English Language Arts and Student Agency

Last week in our Internet for Educators class, we had the pleasure of hearing from Tyler Letkeman. I thoroughly enjoyed his presentation, and it definitely sparked some excitement and built anticipation for me to finally get into an ELA classroom and start teaching! His presentation of resources and teaching strategies definitely just emphasized what I love about teaching, and I think it was evident that he truly loves what he is doing with his students, and the students do to. I absolutely love how much care and work is put into the work he does in his classroom, and it is really inspiring for me as an ELA teacher to see someone who shares similar interests and instructional ideas as me – and see it working!

Mr. Letkeman mentioned that quite a few teachers at his school are revamping their classroom practices inspired by Kittle & Gallagher’s book 180 Days: Two Teachers and the Quest to Engage and Empower Adolescents and coincidentally, that was my text book in the ELA Methods course I had last term, which I absolutely loved! The book outlines Kittle & Gallagher’s experiences and reflections over an entire school year, and I can say that I throughly enjoyed – and learned from – all the strategies, classroom practices, and activities outlined and suggested in that book. It may not be very ICT specific or digitally focused, necessarily, but it is well-balanced and includes video resources, so I recommend it for anyone who is interested in English Language Arts and looking to increase student engagement and deeper learning.

What stood out the most to me from Mr. Letkeman’s presentation, is how important it is to give students agency and empower them to create their own work and learn from any mistakes and difficulties they may face. The work you do as a student – or teacher – may not always be perfect, but we can always work on improving or creating new and better things. Digital tools make it easy for students to share work – either amongst their peers, or a broader audience – and this creates and excellent learning environment for student agency, as the students become more interested and engaged in their work when they know it is going to be read by more than just their teacher.