Language plays a very important role in cognitive development. I hope to work with 4th or 5th grade students, who would generally be in the 9-11 year old age range. According to Ormrod, students in this age range have knowledge of about 80,000 words, have the general ability to understand figurative language, and are working on subtle refinements in syntax (mostly as a result of formal instruction). Ormrod suggests several strategies to use when teaching language arts to students in this age group. Some of these include: distinguishing between similar abstract words, exploring complex syntactic structures, and considering underlying meanings and messages in poetry and fiction. I hope to someday incorporate all of these techniques in my classroom.
Below is a link to an article with some great tips for teaching language arts using basic office supplies
Everything I Know About Teaching Language Arts I Learned at the Office Supply Store
Some of my favorite suggestions from the article include...
* Use post-it notes to mark figurative language in a text. Write each one on an index card and allow students to select one to use as the first sentence in a piece of fiction that they are going to write.
* Use post-it notes to mark new or interesting vocabulary words.
* Have students highlight "hot spots" when writing. For example, anytime a student has to pause to guess how to spell a word, or to
wonder if they need a comma, or if they should use "I" or
"me," they highlight that spot in the draft and keep writing. Later,
when they're ready to consider mechanics, they go back to the "hot
spots" and double-check their guesses with a dictionary, grammar handbook,
or proofreading partner.
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