|
|
 |
|
Summary
Definition
Checklist
Application/Examples
Note.
Printed with permission from National Board for
Professional Teaching Standards, (Early Adolescence/English Language
Arts Standards, 1998; Adolescence and Young Adulthood/English Language
Arts Standards, 1998), www.nbpts.org.
All rights reserved.
Checklist
1.
Early adolescence
___a. Knowledge of students
___b. Curricular choices
___c. Engagement
___d. Learning environment
___e. Instructional resources
___f. Reading
___g. Writing
___h. Discourse
___i. Language study
___j. Integrated instruction
___k. Assessment
___l. Self-reflection
___m. Professional community
___n. Family outreach
2.
Adolescence and young adulthood
Preparing the way for productive student learning
___a. Knowledge of students
___b. Knowledge of English language arts
___c. Engagement
___d. Fairness
___e. Learning environment
___f. Instructional resources
Advancing student learning in the classroom
___g. Integrated instruction
___h. Reading
___i. Writing
___j. Discourse
___k. Language study
___l. Assessment
___m. Self-reflection
___n. Professional community
___o. Family outreach
Applications/Examples
1.
Early Adolescence
___a. Knowledge
of students
-
Teachers
systematically acquire a sense of their students as individual
language learners, create classrooms centered around students, and
believe that all students can learn.
-
Teachers are
aware and appreciate the students' cultural, linguistic, and ethnic
heritage, family setting, prior learning experiences, personal
interests, needs, and goals.
-
They
systematically observe students using English and other languages in
group settings.
-
They may
individually check oral reading skills, administer assessment
exercises, and conduct private interviews.
___b. Curricular
choices
-
Teachers set
attainable and worthwhile learning goals for students and develop
meaningful learning opportunities while extending to students an
increasing measure of control over how these goals are pursued.
-
They
encourage self-directed learning on the part of each student, but
always gauge student progress in terms of ambitious long-term
learning goals.
-
They
organize, structure, and sequence learning activities that reflect
proposed goals and develop significant learning experiences.
-
The planning
process is inclusive--all students are involved.
___c. Engagement
-
Teachers
elicit a concerted effort in language learning from each of their
students.
-
They engage
students in language learning by having the latter participate
actively in discussions of literature, share their ideas about
writing, and listen attentively to one another.
-
Teachers
display a contagious enthusiasm for literature and language arts
processes, to which their students relate.
-
Teachers
offer learning activities, reading selections, and writing
assignments (often self-selected) that frequently relate to the
interests and concerns of young adolescents.
-
Teachers
maintain high expectations for the language development of each
student.
-
They know
that genuine achievement motivates students to do their best--they
provide frequent opportunities for students to engage actively in
their own expression and meaning making.
___d. Learning
environment
-
Teachers
create a caring, inclusive, and challenging environment in which
students actively learn.
-
They create
an atmosphere in which all students can develop competence in their
reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills without an
inhibiting fear of failure or social stigmatization, respect
diversity in each other's language, background knowledge, and
experience, and assume mutual responsibility for the success of the
learning community.
-
Teachers are
friendly, curious, enthusiastic about literature and the uses of
language, and supportive of each student's language initiatives.
-
They are
good listeners and have a healthy sense of humor.
-
They are
caring, fair-minded, and supportive of each student's well-being.
-
Teachers use
the diversity of language experience, cultural background, and
ethnic heritage as a source to be explored for their students'
understanding of each other.
-
They are
efficient classroom managers who know the value of using scarce
resources.
-
They
understand that classroom discipline is largely a function of
student engagement (grouping decisions, judicious movements about
the room).
-
Teachers
arrange for frequent collaborative learning opportunities and are
equally comfortable employing whole-class, one-on-one, peer-group,
cross-age-tutoring, or other grouping approaches.
___e.
Instructional resources
-
Teachers
select, adapt, and create resources that support active student
exploration of literature and language processes.
-
They are
familiar with a variety of curricular resources--ranging from
traditional print literature to electronic texts--that can enrich
and extend the scope of their students' engagement with English
language arts.
