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- QUESTION
The English language arts content area provides students with many opportunities to improve their communication skills within and beyond school walls.
The purpose of this assignment is to research and practice ways to integrate communication skills, specifically speaking, viewing, listening, and thinking skills, into the English language arts classroom.
Write a 500-1,000 word newsletter to parents explaining how you are using specific strategies and methods to foster social interaction and communication in small group and whole class settings, as well as for students with diverse needs and abilities. Imagine your audience is theparents of students in your field experience or future professional practice.
Using research and what you gleaned from your field experience, include the following in your newsletter:
An introduction of yourself and your role/position in the classroom.
An explanation of the importance of fostering social interaction and communication in the English language arts classroom.
Four strategies or methods that explicitly enhance students’ communication skills in the following areas: Reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Provide at least one strategy or method for each of the four areas.
An explanation of how you differentiate and/or provide additional communication support for all of the following: Students with emergent literacy skills, students with special needs, gifted students, and English language learners.
Add visuals and imagery to enhance the design of the newsletter. Include a references section in APA Style with three to five sources.
While APA format is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and in-text citations and references should be presented using APA documentation guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.
This assignment uses a rubric. Review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite.
| Subject | Communication | Pages | 3 | Style | APA |
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Answer
Communication Skills Newsletter
The content area in the realm of English language arts (ELA) offers students diverse opportunities for the improvement of their communication skills both within and beyond the school walls (West & West, 2016). From my field experience in an English language arts classroom, I have gained a lot of insights and knowledge about ways that communication skills such as those to do with listening, writing, and speaking can be integrated into the English language arts classroom (see Figure 1 below for various elements of an ELA classroom). Notably, I was in field practice as an instructor for students in an English language arts classroom. My role was to help children to grasp skills in various communication areas of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing activities.
Figure 1: Aspects taught in an English language arts classroom.
In the ELA classroom, I always fostered a culture social interaction and communication among the learners with different levels of skills and abilities. One of the importance of social interaction and communication, especially in the ELA classroom, is that it enables learners to develop ability in the English language (Moran & Young, 2015). Additionally, social interaction is vital in maximizing practice time through interactions in pairs and group work. Moreover, according to Athanases, Bennett, and Wahleithner (2015), through social interactions, collaborative learning is achieved as students participate in collaborative tasks which foster language development. Moreover, the culture of social interaction leads to socialization and the development of social skills such as respect for others.
From my field experience, I have realized that there are various methods and strategies that explicitly enhance the communication skills of the students. In the communication area of reading, some of the strategies that improve the students’ communication include visualization and analyzing textual structure (Moran & Young, 2015). However, writing skills can be enhanced via the use of strategies such as summarizing written materials and editing as well as revising of texts. For the students to enhance their listening skills, the methods found to be effective include the use of technology and asking them open-ended questions to provide responses and using various tasks and activities that involve critical thinking. Finally, speaking; as one of the communication areas, can be enhanced via listening to English music and being slow and clear while talking (Moran & Young, 2015).
Since; in my field practice, I used to instruct learners with different levels of literacy skills, those with special needs, gifted students, and English language learners, there are various ways in which I differentiated them. One of those as via the provision of differentiated instructions (West & West, 2016). In specific, I grouped the learners based on different categories and ensured that the instructions I provided to each group were based on their level of understanding, presence of special needs, and any emergent literacy skills. Grouping; based on the ability levels of the learners as well as their interests, ensured that there was flexibility in the classroom and that the learning environment was conducive for all the learners. Figure 2 below shows a visual representation of the concept of grouping as a differentiation strategy.
Figure 2: A picture of a differentiated classroom using grouping.
In conclusion, my field experience as an instructor in an English language arts classroom has provided me with various insights which will guide my future professional practice. I have understood that social interaction and communication are vital in fostering better communication and socialization among the learners. Additionally, enhancing the communication skills of the learners; such as their speaking listening, writing and reading skills, requires strategies such as visualization, summarizing, and listening to music songs. However, to ensure the effectiveness of the diverse ELA classroom, differentiation strategies such as differentiated instructions and grouping are vital in ensuring a conducive learning environment for all the students.
References
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Athanases, S. Z., Bennett, L. H., & Wahleithner, J. M. (2015). Adaptive teaching for English language arts: Following the pathway of classroom data in preservice teacher inquiry. Journal of Literacy Research, 47(1), 83-114. Moran, C., & Young, C. A. (2015). Active learning in the flipped English language arts classroom. In Curriculum Design and Classroom Management: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 588-609). IGI Global. West, J. A., & West, C. K. (2016). Integrating differentiation in English education methods courses: Learning from the perceptions and experiences of teacher candidates. The Teacher Educator, 51(2), 115-135.
Appendix
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