A Balanced Literacy Program Is a Necessity for a Child's Education

This has deepened my understanding of the big 5 concepts of literacy (phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension) through understanding what criteria can be used to determinate what is effective developmental for a reader and what needs improvement. The Informal Reading Inventory is one example of this because it allows me to assess word recognition, oral and silent reading, comprehension, and literacy capacity. All of which is valuable information which I can then use as a reading teacher to determine further instructional moves. While I have yet to have a place to fully put these assessment techniques into my full practice as a first year teacher. Learning about how to properly assess these components has better equipped me to think about my students' literacy abilities and further strategize my instructional planning to meet the diversity of their literacy

he most fundamental responsibility of schools is teaching students to read. Indeed, the future success of all students hinges upon their ability to become proficient readers. Recent scientific studies have allowed us to understand more than ever before how literacy develops, why some children have difficulty, and what constitutes best instructional practice. Scientists now estimate that fully 95 percent of all children can be taught to read. Yet, in spite of all our knowledge, statistics reveal an alarming prevalence of struggling and poor readers that is not limited to any one segment of society:

For this reason, careful research and understanding of what the standards are asking educators to teach is required. Houck (2008) informs balanced literacy is a combination of teaching methods and strategies involving both whole language and skill development. Used correctly, balanced literacy has the potential to meet the needs of all students at their own individual level. All components of reading, including phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, speaking and listening, and writing are taught using this framework. Balanced literacy provides instruction by various methods. The use of read aloud, shared reading, guided reading, independent reading, word study, and writing are all used to provide students with a release of responsibility model in which they go from guided to independent work (Frey, 2005). The need for all components of reading to work together in order for comprehension to take place makes balanced literacy an instructional reform plan worth implementing (Beringer & Abbott, 2010).

Reading is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information which is essential in being a productive member of society. If and when a student missed an opportunity to learn the skills necessary for reading, it’s has a profound impact on their lives. As educators we realize that teaching all children to read requires that every child receive excellent reading instruction. We are also aware that children, who are struggling with reading must receive

Just as the needs of students vary teachers methods of instruction should vary. Meeting the literacy needs of students should be done through a wide variety of instructional strategies that meet the needs of students and meet the requirements of a balanced literacy program. The following information shares 12 instructional procedures to be used in a third grade classroom. The procedures are from the Tompkins’ Compendium shared in the text Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach (6th ed.).

Creating and implementing effective lessons for a literacy learner who is struggling with reading and writing takes much effort and appropriate resources. Throughout the Literacy Development course, I have gained much insight and resources that have become valuable tools in addressing students’ literacy needs. Each week, I conducted lessons and activities that targeted the needs of many students, but my initial focus on was on one particular student. His individual reading level, spelling development, and writing abilities were analyzed and the recorded data was used

According to the article, the balanced literacy allows children to choose their own books to study and work in groups, where the combination of approaches to reading and writing will be provided by a teacher. The idea is that students are “ natural readers and writers; teachers needed only to create the conditions to unleash their talents.” On another side, we have Common Core Standards call for to read books on and above the grade level with more challenging texts, where students will focus on what the text says, while balanced literacy will focus on personal response to the book.

Reading and writing is crucial for increasing achievement among people of all ethnicities. For many young kids, books are their primary source of learning how to read and write besides the parameter of the classroom. However, there is a significant decrease in the literacy rate found in African-American communities. There is a need for stronger literacy education for this particular group of the population. A huge problem associated with that can be attributed the failure of the public school system to effectively educate the youth. According to the 2009 NAEP data, only 33 percent of 4th graders and 32 percent of 8th graders in the U.S performed at or above proficiency in reading on national tests. These results are very discouraging, in the African-American community, but the results are even worse because only 16 percent of African American 4th graders and 14 percent of African American 8th graders performed at or above the grade proficiency level in 2009.

The evaluation of the Leveled Literacy Intervention is being requested by our district superintendent, Dr. Craig Witherspoon, to determine the success of the implementation and the efficacy of the program. During this last year, our district piloted the Leveled Literacy Intervention program throughout the district with our Tier 3 students in the elementary schools. The Leveled Literacy Intervention program provides students with reading assistant system, and the training of classroom teachers and reading specialists. Higgins, Fitzgerald, and Howard (2015) found that providing “early interventions for struggling readers is critical for their future academic success” (p. 260). These authors continued by explaining that “these interventions should contain structured activities where students are supported through scaffolding, modeling and guiding until they gain competence and

When it comes to the classroom, there are several important components that teachers need to teach their students in order to be successful in the areas of reading and writing. One of these components is literacy. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, literacy is defined as “the ability to read and write.” In order for children to be successful readers and writers, they need teachers who understand the concepts well enough to teach them accurately. Each child learns differently, so these teachers need to come up with different ways to teach their students so they will get a full understanding of the components and why they are used in everyday reading and writing. According to Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read, the five areas of reading instruction they will use are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension (Armbruster, Lehr, and Osborn, 2008, p. ii).

Teacher-directed is a 40 to 45 minute block of time where the teacher uses 15 to 20 minutes for explicit, whole group instruction. This is the time for the teacher to model and think aloud with students.  For the remaining, time the teacher is the

The use of formal and informal reading assessments provide important data that allow educators to identify at risk students (Tompkins, 2010). The data collected from the assessments address any factors that may prohibit the development of students’ reading and writing skills. In addition to the assessments, the more an educator can learn about students’ backgrounds and their past reading, language development, and writing experiences the more instructional strategies can be designed to specifically meet the needs of diverse learners in the classroom.

Balanced Literacy offered a great deal of innovative methods that utilizes the critical aspect of the student-teacher relationship to enhance knowledge. In most cases, I have found that most students utilize the hand-holding implementation as leverage and/or verification, which are on the correct track. Although, hand holding is time consuming, it is continuous method that offers students the ability to know that their teacher cares. Quite as it is kept, this is really what naturally motivates and stimulates students. Another concept that was mentioned and very effective, is writing as a group. By having the student share and write, they are practicing and implementing, the concepts of fluency and reading/listening for meaning. It also

My philosophy of literacy is centered on providing a learning environment rich in authentic literature, instruction that is engaging, fun, and balanced, collaborative, and also involving families in the child’s education. My ultimate goal of literacy instruction is to help children become lifelong readers and writers by providing the skills necessary to comprehend, construct, and make meaning of text, speak, and write. (Torgesen, 2002). According to the National Reading Panel, there are five essential components that must be taught in effective reading programs: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. (Reading Horizons). According to Konza (2014), reading instruction should be changed to six foundational reading elements, adding oral language and early literacy. I also believe that early literacy should be

As the Reading Specialist for Woodbury Elementary School, I have been asked by the principal to build the staff’s understanding of an effective language arts program and how to embed classroom strategies to foster proficient literacy skills for our diverse student population. In this paper, I will define what literacy means, as well as include key components of a well-developed language arts program. I will also include literacy strategies that address a wide range of learners as the school’s population is