English Online

English teachers have been considering the options for their 2011 Year 11 programmes in the new aligned standards environment.

Literacy is high on the agenda

The new Level 1 literacy unit standards are attracting increasing interest. The challenges of planning an English programme for less able students has been raised recently and these standards are one option. However, the literacy standards are not tagged to a particular curriculum area and schools’ planning processes should not default to English teachers being required to build these standards into their courses. English teachers could be proactive in raising awareness about how the literacy standards could be used in cross-curricular ways.

Another literacy pathway is through designated achievement standards drawn from various curriculum areas. There are challenges in determining whether the literacy demands in reading and/or writing at curriculum level 6 can be identified within standards drawn from several subject matrices It is clearly urgent to establish how literacy could be gained via standards from different curriculum areas , as schools begin to consider the construction of 2011 assessment programmes and publish this information for their students and communities.

The new English standards and implications for teaching
There are several new standards within the English matrix with making connections and information literacy standards being two areas in particular. Personal reading, as well as close reading oral and visual texts, will also work in different ways within English programmes, as potentially could all standards. However, it is the area of visual text production where we could see some significant developments over the next few years.

Visual Texts in English Programmes
It is time to consider new opportunities within the visual text standard at all levels, particularly at levels 2 and 3. While the ubiquitous static image may still currently rule the roost at Level 1, what about ICT based texts such as digital essays and presentations, the types of texts that stand on their own? We are not talking about a Powerpoint that has been produced to support a seminar here.
Working with the visual text standard highlights the importance of taking a collaborative approach and acknowledges that students have grown up in a technological environment. In this and other parts of the English programme, collaboration could become a contemporary pedagogy. While the teacher may not be the expert with particular ICT tools, there is clearly a need for a certain level of teacher ICT literacy. Teacher input is still vital as students develop digital texts, for example offering feedback on development of ideas and design issues such as layout, image, audio and text, without necessarily having a detailed working understanding of the tools students are using. It would be great to hear of and share examples where students are constructing digital presentations as part of their senior English programmes. We have a strong recent history of using student work to help grow and broaden approaches in our subject, for example, where some effective pieces of student writing or speaking have inspired teachers and students to generate fresh approaches. We now need that same process to occur for visual texts, so let’s share some of those digital presentations. I encourage you to use the Teacher Resource Exchange for NCEA English . I would also like to hear from you about digital texts you’ve been working with within your senior English programmes - contact me at vislearn@xtra.co.nz

Mike Fowler

Secondary English Facilitator