As a new literacy coach at a middle and high school level, it is important to first outline your role as the literacy coach. The first things I would do is communicate with the teachers across those grade levels. I would have a meeting with those teachers that clearly outlines my roles and responsibilities as the literacy coach. This will help the teachers to understand what I will be doing and the process in which I will be completing observations and coaching. During this meeting, I would be sure to capture the attention of the teachers in order to make them feel engaged in the process. I would also discuss their role in the professional development and open the meeting up to discuss any concerns or feedback they may have. It will also …show more content…
I plan to implement needs-based activities that are identified by student data and teacher surveys. After gathering this data, I would hold separate professional development sessions for the different schools. The middle school teachers would work in groups while the high school teachers worked in groups. The two different groups described have many different contents and their topics vary greatly which is why I chose to hold separate sessions for each group. However, I believe that all of the groups would benefit from the introduction of new strategies in vocabulary development. Implementing vocabulary strategies to help improve student content knowledge would show great success in increasing student comprehension within these subjects. In order to make this process as manageable and effective as possible, the strategies would be presented by a veteran teacher in conjunction with the instructional coach to engage all faculty. Each session would be short and involve one to two easy to implement strategies. I feel it would be effective as the literacy coach to show the upside to each strategy. Using data from the veteran, “expert”, faculty member’s class, I would provide statistics that show results of each
Within my school teaching literacy takes place in everyday classroom. The format of this teaching varies to include different activities for each day. Certain aspects of literacy are taught every week. The teachers are to ensure that the work planned is appropriate for the age stage and ability of the children. They use strategies such as talk partners and small group work to allow children to develop their oral skills and ability to communicate and cooperate with their peers. Emphasis is placed on the acquisition of effective oracy skills in the early years and foundation phase. Role play areas are set up in partnership with the children so that they can practice speaking Listening and drama based activities within a meanful context.
In Deborah Brandt’s essay “Sponsors of Literacy,” Brandt describes the process of how people become literate, the effect of their experiences, and influential people on their learning. The term that Brandt uses frequently to describe those who have a profound influence on a child’s learning is “literacy sponsor.” She defines literacy sponsors as, “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,” (Wardle 46). Essentially, Brandt is saying that every literate person has had the support of a person or idea that inspires their desire to read and write. The concept of sponsorship can be applied to fields outside of reading and writing too. There are sponsors of science, sponsors of art, and sponsors of medicine. Similarly, these sponsor help students learn to understand the principles of their individual fields. This paper focuses on the sponsorship of first-year and second-year University of Minnesota Medical School students from the Nu Sigma Nu fraternity. Data was collected through interviews with four students from this fraternity. The guiding question for this research paper was, “Can Brandt’s definition of literacy sponsor be applied to other fields of learning, such as the medical field.” If it is found that the definition for sponsorship can be applied to the medical field, then sponsorship can be applied to other
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
The story of my history as a writer is a very long one. My writing has come full circle. I have changed very much throughout the years, both as I grew older and as I discovered more aspects of my own personality. The growth that I see when I look back is incredible, and it all seems to revolve around my emotions. I have always been a very emotional girl who feels things keenly. All of my truly memorable writing, looking back, has come from experiences that struck a chord with my developing self. This assignment has opened my eyes, despite my initial difficulty in writing it. When I was asked to write down my earliest memory of writing, at first I drew a blank. All of a sudden, it became very clear to me, probably because it had some
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.
i. The teaching assistant should help pupils to develop the vocabulary thus - language enrinchment.
Our professional development sessions are conducted weekly in a variety of subject areas, and the monthly school-wide session, using interactive reform activities, align with the Danielson Framework for Teaching (Danielson, 2013) to showcase best practices of teachers and to develop grade-level performance tasks, looking at students’ work to provide individual feedback that is aligned with the teaching rubric in order to show academic progress and growth in the target areas of ELA and Math.
I believe the five key dispositions for success as a reading specialist/literacy coach are respect, goal oriented, knowing your material, keeping a clear perspective, and organization. A reading specialist/literacy coach can promote effectiveness of their crafts by implementing these five key dispositions. The five key dispositions for a reading specialist/literacy coach are similar to a classroom teacher. A classroom teacher should convey respect for her colleagues and students, have long and short term goals for her and her students, know her material and ways to produce growth in her students, always be open to different points of views (since the education is always changing), and must be well organized within her classroom.
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.
Throughout my childhood, the idea of having a college education was greatly stressed. As a result, it was my duty as the next generational child, to excel in my studies and achieve a life of prosperity and success. Learning became the basic foundation of my growth. Therefore, my youth was overtaken by many hours spent reading and writing what was known to be correct "Standard" English. I first found this to be a great shortcoming, but as I grew older, I began to realize the many rewards acquired by having the ability to be literate.
Throughout my childhood, the idea of having a college education was greatly stressed. As a result, it was my duty as the next generational child, to excel in my studies and achieve a life of prosperity and success. Learning became the basic foundation of my growth. Therefore, my youth was overtaken by many hours spent reading and writing what was known to be correct "Standard" English. I first found this to be a great shortcoming, but as I grew older, I began to realize the many rewards acquired by having the ability to be literate.
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 have an extensive literacy background that began in my undergrad education study. During my undergrad I decided to pursue an endorsement in reading to further my literacy knowledge. During my first teaching position, I was asked to pursue a certification in Second Chance Reading, which I accepted. It was during this course that I realized my passion for literacy. I then attended professional development sessions that focused on Lucy Calkins Writing Workshop and Lit Life session about the importance of interactive notebooks in literacy. While I was working in China, I was the literacy advocate and coach for the staff. I presented professional development around the workshop model, guided reading, and proper administration of running records. Due to this experience I chose to pursue a literacy coaching certification in June of 2015. Because of my coursework, I decided to continue to further my education and I decided to pursue a Master's Degree in Literacy.
Professional development principles Ben embraces are Rigor, Relationships, Relevance and Realness. Mr. Rhodes continually emphasizes that work needs to have relevance and rigor in assignments and that the relationships teachers build with students is essential for success. Specific content used for staff development goals are Glenn Singleton’s work (Equity), National Achievement Gap, High Performing Schools, 90/90/90 Studies, 21st Century Skills, Marzano’s Instructional Strategies, and Heidi Hayes Jacobs’ literacy work. A variety of activities for teaching new skills to teachers occurs throughout the year. These include study groups, guest speakers, ERO (staff development classes), open classroom visits, master teachers sharing best practices in literacy, differentiated instruction, , math, and culturally responsive teaching, conference opportunities, mentors, district content area inservices, building inservice days, monthly district content area meetings, partnerships with universities, Collaborative Action Research for Equity (C.A.R.E.) cadre, and monthly building equity meetings. Mr. Rhodes uses the district Teaching Learning Cycle (Plan-Teach-Monitor- Adjust) to evaluate and assess the learning goals and make improvements. Ben also meets with Ben and the leadership team about the goals and creates the timeline to provide training and analyze progress. Evaluation of the learning goals using the SIP (as a living document) and individual goals are important
I believe education is one of the most important tools a person can have in life. Every child deserves to receive the best education possible. It has always been my passion to help each child discover their individual God given gifts and talents and to reach their full potential.