N.M. Admin. Code § 6.64.2.9

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 21, November 5, 2024

Section 6.64.2.9 - COMPETENCIES FOR ENTRY-LEVEL LANGUAGE ARTS TEACHERS

A. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

(1) Teachers of English language arts shall demonstrate knowledge that growth in language maturity is a developmental process.

(a) Elementary language arts teachers shall understand developmental theories and processes by which children acquire, understand and use language from infancy through childhood.

(b) Elementary language arts teachers shall apply this understanding for diagnosing and strengthening students' language abilities.

(c) Secondary language arts teachers shall understand these developmental theories and processes and shall continue the development of students' language maturity through adolescence and beyond.

(2) Teachers of English language arts will demonstrate knowledge that students must develop in understanding and using language.

(a) Elementary language arts teachers must know fundamental principles and characteristics of child growth and development.

(b) Elementary language arts teachers shall set their expectations of a child's language use according to that child's readiness and achievement level.

(c) Secondary teachers must know fundamental principles and characteristics of adolescent growth in order to set appropriate expectations for adolescents' developmental levels.

(d) All language arts teachers shall be able to reduce learning anxiety and assist students in becoming linguistically mature.

(3) Teachers of English language arts will demonstrate knowledge that speaking, listening, writing, reading and thinking are interrelated.

(a) All language arts teachers shall understand that language development occurs as students use all the language processes.

(b) All language arts teachers shall understand the relationships among the language processes of speaking, listening, writing, reading, and thinking.

(c) All language arts teachers shall understand how oral language serves as the basis for learning reading and writing skills.

(d) All language arts teachers shall understand the relationships between language and thought development and of the holistic nature of language.

(e) All language arts teachers shall be able to use integrated approaches in teaching the language arts, particularly in teaching critical thinking.

(4) Teachers of English language arts shall demonstrate knowledge that social, cultural, and economic environments influence language learning.

(a) All language arts teachers shall understand how students' environments influence their language development.

(b) All teachers shall understand the history and diversity of language, including dialects and levels of usage in particular environments and be able to help students recognize and use language during all occasions.

B. COMPOSING AND ANALYZING LANGUAGE: Teachers of English language arts shall demonstrate knowledge of the processes and elements involved in the acts of composing in oral and written forms such as considerations of subject, purpose, audience, point-of-view, mode, tone, and style and understand how such processes and elements are interrelated.

(1) All language arts teachers shall demonstrate knowledge of research on how composing processes have contributed insights into the language arts teaching profession.

(2) Elementary language arts teachers shall understand the importance of rich oral language experiences in the early grades and how those experiences can lead to writing skills.

(3) All language arts teachers shall understand the importance of practice with expressive language (oral conversations and writing with one's self as the primary audience) and how that practice leads to writing with various purposes and with a wide variety of forms for many different audiences.

(4) All language arts teachers shall understand the importance of learning about and practicing various aspects of composing processes (prewriting, writing, revising, editing, and evaluating) in order to achieve the knowledge required to teach those processes well.

(5) All language arts teachers shall understand how the grammar system is an essential part of oral and written language.

(6) All language arts teachers shall know the sound system, the grammatical system, and the semantic system of English to be able to help students understand their own oral and written language, as well as that of others.

(7) All language arts teachers shall understand how people use language and visual images to influence the thinking and actions of others.

(8) All language arts teachers shall understand that verbal and visual languages are powerful influences upon human thinking and behavior.

(9) By examining various relationships between verbal and visual languages, all language arts teachers shall learn how to distinguish among various purposes of language and learn how to achieve these purposes to be able to help students recognize differences such as between fact and opinion and between truth and propaganda.

C. READING AND LITERATURE

(1) Teachers of English language arts shall demonstrate knowledge and understanding that the teaching of reading must be an ongoing process.

(a) Elementary language arts teachers shall effectively instruct young students in foundational reading skills.

(b) All reading teachers shall understand that reading appreciation backed by literacy concepts is core to student success.

(c) Secondary language arts teachers shall recognize deficiencies in student reading abilities and shall understand that reading comprehension skills positively impact not only the language arts classroom but all other subjects as well.

(2) Teachers of English language arts shall demonstrate knowledge and understanding of how students respond personally to literature, thus influencing their interpretations.

(a) All language arts teachers shall be able to help students read, interpret, and respond personally to literature.

(b) All language arts teachers must be able to guide students toward becoming independently able readers by encouraging self-monitoring of reading habits and processes.

(c) All language arts teachers shall be able to teach students to ask questions that elicit both oral and written responses at a variety of levels.

(3) Teachers of English language arts shall understand that students may better understand cultural diversity through literature.

(a) All language arts teachers shall be knowledgeable about the Southwest's regional literature and regional authors.

(b) All language arts teachers shall understand that literature reflecting the cultural pluralism of the Southwest is crucial to student appreciation and understanding of themselves and others.

(4) Teachers of English language arts shall demonstrate knowledge of the extensive body of literature and literary types in English and in translation that exist and understand that literature is a source of exploring and interpreting human experience, its achievements, frustrations, foibles, values, and conflicts.

(a) All language arts teachers shall have broad and deep experiences with literature.

(b) Elementary language arts teachers shall be familiar with children's literature.

(c) Secondary language arts teachers must be widely read in literature for adolescents, as well as in standard classic works.

