Reading Teacher For Middle School

I am elated to have the opportunity to apply to California State University of Fullerton's Master of Literacy and Reading program. I graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, in 2013. There, I received my Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies, with an emphasis in Spanish, as well as my Multiple Subject Credential. After graduation, I taught Kindergarten for two years in Greenfield, California. It was there that I learned my passion for teaching reading skills to English Language Learners. I soon realized the joy and cohesiveness literacy can bring into a classroom. For the past three years I have taught first grade at a small rural school in Shandon, California. I was extremely honored to be chosen to travel to Kansas City in July 2017, to

Currently, I am embarking on a captivating journey through the valley of literacy coaching. Before, enrolling in this program, I was apprehensive and unsure of how I would balance work, school, and home, but somehow I managed. I am roughly, two semesters away from my goal and anxiously awaiting everything to come in to fruition. Over the past two years, I have gained a great deal of knowledge and I have expanded my teacher tool-box. Focusing on adult learning, organizational change, professional development and school culture; I have learned the roles of a literacy coach and reading specialist and how they should contribute to schools.

My reading experience has had a lot of ups and downs. I was never an over-achiever in my language arts or reading classes, which has affected my passion for reading. A lot of my opinions about reading have changed even just since this summer. I don’t have any recollection of reading before kindergarten except for learning the letters. Kindergarten was a struggle for me, but after kindergarten to third grade. In third grade I peaked and absolutely loved reading and writing, but it faded in middle school and has been fading since then for me.

Going through life we learn and grow differently in literacy. As a young child, I started off my reading by looking at pictures and then grew into more difficult literacy. Trying to comprehend how much reading would impact my life in the future when I was little, was something I never understood. Being in high school now, I have learned how much reading and writing would impact me and how many opportunities it could provide for me. Since I was that child who could have cared less about my literacy, I soon became the child that got so worked up if I wasn’t as superb as others in reading. Throughout my childhood, my literacy has had its ups and downs, but now being in high school I have worked hard in my literacy which has allowed me to take

Being an elementary school teacher has always been my dream. English is not my mother-tongue, so getting along with other children, communicating with teachers, and learning the material was difficult at first. Mrs. DeZwaan, my English Second Language teacher from first grade to third grade, helped me to learn the English language quickly and efficiently. Since then on, my dream was to become a teacher like her-- one who can easily communicate with the student and can make learning fun and enjoyable. In my

I always thought I would be a teacher and I would make differences in lives and it would be the greatest experience in the world for me, yet being a teacher wasn’t enough, I had a need to expand my education. I decided that perhaps I needed a new career, however, I felt certain education remained my passion. I began to explore new areas of education and I realized I still want to be a member of a classroom, a school and curriculum. I aspire to guide those leading our classrooms.

I have a total of twenty seven years of teaching experience. As a reading specialist I am responsible for the instructional support of all aspects of literacy in my school. My duties range from performing assessments and analyzing the data, designing and implementing reading instruction for at-risk students, to organizing and conducting professional training in literacy to staff members. Being able to communicate clearly and effectively with others is an attribute that I have which will help me in graduate school

The research problem evolved when there was a growth in the need of literacy coaches (Smith, 2012). More commonly, literacy coaches were utilized at the elementary level, but now they were being used at the middle and secondary levels too. The first concern arose because middle school coaches do not see themselves as teachers of reading. Common instructional elements found to support in the teaching of reading did not exist at the upper levels. Another concern presented deals with trying to figure out how literacy coaching aligns with the contexts of teaching the middle school grades. These concerns manifested the problem that was investigated in this study (Smith, 2012). This problem was not clearly stated, but once the first several paragraphs were reread, the problem becomes clearer.

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

Teaching literacy is certainly not an easy task; hence, educators must have significant background knowledge and experience in the literacy area in order to provide the best learning experience to students. Educators must constantly promote literacy in their classrooms, especially when the students are young readers. For that reason, it is extremely important that educators make a great effort to get to know their students’ and their reading abilities, their strengths and weakness in the reading area and most importantly, to have an extended knowledge of how to teach literacy. Reading is the foundation of learning; every concept and subject taught requires some form of reading, therefore, building a strong reading foundation will enable individuals to become successful not only academically, but also socially.

So you want to be an elementary school teacher? It’s a challenging career, requiring patience and social skills, as you have to be able to wrangle a room filled with rambunctious children. Once you get through the tough stuff, the career is filled with immeasurable rewards. Being an elementary school teacher is not just going into a classroom and teaching kids how to add numbers, where something is on a map, or how to write. This career is far deeper than that, you will build a relationship with each and every student and ultimately build the foundation of the students’ future education. Elementary school teachers guide their students through a crucial period in their lives. This career is a good choice for people who want to make a

Do you remember a time when you were young, maybe around first grade? The teacher asked everyone what they wanted to be when they grow up. Some children said they wanted to be doctors or firefighters or even an astronaut. I said I wanted to help others learn; I wanted to be a teacher. Going into my journey of senior year, my life has changed; however, my career path has not. I want to help children learn, to become the best they can be. Children, in my opinion, are the greatest assets that are in this world. In the teaching/education class offered by Four Rivers Career Options, I will understand more to be prepared with what will be expected in this career choice. After completing the experience of Four Rivers I will attend college and be ready to teach elementary kids. This will be the start of my career path.

Since volunteering in various youth organisation in my early teens, I have been drawn to a career in teaching, imparting my knowledge and making a difference in the lives of young people. Positively impacting upon children as they develop in self-awareness, confidence and ability, is an enormous privilege. I completed one week of work experience in a local primary school and have returned there to volunteer for three hours a week and during my study leave. This has provided me with the opportunity to take part in everyday life in a primary school, ranging from learning phonics with Primary 1 to performance rehearsals, to STEM projects with Primary 4. I enjoy leading reading groups and through this I have an appreciation of the pivotal importance of literacy.

Reading was the new outlet for my imagination and the stories I read fascinated me. They weren’t too unlike the scripts of computer games or the own stories I came up with on my own, but books actually had the action and emotional aspects written out. And again, while my peers were reading things about growing up, things that had morals and would teach valuable lessons (I remember one book about a shoplifter who had to do community service at an animal shelter), I read real fiction: Jurassic Park, Dragonriders of Pern, Lord of the Rings… Stuff of fantasy and science-fiction that let my mind stray from reality. Stuff that kept my imagination alive while I was being forced to learn multiplication and the names of countries. Of course, my teachers encouraged me to keep reading, as long as I wasn’t doing the reading in the middle of their lectures. But it wasn’t because of their influence, however, that kept me interested in books. It was because I loved it. It put pictures into my head and made me think. So I kept reading. But even then I knew reading wasn’t enough… Yes, the stories were fascinating, but they weren’t what I wanted. Back then I wasn’t sure what I wanted, but as middle school came to a close, I found it.

Moving into middle school, I expected to continue to love reading, and that was true at some points during this time. However, it was also marked with times where I loathed reading, it had become a chore. I still loved reading fiction, and my winter break in eighth grade included long readings from The Mysterious Benedict Society series; but I would struggle in attempts to really enjoy what literacy was meant to be. Reading was no longer