Secondary English Language Arts(SELA)

John Le BlancPedagogical Consultant – SELALester B. Pearson School BoardMay 2010

A Literacy Based Program

…that focuses on fluency in the reading and production of spoken, written and media text - QEP

A Literacy Based Program

Learning to Read…

…Reading to Learn

Learning to Write…

…Writing to Learn

A Literacy Based Program

Talking to Learn… informal

…you don’t know what you know until you say it.

…exploratory, tentative, talking your way to meaning.

A Literacy Based Program

Why Media?

• It’s everywhere!

• It’s a powerful means of communication.

A Literacy Based Program

Why Media?

• We need to be critical of media influences.

• As a common tool for communicating ideas it is a language art and requires critical literacy.

A Literacy Based Program

Why Media?

• In order to be fully engaged in critical literacy we need to provide opportunities for our students to be producers of media.

A Literacy Based Program

Why Media?

• The whole media literacy process is completely parallel to that of any other genre.

That process is therefore transferable.

What is a Competency?

… those skills, habits of mind, and processes that are essential and transferable.

The 4 Competencies of ELA

Cycle 1 (Grades 7 & 8)

Reading

Writing

Talk

Media

Literacy

Cycle 2 (Grades 9, 10, & 11)

Reading

Production

Talk

Literacy

What is Text?

… anything that can communicate meaning!

In ELA:

written, spoken, and media texts.

Modes

• Sound

• Pictures

• Words

Multimodal Texts

• Newspapers

• Power Points

• Web Pages

Voice, Purpose, and Audience

• Who are you? (Voice)

• What have you got to say? (Purpose)

• Who are you trying to address? (Audience)

Affordances

• How are you trying to communicate?

In other words, what’s the best type of text to use for a particular voice, purpose, and audience?

What do each of these examples have in common?

Essay Speech

Power Point

The Process

…from Deconstructing to Producing

The Process

Step 1:Exposure to a wide variety of text genres.

The Process

Step 2:Deconstruct various texts genres; pick them apart to see how they work and how/why they’re effective.

The Process

Words, sounds and images have their own specific codes and conventions, or grammar.

What are the “tricks of the trade”?

The Process

Step 3:Produce various texts genres; use what you’ve learned to see how it applies.

The Process

How do we do this?

Map this process onto a particular unit of inquiry.

Explore a theme or essential question.

The Process

This helps the students have something to say.

Developing stance: how do you see it?

Learning and Evaluation Situation

Grade 10 LES:

Water: Is There A Crisis?

Thank You!!

John Le BlancPedagogical Consultant – SELALester B. Pearson School BoardMay 2010