Curriculum and Instruction - SAS-WASC

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An Atlas audit of English and language arts units on Atlas revealed progress madeover the past two years. At the WASC midterm report very little was documented interms of language arts written curriculum. This includes standards and benchmarks,scope and sequence, assessments, all of which are now either fully documented or inthe process of being documented on Atlas. The work is in progress and maintainingstrong links between what is posted and what is taught will be critical. The EAGLESare not fully integrated into units yet, nor are essential questions and reflections.Task force members agreed to share the Atlas data and progress with teams anddepartments.1. Essential Teaching Agreements were written and adopted for Language Arts 6– 12 school-wide. Essential teaching agreements were organized around curricularstrands and are intended to support best practice in the classroom:Teachers of Language Arts/English/Humanities Grades 6 through 12 at ShanghaiAmerican School will ensure that . . .Reading:• Through the course of the school year, students will read literature formatleast four of the following five genres: novel, short story, drama, poetry andnon-fiction• In any given year of language arts study at SAS, students will be exposedto a variety of texts of value through reading literature from a variety oftime periods and cultural backgrounds.Writing:• Students will experience the full writing process, including pre-writing,writing, peer response, and revision at least three times per year.• Each semester student will expand their literacy through expression in arange of writing genres such as exploratory writing, (e.g., free-writing /journaling /online forums) narrative, descriptive, expository and analyticalwriting.Speaking and Listening:• In each unit, students will be empowered through opportunities to discusstopics raised in class in seminar and/ or smaller groups.• Students will do a minimum of two oral dramatic presentations per year inhigh school and two per semester in middle school.Research:• Students will develop a question and investigate it through electronic andlibrary resources and document it using MLA style.Viewing and Media:• Through the course of the school year, students will be exposed to and havean opportunity to analyze visual / media text.2. The GiverTeachers discussed texts used at each level and identified the teaching of The Giver ingrade 6 on Pudong and grade 8 on Puxi as problematic due to the transfer of studentsbetween campuses. Teachers were consulted and the text was assigned to Grade 8 onboth campuses beginning in 2008-2009.3. Word Study – External Assessment Data and Parent Feedback:Vocabulary results on the ITBS, while high compared to other schools with similarESOL populations, are lower than in other areas of language arts covered by thetest. In addition, parents have expressed concern. An analysis of the results wasconducted.The ITBS results have improved corresponding with the adoption of the standardsand benchmarks which specifically address vocabulary teaching in the middleschool. In 2006-2007, Pudong middle school used the Houghton Mifflin vocabulary92Shanghai American School Self Study Report
consumables. Puxi adopted them in 2007-2008 at the same time as Pudong gradeeight incorporated vocabulary from the text into their humanities units. In 2008-2009,grades six through eight on both campuses will use the content of the vocabularytexts, though integration into units will differ as appropriate language arts skillsand content taught in a humanities context at Pudong and a language arts context atPuxi. In keeping with research on greatest impact on vocabulary acquisition, gradelevel teams will choose how to integrate the vocabulary study into units. Monitoringimplementation of this decision will be important as new faculty come on board atPudong and units are revised and created.Data for improving word study in high school could be gathered through the Moodleglossary (used to show the number of hits students made in their blogs/forumpostings). My Access will also help with vocabulary by providing specific feedbackand piloting teachers will want to track that feedback for further study on how to loopthe data gathered back into instruction. In addition, high school students use SATstudy sites for vocabulary building.Next Steps:• Set Atlas goals for 2008-2009 in 6-12 language arts.• Ensure continued Atlas and Unit Plan professional development• Integrate the EAGLES, essential questions and reflections into unit plans.• Communicate essential teaching agreements to teachers, students andadministrators.• Establish individual and department teaching goals for 2008-2009 aroundessential teaching agreements• Work with building administrators and team leaders for support in ensuringessential teaching agreements are kept consistently across the departments andteams and across campuses• Grade six teachers on each campus will research potential texts to replace The Giver.• Evaluate data on improvement of performance on word study in internal andexternal assessments at the middle school level• Further refine of the scope and sequence of research and the nature of theresearch taught in language arts• Expand Houghton Mifflin vocabulary study into all middle school grade levels onboth campuses• Gather data on vocabulary acquisition via Moodle and My Access to inform nextsteps in improving vocabulary acquisition in high schoolHOW CURRICULUM IS TAUGHT1. Instructional StrategiesExtensive discussion about instructional strategies in use in 6-12 language artsclassrooms led to construction of a comprehensive list of instruction strategies thatteachers could access in designing unit plans. Strategies offer a variety of meansfor students to build meaning and are based on a range of bet practices resources,including Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences. Many of the strategies applyacross disciplines and offer a range of options for teachers to guide students into thecontent – options applicable for ELL students, gifted students, and those with varyinglearning styles. The task force recommended adding the list to Atlas for easy accessas units were designed and posted.2. My AccessFollowing research of two web-based writing tools for students, and a fulldemonstration of the tools that aligned with SAS language arts standards andbenchmarks as well as assessment tools (e.g., ERB, Six Traits writing assessment),the task force moved to pilot My Access in grades seven and nine and AP Languageand Composition classes on both campuses. This web-based writing program offersShanghai American School Self Study Report 93
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Curriculum and Instruction - SAS-WASC

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