Table of Contents
About Modified Courses 2
Adaptive Dimension 2
Who Is the Student in ELA A31 and B31? 2
Who is not eligible for ELA A31 and ELA B31? 3
Modified Instruction Is and Is Not 3
Broad Areas of Learning 4
Lifelong Learners 4
Sense of Self, Community, and Place 4
Engaged Citizens 4
Cross-curricular Competencies 4
Developing Thinking 4
Developing Identity and Interdependence 4
Developing Literacies 4
Developing Social Responsibility 5
Aims and Goals 5
Suggested Units 6
Career Competencies 7
Outcomes and Indicators 7
Outcomes for English Language Arts A 31 (Basic) 7
Outcomes for English Language Arts B31 (Basic) 12
Teaching Guidelines 18
Before, During and After Strategies 20
Additional Strategies for Comprehending and Responding 24
Additional Strategies for Composing and Creating 30
Assessment 31
Teacher Resources 33
Links 34
Resources for the teacher 34
Resources to use with students 35
About Modified Courses
Adaptive Dimension
In order to meet the variety of students’ needs, flexibility is required within the school program to enable schools and teachers to adapt instructional materials, methods, and the environment to provide the most appropriate educational opportunities for students. The Adaptive Dimension is used to:
· help students achieve curriculum outcomes
· maximize student learning and independence
· lessen discrepancies between achievement and ability
· promote a positive self-image and feeling of belonging
· promote a willingness to become involved in learning
· provide opportunities for all students to be engaged in learning
These purposes address a primary function of the school, that of helping students to maximize their potentials as independent learners (Ministry of Education, Core Curriculum Components and Initiatives, December 17, 2007).
The intent of the Adaptive Dimension applies to all programs and courses of instruction. The key variables of instruction are differentiated--the content (what students will learn), the learning processes (how students will interact with the content), and the learning products (how students will demonstrate learning and mastery of content), and the instructional setting or environment. Whenever possible, students should learn a regular curricula and be supported through the adaptive dimension.
Some students may not be able to complete a particular regular provincial course even though adaptations to curriculum materials and topics, instruction, and environment have been made. This may require the development of a modified (ELA A 31 and B 31) course to meet student needs to which the Adaptive Dimension may be applied.
Who Is the Student in ELA A31 and B31?
The English Language Arts A31 (Basic) and English Language Arts B31 (Basic) courses are intended for students who have moderate to severe learning difficulties and are unable to complete the regular English Language Arts A 30 and B 30 courses after every effort to adapt and support has been attempted. Academically and cognitively, eligible students operate one or more grade levels behind their chronological peers. Their achievement scores, in at least some areas, fall in the below-average range. Students who are eligible for a modified English language arts course may have receptive/comprehension (viewing, listening, and reading) and expressive/communication (speaking, writing, and using other forms of representing) difficulties. Careful assessment and diagnosis is necessary to understand the language and learning abilities and needs of modified students and to inform better instruction.
Before placing a student in a modified course, teachers and other school personnel need to ensure that:
· appropriate adaptations have been provided with sufficient scaffolds for the student as (s)he strives to achieve the regular core course outcomes
· cognitive and learning skills assessments have been completed and support the decision to place the student in a modified course
· student and student’s parents have been informed of the planned course change, they understand future education implications of such a decision, and they agree to the course change.
Who is not eligible for ELA A31 and ELA B31?
Irregular attendance, behavioural issues, lack of motivation &/or confidence, poor work habits, failure to do homework, and multiple failures may affect students in a regular course but should not determine eligibility for a modified course.
A student with average cognitive ability or learning disabilities typically completes the regular course. A student with a learning disability who has average or above average cognitive ability is capable of achieving a regular education program. However, in order to complete the regular course, a student with learning disabilities may require adaptations to instruction.
A student who is learning English as a new language should be placed in English as an Additional Language (EAL) courses that are planned according to his or her level of English language proficiency and that explicitly teach the English language.
Modified Instruction Is and Is Not
Modified Instruction Is / Modified Instruction Is NotHigh expectations for all, supported over time to scaffold for success / Reducing expectations as the main response to lack of success
Based on the modified curriculum outcomes / Omitting parts of the regular curriculum or a type of credit you give a student that fails
Teachers adapting instruction for the needs of each student / Students working independently from materials with daily support from a teacher
· Pre-assessment prior to instruction
· Frequent formative assessment and re-teaching (For further information, see section on Assessment) / Teaching pre-prepared content in sequence
High interest text in visual, multi-media and print forms at an appropriate level / Mainly print text, or text at inappropriate literacy levels
Students working in a variety of temporary groups often / Students working predominantly by themselves or just with the teacher
Explicit instruction in meta-cognition and self-assessment against criteria / Assessment is focused on teachers assessing completed products
Gradual release of responsibility / Teacher tells, student does for marks
Explicit instruction in comprehension strategies i.e. pre-teaching vocabulary, during strategies etc. / Reading text for main ideas without pre-reading or stopping during reading
Modelling and teaching growth mindset* / Using phrases or practices that reinforce a fixed mindset*
* Read more about Mindset research at http://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/
Broad Areas of Learning
There are three Broad Areas of Learning that reflect Saskatchewan’s Goals of Education. K-12 English language arts contributes to the Goals of Education through helping students achieve knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to the following:
Lifelong Learners
Students who are engaged in constructing and applying English language arts knowledge naturally build a positive disposition towards learning. Throughout their study of English language arts, students gain understandings, skills, and strategies to become more competent and confident language users.
Sense of Self, Community, and Place
To learn English language arts, students need not only to use the English language but also to interact with each other. Through the English language arts, students learn about themselves, others, and the world. The students use language to define who they are and to explore who they might become. They use language to interact and to respond effectively with others and to build community.
