Reading Specialist/Literacy Coach

Classrooms are different today from those of previous generations, they have become communities of learners where students assume more responsibility for learning. As opposed to a place where the teacher is in charge the modern class room there is often a hum of students, talking about books they are reading and working together in small groups using digital as well as print text. The students are more culturally and linguistically diverse, many have English as a second language (ESL). This Critical- reflective essay will explore using the four resource model developed by Luke and Freebody, focusing on; how young children learn to read, the four roles within the resources model are Code breaker, text user, text participant and text analyst. This essay will also articulate the understanding of the three phases of reading and writing development. Phase one, experimental reading and writing. Phase two, early reading and writing and phase three, transitional reading and writing. This understanding will then be applied to an early years setting including and application of strategies for cultural differences.

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.

Author note: This paper was prepared for the American Federation of Teachers by Louisa C. Moats, project director, Washington D.C. site of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Early Interventions Project, and clinical associate professor of pediatrics, University of Texas, Houston, Health Sciences Center. Her work is supported in part by grant HD30995, “Early Interventions for Children with Reading Problems,”

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.

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

As a future educator, this article will become very useful. Ways to improve children’s reading and writing and doing it in an enjoyable way. It’s helpful to know the reasons for functional print and ways of incorporating it in the classroom. Including a classroom library that if comfortable for the children and having enough books for all the children with a wide selection is also important. Lastly a writing center that promotes imagination and a place where children can express themselves through writing is also very crucial in the

A literacy-rich setting accentuates the significance of “speaking, reading, and writing” (The Access Center, n.d.), in the education of every student. To provide a literate environment for students, the teacher must offer respect and encouragement, provide a supportive physical arrangement, as well as language and literacy strategies, resources, and activities.

From this experience, I learned several different things about teaching emergent literacy learners. The first thing I learned through this experience was if there are too many people standing around the child while they are doing an activity they may feel overwhelmed and nervous. For example; the child I was talking to was very shy when a lot of people were standing over her, but as soon as some observers left and went to another child, she started to draw and talk. The second idea I learned during the experiences was the appropriate vocabulary words the teacher picked out to elaborate on. They were very simple and understandable words that the child may have heard of before but maybe did not know the meaning of. An example of some vocabulary

As an educator, I will concentrate on strategies that promote collaboration, cooperation, and communication. I will concentrate on reading strategies that help students comprehend what they read. Reading strategies such as, the before, during, and after reading strategy can be used for reading comprehension. I can use this reading strategy the first time a new story is read. Before reading the story, I can preview the story by discussing the topic, using key vocabulary words, activating the student’s prior knowledge, and setting the purpose for reading. During the reading passage, I will stop and use context clues to help students

“Our Role as Mentors, demonstrating a Love of Literacy, this says it all! A teacher who foster literacy in his or her classroom will help “expand a student breadth of experience in reading and writing”. Students will start to take on the value system of their teachers. So it is important as educators to be a good role model, especially when it comes to helping children learn to love reading and writing. Teachers who take time to read a book that has nothing to do with the curriculum and allowing students to write about their own life experiences will give students experience in the wonderful world of reading. Teachers who model the value system when it comes to reading and writing, will only heighten the joy students get from literacy activities.

At the Language and Literacy Project, each child is paired with a more competent reader and writer or “reading buddy” that assist the child in reading and writing. The child and reading buddy engage in the process of shared reading and writing. Shared reading occurs as the child and the reading buddy read different texts and engage in discussion. The reading buddy demonstrates different meaning based reading strategies such as summarizing and talking about what will happen later in the text. The main target for reading is that the child understands what he/she is reading. In other words, the main concern is that the child does not simply say words on the page, but truly makes meaning from what is read.

The artifact was created for future educators who are researching the topic of reading comprehension and ways to improve the literacy area. The artifact focuses on two students in 11th grade from ages of 16 to 17 who need improvement in reading comprehension. The main subject of the artifact is reading and its components are graphic organizers and comprehension. The setting was in the library where one worked one on one with the student in a quiet environment where the students could concentrate on the interventions. Both students are diagnosed with learning disabilities.

a) The author intends to show the reader how parents (or households) play a crucial role in the development of their children’s literacy skills. Specifically the article sheds light on the importance of shared reading between parents and children. The article also discusses different techniques or strategies that can be used during said shared reading, in order to ensure proper literacy training.

A skill of a library media coordinator is that of matching students with texts which support their individual reading levels and interests. A need among media coordinators is connecting literacy to the library by developing research instruction which is directly tied to what is occurring in classrooms and teaching it at the point of need. When students have additional opportunities to practice and use skills and strategies from the classroom, they reinforce their learning. In order for students to be confident and successful readers they need time to develop and use strategies so whenever they are reading alone they can pull from their vast supply to effectively maneuver within the text. Students need time to acquire the cognitive strategies which good readers use and transfer skills and strategies from the classroom to real-world situations.

In the academic world reading is like breathing is to life; an absolutely necessary component not only to succeed but to survive. To teach a child to read is to give them an opportunity to achieve their potential and realize their dreams. As teachers we should not only strive to teach children to read but more importantly we should ignite a passion inside of them so that each child wants to read; craving books as if they were food (or video games). Unfortunately in any given group of students a good percentage of them will struggle with reading. The best way to prevent a child from falling behind is early identification and intervention, coupled with a comprehensive scientifically-based literacy program (Sousa, 2005). There are five