New language lessons for returning students

The school board unanimously approved language arts curriculum changes that put greater emphasis on giving speeches and writing research papers.

By: Donna Lukiw
   Students returning to school today (Thursday) will find a greater emphasis on giving speeches and writing research papers in their language classes after board members unanimously approved language arts curriculum changes at last week’s Board of Education meeting.
   Maggie Balzano, middle-school social studies teacher, said a group of six teachers spent hours researching other language arts curriculum and re-wrote the entire curriculum to accommodate the students and teachers.
   "We wrote it for a teacher hired just out of college," Ms. Balzano said during the meeting. "We also researched other schools for the Advanced Placement (AP) classes."
   Ms. Balzano said the kindergarten through fifth-grade language arts curriculum didn’t need a lot of revisions but the high-school English classes have been completely re-written.
   "It’s broken down in themes," Ms. Balzano said about the high-school English curriculum. "A couple of the topics are immigration and minorities and pop culture and media."
   Nicole Borbely, middle-school language arts teacher, said the students will now be reading screenplays and then creating their own while reading new novels like "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire.
   Barbara Popp, curriculum specialist, said some changes made for the elementary grades will bolster the district’s phonics lessons.
   "We added a component of more explicit instruction in phonics," Ms. Popp said. "In an effort to transition the fifth grade to sixth grade they will also have themes. There’s also a little more on public speaking."
   In the middle school, students will be researching topics and writing papers while integrating all other subjects in the school.
   Students will be practicing their language arts skills in science and social studies, Ms. Balzano said.
   The middle-school students will also be participating in guided readings to determine reading comprehension and reading strategies and book clubs where students will be involved in group discussions.
   "They really did an excellent job with this," Superintendent Donald Burkhardt said about the teachers.
   Dr. Burkhardt said the district will be concentrating on revising the math curriculum next.