Jessica Tasker- LAI 537 Final paper

Language is something that is learned long before a child enters his or her first classroom. Language is learned through exposure to social situations. Parents have an enormous role in shaping a childs expressive and receptive language abilities. It is up to them to fill some of the most formative years with meaningful experiences filled with conversation, expression, exploration, art (in all forms) and storytelling. eachers are granted the responsibility to

strengthen these s!ill sets and build upon them as students progress through their education. "ee (#$$%) tells us, &'cademic language is ac(uired in school, though it is facilitated at home by families with a good deal of mainstream educational and cultural capital) (*+). 's educators, we are called to wor! with parents and families to e(uip students as best as possible for their futures. ,ost teacher preparation programs offer lots of insight regarding what should be taught, how lessons should align with the -ommon -ore .tandards and the history of what should be taught. 's 'ndrews (#$$/) argues throughout his text, &Language 0xploration and 'wareness a 1esource 2oo! for eachers), teachers should ta!e careful consideration not only how they teach, but also what they teach. 'ndrews tells us, & his does not mean that structure should never be included in the language arts curriculum. o omit grammar study from the classroom

would be as professionally irresponsible as teaching only grammar and no other aspects of language)(33). 4istorically, grammar based instruction has dominated instructional time in many 0L' classrooms. ,any adults can easily recall the seemingly painful hours that they spent diagramming sentences and the time that was spent matching parts of speech with one another. 'ndrews point is that we need to put more emphasis on things other than grammar, furthermore, he tells us, &people tal! li!e the people they tal! with) (35). eachers should not dictate student

speech patterns and dialects, nor should they 6udge students based on speech patterns and

dialects.

eachers should be more concerned about providing students with healthy

opportunities to share their ideas and their feelings. 0ffective teachers are teachers who not only teach grammar, but who invite students to participate in the learning environment in a way that is meaningful for them. 's educators, we need to set up our classrooms in ways that are meaningful for students. his means that we should place careful consideration on how and what we are teaching, student preferences, student learning styles and that we should provide ade(uate differentiation up and down for lessons. It is our tas! to challenge students and support them 6ust enough to stretch their thin!ing, day after day. 's "ee (#$$%) pointed out to us, there is nothing wrong with utili7ing video games and popular culture (such as Po!8mon) in the classroom. 2y using appropriate and meaningful pop culture references with our students, we are meeting them where they are comfortable and simultaneously demonstrating why what we are teaching matters, and how it applies to them in their lives. 2y using technologies and cultural references, that our students are familiar with, we can easily build off their bac!ground !nowledge while also hoo!ing them into our lessons. o assess and evaluate students, it is fair to offer options. 1esearch proves that some people may have strong talents related to writing, while others are gifted with performance abilities, and others still may have gifts and talents in creating digital pro6ects to display their understanding of content. If we !now that we need to differentiate for different levels of s!ill, learning styles and areas of interest for the lessons we teach, why would we not also differentiate for the ways we assess our students9 raditional state assessments with the five:paragraph essay model seem archaic and for lac! of better terms, boring and not engaging. It is not to say that writing s!ills are not important or that they should not be assessed. 2ut, why not offer a list of

options for students to demonstrate their understanding of a topic9 1ather than having every fourth grade student in ;ew <or! .tate write around the same essay topic in a prescribed format, could we give students four or five choices to write about in their own ways9 0ffective teachers not only !now what to teach to students, but they also !now what not to teach to students and how to deliver instruction to students appropriately. hey are educators

that are willing to ma!e connections to life outside of the classroom to help students expand thin!ing in a way that connects to their personal experiences. =urthermore, effective teachers are teachers who offer e(ual opportunities for all students to participate in an open learning community.