One of the first things children learn in school is how to read and write. These are integral literacy skills that students will build their whole lives. The question is, how do we properly teach these necessary skills to our students? As a teacher, we must understand all the learning theories to better address the literacy development of our students. Students need to have interesting, engaging, proper-leveled books to learn how to read. Writing made fun by teaching lessons such as writer’s workshops, creating their own books, and writing to pen pals, keeps students interest in developing their skills. When student learn the basic foundations of literacy they can develop their skills further and reach a high level of thinking. Literacy …show more content…
I personally believe that student’s literacy development is dependent on their teacher, school district, and home life. Each of these factors can directly affect how students learn literacy. If the student has a teacher that does not understand their literacy needs they can fall behind and struggle in the future. They need a teacher who will take time with them and create a positive literacy environment. If they are in a school district that does not put an importance on early literacy skills they will also fall behind because those basic skills are necessary to build upon high-level literacy skills. If students have parents that are illiterate they will have a harder time with literacy development. They will not have people at home reading to them or there to help them read. This is very difficult for the student and they may not achieve at the same level as students that have more than 100 books at home, parents that read to them every day, and access at home to literacy help.
Establishing a literate environment is very important in students’ literacy development. A classroom must have a large array of literature from all genres as well as in the students’ literacy level. It is important to have literature in the classroom for students to learn from. They will learn how to sound out words, identify letters, and put letter sounds together to form words. Literacy groups are great tools for students, as they get a little
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.
Learning to read and write as a child is an experience that all can relate to. The average child learns to read and write at the early ages of three and four. Developing literacy at an early age is crucial to academic development as well as to performance in life. Early development can be just what a child needs to stimulate their minds, which in turn is assisting in the evolution of their future. The early and latter stages of development in a child’s literacy journey are the makings for their reading and writing skills. It also plays part in their analysis of obstacles as well as their developed or problematic literacy future. A child
Can you remember what your teacher taught you back in kindergarten? Chances are she was introducing you to the basics of reading and writing. Literacy is the ability to read and write, and because I did not think I was very good at either of the two, it had never been my favorite thing to do. It wasn’t until my senior year of high school that I had an English class that I actually enjoyed. My teacher was Ms. Holly Eubanks. The past classes had boasted about how good of a teacher Ms. Eubanks was and how, even though she may take a while to grade your papers, she was always trying to help you improve in every possible way she could. On the first day
Timothy Rasinski and Nancy Padak, in their article, “Write Soon!” from The Reading Teacher (2009) emphasize that reading and writing are important skills and explain how parents can easily incorporate them into everyday life. They support this idea by presenting simple ways that parents and their children can do this, such as writing notes to each other, exchanging journals, or making lists. The authors wrote this article in order to help teachers guide parents through developing and supporting their child’s literacy. Rasinski and Padak’s writing is aimed toward teachers who can ultimately use these instructions to encourage
Writing is an essential tool and has been noted as a precursor for great speaking by teachers at all grade levels. However, with writing being an important aspect throughout one’s academic career and beyond, it is one of the most tedious tasks to teach. It sounds like a cliché, but in order to get better at something, one has to keep completing the task and each time, accomplish something different while maintaining prior knowledge. There are various ways that enhance a student’s writing abilities and the focus of these research strategies will prove that encouraging students to write enhances writing.
Literacy is a vital part of all later learning. Because of this, the children will engage in hands on activities that relates to what they have read and give them opportunities to make up their own versions, as well as make up their own stories. They will have a large group story time and a partner reading time. An ample variety of books will be available at all times. Signs with words and pictures will be posted around the classroom showing, daily activities, objects that are used daily, and the placement of toys and
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
Since literacy evolves with changes in cultural communicative practices and technological developments, so too do definitions of what literacy is. There is some agreement on what literacy involves, and most definitions include reading, writing, speaking and listening, and sometimes viewing or visual literacy. The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia [EYLF] (DEEWR, 2009, p.38) defines literacy as “a students’ capacity to access, manage, interpret and reflect on written texts in order to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate effectively in society”. But why is literacy so important? Research shows that people with good literacy skills are more likely to have greater self-esteem, improved health, better jobs and higher wages than those with poor literacy skills. They are more able to take advantage of the opportunities that life may offer them. In order to acquire and share an important text, teachers need to consider a number of variables relating to students’, as according to Larson and Marsh in Making Literacy Real (2014) “literacy is grounded in social, cultural, historical and political practices”. In addition to appropriate literature, the NRP (National Reading Panel, 2000) noted that phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension are crucial for effective reading instruction. The recommendations were that all students be explicitly and systematically taught these five key components.
For many people reading and writing are the most fundamental skills a person can learn, it can also greatly influence a persons cognitive thinking capacity and the sharing of information with others. However, in some parts of the world, people still do not have access to education or the ability to learn to read and write. Lacking the skill to read and write can make things tough for some one in todays society, however with the right resources and mentors to support, one can find a hidden passion for reading and writing. For me, reading and writing has never been one of my greatest skills, I had always struggled throughout my younger years of schooling to keep an interest. As of today, reading and writing has made a great impact on my life, especially in the last few years since I began college.
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)
Literacy strategies are essential for all subjects in school, as well as the necessity to use these strategies at all ages of instruction. Too often the responsibilities of implementing these strategies, and the outcome are placed solely in the hands of Language Arts and English teachers, who are seen as the sole provider of literacy instruction. However, it has been shown that writing helps students get more actively engaged in the material, no matter the subject area (Daniels, H., Zemelman, S., & Steineke, N. (2007). This alone should be enough to convince all teachers to become literacy teachers, as it is only through the acquirement of such literacy skills that students will find success in their future endeavors. Especially once students
Literacy is the cornerstone to all learning; it is imperative to future academic success. (Tracey and Morrow, 2012). Due to the significance of literacy instruction, there are a myriad of ways to teach literacy. Literacy is a complex subject, honing in on balancing reading, writing, speaking, and listening. As a result of the complexity of literacy instruction, we arrive at the age-old debate of what is the best literacy instruction. My philosophy of literacy instruction centralizes around the Whole Language Theory and Balanced Literacy; however, I also blend in additional theories/approaches to teach effective literacy.
Times are changing and so too are traditional roles in diverse classrooms. No longer is writing just strictly done in the English class. Subjects are intertwining as students are connecting more and more of their worlds. Reading and writing are vital components of all subject matters, for early literacy is linked with academic achievement and beyond. Donald Graves, who many consider the founder of the Writing Workshop movement, states that writing is important because it is “a highly complex act that demands the analysis and synthesis of many levels of thinking” (Graves, 1978 p. 6). As such, in order to address the growing needs of a 21st century learner, all teachers must incorporate literacy into their present curriculum. One way to do
Learning to read and write, or getting an education in general, is something that is easily handed to us in the world today. Imagine living in a world where you were expected to be uneducated, illiterate, and stupid. In the texts “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie and “Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass, these young boys grew up in different worlds where they were looked down upon and were expected to fail due to the standards they grew accustomed to. Although Douglass and Alexie underwent contrasting hardships on their educational journey, they both shared the realization that learning to read and write was both a curse and a blessing. With those shared