Rationale
I teach at Harriet Tubman Elementary School in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, DC. Much like Columbia Heights, Tubman ES has a diverse student body. Our overall population is made up of the following: 55% Hispanic/Latino, 38% Black, 6% White, 1% Asian, and 1% Multiple Races. Further, 50% of our student population are English Language Learners, and 55% of our students are considered “At Risk.” Additionally, 23% of our students receive special education services.4
At my school, I co-teach first grade in an inclusion setting and act as the Special Education teacher as well as the lead ELA planner. The curriculum that we use for close reading, or RRW (Reading, Research, and Writing), is written and edited by DCPS educators over the summer. One of the most popular units from this curriculum is the Animal Adaptations unit. This unit requires students to read informational text about various animals and determine their adaptations through analyzing text.
While this unit is extremely popular with students and teachers, it is worth mentioning that much of the learning is done through texts that teachers read to students. The students then answer questions about the text and write about what they have read (in actuality, what they have heard). This method is not always effective for students who are learning English or for students with disabilities. As Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis say in A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies, the student of today makes meaning from various sources, one of which is the visual medium.5 By not purely relying on text to teach, teachers are activating multiple parts of students’ brains, offering them more than one pathway to learning.
After 10 years of teaching experience, I have come to learn that first graders do not, typically, yet understand the importance of learning, but they do love to learn. In my teaching practice, I try to use that natural curiosity to build lessons and learning experiences that engage them and teach them about things they care about. After studying avian adaptations, students will be able to apply their knowledge at home, on the way to school, while out shopping, and even while playing on the playground.
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