ABSTRACT
I work in an elementary1 school and teach sixth grade. The school population is over eighty percent English language learners, and we have children from 18 different countries in six grades who speak 13 different home languages. The diversity of our student population and the number of English language learners we have in our classes presents challenges for us as instructors. Many of us have decided to meet in content and grade level teams after school or at common lunch hours once a week in order to talk about how to improve our instruction. My sixth grade language arts team has decided to work on learning strategies for the next term. In our initial discussions on how to proceed, we realized that we have many different views about what constitutes a learning strategy. Some of my colleagues interpret learning strategies as school-related tasks, such as how to study, manage time, use resources, or take notes in class. Others define learning strategies in terms of text comprehension, such as finding the main idea, skimming, summarizing, and using graphic organizers. Still others thought about teaching students how to learn and how to evaluate their own learning. One teacher said that she wanted them learn how to work effectively in groups and with each other. As a team, I think we are very confused about learning strategies. Before we can move ahead with our plans, we need to come to some sort of agreement. [Sixth grade language arts teacher, Christison data, 2004]
Task: Reflect
The teachers on this team happen to be situated in a North American context; however, the difficulties the team is experiencing relative to meeting the instructional needs of their diverse group of learners could be true of English language teachers situated in almost any context. Are any of the views these teachers express consistent with your own views about learning strategies? Do you have a view that is not represented among these teachers? Do you think that some of the views expressed by the teachers in this scenario are incorrect? Share your ideas with your colleagues, if possible.
