Author Question: Suppose the school system in which you teach has mandated that all first-grade teachers should use a ... (Read 434 times)

stevenposner · **on:** Jun 20, 2018

Suppose the school system in which you teach has mandated that all first-grade teachers should use a language-experience approach. Your principal is responsible for supervising these teachers, but doesn't really understand the approach. Prepare a checklist of recommended practices and one of practices to avoid to guide the principal in evaluating whether the teaching strategies that she or he observes are consistent with the approach.

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Compare and contrast the bottom-up curriculum and the top-down curriculum approaches. Discuss the instructional objectives, materials, learning environment, instructional strategies, and assessment for each approach. Are they similar in any way?

What will be an ideal response?

Koolkid240 · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 20, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Recommended practices could include language that is recorded for children to read, use of word banks, creative writing exercises, oral reading exercises, etc. Practices to avoid would include strategies that do not value or come from the child's language, such as the repetitive reading of a vocabulary-controlled book.

Answer to Question 2

The bottom-up curriculum explanation should include a discussion of the materials, strategies, and environment in which students are asked to decode letters and words before they can construct meaning. In the bottom-up approach there would be an instructional emphasis on letter and word identification as well as an assessment of discreet skills. A top-down teacher's approach to curriculum would focus on keeping language whole as opposed to severing it into discrete pieces. In a top-down approach, classrooms are often learning communities where children learn to make sense of both oral and written language.