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Lessons Taught, Lessons Learned Vol. II
Here's Looking at You and Whole
Language
by Susan Nugent
Fairbanks North Star Borough School District
In the fall of the next school year, I intend
to teach the Here's Looking at You 2000 (HLAY) curriculum with a
whole language approach to first graders, using reading, listening,
speaking and writing to enhance the materials. The goal is to reach
all areas of the curriculum, including social studies, language arts,
science/health, and math.
Whole language is another term to emphasize
process thinking. When learning naturally we do not separate our
thinking into subject categories, but learn by new experiences,
drawing upon the past and integrating new knowledge. Whole language
stresses oral communication, but not lecturing. The teacher serves as
a facilitator, providing learning opportunities for the child, using
all modalities and many expressive chances to show learning. Learning
becomes the students' responsibility as well as the teacher's.
HLAY is a drug and alcohol prevention
curriculum for grades one through twelve. The curriculum deals with
information on the three gateway drugs (nicotine, alcohol and
marijuana), poisons, self-esteem, social skills, refusal skills,
bonding and success in school. A major point of the program is
teaching kids how to stay out of trouble yet keep friends. The
lessons in the upper grades also focus on enabling, the ways we keep
drug abuse from friends, by our reactions and often the help we offer
so crises do not arise. Intervention skills are also taught to the
student and the teacher.
The kits consist of a guide, resources,
materials and step by step lesson plans. Training is mandated by the
distributor before the kit is used in the classroom. The teacher is a
facilitator, demonstrating positive relationships and providing
needed materials, guidance and organization.
Five steps are involved in teaching general
skills. These steps are:
1. motivation
- getting
the students' interest
2. modeling - viewing a positive interaction
of new skills
3. practice - role playing situations
4. feedback - reflecting period
5. transfer - using the skill in
everyday situations that occur in the student's life.
In these five steps, teachers are encouraged to
make use of cross-age teaching, where older students teach younger
students (the recommended age differential is three years), and
cooperative team learning. Additional extension activities in the
personal experiences of the student as well as the family group are
included in the curriculum.
For effective teaching of the curriculum the
program suggests teachers must do the following:
1. walk your talk - practice and use
the skills discussed, do not abuse alcohol or use drugs. Past
users who are reformed offer
insights.
2. use a variety of strategies
3. be knowledgeable of the topic
4. be trusted by students
5. come alive with humor, stories,
etc.
6. want to teach the curriculum
7. be flexible to address various audiences,
be aware of culture, home, family situations and history of
students.
HLAY will fit into many areas of the
curriculum. In health/science it recognizes poisons, identifies
differences between medicine and candy, and focuses on mental health.
Also, the program addresses the use of observation skills. Language
arts emphasized are effective communication, creative dramatics,
thought processing and the enjoyment of reading. Social studies
curriculum features inherent in the program are the role of friends,
community and helping careers.
Math is not covered but can be incorporated
easily. In the first week of school, review is important. HLAY
stresses what we can do, so why not show classroom math skills the
students are competent in. Also measuring could easily be done with
HLAY. Most students can jump, so use strings to measure jumps and use
comparative math terms for the math skill.
Frog, a puppet in the HLAY kit, would be the
element to draw all subjects together. His role is that of a friend
to give direction and disseminate necessary information. Frog could
be used to motivate and model appropriate skills. (Frog is only in
the first grade kit.) A typical daily schedule could be:
- Journal writing
- writing
or drawing
- Singing, poetry on theme, and/or "I can
do..." time
- HLAY - this includes role playing, writing,
drawing and talking
- Recess/snack - frog cookies
- Story on Friendship - Frog and Toad, oral
activity or writing activity based on story
- Lunch
- Recess
- SSR or Rest
- Math - Frog jumps, measure with string, use
comparatives to verbalize math (long, longer,longest, short,
etc.), create own math story problems
- Music/P.E./Library
- Recess
- Science - make frogs out of green Jello and
toads from Rice Krispie treats, compare and contrast frogs and
toads by observation skills
- Verbalize and eat
- Journals - writing or drawing trying to include
material learned during the day.
All of the skills being taught are included in
the curriculum for the district. It may not be in the prescribed
order of the textbook, but the curriculum is covered in a meaningful
manner.
Evaluation will take place by observation of
the student participating in the skills taught during the
instructional periods. Journals may be used to record learning. The
students may reflect upon what they have learned in picture or
written form which reinforces language skills, as well as other
skills they have been learning. At this time, evaluation of writing
is not important, but the thoughts that are expressed should be
concentrated upon.
