Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Erie-Behrend College · Courses
LLED
48 courses with the subject LLED, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
LLED 215NChildren's Picture Books as Multimodal Texts3
Children's picture books are often described as fundamental in nurturing the development of young children into engaged readers and fearless writers. Many adults have a special place in their hearts for picture books they loved as children; books they read over and over again, books that spoke to their hearts and minds, and books that helped them figure out the mystery of written language. In this inter-domain course, we will take a close look at children's picture books and explore their magic though integrating humanities and the arts. We will read many, many books of different genres to examine how the written text and illustration work together to compose a work of art that we read, understand, enjoy and connect to. We will explore the criteria by which we judge the literary and artistic quality of picture books and will become acquainted with resources that can help us find exceptional books. We will also consider the significance of children's literature representing diverse perspectives and will work to deconstruct the values and biases implicit in texts written for young children. Much of the course will be organized in a workshop format through which we will learn about the authoring and illustrating techniques and processes used by notable authors and illustrators of modern children's picture books, while also experimenting with the same techniques through drafting and developing our own picture books. Our end goal will be to thoughtfully weave linguistic Undergraduate - The Pennsylvania State University 2026-2027 4465 and visual composition elements to craft original multimodal texts for children. General Education: Arts (GA) General Education: Humanities (GH) General Education - Integrative: Interdomain GenEd Learning Objective: Creative Thinking GenEd Learning Objective: Crit and Analytical Think GenEd Learning Objective: Integrative Thinking GenEd Learning Objective: Key Literacies
Children's literature reveals how a culture imagines itself and offers a window into other cultures for young readers. What a child reads and what is read to the child shows the values the child's nation holds dearly. However, in this rapidly changing world, national culture is fluid, ever changing and mixing with other cultures. Being a global citizen and a potential educator for children requires some level of familiarity with a diverse array of cultures. This course will introduce you to traditional Chinese culture and explore its representations in western children's literature. The class will first delve into the works of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism adapted for children. You will study the impact of these intellectual schools in Chinese society and develop a broad and coherent understanding of Chinese cultural values. From there, the class will examine western children's literature, focusing on voices that echo with or differ from Chinese culture. For example, Ursula K Le Guinn, author of the Earthsea fantasy series, claims that her work was
/Maximum of 18 Creative projects, including research and design, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
The purpose of LLED 302 is to familiarize teacher candidates with different theories and practices of teaching literature in early childhood and elementary classrooms. Candidates are immersed in the study and experiences of literature and strategic models of literature instruction. Understanding that underlying belief systems determine the models of literature instruction educators adopt, LLED 302 asks candidates to be mindful of the diverse nature of our communities and encourages them to strive to create literary communities that respect, value, and encourage multiple modes of expressions. The basic course goals are to help candidates to understand the importance of story in all human lives; to exhibit a wide repertoire of flexible strategies for interpreting literature; to understand socio-cultural influences upon writing and literature; to know and be able to use basic reference tools and selection guides for research; to become familiar with different genres, diverse texts, and styles; to articulate responses to literature across a variety of media; to weave into the exploration of each of these goals a struggle to understand and to accept human differences; to understand the role that literature plays in the school curriculum; and to understand the role that literature can play in creating a just and inclusive society. The course presents theories of teaching literature and models of literature instruction that place at the center socio-cultural practices typical of democratic and just literary communities. This requires knowledge of how literature and texts work in real life and in a variety of social and cultural contexts. Informed by research, standards and current practices, LLED 302 exhibits the power of literature, the complexities of students' learning and experiences with texts, and the problem-solving character of teaching.
