Curriculum

In this section of my e-portfolio, I will demonstrate how I acquired the ability to design, adapt, and evaluate curricula, technology, media, and other resources that meet the specific instructional and language-related needs and abilities of adult English language learners.

One of the principal ways I developed these abilities during the program was through the Course Development Project, one of the major course requirements for APLNG 806 (Focus on Classrooms). The Course Development Project included three parts:

• A Critical Analysis of My Instructional Context
• Instructional Materials Selection Report
• The course I developed, entitled Understanding African-American English (AAE): A Course in Language Comprehension and Cross-Cultural Understanding for Advanced English Language Learners in the United States

This experimental course, which to the best of my knowledge is the first of its kind, adopts a novel interpretation of culturally responsive pedagogy by acknowledging the inherent value and importance of non-standard varieties of American English, which I strongly believe should be included in the ESL syllabus.

Another way I acquired the ability to design, adapt and evaluate curricula and instructional resources for adult English language learners was through the creation of detailed lesson plans for use in my current and future teaching contexts; these lesson plans were among the major course requirements for APLNG 808 (Focus on Instruction). To view these lesson plans, which include original classroom activities and assessment tools, please click on the links below.

• Lesson Plan 1: Oral Communication
• Lesson Plan 2: Reading
• Lesson Plan 3: Writing and corresponding audio file
• Lesson Plan 4: Content-Based Instruction

I have also included below a selection of the reflective blog entries I authored during the program related to curriculum design, adaptation and evaluation.