-
They have an
extensive knowledge of written texts, and they draw on this
knowledge, combined with their knowledge of the literacy skills,
social backgrounds, and personal interests of their students, to
make suggestions for independent reading by individual students.
-
They provide
students with a wide range of optional texts.
-
They know
that an exposure to texts of many cultures is critical for all
students.
-
They are
prepared to cope with the recurring problem of text censorship--they
keep parents and other representatives of the community apprised of
their text selections and deal constructively with individuals
objecting to the inclusion of specific works.
___f. Reading
-
Teachers
engage their students in reading and responding to literature and in
interpreting and thinking deeply about literature and other texts.
-
They
understand that all students are entitled to their own response to a
text.
-
Teachers
help students become sensitive, willing, adventurous readers who can
articulate insightful interpretations of increasingly demanding
texts.
-
They
encourage a range of interpretations, helping students recognize,
respect, and learn the inherent value of differing responses to the
same text.
-
Teachers are
co-learners with their students in discussions of literature, asking
open-ended questions about the text, following the logical train of
student-initiated observations.
-
They present
to the students the cognitive strategies expert readers use for
generating meaning from text--asking strategic questions,
summarizing, paraphrasing, inferring, or predicting; they point out
structural literary devices--analogies, metaphors, symbolism,
etc.--in the setting in which they occur.
-
In
pre-reading activities, teachers attempt to establish their
students' personal involvement with the story.
-
Teachers
design and use a range of activities that permit students,
regardless of their level of reading or language proficiency, to
demonstrate their comprehension, interpretation, and appreciation of
texts (reading aloud to students, providing audiotapes of stories,
having students respond to texts through improvisational role
playing, drawing, or dance, etc.).
___g. Writing
-
Teachers
immerse their students in the art of writing.
-
They know
that writing well is a skill best acquired through active practice
and that students are most motivated to write when they are allowed
o address issues that have meaning in their lives.
-
They sponsor
informal writing activities (free writing, daily journals, note
taking, listing, question generating, etc.).
-
Teachers
present the different stages in the complex process of writing.
First, they choose learning activities that highlight various
aspects of the writing process; second, they regularly write
themselves, sharing with students their own strategies; third, they
keep models of writing, by professionals and peers alike, before
their students.
-
Teachers
have students share informal and formal writings with one another
and publish students' writings so that students have the opportunity
to perceive one another as authors.
-
Teachers
encourage students to write about issues that matter in their lives,
by frequently demonstrating the impact their writings have on
classmates and other audiences.
-
Teachers
demonstrate a constructive response to student texts that students
can imitate in their reactions to one another's writing efforts.
-
Teachers are
aware of common patterns in developing writers and provide direct
instruction addressing them.
___h. Discourse
-
Teachers
foster thoughtful classroom discourse that provides opportunities
for students to listen and speak in many ways and for many purposes.
-
Teachers
know that improving oral expression is important to the development
of the literacy skills of all students and provide them with
opportunities to take part actively in challenging uses of speech
(student participation in small-group or whole-class discussions of
texts, role playing, creative drama reenactment, parliamentary
debate, oratorical advocacy, humorous storytelling, etc.).
-
They use
variations in language style within the classroom community as a
resource for students to learn about and appreciate language
diversity.
-
Teachers are
fluent and adept users of the spoken word; they help students
directly with improving their speech.
-
Teachers
participate in classroom conversation about literature or other
texts as co-learners and members of the group--they ask open-ended
questions, listen carefully to what students have to say, etc.
___i. Language
study
-
Teachers
strengthen student sensitivity to and proficiency in the appropriate
uses of language.
-
They know
the accepted rules of grammar, syntax, and usage and employ them in
their daily classroom conversations.
-
They also
know that dialects often signal membership in a group and are richly
expressive communicative tools in their own right.
-
Teachers
respect the integrity and value of their students' home language
while modeling and teaching the conventions of English as a way of
expanding each student's opportunity to participate fully in
society.
