Analyzing a School Literacy Program

As a future teacher of a fast-changing generation that searches restlessly for new interests, I believe that old and new must meet to keep the basic values of a balanced literacy. Focusing on prior knowledge, collaborating with colleagues, peers, families, and community, creating connections with our surrounding, and empowering students’ learning style throughout the process of gaining knowledge of reading and writing. Foremost, my personal philosophy of teaching literacy is based on constructivism and sociolinguistic, where hands on experience and guidance are priority in an informational world. To facilitate a child’s acquisition of literacy skills , as I plan for literacy instruction for my future classroom, I will take into consideration

“The more you read, the more things you know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” This is how Dr. Seuss thought of reading, and I think of it in much the same way. Literacy is everywhere and influences us every day, therefore, it plays a major part in each of our lives. I believe that reading is an interactive activity in which learning happens, or as Clay (2001) defines it, “…a message-getting, problem-solving activity” (p. 1). Reading is the process through which one reads information and from doing so, constructs meaning about the material. The more exposure and practice one has with reading, the more knowledge one gains. In this paper, I will begin by discussing my own personal educational philosophy, then continue by stating and explaining four of my beliefs about the reading process and the research that is found to support each of them before sharing the remaining questions I have about literacy. I am an existentialist, and a strong supporter of a balanced literacy approach. My beliefs about literacy come from these foundations and perspectives that I embrace. For students to be successful in their literacy development, I believe that identity acceptance in the classroom is crucial, instruction for all students must be differentiated, direct and explicit instruction is at times necessary, and vocabulary is a significant component in the ‘Big Five’ of children’s literacy development.

In Deborah Brandt’s article, Sponsors of Literacy, she defines sponsors as, “… any agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy—and gain advantage by it in some way” (pp 166). There have been a few people in my life who have done exactly that; they helped me gain knowledge on many topics in hopes that I would find it informative and be able to better the world around me.

To assist students to “read with purpose and anticipation,” Vacca et al. (2014, p. 173) suggests, in their book Content Area Reading: Literacy and Learning Across the Curriculum, that teachers need to “create an instructional context” that activates their students’ “prior knowledge” and helps them to become interested in a lesson. Throughout chapter six, “Activating Prior Knowledge and Interest,” Vacca et al. (2014, pp. 172-173) explain instructional strategies that can lead students to “read with purpose and anticipation.” This chapter presents the reader with a plethora of instructional strategies and means for applying them, along with example for real educators. As I journeyed through this chapter, I discovered many instructional strategies,

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics stated that “Because mathematics is so often conveyed in symbols, oral and written communication about mathematical ideas is not always recognized as an important part of mathematics education” (2000). Teachers must help students through the process of communication that includes reading skills such as text interpretation and vocabulary acquisition. The purpose of this literature review is to determine the types of effective reading strategies to implement within a middle school mathematics classroom. This research hopes to answer the following questions: 1.)What are current reading strategies used in the mathematics classroom? And 2.)How do reading strategies affect student achievement in math?

A. The concepts, themes, ideas, and details are addressed in questions and tasks derived from the text.

Throughout my first year as a middle school Language Arts teacher, I have developed a theoretical understanding of what I believe are the necessary components to providing a meaningful and generative environment in which students develop and expand literacy skills. The teaching of literacy needs to include a balance of reading, writing, speaking and listening activities, and needs to be a social endeavor that provides a variety of instructional strategies to meet the needs of all diverse learners. My teaching strategies, beliefs and personality that I bring to my classroom can be characterized as a blend of two types of philosophical theories: social constructivism and relational teaching and

I will use the Literature circle to enhance the student’s ability to collaborate on a higher level so that they can move toward independent readers, molding them to integrate in a powerful classroom activity that will activate their critical thinking skills. I will do a book study and have students to meet and discuss the importance of rotating their roles giving everyone an opportunity to share the responsibility. I will teach how to highlight in different colors distinguishing each student reading.

The definition that goes align to my beliefs will be "Interactive Theories of Literacy". This theory focus in previous background experience to create meaning. I enjoy learning material that I can connect with previous knowledge because that makes me feel that I actually can utilize something that I already know to learn a new material. Learning becomes more enthusiastic when you are able to connect background knowledge and experiences to improve development. This keeps the students motivated and engaged in the classroom because they don't need to learn things from scratch, they just have to add into, the already existed folder, the new information. Like the definition says, meaning resides not only in the text or within the mind of the reader,

Kong, A., & Fitch, E. (2002). Using Book Club to engage culturally and linguistically diverse learners in reading, writing, and talking about books. Reading Teacher, 56(4), 352.

Many high school teachers know that reading always becomes a struggle, so all English teachers prepare a list that they will discuss to department members. As a Freshmen English teacher, it’s almost like a new start every year. Teens do not yet understand what a big transition it is, going into the high school. Older students can look intimidating and so can harder classes. Students that read throughout the year learn how to indicate a lesson learned and begin to have an open-mind on society. With a list of books, such as To Kill a Mockingbird, Fahrenheit 451, Of Mice and Men, and Animal Farm teens will begin to understand cultural literacy.

There are many varied benefits of children’s literature, and Hill (2015) addresses many of them in chapter five in the textbook. In particular what resonated with me was how Hill discusses that immersing children in literacy early, promotes a life long love of reading and furthermore supports children’s literacy development. Working in Early Childhood I have been able to witness this first hand, children that have a literacy enriched environment at home have a deeper interest in language groups, a good vocabulary and comprehension, and early reading behaviors at a younger age. (INF)

The Article, “The Impact of a School’s Literacy Program on a Primary Classroom”, by David Ambrose Roy Costello examines his school’s literacy program impact on on his teaching style and student learning. The author begins his article with his article wit

I will explain to students that our objective in book club for 7th will be accountability. To illustrate, I will ask students about their literature circle experiences. Unlike literature circles (which many students participated in during grades 3-5), no roles will be assigned but everyone is responsible for the reciprocal reading strategies. These strategies will be on an anchor chart to be displayed throughout the year. Next, I will show the brief YouTube video “8th Grade Book Club and Accountable Talk” and ask students to describe the behaviors observed. The video will prompt a discussion about book club our upcoming discussions.

Literacy, in its basic sense, is the ability to comprehend all sorts of text. It is important for educators to begin to think differently about literacy as the practices in classrooms are beginning to change. Literacy can also be thought of as the ability to evaluate and use information. In mathematics, there are key changes that can be seen in literacy infused classrooms. According to Shults (2008), “A visitor to a literate math class will hear students discussing math with their teacher and peers using the precise language of mathematics to describe and explain math concepts” (p. 4). It is this dialogue that allows students to learn beyond memorization of rote facts or formulas. Furthermore, “They will see a print rich classroom where math vocabulary is displayed on word walls, and math