Engaged Citizens
In the English language arts, students learn how language enables them to make a difference in their personal, peer, family, and community lives. Language gives them a sense of agency and an ability to make a difference in their community and the world in which they live.
Cross-curricular Competencies
Developing Thinking
Learners construct knowledge to make sense of the world around them. They develop understanding by building on what is already known. This key competency concerns the ability to make sense of information, experiences, and ideas through thinking contextually, critically, and creatively. The philosophy of learning in English language arts is inquiry-based, and students use their language and thinking skills to explore a range of topics, issues, and themes.
Developing Identity and Interdependence
The ability to act autonomously in an interdependent world requires an awareness of the natural environment, of social and cultural expectations, and of the possibilities for individual and group accomplishments. It assumes the possession of a positive self-concept and the ability to live in harmony with others and with the natural and constructed worlds. Achieving this competency requires understanding, valuing, and caring for oneself; understanding, valuing, and respecting human diversity and human rights and responsibilities; and understanding and valuing social and environmental interdependence and sustainability. English language arts requires students to explore ideas and issues of identity, social responsibility, diversity, sustainability, and personal agency.
Developing Literacies
Literacies provide many ways, including the use of various language systems and media, to interpret the world and express understanding of it. Literacies involve the evolution of interrelated skills, strategies, and understandings that facilitate an individual’s ability to participate fully and equitably in a variety of roles and contexts – school, home, and local and global communities. To achieve this competency requires developing skills, strategies, and understandings related to various literacies in order to explore and interpret the world and communicate meaning. English language arts requires students to use different literacies, including language literacy, effectively and contextually to represent ideas and understanding in multiple, flexible ways.
Developing Social Responsibility
Social responsibility is how people positively contribute to their physical, social, and cultural environments. It requires the ability to participate with others in accomplishing shared or common goals. This competency is achieved through using moral reasoning processes, engaging in communitarian thinking and dialogue, and taking action to contribute to learners’ physical, social, and cultural environments. In English language arts, students explore their social responsibility and work toward common goals to improve the lives of others and the natural and constructed worlds.
Aims and Goals
The point of reference for a modified English language arts is regular English language arts curricula. Therefore, the aim and goals for English Language Arts A31 (Basic) and B31 (Basic) courses are the same as those for English Language Arts A30 and B30. The K-12 aim of the English language arts program, regular or modified (advanced or basic), is to help students understand and appreciate language, and to use it confidently and competently in a variety of situations for learning, communication, work, life, and personal satisfaction.
The K-12 goals for English language arts are as follows:
· Comprehend and Respond (CR). Students will extend their abilities to view, listen to, read, comprehend, and respond to a variety of contemporary and traditional grade-level-appropriate texts in a variety of forms (oral, print, and other texts) from First Nations, Métis, and other for a variety of purposes including for learning, interest, and enjoyment.
· Compose and Create (CC). Students will extend their abilities to speak, write, and use other forms of representation to explore and present thoughts, feelings, and experiences in a variety of forms for a variety of purposes and audiences.
· Assess and Reflect (AR). Students will extend their abilities to assess their own language skills; discuss the skills of effective viewers, listeners, readers, representers, speakers, and writers; and set goals for future improvement.
The regular Secondary Level English language arts courses are organized around topics and issues that are of interest to adolescents and that focus on identity (self), social responsibility (society), and social action (agency). Organization in units and modules can facilitate the teaching of a modified course as well as of the regular course. Although the outcomes and assignments of a modified curriculum may differ, the focus of the units and modules can be common.
Essential questions:
Questions for deeper understanding address the ideas and issues students need to think about throughout the units being studied. It is essential to develop questions that are evoked by student interests and concerns. Students need scaffolding and guided opportunities to explore questions and concerns about themselves and about the world.
Suggested Units
A31 / B31Unit I Canadian Perspectives: Distinct and Rich
Big Ideas
What does it mean to be Canadian?
What is our Canadian identity?
Questions for Deeper Understanding
· What is unique about Canadians?
· What is Canada’s image in the world?
· How has the concept of ethnic and cultural diversity changed in Canada over the years?
· What symbols are representative of Canada? / Unit I The Search for Self
Big Ideas
Happiness means different things for different people.
Human ideals are different for different people.
Human ideals often, but not always guide human actions.
Questions for Deeper Understanding
· What is happiness?
· What brings people happiness?
· What do I believe in?
· What may cause humans to abandon ideals?
· What does the concept of village mean to me?
Unit II - Canadian Landscapes: Diverse and Dynamic
Big Ideas
· There are many Canadian landscapes, natural, constructed, cultural, and historical.
· An individual’s landscape has a great effect on that person and on his/her community.
Questions for Deeper Understanding
· What are Canadians’ attitudes to and concerns about the natural and constructed landscapes in which we live?
How do we express these concerns?
· How have Canada’s natural and constructed landscapes influenced, and continue to influence, Canadians?
· How have Canadian landscapes changed?
· How have Canada’s historical landscapes affected Canadians?
· What landscapes influence you? / Unit II–The Social Experience
Big Ideas
· Today and throughout history, individuals have challenged the status quo.
· Tension, even conflict, occurs when individuals contest the status quo.
Questions for Deeper Understanding:
· What is the status quo?
· What is social criticism?
· What is the purpose of social criticism?
· How is social criticism expressed?
· What social issues are of particular importance to me?
· How do societies treat social criticism?
Career Competencies
Students should be informed that a modified ELA course limits some of the post-secondary options. During the course, students should have the opportunity to develop readiness for the world of work, independent living, and encounter real life literacy experiences. This course should develop career competencies that foster a positive self-image, interacting positively and effectively with others, learning to locate and use life/work information and understanding, engaging in, and managing one's own life/work building processes.