After a few weeks discussion, and first introductions to specific Literacy acronyms (IRP’s, PLO’s, etc…) my enthusiasm to teach English within a Secondary School has excelled all the while being extremely frightened. As a new English teacher I am so excited to see English classes continually developing and evolving as our technology based society continually changes. For me, becoming an English teacher allows me the opportunity to encourage students, within an academic subject, and provide mediums for students to express themselves. There is so much flexibility within an English class, to engage all types of learners, and hopefully create learners who develop an appreciation for English, as well as learning. As a new teacher I believe that creativity and innovative teaching techniques are essential to a literacy based class. The term “multiliteraces” provides both a wide range of tools for teachers to work with, while being challenging at the same time. It is so important to me to be able to provide all different types of texts into a literacy classroom. Multiliteracies includes traditional texts (like textbooks and novels), but extends to a wide facet of different technologies (blogs, Facebook, twitter, ebooks, internet resources, music, TV/DVDs, magazines, artifacts, etc….). This variety within the term is encouraging not just for teachers, but for the wide array of learners that are within our school systems. It is really encouraging to see the IRP’s are stressing concepts around language and the idea of literacy. As educators we are not just looking at basic reading and writing; IRP’s today stresses the ability to understand and process numerous media forms of communication. After reading the IRP’s, as a teacher molding my lesson plans around these specific outlines , I found myself asking questions that could serve as a base point for an English curriculum. How can students respond critically to what they are introduced to? How can teachers show the importance of communication within our technologically based society? How can we utilize language and show students how powerful language can be?
While it is encouraging to know that the curriculum pushes for more interaction between multi-mediums and allowing for different teaching styles for multiple learners, it is a bit overwhelming. As a beginning teacher, knowing where to get resources, lesson plans, and what type of media should be used in a classroom can be so vast, it is hard to know even where to begin. The IRP’s are elusive enough to allow for personal interpretation; each teacher can adapt the basic principles of each IRP and use materials they find will accomplish for each outcome. But each school, classroom dynamic, individual learning styles and personalities are different. What activity or lesson fits an IRP or PLO standard, may not be effective for some classrooms.
While the logistical concepts of teaching in an English classroom can be daunting (resources, budget, administrative support, etc…) these are the types of experiences that will help develop and shape what type of curriculum I teach and how I can incorporate PLO’s and IRP’s. While the PLO’s are not as specific as to say, “English Teachers must teach this novel, four poems, and two essays over three months,” they offer enough specifics to what type of learning, and assessments should be offered throughout an English classroom. An example of the PLO’s showcasing what type of assessment and learning should happen in a classroom without being too specific, can be seen under the Strategies section (Reading and Viewing, Grade 10). The PLO’s support students adapting and applying strategies to analyze and critically think, using different specific techniques (like using text features, comparing, images, and asking questions).
As heavy and dense as the ELA IRP is, there are certain sections that offer really positive encouragement for a beginning teacher. Considerations for Program Delivery offers teachers additional resources for ELA teaching. Involving parents/guardians is so important and something that I believe is a highly contributing factor to a secondary student’s education. With the available means of communication today, blogs, newsletters, forums, texting, has made communication between parents and teachers even easier, and something I plan on encouraging heavily as a teacher. Instead of seeing this as a challenge, I want to be able to have open dialogue between parents, myself and students.
The challanges of becoming a new teacher can be overwhelming, but a passion for the subject and the profession is the reason to see these challanges as oppurtunities. It is encourging to be learning about the IRP’s and new teaching techniques to develop as a new teacher, and one day put these to use in a classroom.
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