According to the Common Core, the key ELA Standards are comprised of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language. These components work hand-in-hand; if you want your students to be completely proficient in Language Arts, they must be able to excel in each of these areas. In the early years of education, children usually learn all this from one teacher. However, as they grow older, this learning branches out and they learn the information through a diverse curriculum of numerous subjects delivered by multiple educators. When teaching children to read, our focus should be on comprehension and the students’ ability to apply their readings to the real world. Students respond to their reading through writing, mainly in the categories of argumentative, informative and explanatory, and narrative writing. They must be able to plan, revise, edit and eventually publish their finished products. Speaking and listening work together, where we aim to have students who can communicate w...
I always knew that students can achieve only as much as you expect of them. Watching Sheila Owen’s class, I observed this in real-time. She sets high standards and goals in her classroom, goals which seem almost impossible for children of this age. However, with the confidence and self-assurance that she instills in these young charges, they really soar high. When children feel that you believe in them, they can reach unimaginable heights. It’s Sheila’s positive approach in her classroom that helps her accomplish this. She makes every child feel good about themselves and comfortable in their surroundings. She uses positive reinforcement such as when she thanks the children for joining her on the carpet, as opposed to commanding them to do so. This tactic is great as children feel good when they’re recognized and complimented, and will want to do the right thing again. As for those who weren’t in the right place yet, they got the message and scrambled to their spot without feeling ne...
Word usage is divided into three levels: Tier 1 words are the basic words that get used in everyday reading and conversations. Being that these words are those that everyone is familiar with, they don’t have to be taught explicitly. Tier 2 words are new words that students will come across in text, conversations and TV shows. We want students to know the definitions and proper usage of these words. Examples of these words are ‘freeway’, ‘democracy’, ‘hurricane’. This category of words is the one that is important to focus on during reading and writing instruction. The lesson doesn’t necessarily have to be an add-on vocabulary lesson; it can be incorporated in what they’re learning by finding age-level Tier 2 words in the children’s learning material. Tier 3 words are the highly technical words that are usually unique to a specific topic or subject. It is not necessary to focus on these words, rather teach them when it pertains to the subject matter being taught. When stude...
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