Content- ED698

4. A teacher knows the teacher’s content area and how to teach it.

Understanding academic content is key to good teaching--but teaching that

content to specific standards is what makes teachers (and students) truly successful.

During several semesters of the 621 curriculum course, I created this integrated lesson

plan about Holidays. This cross-curricular unit addresses standards in Geography, Art,

Language Arts, and Social Studies and is intended to be taught around late October or

near Mexico’s celebration of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Although it was

created for a standard elementary grade class, I had a Spanish or ESL classroom in

mind, as well. Integrated language and content instruction have become a popular

alternative to traditional ESL instruction. Researchers have recommended this

instructional approach to develop students' academic language ability and facilitate their

transition to mainstream classes (Short, 1993). When I created this unit I was working

with the Alaska World language standards. I found these to be vague and hard to reach

for or truly unpack. Since then, I have discovered ACTFL (American Council on the

Teaching of Foreign Languages) Standards and teach to these standards along with

the Learning Goals, Scales and Rubrics clearly stated for all my students.

Content and sequencing must take account of the environment in which the

course will be used, the needs of the learners, and principles of teaching and learning

(MacAlister, 2019). The best tool a teacher can have is a solid curriculum to guide them.

Good curriculum defines the knowledge and skills students are expected to learn, which

includes the learning standards or learning objectives they are expected to meet (such

as learning maps and globes and Mexico’s location in relation to the US in y Holiday
Unit); the units and lessons that teachers teach (Geography, Art, Language Arts and

Social Studies lessons in my Holiday unit); the assignments and projects given to

students; the books, materials, videos, presentations, and readings used in a course;

and the tests, assessments, and other methods used to evaluate student learning

(formative and summative assessments and a culminating performance task in my

Holiday unit). One effective way to start designing curriculum is by utilizing the UbD

framework: 1) focus on teaching and assessing for understanding and learning transfer

and 2) design curriculum “backward” from those ends. (Wiggins & McTighe, 2006)

I am fortunate to be part of our school’s 5-year process of creating and adopting

a standards-based grading system. This includes systems of instruction, assessment,

grading, and academic reporting that are based on students demonstrating

understanding or mastery of the knowledge and skills they are expected to learn as they

progress through their education.  Learning standards—i.e., concise, written

descriptions of what students are expected to know and be able to do at a specific stage

of their education—determine the goals of a lesson or course, and teachers then

determine how and what to teach students so they achieve the learning expectations

described in the standards.

The hallmark of any successful organization is a shared sense among its

members about what they are trying to accomplish. Agreed upon goals and ways to

attain them enhance the organization's capacity for rational planning and action (Glaser

& Linn, 1993). When teachers adopt standards-based learning, students take ownership

of their education (Heflebower, Heogh, Warrick & Flygare, 2019) and other findings

indicate that action research-based UbD studies have had positive contributions to
teachers' professional development process and students' achievement (Yurtseven,

2015).

Standards-based teaching has been a great road map for me as a new teacher

and a department of one person. Without another world language teacher to collaborate

with or offer guidance, I find that these standards guide me and my students in

language acquisition and world-readiness.

References

Glaser,R., & Linn, R. (1993). Setting performance standards for student achievement.

Stanford, CA: National Academy of Education, Stanford University.

Hall, T., Vue, G., Strangman, N., & Meyer, A. (2003). Differentiated instruction and

implications for UDL implementation. Wakefield, MA: National Center on

Accessing the General Curriculum. (Links updated 2014). Retrieved [09/04/2019]

from http://aem.cast.org/about/publications/2003/ncac-differentiated-instruction-

udl.html
Heflebower, T., Hoegh, J. K., Warrick, P. B., & Flygare, J. (2019). A teachers guide to

standards-based learning. Bloomington, IN: Marzano Research.

MacAlister, J. Nation I. S. P. (2019). Language curriculum design. S.l.: ROUTLEDGE.

Short, D. J. (1993). Assessing Integrated Language and Content Instruction. TESOL

Quarterly, 27(4), 627. doi: 10.2307/3587399

Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2006). Understanding by design. Upper Saddle River

(New Jersey): Pearson.

Yurtseven, N., & Altun, S. (2015). Understanding by design (UbD) in EFL teaching: The

investigation of students’ foreign language learning motivation and

views. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 4(3). doi:

10.11114/jets.v4i3.1204

https://education.alaska.gov/akstandards/World-Languages.pdf

https://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/publications/standards/World-

ReadinessStandardsforLearningLanguages.pdf