Final Reflection

I have enjoyed this reflection the most as it was interesting to consider my previous comments to a similar question.

“I expect an ELA middle years classroom to be not unlike any other class where there will be students of varying abilities and competencies. I think it will be important to encourage and foster creativity within a non-judgmental environment to ensure a positive learning experience. Insecurity is highly prominent within the middle years cohort and the development of an arena that allows students the opportunity to freely share their work and general thoughts will be paramount in the ELA classroom.”

My impressions of a middle years classroom have not changed but I feel like I now have a clearer understanding of the influences that oracy and writing will have on the classroom dynamic. I am excited about the opportunity for creativity that ELA affords and the fact that the skills developed in ELA will be firm building blocks for later education and in life.

An indication that ELA is not only a venue for the development of oral, written, and reading skills, is emphasized by one goal listed for all grades in the ELA IRP’s, “develop a continuously increasing understanding or self and others.” This highlights the role that ELA plays in developing a concept of self and in preparing youth for real world interaction.

The creativity that everyone showed in class was also very refreshing. I feel confident that there is a nice wide doorframe to walk through when entering the creative potential of an ELA classroom. The ideas that were shared by Professor Nahachewsky and my peers helped trigger thoughts around ways to engage students orally through debate, interview, recitation, presentation, discussion, etc. Furthermore, writing and representation offer the opportunity for students to characterize themselves and others, explore moral and ethical responsibilities, and create something dark, beautiful, or anywhere in between.

I am excited about the chance to teach ELA in the middle years classroom and feel like I have increased my awareness of ELA, developed a clearer understanding of what to expect and how I can deliver something fun and engaging.

Writing and Representing: What do you think is important to teach students about writing and representing? Please provide support for your views from the IRP, the course readings, and discussions.

Writing and representing are skills that develop over time and can be improved through proper instruction and varied exposure. It is important to teach students how to write in a variety of styles. Students should also learn the importance of assessment for their own writing and of others. Finally, students must be taught through methods that promote individual creativity and independence. Writing and representing are insights into a student’s mind. As a teacher, there is incredible value in nurturing these language arts because they allow students to effectively express themselves through the creation of meaning.

A variety of life exposures are paramount for the middle years student who is yearning to discover new passions. Within any new exposure there are a variety of subcategories to investigate. Writing and representing is no different as there are several different ways the written word can be represented. Teachers must find a way to provide their students with the opportunity to experience as many forms of writing as possible. Students need direction on what to write and through effective prompts and modeling, they can be inspired to create. The BC IRP for Middle Years Language Arts lists prescribed learning outcomes (PLO’s) of:

“Write a variety of clear, focused personal writing for a range of purposes and audiences that demonstrates connections to personal experiences, ideas, and opinions,…

Write a variety of effective informational writing for a range of purposes and audiences that communicates ideas to inform or persuade,…

Write a variety of imaginative writing for a range of purposes and audiences, including short stories, passages, and poems modeled from literature,…”

These PLO’s provide direction for teachers on styles to scaffold effective writing techniques and bring out creativity in a student. Whether it is poems, formal prose, or picture books, students must be encouraged to explore each medium by teacher directed exercises. Atwell says that “…records of individuals’ writing and reading activity comes in handy, in pointing me towards lessons that address what’s happening, or not happening, within the group.” Through monitoring her students, Atwell is able to deliver lessons based on their needs. As student’s work develops, revision and reflection will help to hone the quality.

Students understand the difference between good writing and bad writing, but if they are not exposed to versions of each, it becomes difficult for them to assess their own work. Teachers must model the quality of writing they desire to see from their students and instruct on effective editing and revision strategies. The four cueing systems for comprehension, pragmatics, semantics, syntax, graphophonics, become a critical foundation for effective writing and revision. As students develop a better understanding of these conventions their individual assessments become increasingly more refined.

When students write from the heart, creativity often follows with ease. It is the teacher’s role to determine how to touch the writer within each student. From Teaching Writing from the Inside by Tom Romano, he states, “I teach students to hearken to emotions, images, ideas, and stories, that are strong in them.”

Through triggering ideas inspired by personal passions and experiences, students can explore writing and representing with freedom. The IRP emphasizes the importance of employing the strategy of Gradual Release of Responsibility. In the initial stages of development in writing and representing, students need a higher level of direction to help encourage creativity and provide a basis to work from. Once the student has freely explored varied genres the teacher must release their influence and let the student independently create.

Writing can be an incredibly rewarding experience if taught within an environment that is non-judgmental, and promotes creativity and independence. Varied genres provide students with outlets for their diverse interests and engagement is increased through this freedom of choice. Teacher scaffolding of topics that speak to individual emotions and experience further direct student work. Once engagement is achieved, teachers can help raise quality through modeling and demonstrating effective assessment and revision techniques. As students increase in confidence, teacher influence through scaffolding techniques decreases to promote student independence. Ultimately, competence with writing and representing is the prescription, but a positive experience is a highly desired outcome.

Podcast/Recording Blog

Rather than do a podcast and struggle with figuring out how and where to post it, I decided to do a recording and then post the recording on YouTube. Please follow the link and enjoy! RECORDING LINK

How does the IRP help and/or hinder you as a beginning teacher? Provide a description of who today's ELA students are and how they learn.

