January 25, 2016
Day 211 as an Oklahoma Teacher
As I have waded through the senior curriculum this year, I have thought about what should be changed to make it better for next year. This blog is about the curriculum; my next blog will answer the question if senior English is obsolete. I have decided next year that my students will choose what they will learn, read, and write about for the class. The curriculum will be set up in three different portfolios: the college portfolio, the career interest portfolio, and the literature portfolio.
If they choose the college path portfolio, then their writing, reading, speaking, listening, and vocabulary will focus on college essays and reading assignments. They will research different colleges, write resumes, and complete a senior project. The career path portfolio will include reading, writing, speaking, listening, and vocabulary skills that will focus on career choices. The students will read fiction and nonfiction, write different types of essays and other types of prose, and complete a senior project. With the literature portfolio, students will read fiction, plays, and poetry. They will write different types of essays, act out a play, and complete a senior project. The students will choose what they read and how they will show what they have learned. Of course, I will have to conduct writing conferences, the students will have Socratic discussions, and I will give them 15 minute vignettes covering grammar and vocabulary.
I think I'll try a smaller version of these portfolios with my students just to see if this idea will work. This is nothing new that I haven't already completed in the class. I just need to make it better.
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