Purple, Green and Yellow

Frazzled - that pretty much sums up this picture.  I hate to say it, but this will likely be me in my first teaching position - that is, if I am not able to harness the necessary resources available to beginning teachers. While the most valuable learning will occur in the classroom, there are key tools at our disposal that we need to utilize, such as the Integrated Resource Package, or IRP. 

IRP: Structure, Efficiency, and Potential Challenges 

The most beneficial aspect of the IRP is the practical curriculum knowledge it provides.  The document outlines a grade-by-grade break down of B.C. curricula in a structured, methodical manner.  This includes the fundamentals of the ELA structure: oracy, reading and writing, in addition to other useful information on formulating lesson plans.  Conversely, the potential hindrance with such formalized government documents is the generality of voice and framework they typically embody.  While the information provided regarding PLOs (Prescribed Learning Outcomes) is essential to planning and structuring our lessons, the way these concepts manifest themselves in the practical environment will be up to the discretion of the teacher, which is daunting for us new educators.

My greatest concern is how to connect the IRPs theoretical basis with the tangible classroom environment and transform such general requirements into accessible and dynamic lesson plans.  Each teacher encompasses the creative liberty to meet ELA curriculum requirements, and as a hopeful Kindergarten teacher, my methods or approaches will likely differ from those teaching a Grade 5 class, for example.  While there are obvious benefits to having an open platform for designing and organizing your lessons, as a beginning teacher I would feel more confident with a specified structure, which will create greater challenges for me to face in my first teaching experience.

Regarding the document itself, the IRP is relatively current and addresses many needs of today’s ELA students.  One particular quote stood out to me regarding the contemporary approach to instruction:


"To promote success for all learners, teachers must adapt their instruction to respond to the diverse literacy needs of their students, including those with special needs. Two critical elements in this kind of instruction are voice (opportunities for students to participate in decisions about their learning and to be engaged in a classroom community) and choice (options from which students can select) (IRP, 26)
."

Most important here is the active involvement of students; they need to engage with class materials and structure, while also exploring their ability to control or direct aspects of their own education.  In order to encourage classroom involvement, students need to be exposed to creative and collaborative activities, and the IRP mentions a perfect example of this for the Kindergarten classroom.  The document states that “the teaching of literacy in Kindergarten should be taught in a “purposefully joyful and playful way” (i.e., through purposeful, but engaging and playful activities). Play is an essential experience that extends, enhances, and enriches a child’s learning (IRP, 4).”  As a future Kindergarten teacher myself, the IRP clearly provides useful information on how to design an interactive and multifaceted classroom that stimulates the students’ learning processes. Furthermore, these ideas directly connect with recent discussions on oracy in the classroom, and how to address the needs of today’s ELA students.

Diversity and Complexity: Today’s ELA Students

First and foremost, today’s ELA students are diverse.  I volunteered in a grade 4 classroom in which the teacher had 5 ESL students from varied cultural backgrounds - and no means of which to support their individual development.  The multicultural aspect of Canadian society is a blessing when it comes to educating ourselves and our students about other cultures, religions and various worldly issues, but as a teacher facing 25 students and 5 who do not understand a word being taught, you can imagine the challenges ahead of her.  In addition to cultural differences, there are a wide range of learning and behavioural disorders that have become prevalent in contemporary classrooms, which only further cements our need as new educators to be flexible, adaptable and prepared to meet the demands of today’s changing population.

Another significant challenge will be incorporating engaging and stimulating activities that students respond to.  This holds true specifically for language and oracy development in today’s ELA classroom. Growing out of a generation who saw the emergence of instant messaging and ‘Facebook’, we can recognize how speech development, and comfort in peer-centered verbal exchange, has been largely ignored in the social realm.  As a result, children today require their teachers to develop a comfortable environment for engaging in conversation and practicing verbal skills with their classmates.  Robert E. Probst raises a crucial point by stating how “we [as teachers] need to find those ways of helping [students through] simple activities, or structures, that get conversations started in comfortable, relaxed, nonthreatening ways (Tom Sawyer, Teaching and Talking, 48).”

As members of a fast-paced, vibrant and often over-stimulating society, children are suffering with the traditionally structured approaches to learning.  Teachers today need to address the changing circumstances of their students, and adapt lessons to encourage collaborative exchange.  The textbook identifies the importance of keeping the classroom active, dynamic and vocal.  “Maintaining a vital oral language curriculum means that classrooms cannot be quiet places....[Teachers need to] capitalize on activities such as collaborative projects, reader-response groups, and drama activities in an effort to enhance their students’ abilities to articulate their thoughts and feelings clearly and with confidence (Language Development and Oracy, 56).”  These are important points to raise for us new teachers who will need to use the more unorthodox and/or varied approaches necessitated by today’s ELA students.

It will be a learning process, but we must recognize the excellent resources at our fingertips, such as the IRP, which can guide us in the right direction.  Apart from such resources, we also need to remain aware, adaptable, and prepared for the changing demands of today’s ELA students, so that we are able to address and meet the needs of our future classrooms.


Resources:

Bainbridge, Joyce, Rachel Heydon and Grace Malicky. “Language Development and Oracy”  from Constructing Meaning: Balancing Elementary Language Arts, Fourth Edition.  Nelson Education Ltd.: 2009.

British Columbia Ministry of Education. “English Language Arts, Kindergarten to Grade 7:     Integrated Resource Package 2006.”

Probst, Robert E. “Tom Sawyer, Teaching and Talking.” Adolescent Literacy, 43-59.