A Journey Through The Valley Of Literacy Coaching Essay

I am elated to have the opportunity to apply to California State University of Fullerton's Master of Literacy and Reading program. I graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, in 2013. There, I received my Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies, with an emphasis in Spanish, as well as my Multiple Subject Credential. After graduation, I taught Kindergarten for two years in Greenfield, California. It was there that I learned my passion for teaching reading skills to English Language Learners. I soon realized the joy and cohesiveness literacy can bring into a classroom. For the past three years I have taught first grade at a small rural school in Shandon, California. I was extremely honored to be chosen to travel to Kansas City in July 2017, to

The role of a literacy coach is to work with struggling readers, assist the classroom teacher in terms of teaching literacy, model and assist with various components of the literacy block, and help the teachers grow in their knowledge and teaching of literacy. It is also important that the literacy coach is very knowledgeable about literacy, so they are able to help classroom teachers and struggling readers. The literacy coach should work hand in hand with the classroom teachers for each grade level to develop a curriculum that is age appropriate, covers all of the required standards, and engaging for the students. In order for students to be successful readers and writers, they must get a strong foundation in kindergarten and consistently build upon that foundation with each grade level. The literacy coach needs to provide ample professional development

This is a very important component in education to be aware of and when you are a teacher. I interviewed a first-grade teacher at my local elementary school to gain more information about the processes that our local schools go through for professional training, interventions, and in the classroom to ensure that students are developing their abilities in reading. My main focus was on what our school’s process was, how support is given, professional training offered, and what more is needed to be done to increase success for students.

The earliest memory of learning was in pre-k. There was a rug on the floor with the letters of the alphabet surrounding it, and my classroom even had its own personal restroom. Even though I remember my teachers and my classroom, I do not remember what I learned or how I learned. Learning to read and write is crucial for communication. Learning to read and write is a different journey for everyone; it could be an easy journey or a rough one. My literacy journey started in grade school, then junior high, then high school, and finally college. I do not remember the difficulty of starting to learn to read and write, but I do know that the higher the education, the more challenging it is.

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

The research problem evolved when there was a growth in the need of literacy coaches (Smith, 2012). More commonly, literacy coaches were utilized at the elementary level, but now they were being used at the middle and secondary levels too. The first concern arose because middle school coaches do not see themselves as teachers of reading. Common instructional elements found to support in the teaching of reading did not exist at the upper levels. Another concern presented deals with trying to figure out how literacy coaching aligns with the contexts of teaching the middle school grades. These concerns manifested the problem that was investigated in this study (Smith, 2012). This problem was not clearly stated, but once the first several paragraphs were reread, the problem becomes clearer.

The Literacy Collaborative program strives to utilize purposeful, explicit, and guided instruction designed to ensure learner independence. The program provides opportunities for students to engage in authentic, collaborative, and holistic language acquisition through the use of high quality rigorous cross circular instruction. The program is structured within a framework that allows educators to create a dynamic learning environment that allows for flexible grouping, collaboration, and actively involving students in the learning process. Moreover, “teachers engage students in a selection of specified activities, including interactive read-aloud, shared-reading experiences, targeted vocabulary and phonics lessons, guided reading and writing

In my classroom I will have a specific outline as to what a literacy lesson will look like. Each lesson will focus on reading, writing, speaking, and listening. I will have a set behavior management plan that will be followed at all times. I will always introduce a lesson by activating prior knowledge, motivating the student, and by stating the objectives. I will always model for the students what it is that they are expected to do. The students will always undergo guided practice before they set off on their own to do something. Then when I am sure that the students understand I will have them independently practice. Once the concept is mastered I will assess each student to be sure that they can apply what they have learned.

As I arrange this reflective analysis paper on topics that relate to a foundational course and specifically searching for the modules that have given me the most information, taught me something new or expanded my knowledge on a specific topic of reading, I have come to realize how far I have come since I began this adventure. I began these courses after graduating from Marshall with my bachelors. I chose this path because of my love for reading and teaching reading. I have come to realize that these courses have enabled me to become a more effective reading teacher and I now have been given the skills, strategies and techniques that I needed to teach a child to read. I know that I will always need to keep up with classes and new techniques, but feel that I am much more capable of teaching reading than before I started these courses. The course 653 Literacy Acquisition helped me to improve and further develop my educational philosophies and beliefs. So, I chose to speak about the first lesson that was expected of me in this class, Module 1 Literacy Theories, Beliefs and Practices.

At Brockton High School in Brockton, Massachusetts, the school put forth an initiative to integrate literacy-related instructional strategies across all content areas. This school-wide instructional goal has attributed to the overall boost to student achievement. The leadership team at Brockton High School recognized that changing the school culture would require the adults on campus to re-evaluate curriculum and instructional strategies.`Moreover, changing the mindset of school requires an examination of data to determine the area of need. The leadership at Brockton recognized that the greatest gaps in student achievement stem from the lack of literacy skills. With the use of content-specific information, literacy skills such as reading, writing,

Educating when all is said in done is an ethical endeavor. An educator's obligation is to improve the educational world of their students (Borah, 2012). One way this is conveyed is through teaching reading. Reading is one of the most important skills an individual can possess and requires many resources to promote success. Although an educator main goal is to provide reading excellence among their students, this cannot be completed without the assistance of a reading coach. A reading coach job is specialized in identifying reading challenges and aiding direction to classroom educators (IRA, 2000). Below I have created a graphic organizer that will compare and contrast the roles that a teacher and reading coach projects in implementing successful

I have always been goal driven; I shoot for the stars. At one point in my life, my career aspirations were to own a car dealership, a taco bell, a zoo, and another restaurant, all at the same time. I realize now that it is unrealistic to be able to own all of those businesses, so now my main goal is to become a reading teacher for middle school children. I have always been an avid reader, but my love for reading grew immensely in middle school. I had a lot of free time because I did not play sports yet, so reading was my go-to after school activity. I would love to teach reading because I think it’s important to instill in young minds that reading is wonderful. Many fellow students have told me their middle school teachers ruined their love

In this article Kennedy and Shiel (2010) examines the use of professional development in disadvantaged urban schools so that literacy levels can be raised. Working in a Title 1 school that is in an urban community, I find the literacy levels in our student to be low. However, since the embedding of proper professional developments, our schools literacy level has elevated beyond measures. Kennedy and Shiel (2010) explores “a multifaceted, collaborative professional development intervention that uses a range of strategies, tools, and methodologies and raises literacy standards can offer teachers greater instructional self-efficacy and deeper knowledge about how to implement a research-based, balanced literacy framework while also responding

So far being apart of Partners in Literacy I have faced a few challenges. One of my biggest challenges right now is using my teacher’s voice.

A lack of substantial amount of research exists on teacher education for preparing new teachers for classroom instruction in reading. Educator preparation program course textbooks present an overarching instructional content that includes topics such as academic vocabulary, promoting comprehension, selection of texts, reading across curriculum, differentiating instruction, and integrating literacy theory into practice (Tompkins, Gail E., 2010; Bucher & Hinton, 2014; Handsfield, 2016). However, there is literature and research on the current English/language arts classroom needs and studies of new professional educators in the field.