In the first grade, experiences are very
important. This is difficult to evaluate due to the many ability
differences of the students. The experiences last a lifetime and will
be reflected upon for life. The goal is not necessarily evaluation,
but creating an environment where children have the need to learn
what they need to know.
Basis of Teaching Style
The basis for teaching the HLAY/whole language
unit is a compilation of ideas taken from the recommended readings in
Lessons Taught, Lessons Learned, Alaska State Writing Consortium
Basic Institute, Whole Language Symposium, and the sectional on
Here's Looking at You 2000 at the Rural and Interior Alaska
Instructional Improvement Academy. All of these stressed the need for
process thinking, interrelation of learning to speaking and language,
life experiences, and the need to develop a desire for
learning.
All of the workshops and readings stressed
cooperative learning -students learning from each other in a
non-threatening environment, working together to an end. This teaches
cooperation and gives a sense of achievement. This also teaches the
child to seek out those more competent in an area without a sense of
defeat, or giving help to less competent without superiority. Sharing
in large groups or working in small groups increases communication
skills.
Communication is another aspect which increases
learning. When new material is talked out to others, thoughts are
internalized, revised and merged with other learning. This gives
students a chance to bring in their experiential background so a
basis for learning can exist.
Building upon the experiences, culture, and
historical background gives a way for all students to relate to the
material. This allows the teacher and student to recognize the
uniqueness of each individual and the cultural diversity each student
can bring to the group as an asset. This also allows students to
recognize their place in society and to recognize the interdependence
of the larger society in relation to the smaller society. This
eventually allows the process of learning to be linked to
self.
Project-centered approaches, or as often called
in elementary teaching, thematic units, are a way of building needed
learning into an interrelated base. This provides experiences for a
deeper understanding of the interrelated ness of disciplines and
keeps the students' thought processes going
- not
stopping or starting with each new subject.
The ideas are good because children are
learning to think as well as learning a basic core of knowledge
necessary for the future. Children then have a better understanding
of the need to learn. The HLAY/whole language unit hopefully
incorporates all of these areas in a relevant way to the
child.
Foreword
Ray Barnhardt
Part I *
Rural School Ideals
"My
Goodness, People Come and Go So Quickly Around
Here"
Lance C. Blackwood
Parental Involvement
in a Cross-Cultural Environment
Monte Boston
Teachers and
Administrators for Rural Alaska
Claudia Caffee
The Mentor Teacher
Program
Judy Charles
Building
Networks
Helen Eckelman
Ideal Curriculum and
Teaching Approaches for a School in Rural
Alaska
Teresa McConnell
Some Observations
Concerning Excellent Rural Alaskan Schools
Bob Moore
The Ideal Rural
Alaska Village School
Samuel Moses
From Then To Now:
The Value of Experiential Learning
Clara Carol Potterville
The Ideal
School
Jane Seaton
Toward an Integrated,
Nonlinear, Community-Oriented Curriculum
Unit
Mary Short
A Letter from
Idealogak, Alaska
Timothy Stathis
Preparing
Rural Students for the Future
Michael Stockburger
The Ideal
Rural School
Dawn Weyiouanna
Alternative
Approaches to the High School Curriculum
Mark J. Zintek
Part II *
Rural Curriculum Ideas
"Masking" the
Curriculum
Irene Bowie
On Punks and
Culture
Louise J. Britton
Literature to Meet
the Needs of Rural Students
Debra Buchanan
Reaching the Gifted
Student Via the Regular Classroom
Patricia S. Caldwell
Early Childhood Special
Education in Rural Alaska
Colleen Chinn
Technically
Speaking
Wayne Day
Process Learning
Through the School Newspaper
Marilyn Harmon
Glacier Bay
History: A Unit in Cultural Education
David Jaynes
Principals of
Technology
Brian Marsh
Here's Looking
at You and Whole Language
Susan Nugent
Inside, Outside and
all-Around: Learning to Read and Write
Mary L. Olsen
Science Across
the Curriculum
Alice Porter
Here's Looking at
You 2000 Workshop
Cheryl Severns
School-Based
Enterprises
Gerald Sheehan
King Island
Christmas: A Language Arts Unit
Christine Pearsall Villano
Using Student-Produced
Dialogues
Michael A. Wilson
We-Search and
Curriculum Integration in the Community
Sally Young
Artist's
Credits
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