Well, I’ll start off this blog by introducing myself. My name is Casey McKnight and I am currently just finishing my first month of UVic’s Post Degree Education Program. So far I’m loving it and learning a lot. This blog is essentially an assignment for my English Language Arts course and our goal for this first posting is to describe a bit about what we expect ELA in a middle school classroom to look like/sound like/ be like.
Previous to the introduction to this course, I hadn’t put too much consideration into English Language Arts being much more than the instruction of reading and writing. I realize now that I was very mistaken. Not only through reading and writing, but also through engaging and interactive methods such as speaking, listening, viewing and representing, the instruction of English Language Arts aids in encouraging and preparing students to integrate themselves into the world and to enable them to participate actively and with purpose in all aspects of society. I presume that my superficial assumption of the subject content was due to my personal learning experiences as a child. My recollection of my past experience with English Language Arts is of, for the most part, sitting in a quiet classroom, silently working on my writing or reading a book. I can recall very few instances where my classmates and I were actively engaged with either the teacher or with one another.
This is not what I expect of a more current classroom – of my future classroom. I understand that it is important to address the students’ needs and to help give them a sense of autonomy while upholding my role as their instructor, mentor and guide. In the words of Nancie Atwell, it’s my responsibility as their teacher to be “a listener and a teller, an observer and an actor, a collaborator and a critic and a cheerleader.” Students at the middle school age are in the middle of so many changes, both mentally and physically. They’re attempting to find themselves while simultaneously dealing with the onslaught of insecurities that puberty and adolescence brings. I expect to face many challenges due to their wavering temperament, their longing to find themselves and their need to be challenged intellectually. As a result of all of this, I can’t say exactly what I expect an ELA middle school classroom to look like/sound like/ be like, but I am excited to find out and to face the challenges it brings head on!