-
Teachers
help students recognize that what is appropriate oral and written
language varies according to the cultural and social setting.
-
Teachers
eliminate difficult-to-understand jargon, restate key points, and
use a slower, but natural, speech rate with clear enunciation and
simplified vocabulary (visual cues are also used).
-
Teachers
carry out regular comprehension checks.
___j. Integrated
instruction
-
Teachers
integrate reading, writing, speaking, and listening opportunities in
the creation and interpretation of meaningful texts.
-
Students are
helped to understand that the language competencies they are
acquiring apply across the curriculum.
___k. Assessment
-
Teachers use
a range of formal and informal assessment methods to monitor student
progress, encourage student self-assessment, plan instruction, and
report to various audiences.
-
They provide
students with constructive feedback regarding both the processes and
products of their meaning-making efforts.
-
Assessment
is a constant monitoring of student progress that precedes and
accompanies instruction.
-
They take
into account cultural biases and linguistic realities in their
assessment practices by systemically monitoring student
participation during class discussions or other classroom work,
reviewing collections of individual student writings over time,
keeping anecdotal notes on student performances during oral
presentations or group reports, conducting one-on-one interviews,
recording audiotapes, keeping student portfolios, etc.
___l.
Self-reflection
-
Teachers
regularly analyze, evaluate, and strengthen the effectiveness and
quality of their practice by evaluating results and seeking input
systematically from a variety of sources and by being open to new
ideas and continuously refining their practice.
___m.
Professional community
-
Teachers
work with colleagues to improve schools and to advance knowledge and
practice in the field by contributing to the school's intellectual
life, the overall quality of instruction, and the advancement of the
profession.
___n. Family
outreach
2.
Adolescence and young adulthood
Preparing the
way for productive student learning
___a.
Knowledge of students
-
Teachers
systematically acquire a sense of their students as individual
language learners.
-
Teachers
create classrooms centered around students.
-
Teachers
believe that all students can learn.
-
Teachers are
aware and appreciate the students' cultural, linguistic, and ethnic
heritage, family setting, prior learning experiences, personal
interests, needs, and goals.
-
They
systematically observe students using English and other languages in
group settings.
-
They may
individually check oral reading skills, administer assessment
exercises, and conduct private interviews.
___b. Knowledge
of English language arts
-
Teachers
know their field and draw upon this knowledge to set attainable and
worthwhile learning goals for students.
-
They
encourage self-directed learning on the part of each student, but do
so within the framework of ambitious, long-term learning goals
informed by their own knowledge of English language arts.
-
They are
familiar with a large and diverse array of literary works, authors,
and genres from throughout the world.
-
Teachers
provide students with opportunities to decide how learning goals are
pursued; they adjust their practice, as appropriate, to student
feedback and provide many avenues to learning.
-
They rely on
their students' growing maturity in designing assignments that
provide students with increasing latitude, scope, and
responsibility; the planning process is inclusive--all students are
involved.
___c. Engagement
-
Teachers
elicit a concerted effort in language learning from each of their
students.
-
They engage
students in language learning by having the latter participate
actively in discussions of literature, share their ideas about
writing, and listen attentively to one another.
-
Teachers
display a contagious enthusiasm for literature and language arts
processes, to which their students relate.
-
Teachers
offer learning activities, reading selections, and writing
assignments (often self-selected) that frequently relate to the
interests and concerns of young adolescents; teachers maintain high
expectations for the language development of each student.
-
They know
that genuine achievement motivates students to do their best--they
provide frequent opportunities for students to engage actively in
their own expression and making meaning.
___d. Fairness
-
Teachers
demonstrate through their practices toward all students their
commitment to the principles of equity, strength through diversity,
and fairness.
-
They
frequently bring individuals from varying backgrounds in contact
with one another to provide a forum where experiences can be shared
and mutual understandings of core similarities and differences
deepened.
-
Within
groups, teachers may establish leadership roles to prevent gender or
other stereotypes from restricting participation.
-
Teachers are
vigilant in making sure that all students receive their fair share
of attention and that their assessments of student progress are
similarly balanced.
