Essay: Standards based instruction

Standards based instruction will ideally help an educator hold high expectations while still being able to tailor instruction to individual student’s needs. The goals when it comes to curriculum standards are as follows: to encourage multiple modes of assessing learning and permit students to attain and demonstrate their knowledge in a variety of ways. In order to achieve these goals, one must become familiar with their area’s content standards and then align them with the English language proficiency standards. I personally feel that it is important for all educators, even those who may not be teaching English learners, to become familiar with the ELP standards. It is extremely important for educators to stay ahead of the times when it comes to the instruction in their classrooms. These ELP standards specify the oral and written English needed for academic learning throughout all grade and language development levels. Each standard includes performance indicators, which describe a student’s ability during the different phases of English language development. These indicators aid educators when determining whether or not a student has met a standard. These standards also recognize and value the different cultures that these students bring to the community. It is important that educators not only become familiar with their area’s standards when they first become teachers, but that they continue to educate themselves because standards can always be modified or changed.
When differentiating instruction, it is important for educators to take their students social, psychological, and cognitive traits, as well as their language development into account. This differentiated instruction aims to accommodate a wide variety of student traits to facilitate optimal growth for all. Teachers begin by assessing their students before instruction in order to know how to write their lesson plans. Then students are assessed during instruction to adjust the lesson and delivery as needed. Finally, students are assessed after instruction to determine the success of the lesson and the next steps for learning. These assessments are referred to as an ongoing assessment. I believe that it is impossible to assess students too often. The more that educators assess their students abilities thoroughly, the more they will be able to better prepare their instruction to promote growth for all students. Differentiated instruction calls for respect and caring among both students and the teacher. This is a really important ideal to me, because I will make creating a respectful and caring environment a top priority in my classroom. It is my goal that my students will be proud of who they are and feel free to discuss their differences in my class. It is important to promote acceptance and respect for diversity. DI also promotes variety and flexibility in classroom organization, materials and grouping. When differentiated instruction is applied to English learners, it must address students oral and written English language knowledge, primary language knowledge, cultural differences, and prior knowledge based on life experiences and schooling.
Sheltered instruction is a form of content based instruction that helps English learners understand and learn academic content while acquiring English. This form of instruction uses the target language as a mode of instruction to promote second language acquisition, while also teaching academic subject matter. When educators tailor their instruction based on English learner’s proficiency levels and prior knowledge, they are sheltering instruction. I really like the idea of using the target language as a basis for instruction! I feel that this will provide a learning opportunity in all different subject areas, not just the content they are learning at the time.
Group work is an element of sheltered instruction. It provides English learners with opportunities to interact with English-speaking peers. The type of groups can either be defined as collaborative groups or cooperative learning groups. Collaborative groups are informal and student-centered. The groups are usually chosen by students or based on the activity. Cooperative learning groups requires the groups to include variety among students’ language proficiency, academic ability, and social skills. There may be specific roles within the group with clear instruction on the academic task itself. I am a strong believer in created groups that include students with various abilities. This allows them to learn and grow from each other. This also teaches students how to help one another in a group setting.
Thematic instruction can be used at virtually any grade level with any content. This form of instruction creates a conceptual framework with which students can use both oral and written language. This context establishes the comprehensibility of instruction, which increases both content learning and second language acquisition. The theme based projects used with thematic instruction create student interest and involvement in a variety of new topics. Through this social and academic engagement, language and literacy are developed and promoted. This is essential for both English learners and native English learners. This instruction is organized by the instruction’s purpose, building on prior knowledge, opportunities to use both oral and written language, scaffolding for support, collaboration, and variety.
There are many different ways to assess student’s knowledge. The evaluation of these assessments provides a basis for educators to make appropriate instructional decisions. Formal assessments include standardized tests, while informal assessments include teacher-made tests. Tests must be both reliable and valid, otherwise they will not accurately evaluate student performance. Norm-referenced tests are tests where there is an average score achieved by students that is broadly representative of those for whom the test is meant for. Criterion-referenced tests set up cutoff scores to determine the competence level achieved. When determining what assessment to use with their students, it is important that educators consider the criterion of their tests was reachable for their English learners. I think that the best classrooms use a variety of assessments. This allows educators to understand more of their students abilities and how to better improve student performance.