DOCUMENT RESUME 411 193 643 CS 205 905 AUTHOR Mandel, Barrett J., Ed. TITLE Three Language-Arts Curriculum Models: Pre-Kindergarten through College. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, Ill. FEPORT NO ISBN-0-8141-5458-1 PUB DATE 80 NOTE 258p. AVAILABLE PROM National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801 (Stock No. 54581, $7.50 member, $8.50 non-member) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC11 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Curriculum Development: Curriculum Guides: Elementary Secondary Education: Higher Education: *Language Arts; Models ABSTRACT The three paradigms developed in this collection of essays represent especially fertile areas for language arts curriculum development at all grade levels. Intended to assist those educators whc vish to see the implications of each type of curriculum spelled out in practical detail at every grade level, the book also is meant to be a resource for those vorking vithin one of the paradigms as well as a practical introduction to the paradigms for those who have not had much exposure to them. The paradigms are (1) the process or student-centered model, (2) the heritage or traditional model, and (31 the competencies model. Following an introduction that provides background of the project, the essays are presented in five sections devoted to these levels of education: prekindergarten through grade five, grades six through nine, the high school, the community college, and the four-year college. Each section contains a general essay and three essays discussing the three paradigms. (BL) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ***********44.********************************************************** F A Three Language-Arts Curriculum Models Pte-Kindergarten through College US cepaRstAami OF 41EALIR, EDUCATION IIFFELPARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION Trod DOCUMENT HAS BEEN oteoao- ouceo EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGIN- ATING II POINTS OF UMW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRE- SENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY Edited by Barrett J. Mandel Douglass College, Rutgers University "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS SEEN GRANTED BY NCT E To THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." National Council of Teachers of English 1111 Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801 r) %ip NCTE Editorial Board: Paul Bryant, Thomas Creswell, C. Kenneen Fristrom, Rudine Sims, C. Ann Terry, Robert F. Hogan, ex officio, Paul O'Dea,ex officio Book Design: Tom Kovacs NOTE Stock Number 54681 01980 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. It is the policy of NOTE in its journals and other publications to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, Or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified. Library. of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: Three language-arts curriculum models. Includes bibliographies. L Language arts. I. Mandel, Barrett John, 1937- H. National Council of Teachers of English. LBI576.T527 372.6 80-22889 ISBN 041414458-1 0 1978 and 1979 Commission on the English Curriculum Barrett J. Mandel, Douglass College, Rutgers University, Director (1980) Marlene Caroselli, City School District, Rochester, NY, Associate Director (1980) Jane Carroll Christensen, Everett Junior High School, Wheat Ridge, CO (1980) Ouida II. Clapp, Buffalo Public Schools, NY (1980) Jayne De Lawler, Sonoma State College (1981) Alan E. Dittmer, University of Nebraska (1981) Ruth Gallant, University of North Dakota (1979) Elisabeth McPherson, St. Louis, MO (1979) William D. Page, University of Connecticut (1980) William J. Strong, Utah State University (1978) Dorothy J. Watson, University of Missouri (1978) Lois Williams, Montebello, CA (1981) Barbara Liebrilhart, Speech Communication Association, ex officio Robert S. Johnson, Shelter Rock Junior High School, Albertson, NY, ex officio Jasper P. Neel, Modem Language Association, NYC, ex officio Alan Turves, University of Illinois, ex officio Charles Suhor, NOTE Staff Liaison 4 Contents .1 .-,...4.41,. -,. ;wig:, 1. Introduction 1 Barrett J. Mandel L Pre-Kindergarten through Grade Five 2. American Schooling: Pre-Kindergarten 17 through Grade Five Walter T. Petty 3. Competency-Based Approach to Language Arts: 23 Pre-Kindergarten through Grade Five Betty 0. Mason Sara W. Lundsteen Paula S. Martinez 4. A New Heritage Approach for 35 Teaching the Language Arts Eldonna L. Evertts 5. Process Oriented Instructional Activities: 47 Pre-Kindergarten through Grade Five Russel G. Stauffer U. The School in the Middle 6. Schooling for Young Adolescents 63 Theodore Manolakes 7. Competency Paradigm: Grades Six through Nine 69 Donna Townsend . 