Literacy And Learning Across The Curriculum: Chapter Analysis

Since I was a child in elementary school I was always interested in the sciences. To me it never seemed to matter what type; it could be space science, biology, or even chemistry that I would awe over. Without reading and writing I would never be able to accomplish the understanding that I have today about science; without it I would be in complete ignorance of how evolution and biology worked, or why baking is just palatable chemical reaction, I would have never been able to expand my knowledge outside of what the classroom taught me. I remember when I was still in elementary school all I wanted to learn about was the ocean, but there were no topics of discussion that even narrowly correlated to that subject; I was left

I will be analyzing the Journeys reading curriculum by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to see what curriculum ideology it follows regarding knowledge, learning, children, teaching, and student evaluation. I am choosing this curriculum because the Journeys reading curriculum claims that it is Common Core aligned and provides scaffolding and differentiation to meet the needs of all students. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2014) stated “The unique close reading routine builds better readers while also providing intervention for struggling students.” This claim should make Journeys fall under the Social Efficiency

Why do pre-reading strategies that activate prior knowledge and raise interest in the subject prepare students to approach text reading in a critical frame of mind?

Content area teachers can implement strategies and scaffold learning when planning and designing instruction so that students will actively engage in literacy. According to Dobbs, content area reading instruction includes: the information present in the text, and the instructional plan teachers use to help students understand the content (2003, p.3). Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz explain that in order to plan instruction effectively, teachers must be aware of the explicit and functional dimensions of content literacy. The explicit aspect of content literacy involves the development of skills and strategies that enable students to comprehend what they are reading. Functional instruction focuses more on the application of strategies needed to derive knowledge from a variety of sources of information.” (2014, p. 134). Forget defined literacy as “listening, thinking, reading, and speaking in such a way that information and ideas are processed and communicated to the benefit of self and society” (2003, p. 5). Content area teachers need to plan and design lessons so that students will actively engage in literacy. Forget goes on to discuss that poor performance in schools can be do to a lack of basic literacy skills. Therefore, teachers need to implement the skills and strategies found to be successful in literacy to ensure

Many students who struggle with reading ask why should we read, what is the point? The point is that being able to read opens you up a whole new world of knowledge and imagination. But to have that new world opened up you need to be able to comprehend what you are reading. The primary goal of reading is to determine the meaning of

One of the most eye opening experiences of my life occurred in the second grade. I would have never thought that doing one simple assignment in elementary school could change my whole perspective on literacy. My understanding of literacy was sparked when I had read my first real book. I remember sitting down on the vividly colorful carpet day dreaming about playing Mario Cart on my Nintendo 64 while everyone was obediently listening to the teacher read a book out loud. It wasn’t that I did not know how to read or listen, I just didn’t care. Reading to me used to be tedious because I did not understand the purpose of it. I did not grow up with the luxury of my parents reading to me because they weren’t literate in English, so I had to figure out for myself why literacy is vital in everyday life. My ongoing learning experience with literacy can be traced back to one simple visit to library.

Reading is the beginning of every child’s learning. The basis of education begins with learning to read. Short (2010) explained that literature acts as “an inquiry to life” and a “way of knowing” (p. 50). However, in order to support children’s learning, it is essential to show children that learning is interesting from a young age. When Short first began teaching using worksheets and a basal reading program, she wrote, “I often felt that children were learning to read in spite of me” (p. 49). The students were not learning to think critically. However, when she began introducing literature circles to her students, she saw them “critically exploring their understandings with each other” (p. 49).

In the past, knowing that motivation was one of the primary concerns for teachers when teaching them to read (Veenamn, 1984) but today it deals more with finding a way to interest students in reading (O’Flahavan, Gambrell, Guthrie, Stahl, & Alvermann, 1992), Gambrell, Palmer, Codling, & Mazzoni developed a tool to assess student motivation in reading. The Motivation to Read Profile includes a reading survey and a conversational interview. The survey gathers information on reading motivation as it relates to self-concept as a reader and the value of reading. The interview gathers information on books students find most interesting, favorite authors, and where and how students find books. After administering the survey and interview, teachers

Graves, M. F., Juel, C., & Graves, B. B. (2011). Teaching Reading in the 21st Century. Motivating All Learners (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Literacy embraces reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Integrating all of these into a literacy program is key. Teachers must provide endless and ongoing opportunities for their student to read, write, listen, and speak.

My philosophy is that I want to provide children with the best education possible. Every student has the ability to read and write, but all students are going to have different ways of learning. Some strategies will work better for some than others. It is my responsibility to find creative and fun ways to spark their want to learn. I believe to be effective in literacy instruction and assessment I have to develop strategies that balance vocabulary, reading and writing. I think with these three components including a positive learning environment that my instructions will be effective. I believe by providing students with instructions, modeling, guided practices, and independent practices; that

In Chapter 3, “Focusing the Reader” of Deeper Reading, Kelly Gallagher provides pre-service teachers with a greater understanding of the importance of frontloading students with background knowledge of readings. She explains through an anecdote that prior knowledge leads students to be “better prepared to read more, to comprehend more, and to learn more” (26). Without prior knowledge, students are unable to understand and retain information as well because, as Gallagher explains, it “helps you attach meaning when reading the passage” (27). Teachers should gauge students’ prior knowledge to the text before beginning with a unit to understand how to teach their students in a more meaningful manner. There are two key elements that Gallagher points out, through the reading of David Sousa, in how to frame information for students: “…be certain that today’s curriculum contains connections to their past experiences, not just [the teacher’s]… [And] how a person feels about a learning situation determines the amount of attention devoted to it” (28-29). These two points mean that: a teacher must connect students to personal experiences in order to bring to light universal issues in a text that they may not necessarily connect with on their own, and a teacher must be able to show purpose in the text that is “valid and worthwhile” (29) for the

Educators are charged with not only teaching the content of their subject, but also responsible for creating a learning environments that fosters communication, engagement, and reflection so that the students will be prepared for their future careers and learning. Creating a classroom that fosters reading and writing is one way to engage students while promoting that they reflect on the material and communicate their understanding or misconceptions of the content. In order to form a literacy-rich classroom educators need to increase the amount of time students interact with all forms of print and literacy and the classroom environment is an essential key to setting the precedent and model behaviors that will make students more successful and capable of high level learning. (Tyson, 2013)

When teaching mathematical concepts it is important to look at the big ideas that will follow in order to prevent misconceptions and slower transformation

Explicit instruction is important in connecting to prior knowledge and skills when beginning a learning sequence (Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority, 2016). It helps to lay the foundational areas of reading and literacy as a whole in the early years of schooling. Effective reading instruction builds on what children already know, how students learn and on what degree of support they need to become successful in reading/learn and apply new information (Archer, 2011, p.18). Here the idea of scaffolding is evident where “the support provided by the teacher (or another student)…bridge(s) the gap between their current abilities and the intended goal” (Rupley, Blair and Nichols, 2009, p.129). It is important for students who are learning something new, to have the opportunity to have it explained, the opportunity to apply that information guided by their teachers and the opportunity to apply it independently (Archer, 2011). Through an explicit approach the responsibility for learning shifts from teacher to student as they gain confidence and competence with reading. Reading is not an automatic process and must be taught, “explicitly, systematically, early and well” (National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy, 2005, as cited in Hempenstall, 2016,p.5). Building on this, it is not enough for explicit instruction to be effective; it must also be efficient so that students can meet outcomes as soon as possible and are given the opportunity to apply it. This highlights