The teacher's role involves the following: planning and organizing for instruction and assessment; building scaffolds or means of support for students' language learning and use; reflecting upon the effectiveness of the organization, instruction, and assessment provided; and reflecting upon student progress and instructional needs.
Saskatchewan Education has set out guidelines for the amount of time that must be allocated to language arts at each grade level:
Timetable flexibility is essential. In some cases, several teachers share the teaching duties of each grade at the Middle Level, making staff collaboration necessary to ensure a balanced language arts program. In cases where one teacher is responsible for more than one required area of study with a particular group of students, flexibility is increased, making interdisciplinary units more likely. However, it is possible for several teachers to collaborate to plan units of study which incorporate objectives from several subjects.
It is unrealistic to expect Middle Level students to maintain a focus on one language process for 60 or 100 minutes unless the activities within the process vary; therefore, an integrated approach to instruction is very effective. During the writing process, for example, students may write individually, interact orally with peers and the teacher in conferences, read to gather ideas and information, or use a computer to accomplish a variety of activities from the pre-writing to the publishing of their writing. While the writing process may be the major focus at the time, students are also engaged in the speaking, listening, and reading processes. This planned integration of the processes provides for flexibility and balance within the time allocation for the language arts program.
Students' Backgrounds, Needs, and Interests
Early in the school year, it is useful to learn as much as possible about the students, their interests, and their linguistic backgrounds and abilities. The following may be helpful:
Classroom Environment and Routines
Establishing the classroom environment and routines conducive to language learning and use is important. Middle Level students need to be part of a safe, structured learning community where routines are evident. Teachers may wish to include students in setting some of the routines and expectations for use of the classroom spaces, and for conducting themselves appropriately as a community of learners. Some organizational and planning suggestions include the following:
Inform students that they will work with others in a variety of partnerships and group settings. Group memberships will vary according to the activity, project, writing, or literature group. Involve students in determining discussion etiquette and group norms appropriate to the type of discussion (e.g., literature circles, talking circles). Post the agreed-upon guidelines.
Although few would admit it to their peers, most Middle Level students enjoy listening to someone read aloud, particularly if the reader is enthusiastic and reads with obvious interest in the text. Teachers of English language arts should model a sincere interest in reading for enjoyment and for other purposes. In addition to novels and passages from literature selections, teachers could read newspaper and magazine articles that are relevant to students' studies and life experiences. The occasional use of taped readings by authors and other readers is recommended to present different dialects and patterns of intonation.
Those readers could include secondary students and adults from the community. Students can also be encouraged to read passages or articles of interest to their peers. Allow them to practise prior to reading aloud.
Daily reading opportunities are important for developing vocabulary and reading proficiency. Students may read selections currently being studied, resources relevant to studies in other subjects, or personal interest materials that support sustained reading. While students read silently, teachers can provide instruction as they circulate about the room and spend a few minutes with individual students to observe and assist. Teachers can take the opportunity to broaden students' vocabularies, heighten their sensitivity to language and issues, and to build "scaffolds" for individuals who are experiencing difficulty with some aspect of reading (e.g., using certain text cues and meaning-making strategies, understanding what they read, choosing an appropriate book). During some of each SSR time, the teacher should model the sustained silent reading process.
For students who are unfamiliar with these writing tools, it is helpful to discuss models and display sample notebooks and logs, or sample entries. Small bound notebooks are preferable because they remain intact, allowing for continuous reflection. Teachers should model the use of writer's notebooks or learning logs. Teachers should also provide students with opportunities for sustained writing, daily if possible.
A display of sample folders and portfolios from previous years will assist students who have not compiled folders or writing portfolios in earlier grades. The contents of sample portfolios and folders may include originals or copies of students' work.
The purpose of such mini-lessons is to develop language skills and knowledge (e.g., tone, rate, pronunciation) in an integrated way, rather than teaching them in isolation from the students' everyday language use.
Whenever possible negotiate these expectations with students, then post the list in the classroom. Students and teachers may also convert the expectations into a contract format so that they can review and reassess their goals. As well, students may take their contracts home so parents and guardians are aware of these language learning goals and achievements.
Allow opportunities for students to contribute to their own assessment, and plan to discuss or develop criteria with them as they develop their abilities to reflect and self-assess.
Whenever possible, include students in decisions about unit topics or themes. Vary units so that they provide a balance of speaking, listening, writing, and reading throughout the course of the school year.
Classroom Facilities and Resources
Some suggestions for organizing classroom facilities and resources that support the philosophy and instructional approaches advocated in this curriculum guide include the following:
Communication with Students' Families
As the allegiance of Middle Level students begins to shift from their families to their peers, it is important to establish regular, positive communication with their families. The following may be helpful:
Teachers can encourage talk about language experiences at home by co-ordinating language activities (e.g., portfolios, writing conferences) that engage students and their families in discussing, monitoring, and interacting about students' language experiences.
