Speaking, Listening, Learning: Centennial Middle English Teacher’s Maddie Johnson’s Approach to Teaching

September 9th, 2024 /
Spencer Tuinei /
Centennial Middle, News, Secondary Schools, Teaching and Learning

Imagine being tasked with designing an English Language Arts curriculum for students nationwide. Where would you begin?

Most educators might focus on essential hard skills like analyzing complex texts, interpreting data, and writing according to project-based learning opportunities.

While these skills are vital, they often overshadow the equally crucial soft skills required to enact change. In an increasingly digital age, where social connections have become more strained, encouraging communication, empathy, and teamwork is vital. Centennial Middle School’s Maddie Johnson understands this well, emphasizing Speaking and Listening standards in her ELA coursework to help students become compassionate, engaged citizens.

“I think most people think of reading and writing first when it comes to English Language Arts,” said Johnson, “but we also have our Speaking and Listening standards. That’s what I want my students to learn.”

Even amidst the whirlwind of other skill-oriented and classroom-management tasks, Maddie Johnson keeps a collaborative culture in mind. To quote:

For me, the beginning of the year is about building a strong classroom community—getting to know my students and establishing rules and procedures. We also focus on foundational English Language Arts skills to set the stage for the year.

In that first week, students eased into collaboration through the interactive game Soup, Salad, or Sandwich. In this game, students categorize foods based on specific criteria (such as categorizing foods into soup, salad, or sandwich– like, is a hot dog a sandwich? According to what definition or rule?) and defend their choices in lively classroom discussions. This activity has three key outcomes:

It breaks the ice and encourages students to start talking.
It lays the groundwork for future Socratic debates and discussions.
It meets core standards by promoting active listening and clear communication.

Teachers might incorporate communicative structures into lessons, using sentence stems or similar tools to help students articulate their thoughts clearly. This would allow students to practice expressing themselves and understanding others, laying the groundwork for more advanced skills.

The following week built on these foundational Speaking and Listening skills: “Today, for example, we learned how to effectively communicate with teachers—emailing, speaking, and meeting with teachers—and then students worked on a Wonder Board.”

A Wonderboard is an online collage where students take topics they wonder about or are interested in, capture pictures of objects representing those subjects, and organize them on an online collage. Afterward, they display their collage on their screen, flip their computers around for students to see, and walk the classroom to interact with one another’s collages and learn more about their peers.

Regarding Speaking and Listening standards, the “Students and Teacher Communication” mini-lesson content offers direct instruction on communicative etiquette. At the same time, the Wonder Board underpins a matrix of core-aligned, skill-based learning, even in an introductory lesson like this one, yet still builds indirectly on Speaking and Listening standards.

The Wonder Board activity is more than a creative exercise; it incorporates Bloom’s Taxonomy to guide students from basic to advanced cognitive skills. Initially, students use lower-level verbs like “describe” and “discuss” as they share and engage with their Wonder Boards. This foundation paves the way for higher-level skills like “analyze” and “synthesize,” as students compare boards and connect themes.

This practice not only develops essential ELA skills—writing, reading, speaking, and listening—but also nurtures meaningful communication and creative expression. By collaborating on a Wonder Board, students create a sense of community and inclusivity in the classroom, promoting academic growth and social-emotional development in line with the Utah Core Standards.

Ultimately, the activity fosters critical thinking and self-directed learning, empowering students to develop the skills necessary for ongoing exploration and innovation.

Moving forward this year, Maddie Johnson is turning her classroom– both literally, through film-inspired decor, and figuratively– by starting with a Harry Potter reading unit this first term. Her goal is to keep students captivated by reading, which is crucial since many students lose interest in literacy in middle school. To quote:

I love that I get to teach reading. I’ve decorated my classroom for Harry Potter, but I want to make reading magical. Middle school is where a lot of students lose their love of reading. For example, I stopped reading in middle school and picked it up later in life. But I want to keep that magic of reading so they can enjoy reading throughout their lives.

Continuous reading is vital for growth in all areas—reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The core skills, guided by Bloom’s verbs, are designed to teach students how to learn. The skills equip them to think critically, no matter the challenge or the text. Johnson’s approach, then, is to create a stimulating environment to ensure that students remain involved with fun yet challenging texts, where they can hone these critical-thinking skills.

With an emphasis on Speaking and Listening, students then tackle A Christmas Carol in their second term, closely reading the text before collaborating in an informed class performance of the classic.

Balancing engagement, proportional skill acquisition, and cumulative learning is challenging, particularly if you are a second-year teacher on a budget, as Johnson notes:

Lack of time is probably my biggest hurdle. I leave at contract hours and try not to bring work home. That can be difficult, so I always have to stay on task. Limited resources can make things difficult, too.

“But I love my job,” she concluded with a smile. “I love teaching seventh grade. They come to school with an elementary mindset—bright, happy, and excited to learn.”

We are deeply grateful to Maddie Johnson and other teachers who impart essential skills like speaking, listening, collaborating, and empathizing with our students. As Maddie Johnson wisely notes:

We can’t forget our Speaking and Listening standards. That’s what I want my students to learn. Especially given the current climate and political atmosphere—particularly during an election year—I want them to discuss any topic with kindness and respect.

In the end, it’s educators like Maddie Johnson who remind us of the profound impact that thoughtful, engaging teaching can have. By prioritizing communication, empathy, and critical thinking, she equips our youth with the tools to succeed, not just in school, but in life. Thank you, Maddie Johnson; Provo grows because of teachers like you.