IRP: Help or Hinderance?

Source: http://blog.bekahbrunstetter.com

When starting to think about this assignment “How does the IRP help and/or hinder you as a beginning teacher?”, I was reminded of my concerns and fears before starting the education program. While having experience with children, my experience with classroom instruction and planning was lacking. I was excited to start my education, but nervous at the same time. Will I be a good teacher? How will I know what to teach? How will I know if what I’m teaching is relevant to their futures? Will my lessons all have a greater purpose beyond being a fun activity? ELA is one of the most challenging, yet creative subjects. When I thought about lessons I could teach, my ideas were basic and under-developed. Now that I’ve started the program, my insights have changed dramatically.

How does the IRP help and/or hinder you as a beginning teacher?

Since my introduction to the IRP (Integrated Resource Package), I have noticed the most important influence it has on a beginning teacher—it allows us as teachers to formulate lessons with a deeper meaning. The IRP acts as a guide to help us create the most effective lessons possible. By using the PLOs (Prescribed Learning Outcomes), I can now create lessons I never thought of myself. Last week in class we were asked to bring a book or item to create a lesson plan around. I chose the book “Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang”, a novel geared towards the 4^th grade level. Prior to class I brainstormed a few ideas for lessons, but upon looking at the PLOs, my lessons drastically improved. I started thinking of ideas I would never have before, and I noticed my lesson becoming more and more relevant.

This idea directly feeds into another benefit of the IRP. The IRP creates an environment for creativity. By working backwards on a lesson (first deciding what the learning outcome will be), I was able to take one book and fit it into a variety of PLOs. I now had the option of taking the lesson in a number of directions, and my ideas started to flow a lot easier. When you’re not concerned with worrying “is my lesson objective important?” (because the PLO helps you decide that), you can focus on making the lesson memorable for the students and ensure it is the best lesson possible.

Beyond its assistance in creating creative and effective lesson plans, the IRP also provides things to think about. Most notable of these surrounds diversity in the classroom. While we all see diversity and experience it, more often than not we don’t really consider certain differences between students. I will discuss more about who modern ELA students are later in my post, however I can appreciate the less obvious things the IRP makes me think about. The document urges teachers to ensure the topics and lessons support “inclusion, equity, and accessibility for all students. In particular, teachers should ensure that classroom instruction, assessment, and resources reflect sensitivity to diversity and incorporate positive role portrayals, relevant issues, and themes such as inclusion, respect, and acceptance.” (IRP, 12) It may seem obvious to many people that we have to be sensitive, but having the reminder within the IRP will help new teachers like me really sit back and ensure their lesson meets the needs of differing students.

The benefits of the IRP are obviously numerous, but what about hindrances? To be honest, those I’ve found for myself are quite negligible. My only concern about the IRP is the vast magnitude of the document. While this can both help and hinder, it certainly has intimidated me. This is a personal issue, so I don’t believe this problem would carry over into other teachers necessarily. Is this an actual hindrance? No, not really. More of an attempt to see any negative aspect in such a positive document.

“In addition to these principles, this document recognizes that British Columbia’s schools include young people of varied backgrounds, interests, abilities, and needs. Wherever appropriate for the curriculum, ways to meet these needs and to ensure equity and access for all learners have been integrated” (IRP, 3). This statement is what makes the IRP so relevant to teachers today. With a society constantly moving towards acceptance of diversity, it is nice to see these differences embraced in the educational system as a whole. Children of a variety of physical, mental and environmental differences are all an equal part of our classroom, and it is wonderful that the IRP makes a point to recognize this. Which leads me into my next topic of discussion!

Source: http://www.globalchildrensartprogramme.org/

A description of who today’s ELA students are and how they learn. 

While reading through the beginning of the IRP, I came across a commonly used quote. “One size does not fit all” (IRP, 25). We hear this analogy quite often in our daily lives, but the IRP used it in a new way. “Today’s classrooms are enriched by diverse groups of students. As teachers teach the curriculum, they aim to include all students, working toward common expectations with different amounts of support, different texts, different strategies, and a variety of class organizational patterns. One size does not fit all.” (IRP, 25) I found this short little phrase summed up exactly how I view today’s ELA students and how they learn. No two students are alike, whether it be through academics or background.

Within the Canadian classroom of today, the students emerge from a wide variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds. If teachers fail to understand the differences between cultures and languages, then both misunderstanding and frustration negatively impacts the classroom. (Constructing Meaning, 43) With our students being so vastly different, the role of a teacher is to understand, assess, and adapt to fulfill each student’s needs. Our students will be from all over the world, and understanding their cultural differences in critical. Classrooms are not homogenous! Even language may differ between students as we see an increase in ESL instruction. Beyond cultural diversity, learning diversity is also prevalent.

Source: http://www.justkiddingcartoons.com

In the past, ELA was limited to reading and writing. With all the new technological and educational advances we are seeing a shift towards multi-modal literacy. Multi-modal literacy incorporates a variety of modes of expression within ELA, including print, image, speech, music etc. (Constructing Meaning, 4) We are beginning to see the diversity of the classroom being reflected in the diversity of the lesson. Not every student is the same type of learner. One may thrive with visual representations, others may learn best through listening, while others may relate to writing. The six dimensions of Language Arts—Speaking, Writing, Representing, Listening, Reading and Viewing (Constructing Meaning, 3)—need to all be addressed in today’s classroom. Some students may be visual learners, some may be auditory. Some students may love ELA, while others would rather be working on Math. Much like Robert E. Probst touched upon in his article Tom Sawyer, Teaching and Talking, not all students may be equally enthusiastic about learning Language Arts. All of these small factors comprise the differences in students learning preferences. Going back to "one size does not fit all", these students all view ELA in a different way (whether positively or negatively). 

Not only do our students need to learn from their teachers, they need to take charge of their own learning. Students cannot fully thrive in their education without understanding how they are learning, and therefore learning ways to facilitate their own cognition.  “Students who can monitor their learning, assess their strengths and weaknesses, and set goals for improvement become independent, lifelong learners.” (IRP, 17) ELA students today are gaining more methods of individual learning, which is critical to their success later in life. The IRP focuses on this idea in greater detail due to its importance in the way modern students learn. 

Beyond cultural and learning style diversity, learners also vary in the rate in which they learn.  No longer are students divided based on mental, physical or academic disabilities. This is probably the greatest advance I have witnessed in my short life. Going through school myself, students with differences were separated. There are certainly circumstances where said student would benefit from different instruction, however I look forward to the challenges and rewards that face me in this field when it will benefit the student. 

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Despite how the IRP has helped me, and understanding the variety of learning styles and student difference, I still worry about becoming a teacher. As time goes on and I gain more experience I expect to become more confident within myself, but I have already grown more excited and less nervous. With only a few weeks in the education program I already feel like I have learned a lifetime of knowledge in such a short time, and the IRP and classroom lessons have helped me achieve this. I'm sure with more time and a deeper look into the IRP I will see even more benefits and understand the ELA student today with greater clarity.



Sources: 

Bainbridge, Joyce, Rachel Heydon and Grace Malicky. Constructing Meaning: Balancing Elementary Language Arts, Fourth Edition. Nelson Education: Toronto, 2009.

British Columbia Ministry of Education. "English Language Arts, Kindergarten to Grade 7: Integrated Resource Package 2006". http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/irp_ela.htm

Probst, Robert E. "Tom Sawyer, Teaching and Talking" in Adolescent Literacy. 43-59.