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Inhfp.il)ofAlbertaI il>r;ir> 1620 2143 8146 CURR GD HIST KNOWLEDGE AND EMPLOYABILITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS 6-26-36 1 Policy: Knowledge and Employability courses provide students who meet the criteria with opportunities to experience success and become well-prepared for employment, further studies, citizenship and lifelong learning (Knowledge andEmployability Courses Policy 1.4.2). VISION • when meaningful connections are made between schooling and personal Through Knowledge and Employability courses, experiences. students become active, responsible citizens, achieve their educational and career goals, Knowledge and Employability courses assist improve the quality of life for themselves and students to make the transition from school to their families, and positively impact their the workplace and community, prepare for communities. responsible citizenship, and be recognized, respected and valued by employers and further PHILOSOPHY AND RATIONALE education providers. The skills, abilities and work effort that Knowledge and Employability The development of a distinctive sequence of courses promote include: courses such as Knowledge and Employability • academic and occupational skills of a is based on input about the ne^ds of learners standard determined by the workplace to be gathered from consultations with education necessary forsuccess stakeholders throughout the province. • practical applications through on- and off- campus experiences and/or community To meet the educational needs of students, partnerships Knowledge and Employability courses are • career development skills to explore careers, designed forthe student who learns best: develop a career-focused portfolio and • when the focus is on the development and assess careerskills application of reading, writing and • interpersonal skills to ensure respect, mathematical literacy,1 and essential support and cooperation with others. employability skills • throughexperiential learning activities 1. Mathematicalliteracy: Selectingandapplyingappropriate mathematicaloperations, problem-solvingstrategies, toolsand technology, andcommunicatingusingmathematicalvocabularyinhome, workplaceandcommunityexperiences. Knowledge and Employability English Language Arts 16-26-36 /l ©AlbertaEducation,Alberta,Canada (2005 Draft) Ex LlBRIS Universitatis Albertensis Aboriginal Pen de thematic units, subject For historical, o ts and/or projects in other an understanding 01 nn>i rsauuio, mens auu 5UUJCV.13. Inuit (FNMI) experiences and perspectives, and recognition that First Nations, Metis and Inuit Community and Workplace Connections students have particular needs and requirements Knowledge and Employability courses provide is necessary to enable all students to be students with practical and applied opportunities respectful and responsible citizens. to develop basic reading, writing and mathematical literacy. Community and workplace connections ensure learning within Knowledge and Employability courses serve to applied contexts and connect the school with facilitate positive experiences that will help environments beyond school, and may include Aboriginal students better see themselves in the tours to local business and industry, curriculum and assist non-Aboriginal students to mentorships, job shadowing and work develop a better understanding ofAlberta's First experience. Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples. Knowledge and Employability courses promote GOALS OF KNOWLEDGE AND the development of career portfolios. Career EMPLOYABILITY COURSES portfolios help students connect their school experience to the world beyond school. Each portfolio will include exemplars ofthe student's Knowledge and Employability courses provide on- and off-campus experiences and can be used students with practical and applied opportunities when the student is seeking employment or to develop competencies necessary to meet or other post-secondary opportunities. Items exceed the following goals: appropriate for inclusion in career portfolios • earn a senior high school credential are: resumes, samples of written work, awards • enter the workplace upon leaving school and/or their representations, teacher and self- with employability and occupational skills evaluation checklists, workplace assessment tools and employer letters ofrecommendation. that meet industry standards • make successful transitions to other courses SAFETY orto further education and training • become responsible and contributing Safety is emphasized and incorporated members ofsociety. throughout Knowledge and Employability courses. Courses include basic safety rules and CROSS-CURRICULAR CQMMUNITY guidelines, and the safe use oftools, equipment AND WORKPLACE CONNECTIONS and materials in school, home, community and workplace settings. Programs ofstudy and resources for Knowledge TECHNOLOGY and Employability courses are distinctive, in part, because they promote cross-curricular, Because technology is best learned within an community and workplace connections. applied context, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and