Techy TEKS

As I prepare to graduate and pursue a career teaching Middle School English-Language Arts, I recognize more and more the importance of ensuring that my lessons are interactive and engaging for 21st century learners. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) recognizes this importance as well and requires all teachers to integrate technology into their lessons regardless of subject.

Below is information I have pasted from the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowlege and Skills) chapter for 6th Grade English Language Arts and Reading. The entire TEKS for this grade and subjest is extremely detailed and comprehensive. It can be accessed here

§110.18. English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 6, Beginning with School Year 2009-2010.

(a)  Introduction.

(1)  The English Language Arts and Reading Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) are organized into the following strands: Reading, where students read and understand a wide variety of literary and informational texts; Writing, where students compose a variety of written texts with a clear controlling idea, coherent organization, and sufficient detail; Research, where students are expected to know how to locate a range of relevant sources and evaluate, synthesize, and present ideas and information; Listening and Speaking, where students listen and respond to the ideas of others while contributing their own ideas in conversations and in groups; and Oral and Written Conventions, where students learn how to use the oral and written conventions of the English language in speaking and writing. The standards are cumulative--students will continue to address earlier standards as needed while they attend to standards for their grade. In sixth grade, students will engage in activities that build on their prior knowledge and skills in order to strengthen their reading, writing, and oral language skills. Students should read and write on a daily basis.

(b)  Knowledge and skills

 (6)  Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Fiction. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. 
(B)  recognize dialect and conversational voice and explain how authors use dialect to convey character; and
(C)  describe different forms of point-of-view, including first- and third-person.

(13)  Reading/Media Literacy. Students use comprehension skills to analyze how words, images, graphics, and sounds work together in various forms to impact meaning. 

(15)  Writing/Literary Texts. Students write literary texts to express their ideas and feelings about real or imagined people, events, and ideas.

The TEKS are important in helping teachers have a better understanding of where students are academically and developmentally. It gives us an idea of what students are supposed to already know when they arrive in our class and what they should leave our classes knowing in order to be better prepared for the next level. I plan on utilizing Web2.0 tools to meet the TEKS standards. One way to do this is through the creation of a student Blog in which students learn the elements of a successful blog and then use those skills to create a blog in the voice of a fictional character from books we have read in class. Another way is to implement the use of a classroom Wiki in which students can write collaboratively to create a story. They can then use this writing to create a digital storyboard or a Glog, or utilize comic creator to transform a story into a comic-book form.

It's hard to determine which of the TEKS are most important to student learning, but I do think that there are some standards that need to be taught continually and on a daily basis. These are writing processes and conventions, vocabulary and reading comprehension. These are skills that are needed in order to be successful in every avenue in life. Competent writers are better prepared for college and for employment. Writing also compliments reading in that it helps students to better comprehend  and appreciate what they have read. Integrating appropriate web2.0 tools into the curriculum supports and enhances these skills and standards in a modern and relevant forum. It is no longer enough to teach reading and writing alone. We live in a society in which technology is prolific, if we do not integrate 21st century resources into our lesson plans we will fail to prepare our students for success in this world. So I say hold students to high expectations, teach the standards, teach the three Rs, and teach them using relevant, meaningful and creative technology from which students will glean the skills necessary for a successful future.