After reading the Goen and Gilotte-Troppe paper "Integrating Reading and Writing," the method of integrated instruction for remedial reading and writing, the most intriguing aspect, beside the improved statistical successes, is the individual students' appreciation for the way it "turned on a lightbulb" for them. As to the nuts and bolts of a curriculum for such a course, I would be inclined to draw heavily from this milestone approach.
Personally, I find it stimulating that they were as demanding of their students as they seem to have been, requiring that they engage in self-monitoring and even assessing themselves as part of the grading process. Were I to design a curriculum, I would endeavor to integrate reading and writing, including as wide and challenging range of materials as Goen and Gilotte-Troppe did -- expository, fiction, poetry and hypertext.
By far the most meaningful English courses I've had required me to express myself in a personal manner and to address language as a means to tackle critical thinking. Beyond instilling a sense of purpose in my students, my curriculum would need to challenge them to engage in the intellectual conversation, developing an awareness of purpose, point and audience. If I can do this and leave them with a sense of satisfaction in reading and writing, my curriculum will be meaningful.
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