the use Cross-curricular Connections of computers and other technologies are Knowledge and Employability courses promote included in Knowledge and Employability the integration of subjects to emphasize their courses to help students make the transition to interrelationships and connections to other the world beyond school. school subjects. The philosophy of Knowledge and Employability courses is that students learn best when they can clearly recognize connections, applications and relevance to a variety ofeveryday experiences. Organizing for 2/ English Language Arts 16-26-36 Knowledge and Employability (2005 Draft) ©AlbertaEducation,Alberta,Canada ESSENTIAL UNIVERSAL SKILLS For information about identifying students for AND STRATEGIES enrollment in one or more courses, see Knowledge and Employability Courses Policy Knowledge and Employability courses and the Information Manualfor Knowledge and emphasize universal skills and strategies that are Employability Courses. essential to all students, includingthe following. INTRODUCTION TO KNOWLEDGE • Interpersonal skills to promote teamwork AND EMPLOYABILITY ENGLISH and respect for, support of and cooperation LANGUAGE ARTS with others. • Critical thinking to promote the analysis and appropriate applications ofinformation. The core responsibility of Knowledge and • Creative thinking to promote identification Employability English Language Arts courses is of unique connections among ideas and to foster and strengthen the development of insightful approaches to questions and language. Learning foundational skills of issues. communication enhances confidence, builds • Decision making to promote making timely personal identity and enables individuals to and appropriate decisions. create and sustain meaningful relationships. • Problem solving to promote the ability to Becoming successful communicators at home, at identify or pose problems, and apply school, at work and in the community enables learning to consider the causes, dimensions learners to experience personal satisfaction and ofand solutions to problems. become responsible, contributing citizens and • Metacognition2 is thinking about thinking lifelong learners. and enables students to become more aware of their own thinking and learning The Importance ofLanguage processes, and gain greater control of these The Nature ofLanguage processes. Language is the basis ofcommunication and the RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER primary instrument of thought. Composed of COURSES interrelated and rule-governed symbols systems, language is a social and uniquely human means of exploring and communicating meaning. As To enable students, as appropriate, to progress well as being a defining feature of culture, to other Knowledge and Employability course(s) and/or other secondary courses, each language is an unmistakable mark of personal Knowledge and Employability course is identity and is essential for forming interpersonal relationships, extending consistent with the rationale, philosophy, experience, reflecting on thought and action, program foundations and organization of other and contributing to society. secondary courses. ENROLLMENT KNOWLEDGE Language Development IN AND EMPLOYABILITY COURSES Language development is contextual. Students enhance their language abilities by using what they know, continuously and recursively, in new Students may take one or more courses in the and more complex contexts and with increased sequence at any time during grades 8 through sophistication. They reflect on and use prior 12. Students may be enrolled in all courses, or a knowledge to extend and enhance their language combination of Knowledge and Employability abilities and understanding. By learning and and othercourses. incorporating new language structures into their repertoires and using them in a variety of 2. Metacognition: Learning-to-learnstrategies; awarenessofprocessesandstrategiesoneuseswhenlearning. Knowledge and Employability English LanguageArts 16-26-36 /3 ©AlbertaEducation,Alberta,Canada (2005 Draft) — contexts, students develop greater language strengthens and supports proficiency in the fluency and proficiency. others. Critical Thinking and Learning through Listeningand Speaking Language Critical thinking, learning and language are Oral language is the foundation of literacy. interrelated. Students use language to make Through listening and speaking, people sense ofand bring order to their world and play communicate thoughts, feelings, experiences, active roles in learning communities within and information and opinions, and learn to beyond the classroom. They use language to understand themselves and others. Oral examine new experiences and knowledge in language carries a community's stories, values, relation to their prior knowledge, experiences beliefs and traditions. Aboriginal perspectives and beliefs. They make connections, anticipate and experiences of oral language strengthen possibilities, reflect upon and evaluate ideas, their communities and culture. and determine courses of action. By becoming critical thinkers, students also become