Principles, problems, materials, and techniques involved in the development of speaking, listening, writing, and reading in early childhood in homes, schools, and communities. This course is intended to help teacher candidates become knowledgeable users of theory e and language about language, literacy and culture as related to young children and to think through instructional possibilities thoroughly, using multiple sources of information to experiment with and provide justification for chosen decisions. Focusing specifically on young learners' (PK - 1) literacy development, we center a culturally responsive understanding of literacy curriculum that recognizes and supports the interconnectedness of home, community and school environments in early literacy development. We understand young children engage texts that go beyond print texts to include multimodal visual, auditory, digital, movement, and artifactual texts. In LLED 400, candidates learn to understand how young children develop as readers,writers, users, and generators of literacies in and out of school. Literacy teaching is both an intellectual and practical matter in which teachers work with students in ways that recognize the complexities of language and its social uses, the role of play, learning and its cultural contexts, and schooling as organizational phenomena. Young children enter schools with multiple types of literacy knowledge and cultural experiences. Coming to understand these complexities requires the coordination of both theoretical awareness and applied knowledge. Developing practical strategies to teach literacy requires a dedication of head, hand, and heart to treat all people with dignity, acknowledging the contributions of all cultural groups and respecting diversity as it honors ideals of social justice. In LLED 400, teacher candidates develop a repertoire of
LLED 411Teaching Language Arts In Secondary Schools I3
Exploration of language, literacy, and culture and development of curricular designs for teaching language arts in secondary schools. LL ED 411 is designed to provide pre-service secondary English and communications teachers with the foundational experiences for inquiry into the relationships between language, literacy, and culture. Participants reflect upon personal experiences with language and school, examine secondary education perspectives in pedagogical and philosophical terms, build supportive relationships with colleagues to develop the best curricular and instructional decisions, explore the social, psychological, political, and economic aspects of language use d and literacy practices in a country with diverse cultures, explore the construction of meaning and knowledge by the use of language and other symbolic systems of representing and sharing experience. A strong emphasis is placed upon the teacher as collaborator, risk-taker, and researcher, who tries new ideas, documents the classroom experience that results, and shares reflections with colleagues to help construct the best understanding for teaching language arts in secondary schools. Course work involves extensive reading, the production of artifacts of a variety of types (written, performed, multi-media) such as journals, reviews, viewpoints, and original research, all done by both individuals and small groups to pursue the course objectives. Entrance to SECED major or graduate certification program
LLED 412WTeaching Language Arts in Secondary Schools II3
Exploration of language, literacy, and culture and development of . curricular designs for teaching language arts in secondary schools. LL ED 412W Teaching Language Arts in Secondary Schools II (3) This three-credit course addresses the theory, practice, and implications of teaching the English language arts at the secondary level. The course is the discipline-specific component of the Secondary Education block taken by majors in Secondary Education prior to student teaching. In this course, students explore issues in language, literacy, and culture and development of curricular designs for teaching language arts in secondary schools. Through in-class and out-of-class activities completed both independently and in collaboration, students read about, talk about, and practice teaching all of the language arts-reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking. Activities highlight ways of planning for instruction and ways of assessing student learning as teachers implement those plans. In addition, students will take up the professional issues facing beginning teachers of the English language arts-issues of professionalism and the teaching role, relationships with students, and how teaching can fit into a life. The course builds upon content developed in other courses in the major, including theories of reading, composition, media literacy, teacher inquiry, and pedagogy. Students engage in a variety of writing tasks both in support of developing course content and as a means of making their work public. This writing includes (but is not limited to) lesson planning, reflective writing on experiences both in the course and in related field experience, inquiry proposals, and other professional documents. During class sessions, informal writing is used for a variety of purposes such as brainstorming, facilitating collaborative work, or framing discussion. Writing Across the Curriculum
LLED 420Teaching Adolescent Literature and Literacy3
Exploration of adolescent literacy and curricular designs for teaching adolescent literature and literacy in secondary schools. LL ED 420 is designed to provide the personal experiences and inquiry with adolescent literature and literacy patterns essential for pre-service teachers. Participants reflect upon personal experiences with adolescent literature, examine critical education perspectives in pedagogical and philosophical terms, build supportive relationships with colleagues to develop the best curricular and instructional decisions, explore the literary character of adolescent literature, the representation of cultural diversity in the voices of adolescent literature, and the curricular design of experiences with adolescent literature in secondary schools. A strong emphasis is placed upon the teacher as collaborator, risk-taker, and researcher, who tries new ideas, documents the classroom experience that results, and shares reflections with colleagues to help construct a better understanding of using adolescent literature in secondary schools. Course work involves extensive reading, written documents of a variety of types (journals, reviews, reports, original research) done by individuals and small groups to pursue the course objectives. Entrance for SECED major or graduate level certification pathway.
