Literacy Platform
"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”
-Frederick Douglass
Before I had started the Residency Program, I had never had much of an interest in literacy, but that all changed after I took my first literacy course. Emergent Literacy with Sara Mercer was the most eye opening course that I have taken because my beliefs were strongly formed in this class.
Classroom Libraries:
Throughout the semester of Emergent Literacy, I become passionate about children’s literacy and how to motivate my students to read. As a teacher, one of the most vital pieces to your classroom is your classroom library. Large classroom libraries motivate students to read when they have a wide range of books to choose from. Classroom libraries are more than just a collection of children’s books, all books must be purposefully selected when being put in your library and must have a wide range of difficulty. Within a classroom library there should be books that are easy for children to read, books that challenge your readers, and "just right" books. I’ve already started building my classroom library because I want my students to have a variety of books to choose from so their interests and needs are met. My ultimate literacy goal is to have a huge classroom library so my students are always motivated to read new books. Research has shown that students learn to read by reading. It’s important to me as a teacher to have thousands of great books for my students to choose from and by giving them time to read everyday, they will grow as readers and as learners.
Shared Reading:
Shared Reading is an interactive reading experience that occurs when students join in or share the reading of a book or other text while guided and supported by a teacher. The teacher explicitly models the skills of proficient readers, including reading with fluency and expression. The shared reading model often uses oversized books (referred to as big books) with enlarged print and illustrations in primary grades. Shared reading has so many benefits for students and should be incorporated into the reading block everyday. It provides struggling readers with necessary support, help students build sight word knowledge and reading fluency, students can enjoy materials they may not be able to read on their own, and it ensures that all students feel successful by providing support to the whole group. Differentiated instruction should also be incorporated, if possible, into a shared reading lesson to ensure that all students needs are being met and every child is getting the support that suits their learning. Differentiated instruction is shared reading can be:
-Having Spanish copies of the shared reading books
-Books being kept in an accessible area, so that students can read them for independent reading and be familiar with a text by rereading it
-Ask students to write their own similar story using the same theme or sentence/language pattern that the book uses
-Using sentence strips, have students retell or build the story by putting the strips in order
-Have students write their predictions on what would happen next if the story continued
Guided Reading:
Guided reading also takes place during the reading block. During this time, the teacher provides support for small, flexible groups of different levels of readers. During these small groups, the teacher helps students learn to use reading strategies, such as context clues, letter and sound knowledge, and syntax or word structure, as they read a text or book that is unfamiliar to them. The goal of guided reading is for students to use these strategies independently on their way to becoming fluent, skilled readers.
3 steps to a guided reading lesson:
Before reading: Set the purpose for reading, introduce vocabulary, make predictions, talk about the strategies good readers use.
During reading: Guide students as they read, provide wait time, give prompts or clues as needed by individual students, such as "Try that again. Does that make sense? Look at how the word begins."
After reading: Strengthen comprehension skills and provide praise for strategies used by students during the reading.
***The steps of a guided reading lesson will vary according to the needs of the students in the flexible group.
To select small groups, a teacher should always base their decision off of flexible grouping. Flexible groupings are based on student abilities and needs. There are various ways to determine a child's ability level, such as running records, print tests, and teacher observations. Since students progress at different levels, the teacher will need to have a plan for ongoing observation and assessment to track student growth, select appropriate texts, and to regroup students as their needs change. Again, teacher observations and running records can provide valuable information.
A wide variety of books at different ability levels, sometimes called "leveled texts," are necessary so that the teacher can fit the book to the group. Teachers should choose books that are easy enough for independent reading, meet the instructional goals for the group, and are interesting and motivating to students. As students become more skilled at using a range of reading strategies, the ability level of the texts used in guided reading lessons can be increased. Previously read texts should always be available so that students can reread them independently, with a partner, or at home as they become fluent, confident, and self-motivated readers. Motivation is key when having students read because if they don't find the text interesting, they won't be interested in giving their full effort during the guided reading time.
