Katie Smith

ED228
February 1, 2019

What Does it Mean to Be a Literate Secondary Language Arts Scholar?

Part I

I believe that the teaching of Language Arts skills is critical to the success of students in all

disciplines. Because the components of my discipline: effective communication,

comprehension, and critical thinking are utilized in all other content areas, a strong foundation

and development of these skills is paramount for student achievement and maturation.

What do I think are the essential components and skill development that are inherent in language

arts education? According to the NCTE, language arts encompasses the following:

Development in students, at any age, interest in, and facility with the literacy and

language skills necessary to comprehend, create, respond to, and engage with diverse

texts while fostering an understanding of self and others that supports engaging with and

effecting change in the world around them

(http://www2.note.org/statement/whatiselateachereducation/, NCTE

Positionstatement).
My charge, I believe, is to develop literacy skills within my students. This is the main goal of

my discipline. In order to do this, students must master the following sub-fields that support

Language arts mastery: reading decoding, comprehension, application, and interpretation of

content; effectively and correctly responding to content in a variety of methods – speaking,

writing, creating and developing alternative forms of response; and learning to think critically.

How are all of these components interconnected? Reading decoding and comprehension are the

ways that students will understand text. Good readers need to go further and interpret and apply

the reading material while responding to content effectively through writing,

speaking. According to the NCTE, literacy is essential because:

1. Literature is life. When we read imaginative literature—whether prose, poetry or

drama—we explore what it means to be alive and to be human. We help students understand

themselves, others, and the world. Through all of this, we also help students deepen

understandings of themselves and of their lives.

2. We teach the most essential human skills: how to receive information from others and

how to transmit information. This is literacy. Through reading and listening, we receive

information; through writing and speaking, we transmit information

(http://www2.ncte.org/statement/21stcentdefinition).

I believe that it is my charge to assist students with critical thinking, analysis, and application in

their reading and communications. I want my students to discover how they feel about

themselves and their world and help them see the world through different perspectives that can
further develop their own meanings. I cannot separate the importance of helping students

develop effective communication and transmitting of information from my discipline. It is how

my students will express their ideals and opinions, but it is also how they will communicate in all

other disciplines. I feel that it is important for students to learn how to think critically, evaluate

content, and make application of material- outcomes of effective language arts teaching. I know

of no other discipline that is as connected to success in all other disciplines which makes

language arts unique. Mastery of my discipline will help students achieve in all other subject

areas.

Finally, I believe it is also my charge as an English scholar to share my love of literature,

writing, and communication with my students and hopefully inspire them to an appreciation or

love of the content as well.

Part II

What are the specific ways that an English scholar makes meaning from the aspects of the

discipline? Because the field is so diverse, there are multiple ways to make meaning from the

content:

Written Communication: English, training in writing is imperative and pervasive in the

curriculum and content standards. The critical writing skills students gain will assist them with

effective communication in all other content areas.

Literacy: Teaching literacy is the ability to read analytically and respond to literature while

reflecting on values and results. Literacy also promotes the development of the reader’s unique

ideals and perspectives through the content and the reader’s own lens.

Connection with Other Content Areas: Because reading, analysis, and communicating are

essential parts of all other content areas, mastery of these skills will only serve to improve

acquisition and mastery of other content areas (English.yale.edu/undergraduate/why-major-

english: why Major in English, Yale University).

As a language arts educator I am to assist students with the skills to effectively communicate

through written expression. This skill is essential in all other disciplines as well, so mastery is

essential. I need to assist students with the ability to communicate through persuasion, through

exposition, through description, and through creative writing while incorporating skills of

grammar and syntax and cohesiveness in their writing.

I am also to help students acquire literacy skills – specifically to make meaning from text and to

apply that meaning effectively. I want to assist students with critical thinking and application

through the texts that they read.

I am also very aware of the impact of my content on achievement in all other content areas. As a

result my goal is language arts mastery for all of my students.

Part III

How is my discipline framework unique? The framework components of language arts are

interdependent. Written communication and literacy skills are not independent skills; they are

integrated skills. Students develop their ability to remember, understand, analyze, evaluate, and

apply the ideas they encounter in language arts through assignments that require them to write or

speak in response to what they are learning.

While the framework components are utilized in all other content areas, the basics or “how tos”

of the framework are unique to language arts. The social studies instructor expects the

RESULTS of my framework to be evident in the work of students. He does not expect to teach

the fundamental elements of my discipline. Language arts should be where the mechanics of

literacy and communication are instructed, practiced, and mastered. The result will be

achievement in language arts and all other curriculum.

So much of the framework of language arts is made up of general skills: reading comprehension;

vocabulary development; grammar, syntax, and spelling; research skills. All of these general

skills are utilized in all other disciplines. Building upon the foundation of these general skills

develops critical thinking and application- also skills that will be utilized in other content areas.
The framework for language arts is a basis for framework components in all other subject

areas and is therefore critical to student success.

Part IV

Where do I stand as an English scholar and future educator? I firmly believe that I cannot

separate the essential components of my discipline from one another. Each component and

aspect of the content is so interwoven into effective mastery and instruction that they cannot be

segregated without losing the inherent essential skills, critical thinking, and analysis. Reading

and writing cannot be accomplished without the basic skills of decoding, grammar and syntax,

and comprehension skills. Yet without analysis, evaluation, application, and discernment, the

result is just “meaningless words”. The entirety of the discipline is what gives it meaning and

value and assists students with the development of their own values and ideals.

As I reflect on the importance of my content area, I realize the importance of effective teaching

of language arts and the impact that will have on my students’ success in my field and in all

other fields of study. Effective communication and literacy are essential skills. It is my goal to

help my students gain the necessary competency in my discipline.