Philosophy of Literacy
Reading
Let me begin by saying that all children are literate. It is my belief that all students have different entry points, as far as reading and writing abilities. It is our duty, as educators, to collect data, recognize where students are, and individualize instruction in any way possible to help them build upon prior knowledge and meet standards by constructing meaning.
Effective literacy instruction should be given in many different styles. Literacy instruction should be influenced by the individual needs of the students and should be built on the base of Common Core, and the Reader's and Writer's Workshops. Common Core helps clearly outline standards so that we can continually build upon a common foundation, and gives teachers the flexibility to decide what is best for the students in the classroom. The phases of the Reader's Workshop help us develop successful independent readers, and the Writer's workshop helps us express how we feel about reading or exploring into word format
The Reader's workshop is implemented with the goal of creating successful independent readers. We can do this by being careful to use each phase of the workshop to compliment the other and to create themes while planning that can be used throughout each phase of the workshop to help students make meaningful connections. The phases of the Readers workshop are Read Aloud, Guided Reading, Shared Reading and Independent Reading. Read Alouds give a model of fluent reading, introduce students to books, and get them excited about reading. Guided reading is an opportunity for students to work on reading strategies and concepts with the guidance of the teacher. Shared reading consists of "I do, you do, we do"; This is when the teacher models, then the class reads together, then the students work independently. Independent reading is the final phase in which the students have opportunities to read to themselves for the purpose of enjoying literature and exploring new worlds and ideas, and good independent readers become good independent writers. As an educator, my personal goal is to help children develop a love for reading and writing and to teach them how to use these skills effectively in their everyday lives.
Writing
During our writing course we learned how to build a foundation for writing instruction based on the 6+1 Traits if writing. 6+1 gives a guideline in which to discover students strengths and weaknesses regarding their writing and also provides different categories in which I can differentiate instruction. By identifying which of the traits my students struggle with, I can provide support in these areas one at a time to help them improve their overall writing.
6+1 breaks up the areas of writing instruction into easily manageable categories that overlap and intertwine to help the students make connections between writing skills. The Ideas category is the ability to identify an idea or topic and narrow it down into a clear writing prompt/idea. The Organization category encompasses many skills; organizing the pre-writing as well as the meat of the writing. Voice and Word choice categories kind of go hand in hand. Voice is the ability for the writer to convey their emotions and personal experiences through their words. Sentence Fluency and Conventions are the last of the six traits. Sentence fluency is best described as the melody of writing, or the way it flows. Conventions refer to grammar, punctuation, capitalization, etc. The +1 refers to Presentation, or the way that students display their writing.
Writing is an art form. It must be free and creative and have meaning for students. The traits listed above are intended to take writing that is already free, creative and meaningful to our students, and polish it so that the student's stories are correctly interpreted by the reading audience. Students should always know who their audience is before writing and they should feel like their writing has purpose. In my future classroom, my students will have writing binders in their writing center to keep all of their masterpieces, and I intend to create some sort of rotation that allows me to read each students writing every week. To get a better glimpse at my writing center, check out my blog post; Semester 3: Creating a Writing Center.
Let me begin by saying that all children are literate. It is my belief that all students have different entry points, as far as reading and writing abilities. It is our duty, as educators, to collect data, recognize where students are, and individualize instruction in any way possible to help them build upon prior knowledge and meet standards by constructing meaning.
Effective literacy instruction should be given in many different styles. Literacy instruction should be influenced by the individual needs of the students and should be built on the base of Common Core, and the Reader's and Writer's Workshops. Common Core helps clearly outline standards so that we can continually build upon a common foundation, and gives teachers the flexibility to decide what is best for the students in the classroom. The phases of the Reader's Workshop help us develop successful independent readers, and the Writer's workshop helps us express how we feel about reading or exploring into word format
The Reader's workshop is implemented with the goal of creating successful independent readers. We can do this by being careful to use each phase of the workshop to compliment the other and to create themes while planning that can be used throughout each phase of the workshop to help students make meaningful connections. The phases of the Readers workshop are Read Aloud, Guided Reading, Shared Reading and Independent Reading. Read Alouds give a model of fluent reading, introduce students to books, and get them excited about reading. Guided reading is an opportunity for students to work on reading strategies and concepts with the guidance of the teacher. Shared reading consists of "I do, you do, we do"; This is when the teacher models, then the class reads together, then the students work independently. Independent reading is the final phase in which the students have opportunities to read to themselves for the purpose of enjoying literature and exploring new worlds and ideas, and good independent readers become good independent writers. As an educator, my personal goal is to help children develop a love for reading and writing and to teach them how to use these skills effectively in their everyday lives.
Writing
During our writing course we learned how to build a foundation for writing instruction based on the 6+1 Traits if writing. 6+1 gives a guideline in which to discover students strengths and weaknesses regarding their writing and also provides different categories in which I can differentiate instruction. By identifying which of the traits my students struggle with, I can provide support in these areas one at a time to help them improve their overall writing.
6+1 breaks up the areas of writing instruction into easily manageable categories that overlap and intertwine to help the students make connections between writing skills. The Ideas category is the ability to identify an idea or topic and narrow it down into a clear writing prompt/idea. The Organization category encompasses many skills; organizing the pre-writing as well as the meat of the writing. Voice and Word choice categories kind of go hand in hand. Voice is the ability for the writer to convey their emotions and personal experiences through their words. Sentence Fluency and Conventions are the last of the six traits. Sentence fluency is best described as the melody of writing, or the way it flows. Conventions refer to grammar, punctuation, capitalization, etc. The +1 refers to Presentation, or the way that students display their writing.
Writing is an art form. It must be free and creative and have meaning for students. The traits listed above are intended to take writing that is already free, creative and meaningful to our students, and polish it so that the student's stories are correctly interpreted by the reading audience. Students should always know who their audience is before writing and they should feel like their writing has purpose. In my future classroom, my students will have writing binders in their writing center to keep all of their masterpieces, and I intend to create some sort of rotation that allows me to read each students writing every week. To get a better glimpse at my writing center, check out my blog post; Semester 3: Creating a Writing Center.