For this critique, we have chosen to examine Saskatchewan’s elementary level grade three English language arts (ELA). ELA is a required area of study within Saskatchewan’s Core Curriculum, where 560 minutes per week are expected to be allotted at a grade three level (Sask. Curriculum, 2010. p.1). Within Saskatchewan the aim for English language arts curricula is to “help students understand and appreciate language, and to use it confidently and competently in a variety of situations for learning, communication, work, life, and personal satisfaction” (Sask. Curriculum, 2010. p.5). The grade three ELA curriculum aims to educate students on what ELA is and what it is not. There is a focus to teach students to comprehend and respond to a variety of texts from different cultures for learning, and enjoyment; help students compose and create work that expresses their thoughts feelings, and experiences; and teach them to assess and reflect on their language skills and set goals for their future. Within the curriculum’s outcomes and the cross-curricular goals, the curriculum aims to recognize the diversity within society by looking at texts from many cultures; there is also a focus on the identity of the students, making room to look at a range of topics such as gender, race, ability, and socio-economic backgrounds. Although the grade three ELA curriculum is easy to follow well-structured manor, there are a few things to consider that the curriculum could benefit from; including the fact that it has not been updated since 2010, and it does not include resources that educators can use if they so choose. The Saskatchewan grade three curriculum is a clearly outlined document that, although there’s room for improvement, provides teachers with many benefits that go beyond the document itself.
Curriculum as praxis can be described as a real commitment to emphasizing judgment and making meaning that is driven by the general principles of the curriculum (Smith. p.9). The grade three ELA curriculum is oriented towards educating students about their identities while learning how to read and analyze texts, create and share their own opinions, and reflect upon their ideas. The curriculum is not designed as a plan to simply follow, rather has its outcomes that state the goals of what the students should be able to do by the end of the year, but allows the educator to take the lesson in a direction they choose to highlight issues they wish to cover. For example, within multiple outcomes in the comprehend and respond, and the compose and create sections of the curriculum it states to use a variety of texts that look at First Nations, Metis, and other cultures (p.16) but does not state specifically what to do with these works. By doing this it allows the educator to step into the classroom with a known goal, but uses the experiences they and their students have to guide conversations, continually evaluate the world around them, and leads to informed and committed actions they can take. The ELA curriculum is more than teaching students how to read and write, and what is and what’s it is not ELA, but pushes teachers and students to evaluate their own experiences and the world around them.
Some of the goals and outcomes for the third-grade curriculum include gaining the opportunity to examine, listen to, read, comprehend, and react to a range of mainstream and contemporary grade-level appropriate texts from First Nations, Métis, and other cultures in a variety of forms (oral, print, as well as other media) for a range of uses which can include the student’s interest and enjoyment and their learning. Students will learn to speak, compose, and use other forms of expression to discover and present their ideas and opinions, feelings, and experiences in various formats for several purposes and audiences. Students will learn to evaluate and reflect on their linguistic abilities, as well as discuss and examine the skills of effective audiences, listeners, readers, representatives, speakers, and writers, and set goals for future advancement. The curriculum focuses on community, identity, and social responsibility. Some of the guidelines that are talked about are to create an easy-to-follow representation with a clear purpose to communicate ideas and information about topics, problems, questions, or issues.
The Saskatchewan grade three English curriculum is an asset to teachers as it is a good foundation and guideline to what teachers should include in their lessons. In the grade three curriculum, students will develop social responsibility. In this topic, according to page three of the Saskatchewan curriculum, they learn how people make a positive impact in their physical, social, and cultural elements. To achieve this, students focus on their ability to participate with others in accomplishing goals and look at moral reasoning processes as well as taking action. Students also have the opportunity to focus on their identity in the grade three curriculum. Another benefit to this curriculum is that since it is so broad, it allows teachers to incorporate their ideas into what they are planning or teaching. This curriculum also allows students to set personal goals for themselves which is a great way to get them engaged in their learning. Some components allow students to engage in their community which helps them to advance their social skills. Another benefit to the curriculum is that it has a wide range of texts such as print, oral and other media. Students can also feel more engaged in their learning by the inquiry-based projects that are suggested in the curriculum on page 4. It can allow students to use their creativity in language, and they can explore a variety of topics, issues, and themes.
Although the curriculum has a fairly good structure and clearly outlined outcomes, there are setbacks to consider and room for improvement. The first thing that should be considered is that the grade three ELA curriculum has not been updated since 2010. Although this may seem to be better than the last updated date of other curriculums, it has still been twelve years, and a lot has changed in this time. Within the curriculum it outlines what ELA is and what it is not such as students are not vessels to be filled with information, ELA is a place to use multi-media resources not just print, and it’s a place to build meaningful connections between students’ experiences, knowledge, and personal and cultural identities; not just texts that have no relatability (Sask. Curriculum, 2010. p.7). However, as time continues to progress the meaning and expectations of ELA are going to change, and by not updating the curriculum every couple of years, important ideas are going to be left out. Another thing to consider is that throughout the curriculum guide states to use age-appropriate texts it does not suggest any specific books to use when discussing topics. For example, outcome CR3.4 states students will be able to “read fluently and demonstrate comprehension of grade-appropriate fiction, script, poetry, and non-fiction from various cultures (including First Nations and Métis) and countries (including Canada) and explain reactions and connections to texts read” (Sask. Curriculum, 2010. p.16). This may benefit teachers as it provides freedom and the ability to take outcomes and lessons in their own directions, but does not provide any resources teachers may use if they are struggling to find good, well-written resources. It may be beneficial to have resources that can be used as a starting point if a teacher is so pleased to use them. Keeping the curriculum up to date and considering adding resources teachers have the choice of using, can help to improve the curriculum for the future.
To conclude, the Saskatchewan grade three English curriculum is a great guideline for teachers as it is well structured and easy to follow. However, there could be some room for improvement; for example, adding more resources for teachers to use in their lesson, such as specific books that they could use that works well with the curriculum. In the curriculum it states what teaching English is and what teaching English is not, but the curriculum has not been updated since 2010, so there could be some updates/improvements to describe what teaching English is and what teaching English is not. Overall, the Saskatchewan grade three English curriculum is a good resource for teachers to use and has many benefits although there could be some changes and developments made to it.
References
Saskatchewan Education. (2010). English Language Arts Kindergarten to Grade 12 (Grade 3).
https://www.edonline.sk.ca/webapps/moe-curriculum-BB5f208b6da4613/CurriculumHome?id=29
Smith, M. K. (1996, 2000) ‘Curriculum theory and practice’ the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/b-curric.htm.