The Whole Language Model is important because it emphasizes child-centeredness, whole language used in context, teachers acting as facilitators and collaborators, and students involved in meaningful literacy activities of their own choosing. According to Wagner (1989), the whole language classroom is not a place where students learn isolated sub-skills from teacher’s manuals. It is a place where skills are acquired naturally through meaningful, literacy activities.
When I think of how I learned to read and write, I know for sure that it did not happen in the context of a Whole Language classroom. I learned language in a traditional way with phonics instruction, spelling kits, readiness materials, handwriting kits, and workbooks. I had to learn to speak “proper” grammatically correct English at school because I spoke my Jamaican dialect at home. There was no student choice in my classroom or opportunities to explore my interests.
Goodman (1986) explained that language learning will be easy if schools focus on having student use language meaningfully and purposefully instead of students learning artificial, abstract, irrelevant lessons. Goodman further explained that teachers should involve students in using language functionally to meet their own needs.
After reading Goodman’s article, the implications for me is that I should implement some changes to my current teaching methods and classroom environment to reflect some of the principles of the Whole Language model. My general practice is to follow the curriculum that my school district provides. However, some of the materials in the curriculum may not be of any particular relevance to my population of students. This school year I am going to be working as a Special Education teacher with students ages 18-22 who are in the DC juvenile system. At this stage in their lives, these students will most likely respond best to learning information that is relevant, meaningful, and applicable to their lives. Consequently, I am ready to weave into my daily routine, opportunities for students to use language to meet their own needs. This may include time for them to write about what is happening in their lives, speak about their experiences, and read literature that interests them.
References
Goodman, K. (1986). What’s whole in Whole Language learning.
Wagner, B.J. (1989). Whole Language: integrating the language arts and
much more. Eric Digest. Retrieved from https://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9213/whole.htm
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