In my opinion, I think this standard wants me to recognize the importance behind

demonstrating proper reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills as the classroom instructor.

These skills can be explicitly demonstrated through instructional activities on how to read and

write. However, these skills can also be indirectly taught by simply speaking in front of the class

in addition to clearly listening to the students’ opinions and thoughts. Without demonstrating

these skills as the classroom leader, students will not necessarily ever learn how to effectively

communicate by conveying their ideas through reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

Furthermore, as always, it is also important to consider the variety of students’ needs in order to

model these English language arts skills in a way that will benefit each individual student.

For this standard, I chose to use a lesson plan on blending letter sounds as the artifact to

demonstrate my understanding and application of the standard. This artifact clearly demonstrates

how to “model the rules of English grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and syntax in

both written and oral contexts.” In this lesson, students practice blending word parts together to

form new words as well as practice reading words with l-blends. Blending letter sounds is a

necessary skill to learn in order to effectively convey ideas through both writing and speaking.

Furthermore, this artifact not only exhibits how to “write and speak in a well-organized and

coherent manner that adapts to the individual needs of readers and listeners,” but it also shows

how to “express ideas orally with explanations, examples, and support in a clear, succinct style.”

In fact, students are given the opportunity to practice expressing their own ideas through

examples by brainstorming a list of words that begin with pl, fl, or bl. Although I have used this

artifact in practice, my teaching will change in the future to further meet this standard by

differentiating the instruction more to address the learning needs of all students. Scaffolding the

material further would significantly benefit a diverse student population and would in turn
demonstrate effective reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills more effectively for each

individual student.

After demonstrating the importance behind demonstrating effective reading, writing,

speaking, and listening skills for students with various learning needs, I feel more prepared to

teach and learn in a diverse society. ‘Diverse’ can be defined in multiple ways. For one, it can be

interpreted as an ethnically and racially diverse environment. With an ethnically and racially

diverse student population in the classroom, it is important to consider students’ linguistic

backgrounds during instructional planning to help adapt lessons to best fit their needs for

developing effective reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. ‘Diverse’ can also be

interpreted as an academically diverse environment. By satisfactorily meeting this standard, I

have demonstrated how to incorporate each of these English language arts skills into the

classroom instruction to appeal to students’ diverse learning styles and performance preferences.

While some students may need to develop their reading skills further, other students may need to

improve their speaking skills. It is necessary to consider how to address this variety of student

learning needs through whole-class instruction. This will prepare me as a prospective teacher to

provide the best education for a diverse group of students. I look forward to using this

knowledge in my future and am confident that my future experiences will further build upon

these understandings as well.