Curriculum
Curriculum Trifecta in Secondary Language Arts at Bandung Alliance Intercultural School Teaching at small international schools in Asia is challenging. Rather than having the luxury of teaching one or two courses with multiple sections of the same course, teachers in small schools often have four or five courses with one section of each. The burden of course preparation is massive considering teachers are complying with school expectations regarding additional responsibilities such as IB, Cambridge, or Advanced Placement requirements, professional development, curriculum writing, departmental collaboration, mentoring, and co-curricular activity involvement. Through a three-year curriculum review process for Language Arts, Bandung Alliance Intercultural School (BAIS) has developed and implemented a secondary curriculum that drives students to achieve maximum growth while decreasing the need for teachers to create time-consuming plans for differentiated instruction. The school’s Curriculum Director, Mrs. Charity Sianturi, executes a three-year cycle for each subject area curriculum review. The first year’s target is the collection and analysis of student-learning and stakeholder data in order to drive decision-making. The second year focuses on the identification and evaluation of standards for adoption, creation of a vertical plan, and identification of curriculum resources. The third year is implementation of the new curriculum paired with plenty of professional development to support teachers. What follows is the philosophy, rationale, and description of multilevel Language Arts classes in the secondary school written by the BAIS Language Arts Head of Department, Ms. Elizabeth LaMertha, slightly modified for The EARCOS Journal readers: Driven by the desire to meet as many individual needs as possible and to give students learning options based on their personal needs and interests and college matriculation goals, the secondary English department has restructured courses to offer two options of study for 7th & 8th grades and three options of study for 9th through 12th grades. In order to provide students with these options, two full-time teachers and one part-time teacher in the secondary English deSchool Year A (2018-2019)
Teachers
By Jeremy J. Thomas Secondary Principal jeremythomas@baisedu.org
partment will support three classes of combined grades in 7/8, 9/10, and 11/12th grades. By combining these grades, the secondary English teachers can offer a variety of courses, which they could not do through the traditional single-grade classes. The 6th grade English class will remain as a single-grade class in order to help facilitate the 6th graders’ transition from elementary school into middle school. All English courses offered are designed to be integrated, literacybased courses that focus on developing effective, eloquent English communication skills through critical reading, writing, speaking, and listening. However, because of the complex nature of developing communication skills, especially through reading and writing, the English department will offer a writing skills-focused course and a literature analysis-focused course from grades 7-12. Both courses will still be integrated, meaning that both courses will involve reading and writing, along with speaking and listening; however, by emphasizing the focused skills of writing or literature analysis, students will have the time needed to better hone and develop the specific skills associated with writing or literary analysis. Most students will be free to choose the grade-level course they desire to take. Students in grades 9-12 who are interested in the Honors or AP courses will have to complete the required applications for admissions into those courses. As writing is a foundational skill for every academic discipline and is necessary for university and career success, some students may be required to take the writing course, in order to focus on developing the necessary writing skills. The secondary English department strongly believes that by focusing on specific skills, offering students a choice in what to study, and even by mixing the experiences and knowledge of different grades that the students who attend BAIS will receive the most effective and productive education in English language and literature.
School Year B (2019-2020)
6th Language Arts Teacher A 6th Language Arts 7/8 Good Literature 4 Good Writing: Nonfiction Teacher B 7/8 Good Literature 4 Good Writing: Fiction 7/8 Genre Studies: Nonfiction Teacher C 7/8 Genre Studies: Fiction 9/10 Discourses of Writing 9/10 Genre Studies: Nonfiction 9/10 Honors World Literature: Classical to Medieval
Teacher A Teacher B Teacher C
9/10 Composition: Creative Writing 9/10 Genre Studies: Fiction 9/10 Honors World Literature: Renaissance to Contemporary
11/12 Composition: Creative Writing 11/12 World Literature: Classical to Medieval 11/12 AP Language & Composition
Teacher A Teacher B Teacher C
11/12 Composition: Nonfiction Writing 11/12 World Literature: Renaissance to Contemporary 11/12 AP Literature & Composition
Winter 2018 Issue 43