This course will provide preparation for teaching writing in the secondary school context. Students completing this course will meet the following objectives: -Understand one's own history as a writer and as a student in relation to the student's current and future practice in the teaching of writing -Articulate principles of a process approach to writing instruction and a workshop learning environment for writing, grounded in research and theory -Know and use strategies for supporting student writers as they work through writing processes -Differentiate writing instruction for students with varying backgrounds and needs -Access, evaluate, and use professional resources for writing instruction in ways that are consistent with principles grounded in research and theory Course content will include an orientation to writing processes, the social contexts of written genres, classroom environments for teaching writing, overcoming barriers to writing in adolescents, conferring and feedback, teaching the conventions of written English, and writing assessment. In addition, students in the course will engage in professional activities appropriate to a teacher of writing at the secondary level. To achieve these aims, students will engage in significant in-class and out-of-class writing activities. They will study examples of teaching practice and student writing from real secondary school classrooms. They will read and apply research on effective writing instruction. They will develop instructional plans and classroom resources for writing instruction. Finally, they will articulate stances for practice as teachers of writing as they begin their professional careers as teachers
LLED 422Teaching the Young Adult Literature Workshop3
This course is designed to familiarize students with the genre and field of young adult (YA) literature and to provide a rationale and basis for practice for teaching adolescent literature in English Language Arts (ELA) courses utilizing a Reader's Workshop format. By the end of this course, students will be able to (a) Articulate a working definition of adolescent/ YA literature; (b) Respond to a variety of YA literature texts individually and in a group to increase understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of this literary genre; (c) Describe some of the trends and dominant concerns in the field of YA literature, including: multiculturalism, new/ digital literacies, critical literacy, and censorship; (d) Choose YA texts appropriate for classroom use by gaining familiarity with a range of popular and/or award-winning YA literature titles; (e) Select YA texts that will stimulate interest, foster appreciation for the written word, and increase motivation of learners to read independently for pleasure and for personal growth; (e) Make and support claims about the use of YA lit in the ELA classroom; (f) Design lessons in the context of a reader's workshop approach; (g) Explore, evaluate, and select instructional materials and professional resources for teaching with YA literature; and (h) Demonstrate an awareness of culturally responsive literature teaching and an understanding of how cultural, linguistic, and ethnic diversity impact teaching and learning as these ideas connect to YA literature. This course engages essential questions in the teaching of young adult literature in the workshop format. First, it invites students to engage the question "What is young adult literature (YA literature) or adolescent literature?" This is particularly important as the YA category grows in quantity and importance. Second, students consider, "How can we use YA literature to teach for social justice and social responsibility?," a question resonant with Standard Six of the National Council of Teachers of English's Standards for the Preparation of Teachers of English Language Arts. Students will consider in depth the advantages and the challenges of using YA literature in secondary classrooms. They will learn promising practices in adolescent literacy and teaching young adult literature as well as methods and materials that teachers can use to maximize engagement for all students. Finally, students will engage the linked questions of "How can ELA teachers motivate students to read for pleasure and personal growth?" and "How do we humanize our YA literature teaching and teach for love, justice, joy, and wisdom?"
LLED 445Teaching English in Bilingual/Dialectal Education3
Theories, techniques, materials for teaching English speaking, reading, and writing to bilingual and nonnative speakers in elementary and secondary schools.
