English Language Arts
The goal of English Language Arts instruction at DCS is for students to become proficient readers, communicators and life-long learners.
The curriculum is built around the following guiding principles:
Guiding Principles
Good Readers…
- Need exposure to daily literacy instruction, which is explicit, systematic, and in context.
- Must be able to think critically and make judgments about a variety of complex texts including literary, informational, and practical.
- Employ multiple strategies and processes to understand the written word.
- Make choices for reading that are wide and varied.
- Are positive about their ability to learn to read.
Good Writers…
- Need authentic writing experiences with varied audiences and purposes.
- Must have exposure to quality literature and informational texts.
- Learn from teacher modeling, direct instruction, and feedback.
- Validation – Time to share their work as authors.
- Must have exposure to and authentic instruction in expanding vocabulary.
- Opportunities to speak, explain, demonstrate, and express their learning verbally.
Good Communicators…
- Need ample opportunities to read widely. Reading is highly correlated with vocabulary knowledge.
- Are immersed in rich and meaningful conversations essential to good language instruction.
- Are exposed to effective language use and vocabulary in the context of teaching reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
- Need ample opportunities to generate questions and lead classroom discussions.
- Collaboration opportunities to develop questioning, reasoning, evaluating, and communication skills.
