Written by: Mrs. Komaki

I have been teaching the Language Arts program at Guide Academy for six years, enjoying the total atmosphere of students, staff, and parents. Guide Academy is committed to the total child; academically, spiritually and mentally.

As a Language Arts teacher, I focus importance on all aspects of the program including Reading, Vocabulary, Spelling, and Writing. However, writing is always a challenging area to teach. In part, the students are wondering why it is they have to write something, especially if you have had a recent discussion on the subject, and who, besides the teacher, will be reading their paper. The fact is that it takes time for students to realize they do not need an audience in order for their work to be important.

Having students understand that writing needs to have feelings and the words they use will make the writing more effective needs to be constantly put to their attention. Also, having students place focus on areas such as; their writing needs to have meaning; the writing has to have strong words so the reader can picture the story in their mind. As the students progress in their Spelling, Vocabulary, and Reading activities, their writing will become stronger, and the challenges will become less.

Language Arts is a subject that students will use every day of their lives, and Writing will play an important part in these daily activities. Whether it is composing an essay, completing a research project, taking a test, or simply writing a message on a card to a special someone, all the components of the Language Arts program will be put to use. And my hope is that they will remember a special class in Language Arts at Guide Academy.