Competency 2

Competency 2: To communicate clearly in the language of instruction, both orally and in writing, using correct grammar, in various contexts related to teaching.

FEATURES

Uses appropriate language when speaking to students, parents and peers.
Observes rules of grammar and stylistics when writing texts intended for students, parents or peers.
Is able to take up a position, support his or her ideas and argue his or her subject matter in a consistent,
effective, constructive and respectful way during discussions.
Communicates ideas concisely using precise vocabulary and correct syntax.
Corrects the mistakes students make when speaking and writing.
Constantly strives to improve his or her own oral and written language skills.

LEVEL OF MASTERY

By the end of his or her initial training, the student teacher should be able to:

Master the rules of oral and written expression so as to be understood by most of the linguistic community;
Express himself or herself with the ease, precision, efficiency and accuracy expected by society of a teaching professional.

Throughout my placement, I continually found myself correcting both oral and written grammar. Two examples of corrections I've done can be seen below.

I also try to teach and introduce grammatical concepts in a fun, interesting way— here is an example of a lesson I did for Halloween that introduced adjectives to the students. I referenced the way adjectives work in French in order to introduce to students that adjectives in English do not take an accord, and I also gave them an introduction to adjective order. Then, they used adjectives with the verb "to be" for a guessing game.

Through a teacher evaluation, students also assessed their level of understanding for each grammar point. The majority of students said they had an average to excellent understanding of each grammatical point. These results can be seen at this link under the subheading "Comprehension of Grammar Points" (note: there are two sections, one for Secondary 1 and one for Secondary 2.)

Finally, I demonstrated my mastery of the English language through written pieces produced for various academic class and placement co-requisites. Here is a written piece about one of my challenges as a pre-service educator, and how Parker Palmer's work helped me reach a conclusion.

I believe I have achieved advanced mastery of this competency.

To see my Competency 2 development in my previous placements, click here.