6th+grade+language+arts

First I needed to explore and reflect upon what is actually happening in the world of education and literacy. I still need to have dialog with colleagues and share views and findings. I need to put forth an effort to continue to push myself out of my comfort zone even though I despise that term. I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders and I need to narrow down my focus to what I can actually do. I can make trustworthy changes in my classroom with support from administration. The[| 6th grade curriculum for language arts] concentrates heavily on grammar and writing. I begin the year with narrative structure incorporating elements of memoirs. With this structure I create community by getting to know each of my students while I share information about myself. In the past I used the Smartboard to demonstrate narrative text through memoirs and the final project was presented for assessment on paper. I see now I could do this differently especially since students have a difficult time and lack confidence expressing themselves in written form. I could let them tell about themselves through multimodalities. They can use digital cameras and audio to create a pictorial memoir using several platforms such as moviemaker, photostory or powerpoint depending upon their experience. I need to design the project so it is rigorous but doable. I need to decide what skills I want them to master. The students will still have to organize their thoughts through text but adding audio and video will hopefully motivate them to work with excitement and enthusiasm.