Learning is a very personal and individual experience. Students arrive in the classroom at different levels of awareness about language and with varying abilities to use language. As Middle Level students learn about language through the use of language, teachers can provide them with necessary instruction and support by constructing "scaffolds" which will take them from where they are to the next step in the learning process.
Scaffolds are methods of support offered by the teacher (or by peers) which assist students as they make the transition between their present knowledge and skills, and their future achievements. Scaffolds may consist of specific tools (e.g., expert models, a peer conference checklist, a group task list) or techniques (e.g., teacher prompts or think-alouds, mini-lessons, pre-reading activities).
Scaffolds are especially suited to teaching higher-level cognitive strategies, where it is difficult to provide explicit steps for students. Scaffolded support should be both flexible and temporary. The teacher provides support only for the parts of the process that students are unable to complete on their own. This support decreases as the students' level of competence increases, although students may require scaffolding for other aspects of language use and knowledge at another time.
Teachers who plan to use scaffolding must anticipate possible difficulties students may encounter within a particular activity, identify strategies that assist students when they encounter those specific difficulties, and structure the activity to incorporate, explicitly, those strategies. Assistance is provided in the context of the language process in which the student is engaged at the time the help is needed. This assistance may be given individually or in small or large groups, depending upon the needs of the students and the concepts or skills being developed.
Instructional scaffolding describes essential aspects of instruction in which students have a vested interest and in which teachers collaborate and provide appropriate support as needed by individuals and groups. Langer and Applebee (1983) propose five components of effective instructional scaffolding:
Students must see the point of the task beyond pleasing the teacher or getting grades (e.g., teachers should allow students to select writing topics or reading material). Teachers should provide a sense of direction and support.
Teachers must identify the language knowledge, skills, and abilities that the students bring to class and build on the literacy and thinking skills they already possess. Teachers then help students to accomplish language tasks that they could not otherwise complete on their own, thus stretching students to achieve new and higher level skills and concepts.
Teachers must make the structure of the language process clear and guide students through it so that they understand how to use the process in other contexts. Teachers should provide effective steps for students to internalize along the way by having tasks follow a natural sequence of thought or procedure.
The teacher's role is one of helping students toward new learning, assisting students during the learning process, and evaluating the experience and/or product.
As new language abilities mature, they become part of the students' own repertoire; they are internalized. When this occurs the teacher must allow the students to work on their own, watching for opportunities to construct new scaffolds as needed.
As students internalize a particular scaffold, it becomes part of their repertoire of language abilities and allows them to accomplish similar tasks without further assistance. In the effort to transfer more control of their learning to the students, teachers must not abandon their responsibility to provide support as the students learn, and to teach knowledge and skills as they are required within the context of students' language learning and use.
Whether beginning the second year or second decade of teaching, teachers gain from the benefits of accumulated experience as a result of reflection on past practice and experiences. In the contexts of their classrooms teachers have begun to make the kinds of observations and ask the kinds of questions that, in the past, only theoretical researchers have addressed. The information gathered by reflective teachers helps to shape their practices as they apply what they have discovered to classroom learning situations.
Teachers who approach each day as reflective practitioners consider some of the following questions:
About the students ...
About their own philosophies regarding language learning and teaching ...
About the program ...
About reflection and continuous decision making ...
Reflective teachers often use journals or learning logs to record their questions, decisions, and observations about the use of certain strategies and students' responses to these strategies. A running record of daily experiences and observations provides items for reflection and support for change which can result in professional growth. As well, checklists can be useful for focusing reflection upon specific aspects of teacher instruction and student language learning and use. A sample checklist which focuses upon the listening process appears on the following page. In addition, some sample units in this curriculum guide include questions for teacher reflection.
A Sample Checklist for the Reflective Practitioner: The Listening Process
Integration in language arts refers to teaching and learning the four language processes--reading, writing, listening, and speaking--in an integrated manner. The philosophy behind the practice holds that the four language processes are closely related to each other and that all of the processes begin, and continue to develop, in conjunction with each other. The process approach to teaching English language arts fosters a natural and balanced integration of reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
The language processes can be learned more effectively in connection with each other, rather than in isolation, because they support each other. Each process clarifies and extends the others. Experiences with one language process foster development of the others, making the study of each relevant. Integrating language processes within a context encourages students to transfer the knowledge and skills learned to everyday situations in and out of school.
