D838: Teaching Adolescent Literature in Secondary Schools

Teaching Adolescent Literature in Secondary Schools builds the skill of choosing and teaching literature that genuinely reaches adolescent readers — standards-based, evidence-informed, and inclusive.

What D838 covers

The course delves into the intricacies of teaching adolescent literature and integrates secondary learners, methods, and settings with discipline-specific considerations for teaching literature. It equips educators to implement ELA instruction integrating a deep understanding of adolescent learners and literacy development.

Learners plan standards-based literature instruction informed by evidence-based approaches to teach critical analysis of texts across genres, fostering inclusive and equitable learning environments, and plan research-based assessments to monitor students' reading skills and progress.

The D838 performance assessment

Expect a performance assessment requiring you to design standards-based literature instruction for a given text/genre, including a research-based assessment of student reading progress.

Key topics in D838

• Adolescent literature selection and pedagogy
• Standards-based literature instruction
• Critical text analysis across genres
• Equitable and inclusive literature instruction

Writing tips for D838

Follow the task instructions and rubric line by line

WGU performance assessments for D838 are graded against a fixed rubric — every rubric line has to be visibly addressed, usually with a labeled heading that mirrors the rubric language. Skipping a rubric point because it seems minor is the single most common reason a competent submission comes back "Not Yet Competent" for revision.

Ground every claim in a specific secondary grade level and content

MAT Secondary Education courses like D838 typically ask you to apply content knowledge and pedagogy to a specific grade level and topic rather than write about teaching in the abstract. As a post-baccalaureate candidate, connecting your prior professional background to your instructional reasoning strengthens a response further.

Because WGU is self-paced, don't let "no deadline pressure" become no submission

There's no weekly due date forcing progress, which means procrastination costs more at WGU than at a traditional term-based school — a stalled task can quietly eat weeks of a term. Treat your own target date for each D838 assessment as a real deadline.

Why students seek help with D838

Candidates sometimes select texts without the equity and inclusivity lens the course specifically requires — the rubric typically wants text selection and instruction explicitly justified as equitable and accessible to diverse learners.

How GradeEssays helps with D838

Share your text/genre and grade level, and your writer will build literature instruction with a genuinely equitable, inclusive text-selection rationale and a research-based assessment plan.

Prerequisites and program context

D838 has no listed additional prerequisites.

• Master of Arts in Teaching, English Education (Secondary)

Related courses