School District 112 staff members Jennifer Ferrari, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning; Stephanie Cardella, Director of School Improvement and Innovation; and Jaime Barraza, Coordinador de Programas de Lenguaje. The speakers presented the District’s dual language, (immersion), and literature scope including thematic concepts of essential questions and understandings for its organic approach to Common Core State Standards. Certainly a much more effective approach to learning a language than previous methods. But as the speakers pointed out, smart phones and tablets have only been around for the past few years providing a reference resource that enables today’s students access to the world of knowledge.
Beginning in kindergarten, children whose native language is Spanish or English learn, play, collaborate and communicate together in Spanish as they learn to become biliterate, bilingual and bicultural. The District is curating text collections of authentic, rich and complex children's books in lieu of a traditional textbook for students. Text collections are curated sets of complex, diverse books from multiple genres, perspectives and formats all unified by a topic, theme or concept. The goal is to create sets of books that support students in developing understanding of a topic, idea or concept and provide all students, regardless of reading level or learning style, with a "way in" to a theme, concept or subject.
Text collections can be used to:
• Explore a concept or theme
• Offer different perspectives about an idea or event
• Learn more in depth about a topic (e.g., science or social studies)
• Study a writing style or format (e.g., author study, mysteries, memoirs)
• Provide background knowledge for the anchor/core text or future texts to be read.
Text collections are made up of authentic, complex text in Spanish and/or English depending on the grade level. Literacy is taught exclusively in Spanish in grades K-2 and a combination of English and Spanish in grades 3-8.
The NSSD112. Literacy and Language Arts curriculum in Spanish is built upon a series of thematic concepts that students explore each year. Students engage in multiple reading, writing, thinking, speaking and listening activities to uncover and explore these "big ideas."
Many thanks to Pete Koukos for this week's notes!
