Principal 3
Emergent Literacy Foundations
Accomplishing this Principal in the Classroom
The most important job of an elementary school teacher, in my opinion, is creating students who love to read and write. As Don Leu states, “basic early literacy concepts, skills, and positive attitudes that form the foundation for subsequent reading and writing achievement are developed by immersing young children in literacy-rich classrooms” (13). By creating a positive environment for children to learn and flourish they will be inspired to continue building on newfound skills. I want to foster a growth mindset within my students and create lifelong learners in my classroom.
I think of emergent literacy as a gradual process. Literacy education is begun early in life and never ends, students will continue to develop their understanding of reading and writing, especially with technology, for the rest of their lives. What students learn and develop during the first few years of their education, will contribute to their success. I believe that all readers learn differently and no single program will fit all of my students in the class, it is my job as a teacher to determine which students will benefit from more teacher directed instruction and which will benefit from self-directed learning experiences. Since I teach sixth graders I cannot address the CCSS foundational skills of reading standards because they do not go past fifth grade. However, it is always important for me to make sure I am creating a literacy-rich classroom.
I think of emergent literacy as a gradual process. Literacy education is begun early in life and never ends, students will continue to develop their understanding of reading and writing, especially with technology, for the rest of their lives. What students learn and develop during the first few years of their education, will contribute to their success. I believe that all readers learn differently and no single program will fit all of my students in the class, it is my job as a teacher to determine which students will benefit from more teacher directed instruction and which will benefit from self-directed learning experiences. Since I teach sixth graders I cannot address the CCSS foundational skills of reading standards because they do not go past fifth grade. However, it is always important for me to make sure I am creating a literacy-rich classroom.
Specific Anchor & Grade Level Standards from CCSS
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.10, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.10: These standards are important and applicable because if students are not reading at the appropriate grade level, they may have difficulty in understanding a text. It is also important to keep in mind that students may be good at decoding words and within a Running Record they may score a very low error rate. However, this does not mean that students understand what they read. It is important as teachers to create the connection between a text and meaning so that children create a purpose for reading. Comprehension is extremely important for students while reading and reflects a text based belief about what readers must know, it is important that children be able to read most words correctly to comprehend. In order to read these complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently students must be reading at the correct reading level. I as a teacher must also expose them to a variety of written forms of literature to explore such as poems, dramas, stories, and new literacies found on the internet. Creating a foundation in new literacies, as well as the others, is crucial to creating a strong foundation for my students. They will be using these skills more often when they transition from middle to high school.
Instructional Practices
LITERACY-RICH CLASSROOM
In my classroom I want to have both a section designated to writing and reading. For example, I want to design a special area in the classroom dedicated to a classroom library. To the best of my ability, I will provide students with a plethora of books of all genres. I want to create a library that provides students with options to chose their own independent reading books because I believe in the student centered belief about hoe readers learn that students should receive many opportunities to select and read materials unrelated to school learning tasks. In my classroom, it is required that you complete one independent reading book a month and write a book report on it. The students may read more than one book, and when they do they are awarded a prize from the class prize jar. I will supplement my library with the use of iPad applications that provide leveled eBooks to each student based upon their individual reading level, these applications are pre downloaded on the class set of iPads. I will allow any student who has already finished their independent reading book for the month to use this privilege. I believe that students should read frequently while they are young so that they can acquire a feel for the structure of written language, this student centered belief is important in fostering student love for reading.
READ ALOUD
Even though I teach sixth graders my students still enjoy being read aloud to. I have mentioned this to my cooperative teacher and she told me that many of them have explained to her that they were not read aloud to at home frequently while they were younger. Therefore, during ELA I plan to re-read the chapter in which the lesson is based upon to the class before I begin the lesson. These chapters are assigned as homework by the curriculum, however by modeling how to be a good reader to my students and actively stopping to show them how to make connections and inferences they will learn a great deal from this activity. Not to mention that many of my students struggle with the vocabulary in the text we are reading currently, Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief, and these read alouds allow them to pause me and ask what those words mean. Each day I will ask a couple of students to summarize what happened in the book on the previous day. I will casually swap back and forth between student and teach lead read aloud in order to promote student engagement and teacher led modeling of good reading. I do not have the liberty to select books to read in my ELA curriculum, however the books that are selected are on grade level. This makes them slightly more challenging for my students because the majority of them are below grade level and they are introduced to new and challenging vocabulary. The teacher serves as a model for the students. I can demonstrate how readers interact with print. When reading, I want to make sure to practice good reading skills such as putting the appropriate expression when necessary and defining unknown words.
In the hopes of continuing this practice at home, and giving these students the chance to form deeper relationships with their family through reading I would urge the parents of my students to be involved in emergent literacy. At the beginning of the year I will send the parents home with a newsletter providing ideas of how they can help their students grow as readers and writers. I will provide the parents with a plethora of books available for free at the local library that I would recommend for them to read with or to their children as well. The most important part of literacy is that it is constant.