British Columbia’s Education system operates under a model that uses Integrated Resource Packages (IRPs) to provide information that teachers require to implement age and subject specific curriculums. British Columbia’s IRPs for Grades 6, 7 and 8 English Language Arts (ELA) were developed in 2006 and 2007 and remain the current standard. The six language arts addressed by the ELA IRPs are writing, speaking, listening, viewing, representing, and reading. A beginning teacher is considered any teacher entering their first year of classroom teaching, beyond substituting, where unit and lesson planning is required. I believe that the IRPs provide valuable direction for beginning teachers who are learning and adapting to so many different situations in their new profession; however, it is also imperative that teachers understand their students and how to effectively deliver the requirements of the IRPs while meeting the student’s needs.

Atwell describes the middle school student as one that is very unpredictable, she says, “Middle school students shuttle back and forth between naïveté and world-weariness…They are self-confident and self-doubting; they think I’m funny and they think I am pathetic; they take responsibility for the younger kids at our morning assembly, then they run them over on the soccer field at recess. They never know–and I never know–what they’ll be when.” I think Atwell’s account accurately captures the essence of this developing and impressionable age during the middle years of a child’s education. As students, these children are active learners so it is the job of the teacher to combine the goals of the IRPs with lessons that address student’s cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains.

In order to deliver material that addresses each learning domain for middle years students, educators must effectively operate in two paradigms: what to teach and how to teach it. The IRPs outline Prescribed Learning Outcomes (PLOs) in order to provide framework for teachers on what to teach. It is then up to the teacher and school to determine how to teach lessons to best address the unique learning styles of each student.  As a beginning teacher, the ‘how’ practice is generally quite underdeveloped compared to that of an experienced teacher; therefore, the direction offered by the IRPs frees new teachers to focus on delivery. On the other hand, the comprehensiveness of the IRPs cannot be ignored. Time is at a premium for the beginning teacher and to be knowledgeable of all IRPs for each middle school subject would be almost impossible in light of the immediate need to be in front of the class with a prepared lesson plan.

Despite the sheer volume of information contained in the IRPs, a critical eye can distill this comprehensive tool to provide some excellent tools for teachers and administration. Effective evaluation is often a contentious issue in the education system and the PLO’s present a loose rubric for proper evaluation of both students and teachers. In the absence of PLOs, what is taught and what is evaluated would be misguided and inconsistent across grades, schools and the province. It should also be emphasized that for beginning teachers, knowledge and guidance from experienced educators cannot be underestimated. Communication between teachers complements the IRPs and is imperative to increasing positive development of new teachers as well as ensuring seamless transitions for students between grades and schools. IRPs once again provide the framework for these conversations so that teachers can effectively assess the needs of each student.

Teachers must be constantly learning from their students in order to understand the classroom dynamic and what each student requires. The IRPs give direction for this assessment and allow teachers to focus on effective teaching delivery for each unique learner. As teachers grow and develop within the system, I suspect that the IRPs may become somewhat of a hindrance to an experienced tracher’s creativity and personal pedagogy; however, for new teachers, the guidance and breakdown of PLO’s will help ensure they flourish in a commonly chaotic first year.

Blog #1 - Intro and Expectations

Well here goes the first submission for my EDCI 302 class blog! I will start by introducing myself. I was born and raised in Victoria and completed my BSc in Kinesiology at UVic. Rugby was my passion for a very long time and I was lucky enough to play with the Senior Men’s National Rugby Teams for six years. After hanging up my boots in 2007, I worked in Northern BC as a Forest Firefighter for two summers. I travelled a lot with rugby but had not done any backpacking prior to a six-month solo trip through Fiji, NZ and Australia at the end of 2007. It was an amazing experience and upon return I moved to Calgary where I worked as a personal trainer for two years and then an Executive Search Recruiter (Headhunter) for a Calgary-based firm for a year an a half.  I decided that Calgary was not for me and was feeling the pull back to the coast, so moved back to Victoria the day before starting UVic’s Middle Years BEd PDP Program.

In 2009, I started an initiative to raise money and awareness for mental health, specifically, the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). The event is called “1 Day for the CMHA” and the idea is that participants attempt to complete a significant physical challenge in one day and raise money for the CMHA along the way. The first year I was the only participant and I summited four mountains in Banff; last year me and two others ran the West Coast Trail; and this past year, me and four others ran the Grand Canyon. For more details feel free to have a look at my other blog at: http://www.1dayforthecmha.blogspot.com. This has become a huge passion for me and the need to increase the awareness and understanding of mental health issues in society is the message.

Although this blog is a compulsory component for EDCI302, I hope to use it as a personal tool to reflect and grow as a teacher. I look forward to seeing my expectations and impressions change and grow with my new experiences in teaching. Furthermore, I expect an ELA middle years classroom to be not unlike any other class where there will be students of varying abilities and competencies. I think it will be important to encourage and foster creativity within a non-judgmental environment to ensure a positive learning experience. Insecurity is highly prominent within the middle years cohort and the development of an arena that allows students the opportunity to freely share their work and general thoughts will be paramount in the ELA classroom.

All set to Blog!

Well, all sorted now and getting ready for the first blog. Stay tuned!

md