Specialized Methods of Language Arts Instruction

1. Learning Centers

 are usually set up in designated sections of the classroom where materials are continually available for students to work with alone or in small groups to master specific language arts objectives.  Learning centers provide opportunities for students to select meaningful tasks and have a colorful working environment for hands-on activities.  Centers establish self-esteem and build success as the activitities are designed to reinforce mastery levels. They build self-directed learning and independence as the students select the activities and self-correct their work.

To develop a successful center:

1.  The learning goal must be important to the group with topics students enjoy and judge to be important. The curriculum, knowledge of students' interests, and the students themselves can help determine topics for centers.

2.  There must be individual as well as group accountability with a record keeping system that enables the teacher to monitor at a glance what every student is working on and has completed.

3.  The materials and proceses to be used at the center must be modeled in advance with sample end products displayed. Opportunities to use visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic learning styles should be built into the center's activities.

Center Management

With multiple centers and young students, a center roation system can be posted. With older students, students can go to centers when done with work or during center time.

Types of Centers: The possibilities are limitless!

Centers for young learners can include a listening center, dramatic play center, an ABC center, & block center. Younger & older students can have a writing center, reading center, classroom library center, art center,  creative arts center, puzzle center, & technology center to name a few.  There can also be sceince centers, manipulatives/math center, and music center. 

Current or high interest topics can be a basis for centers, such as author study centers (ex.: Jan Brett, Tomie dePaola, Eric Carle, Gary Paulson); genre study centers (ex.: mysteries, historical fiction, fantasy); thematic centers (ex.: friendship, family, the environment, cooperation, problem solving); and content-based centers (ex.: parts of speech; descriptive words; space, zoo animals, insects, PA history, famous women, our town; the Civil War).

2. Reading & Writing Workshops

Workshops are times when students read books of their own choice (reading workshop) and respond in a way they choose to their reading or write on pieces of their own choice (writing workshop) using the writing process at their own pace.

A typical format for a workshop includes:

A class meeting: 5-10 minutes to talk about the purpose for the workshop, motivate and inspire, and share throught and concerns.

A mini-lesson: 5-15 minutes to provide direct instruction and modeling of a new skill that students are to work on, be conscious of, or apply in the workshop.  It can also be a review or reteaching of a skill which student need to address in their reading and writing.  Discussion and guided practice usually follows before students go off into the workshop.

The workshop: 20-30 minutes when students become engaged in their own reading or writing with self or others.  During the workshop the teacher usually conferences with one student or small groups of students with similar needs, reading the same book or type of book, or working on similar types of writing. The teacher maintains a record-keeping system to insure that students are met with regularly and ancedotal notes are taken or a checklist system is established to note strengths, needs, and progress.

Sharing time: 5-10 minutes to discuss and review what happened and what was learned; to share writing or thoughts about reading.

3. Thematic Units are series of literary experiences organized around a central focus, overarching questions, content areas, genres, authors, or language arts topics. These units are typically integrated with other content areas and immerse students in their study to learn the topic more completely. In this process, the students make choices about their learning as they explore subtopics with great depth. Thematic units usually consist of whole class experiences and instruction followed by independent and collaborative learning experiences. 

Themes must be tightly bound together with powerful experiences, real-world connections that explore ideas and questions as they arise, and developed to engage students to think critically and creatively.

Student Groupings

Various student groupings can be used in the teaching of language arts.

1. Multi-aged groups can link older to younger students to model reading and writing, and build rapport and confidence.

2. Pairs or Partners can be multi-age or same age with students of similar or differing abilities, interests, or skill levels.

3. Small groups involve 3-5 students for a short period of time to work together on non-graded, short term assignment.

4. Coopertive groups or learning teams involve 4-5 students who work together on assigned tasks or projects for longer periods of time.  They can be teacher-selected so ability, gender, and diabilities between groups are balanced (heterogeneous).  Conditions are established and maintained by the teacher so that there is positive interdependence within the group to set goals to complete tasks, individual accountability for one's own learning, social skills development, face-to-face interaction, and group reflection.

5. Large groups involve whole class instruction and discussion.

6. Individual or independent work involves working alone and independently at one's own pace with periodic one-on-one interaction with the teacher.

Key Instructional Practices in Language Arts

1. Scaffolding is an instructional strategy that supports sturents as they attempt to use a skill for the first time.  The teacher assumes part of the task then gradually allows the students to take over as they become more competent, confident, and self-directed. The technique performs the same role as temporary scaffolding in constructing buildings.

2. Modeling & Think Alouds are the process of demonstrating how to think about or perform a language arts process by demonstrating and talking about it immediately before or after students perform the task in class. In modeling, the teacher demonstrates each step in the process. 

During a think aloud, a very powerful modeling tool, the teacher opens up the thinking process he or she uses to complete a task.  It involves becoming very aware of how you mentally approach and think through a process or solve a problem. For students, a think aloud demystifies what goes on in the mind of an experienced reader or writer. 

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