-
They are
creative in tailoring activities so that each student benefits from
the experience, and they can articulate reasons for their strategies
and the outcomes they are seeking to realize from them.
___e. Learning
environment
-
Teachers
create a caring, inclusive, and challenging environment in which
students actively learn.
-
They create
an atmosphere in which all students can develop competence in their
reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills without an
inhibiting fear of failure or social stigmatization, respect
diversity in each other's language, background knowledge, and
experience, and assume mutual responsibility for the success of the
learning community.
-
Teachers are
friendly, curious, enthusiastic about literature and the uses of
language, and supportive of each student's language initiatives.
-
They are
good listeners and have a healthy sense of humor.
-
They are
caring, fair-minded, and supportive of each student's well-being.
-
Teachers use
the diversity of language experience, cultural background, and ethic
heritage as a source to be explored for their students'
understanding of each other.
-
They are
efficient classroom managers who know the value of using scarce
resources.
-
They
understand that classroom discipline is largely a function of
student engagement (grouping decisions, judicious movements about
the room).
-
Teachers
arrange for frequent collaborative learning opportunities and are
equally comfortable employing whole-class, one-on-one, peer-group,
cross-age-tutoring, or other grouping approaches.
___f.
Instructional resources
-
Teachers
select, adapt, and create curricular resources that support active
student exploration of language processes and a wide range of texts.
-
Teachers
choose texts for concentrated study (predominantly poetry, short
stories, novels, essays, biographies, and other traditional literary
forms), but also they include less traditional forms (student
writings, TV programs, lyrics, ads, cartoons) based on their
literary substance, representative diversity, and appeal to
adolescents and young adults.
-
They draw on
knowledge of their field, combined with knowledge of the literary
skills, social background, and personal interests of their students,
to make suggestions for independent reading by individual students.
-
They provide
their students with an introduction to a variety of texts from many
cultures and many viewpoints; teachers balance the claims of fiction
and nonfiction, of prose and poetry, of the predominantly visual or
aural with the predominantly written or verbal, of seminal authors
and works of enduring merit from different periods of American
literature and the literature of other societies with the
stimulating appeal of new voices and perspectives.
-
They are
prepared to address the recurring issues of text censorship; they
inform parents and other representatives of the community of their
text selections and work with individuals objecting to the inclusion
of specific texts.
-
Teachers are
aware of the power of new technologies to support their students'
education, and they rely on and disseminate knowledge of these tools
in their practice.
Advancing
student learning in the classroom
___g. Integrated
instruction
-
Teachers
frequently integrate reading, writing, speaking, listening, and
viewing opportunities in English studies and across the other
disciplines.
-
Students are
helped to improve the clarity of their thinking and communication
skills by using language across the curriculum (gather relevant
information; discriminate between reliable and frivolous or biased
sources; synthesize ideas into a convincing whole; express their
ideas in a coherent, compelling, and well-reasoned fashion).
-
Teachers
involve students in extended analyses of the pivotal themes and
ideas that poets and philosophers have explored through the ages;
students are able to contextualize and deepen their own learning.
___h. Reading
-
Teachers
engage their students in reading and responding to literature and in
interpreting and thinking deeply about literature and other texts.
-
They
understand that all students are entitled to their own response to a
text.
-
Teachers
help students become sensitive, willing, adventurous readers who can
articulate insightful interpretations of increasingly demanding
texts.
-
They
encourage a range of interpretations, helping students recognize,
respect, and learn the inherent value of differing responses to the
same text.
-
Teachers are
co-learners with their students in discussions of literature, asking
open-ended questions about the text, following the logical train of
student-initiated observations.
-
They present
to the students the cognitive strategies expert readers use for
generating meaning from text--asking strategic questions,
summarizing, paraphrasing, inferring, or predicting.
-
They point
out structural literary devices--analogies, metaphors, symbolism,
etc.--in the setting in which they occur.
-
In
pre-reading activities, teachers attempt to establish their
students' personal involvement with the story.