self- Listening and speaking enable students to reliant, successful, contributing members of explore ideas and concepts, as well as to society. understand and organize their experiences and knowledge. They use oral language to learn, Metacognition solve problems and reach goals. To become Language study helps students develop an discerning, lifelong learners, students at all awareness ofthe strategies they use to complete grades need to develop fluency and confidence learning tasks successfully. Students are in their oral language abilities. They benefit encouraged to talk about, write about and from many opportunities to listen and speak otherwise represent themselves as learners. In both informally and formally for a variety of essence, the study of language enables students purposes. Instruction integrates facets of to develop metacognition. Aboriginal oral language traditions as an example of the power of language for people Metacognition involves reflection, critical and theircommunities. awareness, analysis, monitoring and reinvention. Students who are engaged in metacognition Reading and Writing recognize the requirements of the task at hand, reflect on the strategies and skills they may Reading and writing are powerful means of communicating and learning. These language employ, appraise their strengths and weaknesses in the use of these strategies and skills, make arts enable students to extend their knowledge and use of language, increase their modifications, and monitor the use of these reworked or new strategies in future situations. understanding of themselves and others, and experience enjoyment and personal satisfaction. ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS Reading provides students with a means of accessing the ideas, views and experiences of Knowledge and Employability English others. By using effective reading skills and Language Arts highlights six language arts strategies, students construct meaning and listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing develop thoughtful and critical interpretations of and representing. a variety of texts. Writing enables students to explore, shape and clarify their thoughts, and to Students engage all six language arts as they communicate them to others. By using effective study texts and create their own texts in relevant writing strategies, students discover and refine situations for a variety of purposes and ideas, and compose and revise with increasing audiences. All of the language arts are confidence and skill. interrelated and interdependent; facility in one 4/ English Language Arts 16-26-36 Knowledgeand Employability (2005 Draft) ©AlbertaEducation,Alberta,Canada UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA Viewing and Representing by computer, television, radio or book. Students need knowledge, skills and strategies in all six Viewing and representing are integral parts of language arts to compose, comprehend and contemporary life. These skills allow students respond to such texts. Oral texts include to understand the ways in which images and storytelling, dialogues, speeches and language may be used to convey ideas, values conversations. Visual texts include pictures, and beliefs. diagrams, tableaux, mime and nonverbal communication. Combinations of oral, print or Viewing is an active process ofattending to and visual texts include videos, films, cartoons, comprehending such visual media as television, drama and drum dancing. advertising images, films, diagrams, symbols, photographs, videos, drama, drawings, sculpture Organization ofthe Programs ofStudies and paintings. Viewing enables students to acquire information and to appreciate the ideas General outcomes are broad statements and experiences of others. Many of the identifying the knowledge, skills and attitudes comprehension processes involved in reading, that students are expected to demonstrate with such as previewing, predicting and making increasing competence and confidence from inferences, may also be used in viewing. Kindergarten to Grade 12. Five general outcomes, represented by icons below, serve as Representing enables students to communicate the foundation for the programs of study. The information and ideas through a variety of student outcomes are interrelated and media, such as video presentations, posters, interdependent; each is to be achieved through a diagrams, charts, symbols, visual art, drama, variety of listening, speaking, reading, writing, mime and models. viewing and representing experiences. Inquiryand Research Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to: Through the process ofinquiry, students learn to manage ideas and information. Acquiring foundational skills in research will allow 1 explore thoughts, ideas, feelings and students to identify their current knowledge and experiences construct new knowledge within a variety of contexts. The inquiry process includes comprehend literature and other texts in f planning, selecting, organizing, ^assessing and oral, print, visual and multimedia forms, representing information, and is also included in and respond personally, critically and