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Philosophy for Teaching English Language Arts

English Language Arts is multifaceted and complex. It is more than another academic
course listed on a student’s schedule; it is a student’s lifeline for communication. A primary goal
for me as an ELA instructor is to give students the tools to get the language from their head onto
a platform that meets their need and increases their language competence. In order to do that, it is
important to stay abreast of current practices and continue to promote meaningful and equitable
study for all my students. ELA considers the teaching of language and grammar, composition,
literature, nonfiction, and speaking and listening as integral components of a student’s multiple
literacies. To build these elements is a finely choreographed dance involving students, colleagues
and administrators, parents, and of course, my beliefs as a teacher.

My classroom centers around reading and writing. Students learn by being engaged in
deep thinking tasks that require recursive processes of writing, thinking, sharing, and discussion.
My role is to facilitate the “work of the thinking” not to do the thinking for them. Students need
to be engaged in complex text and have multiple opportunities to enter the text deriving new
knowledge to form arguments and make judgments, create solutions, and participate in other
tasks evident in a higher cognitive domain. I want my students engaged in deeper thinking
activities that produce student centered work. This is one aspect of teaching I enjoy the most--
mind-mapping, small writing pieces, discussion, inventing, and sharing.

Language: Language structure and conventions are the building blocks of the English language. I
believe grammar instruction should be anchored in writing and reading instead of taught as stand
alone drill and kill workbook exercises; however, I will use mini lessons to target more difficult
skills. The use of mentor text is a great way for students to understand how grammar is used and
to apply the same structures to their own writing. Understanding structure improves both reading
comprehension and composition as grammatical features have direct impact on a text’s
readability. Students need to be able to understand the structures of both print and nonprint text.
Text features such as images, graphs, maps, and charts are just as important to comprehension as
linear text. I also develop lessons to incorporate works of art and historical photographs. Students
need to understand that multiple elements work together to give them information; they pull
different aspects from each, and it is up to them to synthesize their “take away.”

Composition: I hesitate to call myself a writer or a teacher of writing. Perhaps, the better term is
“learner of writing and sharer of what I’ve discovered.” That is pretty much the philosophy I take
into my classroom. Two of the first points I make with my students are 1) our classroom is a safe
zone for writing and 2) writing can be messy because our thinking is sometimes messy and that’s
okay. I try to say something positive to each child who shares. They are exposing a part of their
soul and regardless of whether their attempt is “the heart of the standard,” I acknowledge their
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effort with encouragement and direction. Student writing is posted all over my room. My
students are authors, and I celebrate them sentence by sentence, sometimes word by word.

I value notebook and pencil to jot ideas, and I try to teach the value of writing processes.
Often when students question how to start a writing task, I remind them the footwork has already
been completed now all they have to do is pull their thoughts together. Composition also takes
on various forms in my classroom--not everything is an essay. Students are often given choices
of how they wish to respond to texts and tasks. I implement several digital platforms including
Pear Deck, Canva, Storyboard That, Padlet, and all the accoutrements Google Docs has to offer
via our 1:1 Chromebooks. It is my opinion that writers are born from readers, so I want to offer
as many chances and choices as I can for students to engage in both reflective writing and
reading.

Reading Literature and Nonfiction: I have an open approach to reading. I encourage students to
explore and challenge them to read genres they haven’t before and assure them it is acceptable to
abandon something that is not working. I abandoned the “read and journal homework” that was
expected several years ago after carefully considering how my students were responding to the
task. It was more of a punishment for my good readers instead of an accountability system
equitable for all; it did not facilitate a love of reading in my students. Now, I have my students
read as often as possible in class and during any free time especially since some of them will
never open a book at home. I want them to be immersed in books. I have books not only in the
designated reading center but also in the windows, on my desk, in the corners, and on the
counter. Most foreign language teachers tell their students the first day that if they wish to
become a fluent speaker, they must become immersed in the language. This same philosophy
applies to English. I want my students immersed in books, speaking, and writing and held
together by high expectations. If I can consistently provide them choice, encouragement, and
feedback, then perhaps I can further my goal of encouraging lifelong literacy in my students.

