Reflection on ELA Instruction

From my understanding, ELA instruction consists of four major components. These components are reading, writing, language, and listening and speaking. These components are to be addressed in ELA, science, and social studies content areas. Reading instruction is to be taught so that as grade levels increase the skills taught grow in difficulty. This is the idea of the "staircase" approach and it is to bring reading abilities to a college/career ready level. Reading instructions key focus is building strong comprehension across a variety of texts. Writing instruction is to be taught through the use of the writing process and focuses on developing key skills to write a variety of texts. Research and investigation are both a focus in these strands. Listening and speaking focuses upon developing an array of skills that include building oral communication and interpersonal skills. Collaboration amongst students is an important aspect in this area. Language concentrates on the rules of written and spoken English. This area includes a strong emphasis on vocabulary. The largest change I feel would need to be made to my instruction is concentrating on the use of nonfiction texts. The majority of elementary reading materials incorporated in the current curriculum in my school are fictional. I feel developing students ability to read nonfiction texts, examine them, and then write about what they read is a crucial component that should be integrated more into instruction.