeed in reading education in K-5 inner city school environments. This team includes UTC faculty, administrators, and selected mentors who collaboratively plan, guide, and implement strategies that will ensure that PDS students have a successful first experience in working with students from an urban setting.

As such, the syllabi across several courses in the PDS I Program have been reformulated.

The following changes have been implemented for the fall 2000 semester:

• The introduction of Ruby K. Payne's A Framework for Understanding Poverty in EDUC 418 Middle Grades: Organization, Curriculum, and Instruction
• PDS students will attend Friday seminars and discuss issues relative to misconceptions, problems, issues, and concerns in working with students in an urban setting
• PDS students will compare and contrast three different books that describe management and discipline strategies that work with urban students
• PDS students will keep a reflective journal with two entries per week that descibe experiences and growth in working with urban students
• Implement a onfidence-building collaborative "I Can Do It" reading lesson plan the first week
• PDS students will combine this experience and coursework to develop and implement three balanced reading lessons and reflect on their effectiveness