This is a mind map of the Education Council for Teachers of English Standards. According to the Standards, it is essential to present students with a wide variety of literature. That means subjecting them to literature of different genres, time periods, cultures, and even different medias such as music or movies. Another important aspect of the standards deals with what we teach students to do with all of these different types of literature. Teachers need to teach students to read, write, listen, speak with purpose, but also to apply those tools to their everyday lives. The tools we as English teachers are responsible for teaching students are listed underneath the umbrella in my mind map. Students have to learn how to ask deep questions and formulate answers that are clear, critical, creative and strategic.
It is also necessary to address the nature of English. English is a spiraling education which means that students are learning to do the same things over and over again in each class with increasing difficulty. So each year students learn to write essays, narratives, discuss literature, etc, etc, but they learn to write with more technique and discuss themes with more succinct terms.