Answer+to+language+question-Ron

How much time can or should teachers reasonably spend on teaching/developing language in the classroom, while staying on track with the normal state and national standards?

Answer:

It always seems to come back to the required standards, doesn't it? Not a thing seems to be considerable in a classroom without taking a glance at the standards and seeing if it fits. Although I might sound frustrated, the fact is that meeting the standards does not mean that one cannot be creative in the classroom and meet the needs of their students. I have surely learned this through all of my education classes at State. For teaching and developing language specifically, I feel that teachers can spend a considerable amount of their time teaching lessons that both further the language arts skills of their students while also meeting the guidelines of the NCSCOS. I think the goal of language education is giving students a level of comfort with themselves as readers, writers, and speakers, and through focused lessons, this range can be achieved while directly following the NCSCOS objectives. Two texts from this semester alone, LEA by James Andrews and Bridging English by Milner and Milner, provide plenty of examples and experience on how to creatively and constructively apply sincere language learning in the classroom while still meeting specific required objectives. Soon, I plan on posting some of these ideas here as a way to further explore and address my question.
 * Comments from Meg**: Ron, you have a very compelling question and one that is certainly relevant in today's educational climate. I would encourage you, however, to be more specific when thinking about how you might begin to answer this question. Additionally, language skills are included in the standards, so you may want to review how they are identified in relation to how you might teach them. You have referenced the Andrews text as well as the Milner and Milner text, but you haven't really noted any specific examples. See if you can flush out this answer by including some specific examples of how a teacher might reasonably allocate time to developing language in the classroom while staying on track with the state and national standards.