Read Alouds:
I’ve learned through my courses and field experience I've learned that I want to incorporate read alouds into my classroom on a daily basis. Read alouds are important to children because they are able to hear what good reading sounds like. Read alouds help children acquire language skills, develop a positive association with books and reading, and ultimately allows them to hear good reading. Read alouds also give children a time to relax and practice listening as well. When it comes reading articles, texts, or books to my students, I've learned through my field experience that the text needs to be engaging and should relate to the students. If the students can't connect to the book and relate it to their lives, they won't be interested in the lesson. As a teacher, I want to pick fun articles that will get my kids in a deep and enriched discussion that will take the children into a deeper learning. I want my students to be into the material being discussed and not just want to get through it because they have to. Engaging and interesting books will motivate children to want to learn. I know if I'm bored with planning the lesson, my students will be bored while learning the lesson.
Read alouds play an important role within the classroom and will be incorporated into my daily teaching schedule because of all their benefits.
Independent Reading in the Clasroom:
In my field experience, I have not seen students motivated to silent read. In my observations in the classrooms, students whisper to each other, pass notes, and will do anything to avoid reading the book in their hands. As a teacher, I believe the first step to getting students to silent read in the classroom is allowing them to sit wherever they want to, a spot in which they feel most comfortable. Secondly, I want to show my passion for reading to my students because I've learned enthusiasm is contagious and if I show how much I love to silent read, my students will believe that as well. Finally, independent reading happens over time. And lastly, when first introducing my students to independent reading, I want to start them out with small increments of time and have them work their way up to reading silently and for 30 minutes. Students need to start with 2 minutes and be stopped and want to keep reading, then the next day read for 4 minutes, and so on and so forth. While the students are
independently reading I believe it's important to allow students to actively think and text code during reading. Students should to be jotting down words they don't know, what they found to be important ideas, and what they thought the theme or setting was. If students aren't actively thinking and tracking their thoughts, they might not understand the book as well.
Differentiated Instruction:
As this semester comes to an end, I've become a strong advocate of differentiated instruction. When it comes to literacy
every student is going to grasp concepts at a different pace. All students differ when it comes to their learning styles, strengths, needs, and abilities. By differentiating instruction, students are learning at their pace.
When it comes to differentiating instruction a teacher must:
assess students readiness, read and interpret student clues, allow for a variety of ways students can gather information and ideas, present varied channels through which student can express and expand understanding.
It takes an extremely talented teacher to do all of this and one who can be flexible. To achieve differentiated instruction, a teacher must be willing to accept different forms of student's work that show they are understand the concept, whether it be a map, a picture, or a written piece. The teacher must be able to teach in a variety of ways as well to meet all their student's learning styles. Daily four squares, choice boards, cubing activities during guided reading are all for children to achieve success at their own pace.
In high achieving classrooms...
- every minute of time is used well
- teachers integrate skills teaching with reading and writing
- you get the most out of every child
- reading and writing are integrated with content areas
- students know how they are expected to act and behave accordingly most of the time
- high expectations are set for the students
- teachers are excellent classroom managers
- all kinds of real conversations take place regularly
- teachers constantly modeled thinking strategies
- learner interest and engagement were important variables in the teachers' planning. Teachers taught the standard curriculum but tailored it to their student's interests, needs, strengths, and weaknesses
- students were often presented with a topic or problem and allowed to choose which part of it they would pursue and what resources they would use
10 Explicit Strategies to help students with Reading Comprehension:
1. Reread: Don't understand what you read? Re-Read! This could be a page, a paragraph, or even a sentence depending on the level of your reader.
2. Read Ahead: Don't understand what you read? Read-Ahead? Go onto the next few sentences, maybe the information ahead will help you figure out what the sentence means.
3. Figure Out Unknown Words: How? Chunk it! Or, break it apart! Don't know how to say it? Try changing the consonant/vowel sound.
4. Make a Mental Image/Visualize: This is used when you DON'T understand something. Take the sentence step-by-step to create a mental image.
5. Set Your Purpose for Reading: When children know WHY they are reading, they are more likely to be engaged and interested in reading.
6. Ask Questions: Teach students to write down their questions in the margins of the text, be critical thinkers!
7. Make Predictions: make predictions about things that are NOT explicit. Stop to make predictions. Teach students to pay attention to detail!
8. Stop to Think: Foster creativity with think alouds. Support additional research of subject. Ask "What does this help us understand?
9. Make Connections: Make connections to other things you have read. If your children have no schema, they must visualize or draw pictures!