NEW LITERACIES
I want to introduce my students to the use of technology to read but also provide support to my students who are struggling to achieve grade level reading proficiency. Both of these computer applications are aligned to the common core and adopted by the school I teach in. I will continue the use of Lexia Core 5 for my students who are under grade level, this program facilitates learning of reading beginning with phonics and builds up to a fifth grade level. Many of my students use lexia now and fall between a first and fourth grade reading level. This program presents reading in a visually pleasing presentation and reads to the students as they read along with the text to solve problems and activities. When they level up I track their progress for the class to see and allow them to have a prize from the prize bowl. For my students who are at or above grade level I will assign them to use iready, because this is the mandated program for students in grades sixth and up that I must use by my school. Both of these programs allow me to introduce the concept of eBooks to my students. This is important for me to do because currently there has been a large shift in our culture from text based books to online eBooks. They must be familiar with reading on a technological device instead of from a book in which you can mark up with notes and highlights. They must know how to use features the eBooks and programs allow you to use that mimic reading a regular book. This is an important foundation that I create for my students. I do not see any potential problems with using these programs, all my students have accounts made by the school and I am provided with enough computers and iPads in the classroom for all my students to work at the same time.
In my classroom I want to have both a section designated to writing and reading. For example, I want to design a special area in the classroom dedicated to a classroom library. To the best of my ability, I will provide students with a plethora of books of all genres. I want to create a library that provides students with options to chose their own independent reading books because I believe in the student centered belief about hoe readers learn that students should receive many opportunities to select and read materials unrelated to school learning tasks. In my classroom, it is required that you complete one independent reading book a month and write a book report on it. The students may read more than one book, and when they do they are awarded a prize from the class prize jar. I will supplement my library with the use of iPad applications that provide leveled eBooks to each student based upon their individual reading level, these applications are pre downloaded on the class set of iPads. I will allow any student who has already finished their independent reading book for the month to use this privilege. I believe that students should read frequently while they are young so that they can acquire a feel for the structure of written language, this student centered belief is important in fostering student love for reading.
READ ALOUD
Even though I teach sixth graders my students still enjoy being read aloud to. I have mentioned this to my cooperative teacher and she told me that many of them have explained to her that they were not read aloud to at home frequently while they were younger. Therefore, during ELA I plan to re-read the chapter in which the lesson is based upon to the class before I begin the lesson. These chapters are assigned as homework by the curriculum, however by modeling how to be a good reader to my students and actively stopping to show them how to make connections and inferences they will learn a great deal from this activity. Not to mention that many of my students struggle with the vocabulary in the text we are reading currently, Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief, and these read alouds allow them to pause me and ask what those words mean. Each day I will ask a couple of students to summarize what happened in the book on the previous day. I will casually swap back and forth between student and teach lead read aloud in order to promote student engagement and teacher led modeling of good reading. I do not have the liberty to select books to read in my ELA curriculum, however the books that are selected are on grade level. This makes them slightly more challenging for my students because the majority of them are below grade level and they are introduced to new and challenging vocabulary. The teacher serves as a model for the students. I can demonstrate how readers interact with print. When reading, I want to make sure to practice good reading skills such as putting the appropriate expression when necessary and defining unknown words.
In the hopes of continuing this practice at home, and giving these students the chance to form deeper relationships with their family through reading I would urge the parents of my students to be involved in emergent literacy. At the beginning of the year I will send the parents home with a newsletter providing ideas of how they can help their students grow as readers and writers. I will provide the parents with a plethora of books available for free at the local library that I would recommend for them to read with or to their children as well. The most important part of literacy is that it is constant.
NEW LITERACIES
I want to introduce my students to the use of technology to read but also provide support to my students who are struggling to achieve grade level reading proficiency. Both of these computer applications are aligned to the common core and adopted by the school I teach in. I will continue the use of Lexia Core 5 for my students who are under grade level, this program facilitates learning of reading beginning with phonics and builds up to a fifth grade level. Many of my students use lexia now and fall between a first and fourth grade reading level. This program presents reading in a visually pleasing presentation and reads to the students as they read along with the text to solve problems and activities. When they level up I track their progress for the class to see and allow them to have a prize from the prize bowl. For my students who are at or above grade level I will assign them to use iready, because this is the mandated program for students in grades sixth and up that I must use by my school. Both of these programs allow me to introduce the concept of eBooks to my students. This is important for me to do because currently there has been a large shift in our culture from text based books to online eBooks. They must be familiar with reading on a technological device instead of from a book in which you can mark up with notes and highlights. They must know how to use features the eBooks and programs allow you to use that mimic reading a regular book. This is an important foundation that I create for my students. I do not see any potential problems with using these programs, all my students have accounts made by the school and I am provided with enough computers and iPads in the classroom for all my students to work at the same time.