Even the youngest students can develop early writing skills. This course explores the theory and practice of writing instruction and covers practical strategies to support students' writing development including modeled writing, shared writing, interactive writing, and independent writing. You'll practice to improve your own teaching and assessment of students' writing products.

Learn to use Writing Workshops to teach the theory and practice of writing to your early elementary students. From setting up and maintaining a Writing Workshop to analyzing obstacles to good student writing, you'll have the opportunity to share insights with online colleagues. You'll write a synthesis paper or design a class Web site to accompany a Writing Workshop program as your final project.

Blending both theoretical and practical information about oral language development for students PreK 3, this course will introduce you to proven ways to assess students' oral language skills and will give you the opportunity to practice strategies for teaching vocabulary to young students. The course also covers tactics for differentiating instruction to meet the needs of diverse students.

Hone your skills at finding the right Internet resources, and selecting the resources that will work best for your students and learning plans using the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) as a guide. As a final project, develop a plan for meaningfully integrating your choices into your language arts curriculum.

This course focuses on preparing preschoolers for success by developing their early literacy skills. Using recent early literacy research from Susan B. Neuman and Kathleen Roskos, you'll learn to plan meaningful early literacy-learning experiences that build on preschoolers' prior knowledge, expand their vocabulary, and strengthen oral language development.