10. Look at the Text Features: These are pictures, captions, tables, titles, sub-headings, etc.!
-Frederick Douglass
Before I had started the Residency Program, I had never had much of an interest in literacy, but that all changed after I took my first literacy course. Emergent Literacy with Sara Mercer was the most eye opening course that I have taken because my beliefs were strongly formed in this class.
Classroom Libraries:
Throughout the semester of Emergent Literacy, I become passionate about children’s literacy and how to motivate my students to read. As a teacher, one of the most vital pieces to your classroom is your classroom library. Large classroom libraries motivate students to read when they have a wide range of books to choose from. Classroom libraries are more than just a collection of children’s books, all books must be purposefully selected when being put in your library and must have a wide range of difficulty. Within a classroom library there should be books that are easy for children to read, books that challenge your readers, and "just right" books. I’ve already started building my classroom library because I want my students to have a variety of books to choose from so their interests and needs are met. My ultimate literacy goal is to have a huge classroom library so my students are always motivated to read new books. Research has shown that students learn to read by reading. It’s important to me as a teacher to have thousands of great books for my students to choose from and by giving them time to read everyday, they will grow as readers and as learners.
Shared Reading:
Shared Reading is an interactive reading experience that occurs when students join in or share the reading of a book or other text while guided and supported by a teacher. The teacher explicitly models the skills of proficient readers, including reading with fluency and expression. The shared reading model often uses oversized books (referred to as big books) with enlarged print and illustrations in primary grades. Shared reading has so many benefits for students and should be incorporated into the reading block everyday. It provides struggling readers with necessary support, help students build sight word knowledge and reading fluency, students can enjoy materials they may not be able to read on their own, and it ensures that all students feel successful by providing support to the whole group. Differentiated instruction should also be incorporated, if possible, into a shared reading lesson to ensure that all students needs are being met and every child is getting the support that suits their learning. Differentiated instruction is shared reading can be:
-Having Spanish copies of the shared reading books
-Books being kept in an accessible area, so that students can read them for independent reading and be familiar with a text by rereading it
-Ask students to write their own similar story using the same theme or sentence/language pattern that the book uses
-Using sentence strips, have students retell or build the story by putting the strips in order
-Have students write their predictions on what would happen next if the story continued
Guided Reading:
Guided reading also takes place during the reading block. During this time, the teacher provides support for small, flexible groups of different levels of readers. During these small groups, the teacher helps students learn to use reading strategies, such as context clues, letter and sound knowledge, and syntax or word structure, as they read a text or book that is unfamiliar to them. The goal of guided reading is for students to use these strategies independently on their way to becoming fluent, skilled readers.
3 steps to a guided reading lesson:
Before reading: Set the purpose for reading, introduce vocabulary, make predictions, talk about the strategies good readers use.
During reading: Guide students as they read, provide wait time, give prompts or clues as needed by individual students, such as "Try that again. Does that make sense? Look at how the word begins."
After reading: Strengthen comprehension skills and provide praise for strategies used by students during the reading.
***The steps of a guided reading lesson will vary according to the needs of the students in the flexible group.
To select small groups, a teacher should always base their decision off of flexible grouping. Flexible groupings are based on student abilities and needs. There are various ways to determine a child's ability level, such as running records, print tests, and teacher observations. Since students progress at different levels, the teacher will need to have a plan for ongoing observation and assessment to track student growth, select appropriate texts, and to regroup students as their needs change. Again, teacher observations and running records can provide valuable information.
A wide variety of books at different ability levels, sometimes called "leveled texts," are necessary so that the teacher can fit the book to the group. Teachers should choose books that are easy enough for independent reading, meet the instructional goals for the group, and are interesting and motivating to students. As students become more skilled at using a range of reading strategies, the ability level of the texts used in guided reading lessons can be increased. Previously read texts should always be available so that students can reread them independently, with a partner, or at home as they become fluent, confident, and self-motivated readers. Motivation is key when having students read because if they don't find the text interesting, they won't be interested in giving their full effort during the guided reading time.
