The Teaching of Language Arts

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the teaching of humanities and, more specifically language arts and the trend among some colleges and universities recently to cut back or eliminate their humanities major and courses. The paper discusses the history of the study of humanities from as far back as the Middle Ages. The paper then analyzes the three primary models that have been used for language arts instruction in Western learning.

From the Paper:

"Jim Burke, whose approach on writing is used religiously by teachers, notes how teachers serve as role models for student reflection on literature. Teachers can demonstrate the ways in which they, as readers, work their way through particular texts, and give students identifiable ways of approaching texts generally. It is this need for models, instead of any inability on student's part of students that may cause reading problems, especially in relatively difficult texts. He states, "I occasionally hear teachers complain that students can't read a certain text....however, we forget that this text is different, more challenging than others they have read" (44). While this may seem readily apparent to educators, Burke suggests that this task is framed not only by the expectations of what students "ought" to learn as required by state and national standards, but also by the teacher's own understanding of the students' location on a "Continuum of Complexity"--"from simple understanding to confident interpretation of multiple texts" (43-44). He emphasizes that all levels of students can be helped to understand difficult texts, but only if "we . . . scaffold and sequence their reading so that we develop their ability to successfully read a series of increasingly challenging stories" (43)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Atwell, Nancie. In the Middle: New Understandings About Reading, Writing, and Learning. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Publishers, Inc., 1998.
• Burke, Jim. The English Teacher's Companion: A Complete Guide to Classroom, Curriculum, and the Profession. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2003
• Einstein, Albert. Ideas and Opinions by Albert Einstein. New York: Bonanza Books, 1954.
• Wood, Margo. Essentials of Elementary Language Arts. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999.

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• Analytical Essay # 132169 : "Reflections on Language Arts Porfolio Responses"
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• Dissertation or Thesis # 92385 : "Technology and Language Arts"

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