Growing up in the BC school system, I thought I was a pretty savvy learner. I found ways to work around assignments, ways to manipulate the work into doing something that I found interesting, and make the assignments work to my advantage. Little did I know of the copious amount of framework that had been put into place to help shape me into the learner that I am now. The curriculum packages in British Columbia are sizeable documents, covering everything from fine arts, to physical education and a smattering of other things inbetween.
Learning in British Columbia
In the British Columbian public schools, our curriculum is found in documents called Integrated Resource Packages (IRP's). These packages are the content standards for each grade and subject are that are "(c)learly stated and expressed in measurable and observable terms, prescribed learning outcomes set out the required attitudes, skills, and knowledge – what student are expected to know and be able to do – by the end of the specified subject and grade" (BC English Language Arts IRP 2006). By the time a BC student reaches grade 7, according to the Kindergarten to Grade 6 English Language Arts (ELA) IRP (Integrated Resource Package- the British Columbian curriculum package) they should be able to: reflect and respond to texts, analyse and evaluate ideas, acknowledge and evalate ideas and alternative viewpoints in text, write a variety of well developed texts amongst other things. The learner in the middle years is a sophisticated learner by this point, learning to balance new information such as vocabulary, with a pre-existing skillset gained from Kindergarten+. This learner comes from diverse backgrounds from all over British Columbia, Canada and the world. The variety of learning styles and preferences simply increases with every student in the classroom, as does the range cultural and personal backgrounds that can be found in British Columbia.
Challenges, Curricula and Moving Forward
The challenge with working within the BC curriculum as presented in the BC ELA IRP for K-7, is that the document is quite large. The size is true for its word count, but also for the range of professionals that it has been written for. It is written for both the newly qualified teacher and the department head who has been teaching for many years. It is written for the honours student, the student who has a learning disability, the student who is from out of province or was educated in a different language. The ELA IRP is written to include a huge variety of learners from a variety of backgrounds in a specifically non-specific document. This especially shows in this statement in the BC ELA IRP (2006) "British Columbia’s schools include young people of varied backgrounds, interests, and abilities. The
Kindergarten to Grade 12 school system focusses on meeting the needs of all students"
That alone is a terrifying thought for the student teacher or the the newly qualified teacher out in the feild for the first time. New teachers, in my experience, want to create supportive and engaging learning environments and the sheer enormity of the range of students in the classroom is overwhelming. It should also be mentioned that all students are not going be attentive or engaged all the time, and that using such finite and definite language can add to a level of uncertainty in the new professional.
However, a definite benefit of the ELA IRP is that once the basics are grasped, it is possible to build upon that foundational knowledge and grow in teaching. The document won't limit the teacher with rigid ideas of what should be taught- it is a flexible and fluid document.
What does this mean for me?
I want to be the sort of teacher that would have helped me learn as a student: someone engaging, dynamic, flexible, kind to differences and supportive to different ways of learning. As a pre-service teacher, I worry that I will get overwhelmed in the sheer size of the document, the language used within it, and not be able to be an effective and engaging teacher for my students. However the more I delve into the material, and am given more support for my understanding in how the document works, the more I realize that I will be capable to be an effective teacher for all kinds of students.
While I know that I am not going to be the sort of teacher that 100% of students need 100% of the time, I know that I am going to be able to grow with the document. I hope that the openness of the curriculum will allow me to teach in a way that meets the needs, challenges, and supports my future students to learn and engage with the subject material.
One thing I know from life that is true, is that the scariest things in life can often be the most rewarding- especially when you are in a supportive environment. Right now, I'm crusing up the 'scary part' of understanding, the part where you doubt yourself a little, but people keep encouraging you to continue on. I know that soon it will 'click,' and I will be able to comprehend and hopefully teach ELA for all sorts of learners in all sorts of learning environments.
If not, I can always fall back on my desired childhood profession: becoming the queen.
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