Study of reading skills and materials for specific content areas; diagnostic and instructional procedures for classroom teachers. LLED 450 Content Area Reading (3) LLED 450 is designed to explore the roles of texts and literacies within the daily lives of middle school age students. We will examine both in-school and out-of-school literacy practices related to meaning-making in specific communities of practice. In doing so, we will work from a broader definition of "text" that includes print, images, sound, hybrid combinations and artifacts from popular culture. In school, we examine how literacies are involved in the learning of content, emphasizing how social practices of thinking in different ways about the world have been organized into school subjects and how teachers can help students to engage productively in those practices. Out of school, we look at the ways in which this age group uses text and other forms of literacy to make sense of and in their lives. Toward that end, we look closely at the media that they use and the types of texts
The Art of the Picturebook explores a wide range of picturebooks with the idea that illustrations are visual art evoking thoughts and feelings. Because picturebooks provide aesthetic experiences and contribute to aesthetic development, they are rich and important sources for literacy education. This course provides opportunities to extend students' repertoire of strategies for making sense of picturebooks, to deepen knowledge about picturebooks and the artists who create them, and to consider ways to help children become more sophisticated readers of picturebooks. While picturebooks are often emphasized as integral to the literacy development of young children, they can be engaging and desirable for older children as well. Course topics include picturebooks for the very young, as well as picturebooks that could appeal to elementary and middle school children. Whether picturebooks appear relatively simple and straightforward or contain innovatively complex or metafictive design elements, close readings of them with an understanding of terminology offer opportunities to express and discuss reactions and interpretations. The Art of the Picturebook provides students a forum for exploring preferences, ideas, insights, and questions about selected picturebooks, along with curricular and pedagogical considerations. Course readings include interviews with illustrators, selections about creating picture compositions, and scholarly essays presenting theoretical perspectives and ideas about picturebooks as literature and art for children's literacy development. This course emphasizes that reading and interpreting picturebooks is an active, creative process that is socially, culturally, and historically situated. Authors and illustrators are influenced by culture, so their art reflects values of that culture, consciously or unconsciously. A reader's experience with a picturebook is also influenced by cultural and social contexts in a given moment. Because engaging in aesthetic experiences is an active, creative process, reading picturebooks is, as Jane Doonan (1993), author of Looking at Pictures in Picture Books, asserts, a form of play. The Art of the Picturebook approaches picturebooks as sources of deep play. The course also provides opportunities to research selected illustrators, both for class discussions and an illustrator study project (e.g., a Wiki page). The culminating illustrator study project involves an in-depth investigation of a key children's book illustrator and a process of sharing works-in-progress with classmates for collaborative editing. Undergraduate - The Pennsylvania State University 2026-2027 4469
LLED 464Nonfiction Literature for Children and Adolescents3
/Maximum of 3 Nonfiction Literature for Children and Adolescents explores a wide range of nonfiction literature in a variety of subject areas including social studies, math, science, and the arts. This course takes the position that reading nonfiction literature can inspire curiosity and a life-long love of learning, shape inquiry, nourish empathy and compassion, and inform agency. Topics include nonfiction as literature, resources for locating nonfiction literature, nonfiction literature in different subject areas, nonfiction literature as a catalyst for inquiry, creative nonfiction and hybrid texts, biographies and autobiographies, and nonfiction literature for agency. This course also examines techniques of writing nonfiction literature to develop an understanding of strategies that published authors use to create engaging works to inform readers and provide pleasurable reading experiences. This understanding can help adults who work with children and adolescents recognize and identify the qualities that they find desirable for selecting and sharing nonfiction literature with children and youths, whether shared for reading or serving specifically as mentor texts for writing.
