The IRPs' Impact on a Beginner Teacher

The IRP and Me

As a beginner teacher when reading the English Integrated Resource Package (IRP), my thoughts shifted from viewing it as a hindrance to actually finding it quite helpful. It provides an overview of the key elements, and acts as a quick reference tool for curriculum information and resources. The best part is the opportunity new teachers have to use their own professional autonomy to meet the Prescribed Learning Outcomes (PLO’S).

When I first began reading the IRP for Language Arts I was overwhelmed by all the information. I found it to be very broad, and could be taught in multiple ways. After going over the readings, and the class discussions on finding that “hook” to get students engaged I was quite excited to be given this independence. It will allow me to create a classroom that I am excited about, and as long as the expectations set out by the IRP are met, I would feel successful in teaching the curriculum.

Another reason I find the IRP to be beneficial has to do with the age group of students I would be teaching. Adolescence is a hard time for both students and teachers, and many challenges are brought into the classroom at that age. Nancy Atwell, author of In The Middle, brought up many crucial points when teaching the middle years students, one being the shift from “skill and drill based curriculum's to responsive teaching”, (Atwell, 1998). It touches on what I find to be the most relevant approaches to teaching in middle years. She states three principals that will make the most of middle years learning. One in particular being “that teachers accept the reality that middle school students are volatile and social.” She continues to say that teaching can take advantage of this by finding “meaningful ways to channel their energies and social needs instead of trying to legislate against them”, (Atwell, 1998).

I find this strongly relates to the section of the IRP called “Considerations for Program Delivery,” specifically the part on making meaning through the integration of  “writing and representing, speaking and listening, reading and viewing”, (IRP, 2006). A student can use their strength in one area to “facilitate and support learning” in the others. For example in fostering development teachers structure opportunities for students to talk about their reading, writing, and thinking, and involve them in challenging, open- ended tasks through which they create and demonstrate understanding. This is exactly what I would coin as “responsive teaching”, (Atwell, 1998), and what a middle years English Language Arts classroom should consist of.

            At first my impression of the IRP was that it was broad and overwhelming. The introduction where I was told that the “development of the IRP has been guided by the principles of learning, but It didn’t really say how these were taught. Further into the IRP I began to draw links to the teaching approaches we have been learning in class and the readings from Atwells’ text, and actually began to find it quite informative. It was a framework on what to do, what to look for and what to keep in mind when developing my lessons. The IRP doesn’t say exactly what to do, but as a new teacher it would definitely point me in the right direction. It allows me to be open minded with lessons, while keeping me on track.

References:

Atwell, N. (1998). in the middle : New understandings about writing, reading, and learning. second edition. Portmouth, NH: Heinmann.

British Columbia Ministry of Education. (2006). English Language arts K to 7: Integrated Resource Package. Victoria, BC.

URL: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/irp ela.htm