Read Alouds:
I’ve learned through my courses and field experience I've learned that I want to incorporate read alouds into my classroom on a daily basis. Read alouds are important to children because they are able to hear what good reading sounds like. Read alouds help children acquire language skills, develop a positive association with books and reading, and ultimately allows them to hear good reading. Read alouds also give children a time to relax and practice listening as well. When it comes reading articles, texts, or books to my students, I've learned through my field experience that the text needs to be engaging and should relate to the students. If the students can't connect to the book and relate it to their lives, they won't be interested in the lesson. As a teacher, I want to pick fun articles that will get my kids in a deep and enriched discussion that will take the children into a deeper learning. I want my students to be into the material being discussed and not just want to get through it because they have to. Engaging and interesting books will motivate children to want to learn. I know if I'm bored with planning the lesson, my students will be bored while learning the lesson.
Read alouds play an important role within the classroom and will be incorporated into my daily teaching schedule because of all their benefits.
Independent Reading in the Clasroom:
In my field experience, I have not seen students motivated to silent read. In my observations in the classrooms, students whisper to each other, pass notes, and will do anything to avoid reading the book in their hands. As a teacher, I believe the first step to getting students to silent read in the classroom is allowing them to sit wherever they want to, a spot in which they feel most comfortable. Secondly, I want to show my passion for reading to my students because I've learned enthusiasm is contagious and if I show how much I love to silent read, my students will believe that as well. Finally, independent reading happens over time. And lastly, when first introducing my students to independent reading, I want to start them out with small increments of time and have them work their way up to reading silently and for 30 minutes. Students need to start with 2 minutes and be stopped and want to keep reading, then the next day read for 4 minutes, and so on and so forth. While the students are
independently reading I believe it's important to allow students to actively think and text code during reading. Students should to be jotting down words they don't know, what they found to be important ideas, and what they thought the theme or setting was. If students aren't actively thinking and tracking their thoughts, they might not understand the book as well.
Differentiated Instruction:
As this semester comes to an end, I've become a strong advocate of differentiated instruction. When it comes to literacy
every student is going to grasp concepts at a different pace. All students differ when it comes to their learning styles, strengths, needs, and abilities. By differentiating instruction, students are learning at their pace.
When it comes to differentiating instruction a teacher must:
assess students readiness, read and interpret student clues, allow for a variety of ways students can gather information and ideas, present varied channels through which student can express and expand understanding.
It takes an extremely talented teacher to do all of this and one who can be flexible. To achieve differentiated instruction, a teacher must be willing to accept different forms of student's work that show they are understand the concept, whether it be a map, a picture, or a written piece. The teacher must be able to teach in a variety of ways as well to meet all their student's learning styles. Daily four squares, choice boards, cubing activities during guided reading are all for children to achieve success at their own pace.
In high achieving classrooms...
- every minute of time is used well
- teachers integrate skills teaching with reading and writing
- you get the most out of every child
- reading and writing are integrated with content areas
- students know how they are expected to act and behave accordingly most of the time
- high expectations are set for the students
- teachers are excellent classroom managers
- all kinds of real conversations take place regularly
- teachers constantly modeled thinking strategies
- learner interest and engagement were important variables in the teachers' planning. Teachers taught the standard curriculum but tailored it to their student's interests, needs, strengths, and weaknesses
- students were often presented with a topic or problem and allowed to choose which part of it they would pursue and what resources they would use
10 Explicit Strategies to help students with Reading Comprehension:
1. Reread: Don't understand what you read? Re-Read! This could be a page, a paragraph, or even a sentence depending on the level of your reader.
2. Read Ahead: Don't understand what you read? Read-Ahead? Go onto the next few sentences, maybe the information ahead will help you figure out what the sentence means.
3. Figure Out Unknown Words: How? Chunk it! Or, break it apart! Don't know how to say it? Try changing the consonant/vowel sound.
4. Make a Mental Image/Visualize: This is used when you DON'T understand something. Take the sentence step-by-step to create a mental image.
5. Set Your Purpose for Reading: When children know WHY they are reading, they are more likely to be engaged and interested in reading.
6. Ask Questions: Teach students to write down their questions in the margins of the text, be critical thinkers!
7. Make Predictions: make predictions about things that are NOT explicit. Stop to make predictions. Teach students to pay attention to detail!
8. Stop to Think: Foster creativity with think alouds. Support additional research of subject. Ask "What does this help us understand?
9. Make Connections: Make connections to other things you have read. If your children have no schema, they must visualize or draw pictures!
10. Look at the Text Features: These are pictures, captions, tables, titles, sub-headings, etc.!