Standard III- Teachers Know the Content they Teach.
Element IIIa. Teachers align their instruction with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.
- Standards and Learning Targets: Each lesson of mine begins with a review of the daily agenda, a discussion of the learning targets and standards. This helps students prepare for what is ahead and allows them to know what skill they should have mastered by the end of the assignment. The image on the right displays how I share this information with students.
- Curriculum Alignment: I use the WCPSS EL Curriculum to ensure my instruction addresses all the North Carolina standards and prepares my students for the future.
- Rigorous Texts: In my class, students are introduced to text that challenges them and helps them grow as a learner. I scaffold rigorous texts by providing read aloud, modeling, preloading vocabulary, and more.
- Varied Assessment Styles: Due to the wide range of skills associated with English Language Arts, I assess students in many different ways. For speaking and listening, I assess using presentations, seminars, and videos. For Writing, I assess by having the students write creatively and persuasively. For reading, my assessments are mostly written, but do include EOG styled multiple choice questions.
- Cross-curricular Units: We have several units that address multiple subject areas. Below I have listed these units:
- Module 1: A Long Walk to Water - This module address water scarcity in South Sudan as well as Southern Sudanese culture and conflict.
- Module 2 Unit 1: Lyddie - This unit address the American Industrial Revolution. Students learn about the negative impact of working conditions during this time period in our history.
- Module 2: Unit 2: Caesar Chavez - This unit covers the United Farm Workers Movement. Students are made aware of the working conditions of farmers in the U.S. and how Chavez used persuasive language to improve those conditions.
- Module 3: The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass - Students learn about the U.S. slave experience and the abolitionist movement.
- Encouraging Inquiry: I believe it is important for students to apply the skills they learn in my class to a topic they feel passionate about. After learning about persuasive techniques, I challenged my students to use the skills they learned to make a Public Service Announcement to raise awareness among your peers about a topic that is important to them. Click here to view the slides for this performance task.
- Student Examples: Click here to view student examples of this performance task.