Next year, you will
be teaching in a school where the vast majority of students did not meet
standard on your state's criterion-referenced test and where more than 75% of
the students are eligible for free and reduced-price meals. What are some
specific universal literacy strategies you may implement to ensure students
success? Include both in-class examples and things you could do outside the
classroom.
Throughout
this semester I have learned a great deal about using a comprehensive literacy program
to teach reading and writing. Since I support
the information I have read about this program I would implement the components
of a comprehensive literacy program with my students to increase reading success.
Reading and writing workshops make up this program and allow opportunities for
students to work in whole-group, small-group, and individual settings. I think
this model would help encourage those who are struggling readers/writers and
those who may not enjoy reading/writing because it involves student choice in
the reading material and it includes opportunities for partner and group work.
When teaching reading I would use the contemporary whole-to-parts reading
approach, because I learned from Weaver’s text that it is a more logical
approach to teaching children how to read. Also, I would be sure to include predictable
texts instead of decodable texts after learning from Weaver’s book that predictable
texts is more effective because of its natural language flow that is familiar
to children. I would then work with small groups of students during guided
reading to focus on specific needs and reading strategies. I would also try to
focus on teaching new words in context rather than using word lists. It would
be important to incorporate time to read-aloud to the students and have group
discussions about the text as well as have students participate in partner reading
and silent reading.
To aid with their reading practice
outside of the classroom I would send home weekly fluency passages for students
to practice repeated reading at home. I would also allow students to check out
one book at a time from my classroom to take home for reading practice and
provide reading journals for them to record their thoughts after reading while
at school and at home. I think it is also important to encourage parents to
read with their children at home and stress how important it is for young children
to hear fluent readers. I would also look for information about local reading
events/activities at libraries and book stores that parents could take their
children to for a real-world literacy experience. Hopefully, there would be some free activities
available, so parents would be more willing to take their child. Participating
in these types of activities may help to get students more excited about
reading. I believe once these strategies are implemented properly students will
become more successful readers.
Nikole,
ReplyDeleteRead alouds and group discussions are a great idea for inside the classroom! My CT and I often led whole group discussions about texts we had read with the class and it seemed really effective. I LOVE the idea of sending home fluency passages and the reading journal! During student teaching we allowed the students to take home books from the leveled library, but I would love to see how the fluency passages would work. The journal also incorporates writing, which I also think is a skill these students would need to work on, and allows them to reflect upon their reading! Your suggestions would positively impact the students in this school.
Nikole,
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea of having reading and writing workshops in the classroom. I did this throughout my student teaching in a 3rd grade classroom and it provided students the opportunity to work individually as well as with their peers. I feel as though providing students with a choice in the text that they read as well as a particular writing assignment is very important. When I allowed my students to write about whatever they had a particular interest in, I found that much better writing was constructed. My students were much more motivated to complete their best work.I also really liked how you mentioned that you would introduce new words in context rather than in vocabulary lists. I found that when students were able to recite a vocabulary word in a sentence as well a draw a picture, they were much more successful.