Literacy Instruction And Analysis

I completed my literacy field experience at Isanti Intermediate School/School for all Seasons in Isanti, MN. I was able to complete my 20 hour observation in a 1st grade classroom (primary), a 3rd grade classroom (intermediate), and conducted fluency tests in a 5th grade classroom. Each class had approximately 22 to 25 students. Also during this literacy class, I was also able to spend a few days observing a 3rd/4th grade classroom and a kindergarten classroom through a couple of sub jobs I completed. I need to note that my understanding was that 3rd grade was part of the intermediate program so I completed half my observation and assessment time with a 3rd grade classroom and completed a 3rd grader assessment. I am happy to say

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.

Cynthia Haven is the writer of an article called “The New Literacy: Stanford study finds richness and complexity in students' writing” that is a study based on the amount of writing college students do. She followed students at Stanford during their undergraduate years and the first year after that. She discovered that today’s students are writing more than any generation before it. Cynthia had the students she was studying submit all of the writing they did, academic or personal. She found that only 62 percent of the work submitted to her was for classes; the rest of the material was “Life writing”.

Literacy, the ability to read and write, is the backbone and overall structure to learning any type of information. It is something that is dynamic and complicated. Literacy can’t be pinned down to simply reading directly from a book or perhaps composing words onto a piece of paper. It is far more complex than that. Levels of literacy are affected by Literacy Sponsors, which are the influential people and elements in your life that have affected or facilitated your literacy and developed it thereafter. In Sponsors of Literacy by Deborah Brandt, she emphasizes that, “Sponsors are delivery systems for the economies of literacy, the means by which these forces present themselves to-and through-individual learners” (167). Each of the sponsors’

Misty Adoniou, associate professor in Language and Literacy, tutor’s schoolteachers on how to appropriately educate children when it comes to literacy and using distinctive languages. Adoniou’s reading “Improving kids’ literacy - a little knowledge can go a long way” is about informing teachers on how to accurately demonstrate the parts of learning and developing all the right reading and writing skills to be intellectual and socially capable, as language is used to communicate.

Literacy cannot be learned through multiple lessons taught solely in isolation. Instead, it must be learned in a comprehensive manner, in which various literacy skills are fully-integrated. Vygotsky (1987) is the theorist who appears to have had the greatest influence on literacy researchers working from a social constructivist perspective. Vygotsky’s approach to learning was holistic in nature, and he advocated the study of higher mental functions with all their complexity (Moll, 1990). Research on school literacy learning conducted from a social constructivist perspective suggests that students need to engage in authentic and relevant literacy activities, as opposed to rote memorization or repetitive worksheets contrived for practice (Au, 1998).

I have gained a lot knowledge from these past nine weeks during the literacy practicum in a second-grade classroom. I have spent a large portion of my time working with the students along with my Mentor Teacher to obtain new insight on understanding and experiencing what it is like to be a literacy educator. I have spent countless hours planning, teaching, and working with my student with the knowledge that this experience will help impact my teaching in positive ways.

In the article, Literacy and the Politics of Education, written by C. H. Knoblauch, it touches on a more critical understanding of the idea of literacy. An important idea that Knoblauch describes it hat society idea of literacy is much different from its true meaning. Many believe that literacy is reading and writing. However, as supported by many of Knoblauch's arguments he shows that there is a much deeper meaning to literacy. He also points out there is a is four important types of literacy that are in today's society. Thos are functional literacy, cultural literacy, personal growth literacy, and critical literacy. Functional literacy is the most familiar type and is usually associated with processing information. Cultural literacy depends

“Literacy is defined as a social practice, meaning a form of activity through which we use text in culturally appropriate ways for specific purposes” [Kern, 2000]. On the other hand, Neilson (2014) argues that “the power of literacy lies not just in the ability to read and write, but rather in a person’s capacity to apply these skills to effectively connect, interpret and discern the intricacies of the world in which they live” [Delvene, 2014, para. 1]. Significantly, when these two perspectives are analyzed, literacy can be seen as a skill and a tool. Whereby, students, can possess the learned skills and still be unable to utilize these skills in an informative way.

The learning process is fundamental and we learn so much from our experiences. Better said, our literacy and understanding of anything comes from sources or sponsors. It can be a muse or stress from society telling you to take action. Multiple sponsors can further fuel a literacy. Deborah Brandt states that sponsors are “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.” (46) The sponsors in our lives can make situations difficult or easy and overall stimulate literacy. Literacy to me is the understanding of a subject to the extent that one can analyze and/or make solutions. This can include finding cures or

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,

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

After reading the article it is saying that the instruments do not reflect the complexity of comprehension, instead equating it with more limited skills. These skills are vocabulary, domain specific knowledge, word reading ability, and other reader capacities that are only part of comprehension. This connects to our last two readings because in the first article we read before this on Integrating literacy with content it talks about how many elementary teachers strength is in language arts. In addition it talks about that elementary students need to read, write and communicate about something in science and when they master that they can read, write and comprehend this same kind of learning in math. But they need to get on subject down at a

Literacy pedagogies have a developing and complex history in education, intertwined with social and cultural change and evolution. Each change has paved a new path for more significant approaches and strategies, which cater to diverse learners allowing them to create meaning and communicate more effectively. These literacy pedagogies brought out by the changes in education have both strengths and weaknesses. As such, educators need to explore and understand the four knowledge processes portrayed by Kalantzis, Cope, Chan and Dalley-Trim; didactic, authentic, functional, and critical literacy approach (2016), to be able to consider how they can influence teaching and learning so they are able to make informed decisions with regards to their students’ literacy learning. Teaching is becoming increasingly complex; this is particularly evident in the area of literacy. This paper will explore the four literacy pedagogies, their limitations and their strengths, and how they have impacted literacy learning within the Australian educational context.

As with all elements of life, education has evolved since the introduction of schools in Australia in the 1800’s. Didactic literacy pedagogy was the starting point for most educators which evolved to authentic pedagogy, then functional pedagogy and critical pedagogy throughout the twentieth century. To maximise the effectiveness of all student’s literacy learning, areas of difficulty in delivery of information were highlighted, which led to changes being implemented and new pedagogies being adopted alongside changes in curriculum and school structure. Although literacy pedagogy has undergone many changes within the Australian educational climate, there is no one right or wrong pedagogy, rather, classrooms would benefit from a modernisation of older pedagogies which can be woven together and applied in the classroom to ensure each student’s success in their literacy learning.