science and social studies courses. creatively Texts manage ideas and information ... In today's technological society, people access information and find enjoyment in print, as well create oral, print, visual and multimedia t as other language forms. For example, oral texts, and enhance the clarity and communication and visual media are becoming artistry ofcommunication increasingly important. Often these forms are used in combination with one another and in v '/ respect, support and collaborate with conjunction with print. Therefore, texts refer IfM others. not only to print but also to oral and visual forms that can be discussed, studied and analyzed. In addition, texts are affected and influenced by how they are transmitted, whether Knowledge and Employability English Language Arts 16-26-36 /5 ©AlbertaEducation,Alberta,Canada (2005 Draft) 1 1 Specific Outcomes GeneralOutcome 2 Specific outcomes are categorized under t Students will listen, speak, read, write, headings within each of the five general view and represent to comprehend outcomes. The specific outcomes state the literature and other texts in oral, print, knowledge, skills and attitudes that students are visual and multimedia forms, and expected to demonstrate by the end of each respond personally, critically and grade. creatively. GENERAL AND SPECIFIC 2.1 Construct meaning from text and OUTCOMES FOR ENGLISH context LANGUAGE ARTS 16-26-36 2.1. Discern and analyzecontext 2.1.2 Understand and interpret content The aim of English Language Arts is to enable 2.1.3 Engage prior knowledge each student to understand and appreciate 2.1.4 Use reference strategies and language, and to use it confidently and reference technologies competently in a variety of situations for communication, personal satisfaction and 2.2 Understand and appreciate textual forms, elements and techniques learning. 2.2.1 Relate form, structure and Knowledge and Employability English medium to purpose, audience Language Arts further focuses on developing and content basic language competencies needed for 2.2.2 Relate elements, devices and everyday living at home, in the community and techniques to created effects at the workplace. 2.3 Respond to a variety of print and nonprint texts GeneralOutcome 1 2.3.1 Connect self, text, culture and milieu Students will listen, speak, read, write, 2.3.2 Evaluate the text's relationship l view and represent to explore thoughts, to realism, and the ideas, feelings and experiences. appropriateness and significance ofprint and nonprinttexts 1.1 Discover possibilities 2.3.3 Appreciate the effectiveness and 1.1.1 Form tentative understandings, artistry of print and nonprint interpretations and positions texts 1.1.2 Experiment with language, image and structure 1.2 Extend awareness 1.2. Consider new perspectives 1.2.2 Express preferences and expand interests 1.2.3 Set personal goals for language growth 6/ English Language Arts 16-26-36 Knowledge and Employability (2005 Draft) ©AlbertaEducation,Alberta,Canada 1 General Outcome3 4.2.3 Consider and address matters ofchoice ::: Students will listen, speak, read, 4.2.4 Edit text for matters of £• write, view and represent to manage correctness ideas and information. General Outcome 5 3.1 Determine inquiry or research requirements ^// Students will listen, speak, read, 3.1.1 Focus on purpose and %kl write, view and represent to respect, presentation form *"* support and collaborate with others. 3.1.2 Plan inquiry or research, and identify information needs 5.1 Respect self and others, and and sources strengthen community 5.1.1 Use language and image to 3.2 Follow a plan ofinquiry show respect and 3.2.1 Select, record and organize consideration information 5.1.2 Appreciate diversity of 3.2.2 Evaluate sources, and assess expression, opinion and information perspective 3.2.3 Form generalizations and 5.1.3 Recognize accomplishments conclusions and events 3.2.4 Review inquiry or research process and findings 5.2 Workwithin a group 5.2.1 Cooperate with others, and General Outcome 4 contribute to group processes 5.2.2 Understand and evaluate Students will listen, speak, read, group processes write, view and represent to create oral, print, visual and multimedia Under the specific outcome sections on the texts, and enhance the clarity and following pages, the six language arts are artistry ofcommunication. identified in brackets as they apply and/or relate to the outcome. 4.1 Develop and present a variety of print and nonprint texts R - Reading W 4.1.1 Assess text creation context - Writing 4.1.2 Consider and address form, L - Listening structure and medium S - Speaking 4.1.3 Develop content V - Viewing 4.1.4 Use production, publication Rp - Representing and presentation strategies and technologies consistent with context 4.2 Improve thoughtfulness, effectiveness and correctness of communication 4.2. Enhance thought, understanding, support and detail 4.2.2 Enhance organization Knowledge and Employability English Language Arts 16-26-36 II ©AlbertaEducation,Alberta,Canada (2005 Draft) 8/ English Language Arts 16-26-36 Knowledgeand Employability (2005 Draft) ©AlbertaEducation,Alberta,Canada