Professional Development
Program Overview:
The Integrated ELA Classroom
This learning series focuses on the importance of teaching reading, language, and writing as interconnected tools for communication rather than isolated acts. The Tennessee ELA standards for 9-12 grades shift from “solidify[ing] the foundation” and “thinking flexibly about communicating ideas” in the middle grades to emphasizing an “understanding [of] the nuances of language rules to communicate in a social context.” What this means for high school ELA teachers is a responsibility to have students focus on learning language in the context of communicative acts. From an instructional perspective this means an integrated approach to reading, language, and writing instruction—learning tasks that require students to learn not just to read critically, but also to “think like a writer” and understand the function of language in communication rather than simply the rules of grammar.
An important tool for successful integrated instruction is the mentor text. Mentor texts are samples of writing from established authors that serve as models for students. Any length of text can serve as a mentor; the important factor is that students are learning about reading, language and writing in the context of communication. Mentor texts can teach students “any aspect of writer’s craft from sentence structure to quotation marks” (Anderson, 2005; Marchetti & O’Dell, 2015).
Educators taking part in this four-session series will:
Maintain a writer’s notebook.
Gain understanding of the research behind and impact of integrated instruction.
Explore connections between ELA standards, EOC testing, the ACT, and college/career preparedness.
Learn about mentor texts and reading like a writer through their own immersion in reading, writing, and language study
Strengthen skills in creating writing tasks, using mentor texts to strengthen writing instruction, and providing actionable feedback.
Modify (with support) one unit of study to apply the principles of integrated reading, language, and writing instruction.