It is important to provide students with opportunities to engage in each process in an interrelated, but effectively balanced, manner. While one process may be the focus during a particular lesson or unit of study, other processes may become the focus in subsequent units. No matter which process is the focus, the others are present to enhance and support it. The process which is the focus should be chosen according to the students' needs and interests and should change as their needs and interests change.
The processes of representing and viewing also must be incorporated into daily work. In addition, educational drama, media, research and study skills, and computer applications enhance and support the four language processes. They provide opportunities for students to learn and use language in a greater variety of ways.
Language knowledge and skills are best learned in the contexts where they are most meaningful. In an integrated program, language knowledge and skills are taught within the context of the language processes where they can be learned as they are needed and/or desired by individual students. Language knowledge and skills are best acquired in situations that involve students in regular opportunities to apply and practise what they learn. Individual instruction or small group mini-lessons are particularly effective because they can be taught in the context of the students' speaking, listening, writing, or reading endeavours, thus becoming immediately relevant and ultimately more transferable to other areas of the students' lives.
The Integrated Language Study section of this curriculum guide describes ways in which spelling, grammar, usage, and mechanics can be integrated into the language processes.
Initially, the teacher will assess the students' needs and interests, determining where the students require or wish to have the most practice. The teacher will then select the objectives that address those needs. As the term or year progresses, the teacher will have provided opportunities for students to build their language knowledge and skills in all four of the language processes. When the objectives have been chosen, the teacher plans the learning environment and selects the instructional strategies, resources, and assessment and evaluation techniques to be employed.
A Sample Checklist for the Reflective Practitioner: The Listening Process
Teachers can assess the effectiveness of their instruction by doing some self-observation and by reflecting upon those observations. Teachers may use this sample checklist or adapt it to address their specific focus and needs. This sample checklist focuses on the listening process. It may be helpful to focus on only one portion of the checklist at a time.
| Check and/or comment in the appropriate column
|
Frequently | Occasionally | Seldom | Never |
| Listening for Information or Directions Do I ask my students to:
Do I provide models, guides, or scaffolds (if required)? Listening Critically Do I require my students to:
Do I provide models, guides, or scaffolds (if required)? Listening for Enjoyment Do my students have opportunities to:
Do I provide models, guides, or scaffolds (if required)? |
||||
| Strengths:
|
Areas in need of improvement: |
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(Adapted from Mowbray & George, 1992, p. 62-63. Used with permission of Pembroke Publishers.)
Integrated units, designed around themes or topics, are one way to offer a variety of content, resources, and language experiences to accommodate individual interests, ways of learning, and levels of ability. Units may also be designed around the language processes, around genres, or as author studies.
Sample units are provided in this curriculum and can serve as models for teachers as they develop integrated units that address their students' unique needs and interests. A Unit Planning Guide is included in the Sample Unit section to assist teachers as they prepare units of study.
Representing and viewing are processes that support oracy and literacy, and are a part of an integrated language arts program. They broaden the ways in which students can understand and communicate their ideas, and they accommodate a variety of learning styles.
While the emphasis of the language arts is on representing thoughts, ideas, and feelings in spoken or written forms, students should be encouraged to use visual, dramatic, and media formats to support their spoken and written messages. When appropriate, students should be given opportunities to communicate through a variety of formats including visuals (e.g., charts, graphs, tables, diagrams, photos), drama (e.g., tableaux, improvisations, role play, storytelling, readers theatre), and media (e.g., recordings, films, videos).
Students encounter thoughts, ideas, and feelings by viewing, as well as by listening and reading. When appropriate, students should be given opportunities to view a variety of formats including visuals (e.g., photos, graphs, cartoons), drama (e.g., tableaux, improvisation, live theatre), and media (e.g., videos, television, CD-ROM). As students listen and read, they encounter visual messages that require response, interpretation, and critical assessment. The interaction between the viewer and the text varies because of students' prior knowledge and cultural perspectives.
Representing enhances speaking when students support their spoken words with various materials and media, such as visuals in presentations to small groups, various media in oral reports to the class, and props in improvisations.
Representing enhances writing when students participate in activities and assignments that involve exploring and organizing ideas (e.g., webbing, outlining); dramatizing scripts and dialogues; illustrating settings, plots, and characters (e.g., story maps, Venn diagrams); producing scripts (e.g., video, film); and preparing advertisements (e.g., print, audio, video).
Viewing enhances listening skills when students attend to nonverbal communication and visual elements of performance, video, television, film, and multimedia presentations.
Viewing enhances reading when students attend to visuals accompanying print (e.g., charts, diagrams, illustrations); specific textual techniques (e.g., layout, colour, symbols); and the assumptions, perspectives, and quality of a variety of media (e.g., photos, plays, video).