Classical Studies Meeting the literacy and language demands of the curriculum level and NCEA

Learning areas and languages “Each learning are has its own language or languages. As students discover how to use them, they find they are able to think in different ways, access new areas of knowledge, and see their world from new perspectives.” The New Zealand Curriculum, page 16

Key competencies All learning areas depend on students being able to understand, respond to, and use a variety of written, oral and visual language in order to think about, locate, interpret, and evaluate ideas and information and to communicate with others.

Understanding the literacy and language demands of the curriculum Language is fundamental to thinking and learning. Reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing/visual skills and the skills required to communicate information in a range of subjects-specific forms, can be thought of as an interactive tool set or kete required by all curriculum areas.

Increasingly complex, abstract and specialised Texts become longer Text purpose and style varies across subject areas Structural complexity increases Word complexity increases – academic and content – specific vocabulary Sentence complexity increases Graphic and/or visual representations become more important Conceptual challenge increases –students are required to read across multiple texts to locate, analyze, evaluate and synthesise information and ideas, and present them in increasingly sophisticated formats

Literacy and language demands are integral in all teaching and learning activities and underpin all content-learning. This requires all teachers to be teachers of language. One challenge for teachers is that literacy and language is implicit. To succeed students require explicit teaching of both content and literacy and language and language knowledge and skills in each learning area, they are intertwined. Literacy and language is a shared responsibility

Literacy embedded in learning areas understanding subject-specific literacy demands analysing and using literacy data alongside subject data identifying literacy learning needs of individuals and groups develop an inquiry building literacy leadership within learning areas

Learning areas and language page 16 of the NZC Each learning area has its own specific language or languages; students need to be sophisticated users and communicators of these specific language(s) to achieve. For each area, students need specific help from their teachers as they learn: The specialist vocabulary associated with that area; How to read and understand its texts; How to communicate knowledge and ideas in appropriate ways; How to listen and read critically, assessing the value of what they hear and read.

What is your current practice?

Model strategies and the learning associated with the strategy and give students many experiences to use the strategy. Aim to have students choose the strategy that suits their learning and/or the context Develop independent learners Analyze Assessment Report Applying this to Classical Studies