EDUC7548.01 (Brisk): Teaching Report and Explanation Writing to K-8 Students

The course site opens to participants on November 8, but course sessions run from November 12 through December 10.

Course Series: Teaching the Genres of Writing to K-8 students

Series Description

Using a genre-based pedagogy with strong emphasis on language development, participants will learn what and how to teach writing.  The approach has been developed and tested for over 10 years in multiple elementary and K- 8 schools. The content has been distributed among 3 one-credit courses each focusing on a set of genres.

Maximum enrollment per course: 20 participants. An additional section will be open when the first one reaches maximum enrollment.

Participants can enroll for graduate credit or for no-credit.  K-8 teachers can apply for in-service credits.

Each course includes

• 4 week-long modules with self-paced activities and weekly assignments.

• 5 one hour live ONLINE sessions using Zoom.

Other Courses in this Series

• EDUC 7547: Teaching Narrative Writing to K-8 Students (October 1 - October 29, 2019)

• EDUC 7549: Teaching Argument and Procedure Writing to K-8 students (January 14 - February 11, 2020)

This Course: EDUC 7548 - Teaching Report and Explanation Writing to K-8 students

(1 graduate credit)

This is a project-based course where groups of participants will collaborate to develop a writing unit in a genre appropriate for their grade level. Using a genre-based pedagogy informed by systemic functional linguistics, participants will learn what and how to teach reports and explanations in the context of social studies and/or science. Features of the genres demanded in elementary and middle schools will be learned and practiced. The strong emphasis on language development distinguishes this approach from others currently used in schools. The approach to teaching guides teachers in ways of apprenticing students to writing that builds confidence and success.

Course Schedule (November 12 - December 10, 2019)

The live sessions are all 7:30-8:30 pm. (11/12;11/19;11/26;12/3; 12/10)

Amount of Time per week

The course requires 3 hours and 10’ of weekly activities besides readings and assignments.

These activities are organized in weekly cycles with 2 hours 10’ to be done asynchronous (at your own pace) and 1 hour synchronous (live session). The live sessions will take place on Tuesdays 7:30-8:30 pm.

Participants are required to keep pace with the weekly activities and participate in the synchronous sessions.

Course Activities

There will be a variety of activities to facilitate acquiring the content of the course including: short lectures, readings, discussions, teachers sharing how they implemented the units, videos of teachers applying the approach in their classrooms, work with mentor texts and student work, affinity groups collaborations toward creating genre units, and live sessions to share experiences, answer questions, and clarify challenges.  In the sections facilitated by Maria Brisk, participants who are teachers in Spanish English bilingual programs can create units using one or both languages.

Course Designer and Facilitator

Maria Estela Brisk is a Professor of Education at the Teacher Education, Special Education and Curriculum and Instruction Department, Lynch School of Education, Boston College.  She received her Ph. D. in linguistics and bilingual education at the University of New Mexico in 1972. Her research and teacher-training interests include elementary students’ writing development, bilingual education, bilingual language and literacy acquisition, methods of teaching literacy, and preparation of mainstream teachers to work with bilingual learners.  She is the author of numerous articles and books.

For the past 13 years Dr. Brisk has worked closely with K-8 schools to develop a genre-based writing program for their schools, preparing teachers and researching children’s writing development. Her book Engaging Students in Academic Literacies: Genre-based Pedagogy for K-5 Classrooms features the approach to teaching writing that emerged from the work in schools.  The approach has been helpful for all students including bilingual learners.

Professor Brisk, native of Argentina, is a fluent speaker of Spanish.

Registration and Payment

Please enroll via the "$400 Enroll" button (above or below) if:

• You are paying for an individual enrollment via credit card or
• You have paid for this course some other way and been given a promo code

You can find additional information about registration for this course at http://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/lsoe/academics/professional-continuing-education/online-courses.html

Purchase Order payments are possible.  Please contact Jean McDonald to arrange jean.mcdonald.2@bc.edu or 617-552-2226.

After registering, send an email to maria.brisk@bc.edu with the following information:

• Name

• Email

• School and grade level

Questions about the content and delivery of the course: maria.brisk@bc.edu