1. Courses Courses can combine varied modules and varied other kinds of teaching in systematic approaches to building student skills. 1

2. LDC Courses • Sets of LDC modules can be built into full courses: • Science, history, English and other courses • Courses with literacy as the main focus (for example, something similar to college English composition) • Integrated courses taught by teacher teams • Course sequences to support growing skills 2

3. LDC Courses • In thinking about courses, imagine LDC modules working in various combinations with other kinds of learning: • Experiments • Student presentations • Work internships • Community service projects or community surveys • Video simulations and on-line learning • Student debates • Seminar discussions • Old-fashioned teacher lectures and presentations 3

4. LDC Courses • In thinking about courses, imagine students demonstrating their learning through: • full LDC tasks in a portfolio of work or • shorter assessment tasks, using the same template task but adjusting the readings, prompts, and scoring to call for work students can do in a single sitting or • a “through course” assessment system in which students all over a state study a block of content and then do the same task—with results becoming part of the students’ scores for the statewide testing system or • some combination of the ideas above. 4

5. Where can we go? Reading and writing to develop student success in multiple subjects over multiple years. Think about a semester like this: Now think of replacing grades 6-12 with 14 semesters like that! 5

6. LDC-Paideia: Middle Grades Science Course* March 2011