8. The English Program, Grades Six through Nine: 78 A Heritage Model Richard E. Hodges 9. Process Paradigm: Grades Six through Nine 91 Dorothy J. Watson v 5 vi Contents HI. High School 10. High School in America: 103 Problems and Opportunities Philip Cusick 11. Competency Paradigm: Senior High School 108 Ouida H. Clapp 12. A Literary Heritage Paradigm for 125 Secondary English Ronald LaConte 13. Process Curriculum for High School Students 138 Barbara Stanford Gene Stanford IV. Community College 14. An Overview of Community Colleges 157 Lucille G. Shandloff 15. A Community College English Program: 164 A Competencies Model Karl K. Taylor 16. Approaches to Cultural Studies at the Two-Year 180 College: Perspectives and Prescriptions George L. Groman 17. Language Arts in the Community College: 188 A Process Model Elisabeth McPherson V. The Four-Year College 18. Modern Higher Education 205 Edmund Volpe 19. Teaching Stylistic Competence 211 Louis T. Milic 20. Literary Tradition and the Talent of the 223 Individual Student: A Heritage Paradigm Hamida Bosmajian 6 Content: :II 21. Student-Centered Teaching and Industrial 2.35 Management Theory Elizabeth Cowan Contributors 253 1 Introduction Barrett J. Mandel Rutgers College I. History At the 1977 Business Meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English in New York City, Maree Blackwell, president of the Alabama Council of Teachers of English, introduced a sense-of- the-house motion calling for national "guidelines for curricula in English similar to the Bullock Report of England." The motion was carried, and the charge to implement it was given to the Com- mission on the English Curriculum. Since this publication may seem rather a far cry from the intention of the motion, a few words on the development of the project are in order. Having spent three years focusing on questions of competency- based education and minimal competencies, the Commission on, the English Curriculum felt it appropriate to turn its attention more directly toward questions of curriculum per se: What is it? What is being taught and how? 712 whom? What ought to be taught? How? To whom? Blackwell's sense-of-the-house motion gave focus and direction for the Commission's new emphasis. But it did not take long for us to discover that the charge would have to be radically interpreted if any book was to ensue. During the early stages of planning, it became clear that the Council did not have the resources or the desire to follow the lead of A Language for Life (the so-called Bullock Report), which had, after all, been a 600-page, blue-ribt'in project of the British government's Department of Education and Science, not the work of any professional organization. Furthermore, it soon became evident that those involved with the planning of this publication could not see themselves defining national guidelines in a prescrip- tive manner. The state of the art in curriculum (for which I use the working definition of the Commission: "goals, contents, and I Barrett J. Mandel teachinglearningprocedures") is uncertain and evolving. We all felt that where curriculum is concerned, the times were not right for a document comparable in scope and tone to the Statement on the Preparation of Teachers of English and the Language Arts brought out in 1976 by the NCTE Standing Committee on Teacher Preparation and Certification. No one on the Commission or the NCTE Executive Committee seemed disposed to interpret the sense- of-the-house motion as a call for one set of national curricular mandates covering all levels of language-arts instruction. If we were to address ourselves to the issue of a national curriculum for the eighties, the focus would have to be on a catholic collection of curriculum models that had been found effective in various regional and educational contexts. "National guidelines" was therefore loosely interpreted to mean "the best of what is happening" rather than "what ought to happen." It was also decided that what we wanted were real human voices, not necessarily in agreement, rather than statistics or a policy statement. What we decided to do is harness the liberation of diversity rather than bow to the domination of conformity. The following story (called to my attention by Lewis Epstein) is taken from Leo Luscaglia's book Love and represents the point of view of the planners of this book, not only about curriculum, but also about the choices of curriculum designers who need to be trusted to develop their own strengths, following their own intuition while keeping open to new influences. The animals got together in the forest one day and decided to start a school. There was a rabbit, a bird, a squirrel, a fish and an eel, and they formed a Board of Education. The rabbit insisted that running be in the curriculum. The bird insisted that flying be in the curriculum. The fish insisted that swimming be in the curricu- lum, and the squirrel insisted that perpendicular tree climbing be in the curriculum.