Fantasy Literature for Children explores a range of fantasy literature including literary fairy tales, toy fantasies, ghosts/horror/suspense, science fiction, reworked fairy tales, low fantasy, and high fantasy. This course will consider different rationalizations for fantasy literature and will examine some of the key stories that illustrate fantasy from different perspectives, such as literary, social, and psychological angles. This course will look at, first, the beginnings of modern fantasy with the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen and Carlo Collodi's classic, Pinocchio. Then the course reading will include ghosts and other supernatural fantasy stories, and "reworked" fairy tales, a current trend in fantasy literature. Despite of some scholarly debates on science fiction, that is, whether it should be categorized into fantasy or not, this course will consider science fiction as being similar enough to fantasy for it to be included. The course will also include a study of fantasy books currently popular with school-age readers. Fantasy can be divided into two main groups: low fantasy and high fantasy. Several of the stories to be read in the course are perhaps best categorized as low fantasies, not because of what they are, but because they are not high fantasy, which has a mythic quality to it. High fantasy seems to go beyond the particulars of its story to explore the nature of good and of evil. Though high fantasies can be humorous at times, the overall tone is serious. Often characters are on quests and the stakes of success or failure usually involve saving the world from some great evil or preventing the tyranny of some powerful and evil ruler. Reading the different types of fantasy literature and the literary critiques and analyses of those works, this course will be wrestling with the overall importance of those books in the lives of children by pondering imagination and its role in the lives of children.
Exploration of media languages and literacy in classrooms, learning in an electronic age; issues, ideas, and teaching strategies. Concurrent: LL ED 411, LL ED 420
/Maximum of 18 Creative projects, including research and design, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
/Maximum of 18 Creative projects, including research and design, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
/Maximum of 9 Formal courses given infrequently to explore, in depth, a comparatively narrow subject that may be topical or of special interest. Languages (Less Commonly Taught) (LANG) LANG 99: Foreign Studies 1-12 Credits/Maximum of 12 Courses offered in foreign countries by individual or group instruction.
Remediation of Reading Difficulties LLED 595A 3-6 Total Credits 30 1 Required courses. A Master's paper is required for completion of the M.Ed. A passing score on the state-required Reading Specialist Exam (qualifying score of 570) is required for Reading Specialist certification.
LLED 561Cultural Pluralism in Children's and Adolescent Literature3
Reading/discussing literature from multicultural/critical multicultural lenses and how this impacts literacy. LLED 561 Cultural Pluralism in Children's and Adolescent Literature (3) LLED 561 is a critical exploration of literature that addresses multicultural issues and their functions in the classroom. Emphasis is on cultural diversity in children's lives. The course focuses on four main areas. The first of these areas revolves around the concepts of multiculturalism and critical multiculturalism and how they serve as lenses through which students can ask questions about society as represented in literature. It addresses what multicultural literature is, who writes multicultural literature, and how this genre of literature serves as a window into and a mirror of culturally diverse societies. Race/ethnicity, gender, class, disability and cultural authenticity Graduate - The Pennsylvania State University 2026-2027 1235 in multicultural literature are discussed. The primary objectives of the course are to enable students to expand their strategies for reading culturally diverse literature, become familiar with resources related to multicultural literature, explore cultural, literacy and socio-political issues related to Children's/adolescent literature and to consider the role that multicultural literature plays in a literacy curriculum.
LLED 595APracticum: Remedial Procedures and Diagnosis3-6
/Maximum of 6 Advanced practicum; diagnostic testing and remedial instruction of more severe types of reading disability; supervisory experiences, if appropriate
/Maximum of 9 Creative projects, including nonthesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
/Maximum of 9 Formal courses given on a topical or special interest subject which may be offered infrequently; several different topics may be taught in one year or term.
LLED 870Teaching Reading & Writing to K-12 English Learners3
This course prepares students to develop reading and writing instruction that supports the academic development of school-aged English learners (ELs) with a primary focus on reading. An overarching goal of the course is to promote an understanding of learning language as a process of expanding linguistic resources to engage in various contexts, with different participants/audiences and for a variety of purposes. Class participants will critically analyze reading/writing theories and research in reference to bilingual/ESL reading/writing practices. As part of this overview, students will analyze and evaluate current second language (L2) reading/writing approaches and strategies in home language (L1) and L2 literacy development. Thus, the course content emphasizes the theoretical underpinnings of and practical applications for integrating language and literacy instruction for diverse ELs.