Reading traditional books is not the only type literacy facing my students. It is also up to
me to help them navigate the world of digital literacy. One of the most important things for me
as teacher-mom is online safety. Working closely with the librarian, I am able to introduce my
students to online safety and help them learn how to begin navigating websites and checking for
reliability and authenticity. We start this at the beginning of the year and this skill permeates
everything we do online. Additionally, I have spent minimal time teaching students how to
increase their digital literacy. That is a challenge I accept as I move forward in understanding
how my students and I both respond to multimedia text. Thinking about reading instruction
differently means investigating the ways students are making meaning from the text they are
immersed in (including gaming, hyperlinks, and other digital literacies). In my own self
reflection, I have had to question such things as if I equate complex reading with linear reading
and what does “sustained” reading even look like or mean. Thinking about it for me means
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thinking about it for my students--questioning them, listening to them, and proceeding with the
information I find.

For reading instruction, I use before, during, and after reading strategies to arm my
students with the tools they need for comprehension. While we may introduce or focus on these
strategies in isolation, it is rare for students to use them that way. It is important to make them
cognitive of what they are doing and to be able to recall and apply the strategies to increasingly
complex texts. When state testing looms on the horizon and anxiety starts to spike, I am able to
remind them that they have what they need--apply the strategies. For whole class lessons, we
read as many culturally diverse texts as possible and tie those experiences to our lives. One
recent favorite consisted of stories related to the sinking of Titanic. Cultures, ethnicity, and class
combine for a lively discussion of the Titanic texts and the big idea that in spite of money, class,
ethnicity--tragic life experiences happen to us all how we deal with them makes a difference. I
try to find texts that reflect students’ lives or empower them to foster valuable character traits.

Reading also opens opportunities for inquiry. Often students will start a question list from
a literary circle book; these questions will become research opportunities once the book study is
completed. Early in my teaching career I felt I had to have all the answers ready for the students-
-now I use text to jump start student inquiry and give students ownership of the direction their
questions take. Many of the changes I have made in my classroom over the years, such as this
one, have come from listening to my students tell me what worked for them and what did not.

Speaking and Listening: Speaking and listening is a two way street. I can teach speaking and
listening skills as required by our state standards, but more important than those standards, is the
ability to give my students voice and to listen to that voice. I survey my students about their
learning and have them reflect in their interactive notebooks (our term for writing
journal/composition books) about how they are learning and the insight they are gaining about
themselves. We have interesting conversations about what they think writing/reading is or isn’t
and how they view themselves as authors, readers, and learners. These conversations inform my
strategies and instruction for future lessons. As a reflective practitioner, I am mindful of routines
that need to change year to year or even class to class. I have routine sessions to determine how
my students are faring while navigating the constraints, freedoms, and stresses of school, and I
use Google survey to keep a check on how they are doing academically with the requirements of
my class. Occasionally, a check needs to go deeper and it means placing a composition book in
the hands of a certain child and asking her to write out the pain that is locked away inside. I have
given countless composition or art journals to middle and high school students with instructions
to draw or write, just get it out, especially after I have seen the scarred wrists and thighs. It does
something to you as a teacher to see any child with evidence of cutting all over their bodies. How
can children this young already have so much pain? And then you realize the physical pain they
are trying to inflict is less painful than what’s in their heart or head or worst, reminds them they
still can feel something. I try to encourage them to write or draw and work through the pain
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instead of turning it inward. I have some who have never experienced a discouraging day to
those who have no idea of what it is like to be taken care of. The students I work with are just as
diverse in language skills as they are in background and life’s experiences.

Experiences like this have made me more aware of the tasks we assign students and the
assumptions we make about completion. One of the greatest occurrences of othering I see
occuring in school is from teachers who are unaware of students’ homelife and the false
assumption the teachers make about that child’s cognitive development based on current work
production. When teachers assume all students can produce “pinterest” type projects and come to
school ready to present those nicely crafted projects to the class and then penalize those students
who do not, there is a grand dysfunction with our system as professional educators.

The relationship I have with students matters over the rigor of my subject. That is not to
say I don’t advocate higher domain thinking and activities. However, without the relationship
and the relevancy to their lives, the amount of rigor is not going to matter. They need to know I
care in order for them to care. I have hopes and dreams for them. I want to see them succeed,
obtain their dreams, and work toward being the best version of themselves they can be with the
grit they need to keep them centered with things don’t go as planned.

Finally, colleague collaboration is a major part of who I am as a teacher and how I have
grown as a professional. I treasure working with other academic teachers to pull their subject
matter into the ELA classroom and to discuss best practices for at-risk students and enrichment
for any student who needs an additional push. Education of our children does not solely rest on
one set of shoulders; it takes a unified team with the primary goal creating lifelong learners to
make a difference in the lives of our children.

Denise Sawyer