-
Teachers
design and use a range of activities that permit students,
regardless of their level of reading or language proficiency, to
demonstrate their comprehension, interpretation, and appreciation of
texts (reading aloud to students, providing audiotapes of stories,
having students respond to texts through improvisational role
playing, drawing, or dance, etc.).
___i. Writing
-
Teachers
immerse their students in the art of writing.
-
They know
that writing well is a skill best acquired through active practice
and that students are most motivated to write when they are allowed
o address issues that have meaning in their lives.
-
They sponsor
informal writing activities (free writing, daily journals, note
taking, listing, question generating, etc.).
-
Teachers
present the different stages in the complex process of writing.
First, they choose learning activities that highlight various
aspects of the writing process; second, they regularly write
themselves, sharing with students their own strategies; and third,
they keep models of writing, by professionals and peers alike,
before their students.
-
Teachers
have students share informal and formal writings with one another
and publish students' writings so that students have the opportunity
to perceive one another as authors.
-
Teachers
encourage students to write about issues that matter in their lives,
by frequently demonstrating the impact their writings have on
classmates and other audiences.
-
Teachers
demonstrate a constructive response to student texts that students
can imitate in their reactions to one another's writing efforts.
-
Teachers are
aware of common patterns in developing writers and provide direct
instruction addressing them.
___j. Discourse
-
Teachers
foster thoughtful classroom discourse that provides opportunities
for students to listen and speak in many ways and for many purposes.
-
Teachers
know that improving oral expression is important to the development
of the literacy skills of all students and provide them with
opportunities to take part actively in challenging uses of speech
(student participation in small-group or whole-class discussions of
texts, role playing, creative drama reenactment, parliamentary
debate, oratorical advocacy, humorous storytelling, etc.).
-
They use
variations in language style within the classroom community as a
resource for students to learn about and appreciate language
diversity.
-
Teachers are
fluent and adept users of the spoken word.
-
They help
students directly with improving their speech.
-
Teachers
participate in classroom conversation about literature or other
texts as co-learners and members of the group--they ask open-ended
questions, listen carefully to what students have to say, etc.
___k. Language
study
-
Teachers
strengthen student sensitivity to and proficiency in the appropriate
uses of language.
-
They know
the accepted rules of grammar, syntax, and usage and employ them in
their daily classroom conversations.
-
They also
know that dialects often signal membership in a group and are richly
expressive communicative tools in their own right.
-
Teachers
respect the integrity and value of their students' home language
while modeling and teaching the conventions of English as a way of
expanding each student's opportunity to participate fully in
society.
-
Teachers
help students recognize that what is appropriate oral and written
language varies according to the cultural and social setting.
-
When dealing
with ESL students, teachers eliminate difficult-to-understand
jargon, restate key points, and use a slower, but natural, speech
rate with clear enunciation and simplified vocabulary (visual cues
are also used).
-
Teachers
carry out regular comprehension checks.
___l. Assessment
-
Teachers use
a range of formal and informal assessment methods to monitor student
progress, encourage student self-assessment, plan instruction, and
report to various audiences.
-
They provide
students with constructive feedback regarding both the processes and
products of their meaning-making efforts.
-
Assessment
is a constant monitoring of student progress that precedes and
accompanies instruction.
-
They take
into account cultural biases and linguistic realities in their
assessment practices by systemically monitoring student
participation during class discussions or other classroom work,
reviewing collections of individual student writings over time,
keeping anecdotal notes on student performances during oral
presentations or group reports, conducting one-on-one interviews,
recording audiotapes, keeping student portfolios, etc.
___m.
Self-reflection
-
Teachers
regularly analyze, evaluate, and strengthen the effectiveness and
quality of their practice by evaluating results and seeking input
systematically from a variety of sources and by being open to new
ideas and continuously refining their practice.
___n.
Professional community
-
Teachers
work with colleagues to improve schools and to advance knowledge and
practice in the field by contributing to the school's intellectual
life, the overall quality of instruction, and the advancement of the
profession.
___o. Family
outreach
|
