Читать книгу Language Power - Margo Gottlieb - Страница 12

Language Power is geared to stimulating in-depth conversations among educators in K–8 settings that lead to mutually agreed-upon goals for teaching and learning. It is written to foster collaboration, first and foremost, among teachers who wish to delve into refocusing curriculum, assessment, and instruction around academic language use. Our intent is to reach out to classroom teachers, content specialists, and special education teachers to ask them to think deeply about how to represent language learning more equitably within content learning for their students, with special attention to English language learners (ELLs), ELLs with disabilities, and students who speak other varieties of English (other English learners). In the same spirit, we also encourage partnerships between language specialists and content experts, whether teachers, coaches, or other instructional leaders.

School leaders who embody the mission and vision of their building are invited to see how academic language works in tandem with content throughout their schools. Building a school climate that is inclusive of the linguistic and cultural assets of its student body will be embraced by the community and the students themselves. There are resources dedicated to envisioning academic language use that are applicable to standards, curriculum design, and assessment that can readily be implemented at a school level.

Reenvisioning Teaching and Learning Through Key Uses of Academic Language

As teachers and teacher educators who have tried our utmost to instill confidence in our students by building their academic language through content, we hope we have shared our passion and our can-do spirit throughout this book. We believe that all teachers need opportunities to be introspective and think deeply about how they use language to best promote their students’ academic achievement to ensure their success in school.

We ask you to refer to the figure “Reenvisioning Teaching and Learning Through Key Uses of Academic Language” often, as it serves as an overview of the book. The focus on key uses of academic language highlights its positioning in relation to the multiple perspectives we address in planning, assessing, and implementing teaching and learning experiences, as well as the active role of stakeholders in the process. Language is a powerful tool for reasoning, communicating, being, and doing; we hope you join us in furthering academic language use in school.