(d) All teachers must be able to draw from the classics of adult literature and from classics and current works written specifically for students of the ages they teach in order to be able to discuss with their students the literature that those students have read and enjoyed.

(e) All teachers must be able to use strategies to expand their students' experiences with literature and encourage them to be lifelong readers.

(f) All language arts teachers shall be knowledgeable about literature by male and female writers, by people of many racial and ethnic groups and by authors from many countries and cultures.

(g) All language arts teachers shall draw on literature in many genres from many historical periods, and of varying degrees of complexity in order to develop and elicit critical insights from their students.

(h) All teachers of language arts shall understand the unique opportunities literature provides for understanding human experience, how literature affirms our common humanity, illuminates our differences and documents how different people at different times have perceived and approached an infinite variety of human problems and aspirations.

(i) All language arts teachers shall demonstrate an awareness that literature is the center of the English curriculum.

D. NONPRINT MEDIA: Teachers of English language arts shall demonstrate knowledge and understanding of how nonprint and nonverbal media differ from print and verbal media.

(1) All language arts teachers must know how the electronic media such as television and computers differ from printed media and how students are influenced by these media.

(2) All language arts teachers must know how to teach through these various media, as well as know how and what to teach about them to be able to help students recognize and interpret verbal language.

(3) All language arts teachers shall be familiar with such aspects of electronic media as the Internet, word processing, CD ROM, desktop publishing, and other relevant media to be able to effectively teach through the use of both verbal and visual media.

E. EVALUATION

(1) Teachers of English language arts shall demonstrate knowledge of evaluative techniques to be used to describe a student's progress in English.

(a) All language arts teachers at all levels shall demonstrate competence in applying a number of evaluative techniques, including the use of individual conferences, for determining and reporting student progress.

(b) All language arts teachers shall be knowledgeable about multiple ways of evaluating student performances, such as holistic scoring and analytic scoring writing.

(c) All language arts teachers shall be proficient at "student watching" and other informal ways of describing student progress in all language processes.

(2) Teachers of English language arts shall demonstrate knowledge of the appropriate uses of testing instruments and procedures that can assist in evaluating students.

(a) All language arts teachers shall understand the limitations of the uses of test data and the impact of these tests on curriculum and instruction.

(b) All language arts teachers shall be able to select the most appropriate formal and informal ways to assess or evaluate growth in oral and written language and reading skills.

(c) All language arts teachers shall be able to consistently use a variety of testing instruments and testing procedures.

F. RESEARCH

(1) Teachers of English language arts shall understand that major historical and current research findings influence the content of the English curriculum.

(a) All language arts teachers shall be knowledgeable about the major sources, such as books and periodicals, for research findings in both the content of their discipline and the issues and trends which influence their curricula.

(b) All language arts teachers shall be aware of current research in English language arts in order to maintain a relevant teaching and learning environment for their students.

(2) Teachers of English language arts shall understand how people create and discover meaning from print, as well as monitor their own comprehension.

(a) All language arts teachers shall understand how people read to be able to identify students' difficulties and capabilities with printed material.

(b) All language arts teachers shall be able to use this understanding to inform any curriculum designed to increase literacy.

(c) All language arts teachers shall understand:

(i) that reading is an interactive process in which readers use structures of previous knowledge and experience to make meanings from print;

(ii) that readers tend to respond in similar ways as well as in singular ways;

(iii) that responses are sustained by readers' awareness of how satisfactorily they are comprehending what they read; and

(iv) that students of diverse cultures interpret written and oral language in different ways.

G. PEDAGOGY

(1) Teachers of English language arts are able to effectively deliver instruction using a variety of approaches.

(a) All language arts teachers shall have knowledge and an understanding of the wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and learning styles that students in New Mexico bring to the classroom.

(b) All language arts teachers shall be aware of the variety of materials available to them and how to adapt these for individual students.

(c) All language arts teachers shall be aware of techniques of classroom management and lesson planning and implementation for effective teaching, as well as strategies to engage students in discussion, cooperative learning, and interdisciplinary activities.

(2) Teachers of English language arts shall understand that the classroom is composed of students with varied needs such as physical disabilities, learning disabilities, limited English proficiency, and cultural diversity.

(a) All language arts teachers shall be knowledgeable about issues surrounding inclusion, particularly with respect to language arts.

(b) All language arts teachers need to be aware of varied student needs and how to modify and implement instruction for diverse learners.

(c) All language arts teachers need to be aware of strategies for helping students be sensitive to and tolerant of each other's learning and social needs.

(3) Teachers of English language arts shall understand that the educational process includes families, and the social and economic communities.

(a) All language arts teachers shall be able to involve and work with student families in conferences, as aides and mentors in the classroom, and as participants in school-wide programs such as science night, open house, and parent/teacher organizations.

(b) All language arts teachers shall understand the benefits of community and school partnerships and business/school partnerships.

(c) All language arts teachers shall be aware of community resources to support instruction whether school-wide, across a particular grade level, or in an individual classroom.

(d) All language arts teachers shall be able to apply knowledge of such partnerships and resources to provide students with education in career opportunities.

N.M. Admin. Code § 6.64.2.9

07-15-99; 6.64.2.9 NMAC - Rn, 6 NMAC 4.7.1.1.9, 10-31-01