EDLI635 Theory and Practice of Literacy Instruction

You can view my running record here . Leah is a bright second grader who did a fine job on the passage “Ready, Set, Robot Race”. This passage is on a rather high level (Level P) for her age, but she was able to read and comprehend most of it with ease. With an accuracy rate of 96% and a self-correction rate of 1:3, I would conclude that her overall reading ability is at/above age level. Her fluency was super, as she sped through the passage just about a minute. I don’t think she needs any lessons for fluency improvement, but encouraging her to read more books will definitely continue to raise her levels. However, she did make quite a few errors (five in total) with basic singular/plural form of words. She added on an ‘s’ to some words, while skipping the ‘s’ in other words. She didn’t notice her mistakes- possibly because she was reading so fast, and the context of the text didn’t really change. Therefore, I decided to review the rules of singular and plural forms of words,...

You can view my running record on Whales And Fish by clicking on this  link . This child’s accuracy rate is 1:20, meaning that for each error made, twenty words were correct. With an overall accuracy rate of 95%, we can determine that this student could read this text pretty fluently. His self-correction rate was measured at 1:4, indicating that the child can monitor his own reading properly. I would conclude that this child is generally an independent and fluent reader at this grade level. However, I do think that he has a problem with language and grammatical tenses. He often says ‘most’ for ‘must’ and ‘lived’ for ‘live’, without noticing his error. He also seems to have an issue focusing, as he loses the place quite often and must be prompted as to where to continue. Therefore, I found it quite interesting and surprising to see that his comprehension was so good. He easily compared and contrasted whales and fish and gave many accurate details, although it seemed to me ...

I taught general studies to 5th grade students for 3 years. My subjects included Math, Language Arts, History and Science. I then taught 9th grade Algebra and 10th grade Geometry for two years. At the same time, I was also a Title One Math teacher for grades 4-8. At this time, I am not teaching, but I do look forward to returning to the education field very soon. Attached, you'll find my teaching philosophy: Teaching Philosophy

Shared Reading                 During Ms. Perez’s shared reading lesson, students of all reading levels join together to read the text. Although not all of them can read fluently yet, the students are observing an expert, their teacher, read with expression and ease. Those who have a harder time decoding are catching on with their peers who can. The children learn critical concepts of phonological awareness and how print works, as they improve their fluency and automaticity. Shared reading gives the children a chance to think that they’re reading on their own, thus giving them confidence to continue reading.                 When Ms. Perez moves on to explicit phonics instruction, instead of spoon-feeding the rule to them, she guides them with clues to help them figure out new words with the short o vowel sound. She then takes it a st...

Carolyn Wilhelm of Maple Grove, Minnesota seems to be an extraordinary teacher with a systematic approach towards learning. In her lesson plan for “A Bear of a Poem”, she is sure to integrate the five key ELA standards. She does this through scaffolding, only moving on to the next phase once she ensures that her students have fully mastered the previous step. She begins by reading a children’s book to them and has them share their thoughts. Writing is then incorporated when the students begin to share their own lines to include in the Found Poem. Once they have a complete poem, they work on perfecting and creating a good oral presentation. At this point, focus is set on a combination of speaking , listening , and language . During each step of the learning process for Found Poetry, Ms. Wilhelm avoids preaching and guides her students’ thinking to get most of the information from them. She uses excellent graphic organizers: A Venn Diagram to compare and contrast types of poems pr...

I always knew that students can achieve only as much as you expect of them. Watching Sheila Owen’s class, I observed this in real-time. She sets high standards and goals in her classroom, goals which seem almost impossible for children of this age. However, with the confidence and self-assurance that she instills in these young charges, they really soar high. When children feel that you believe in them, they can reach unimaginable heights. It’s Sheila’s positive approach in her classroom that helps her accomplish this. She makes every child feel good about themselves and comfortable in their surroundings. She uses positive reinforcement such as when she thanks the children for joining her on the carpet, as opposed to commanding them to do so. This tactic is great as children feel good when they’re recognized and complimented, and will want to do the right thing again. As for those who weren’t in the right place yet, they got the message and scrambled to their spot without feeling ne...

According to the Common Core, the key ELA Standards are comprised of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language. These components work hand-in-hand; if you want your students to be completely proficient in Language Arts, they must be able to excel in each of these areas. In the early years of education, children usually learn all this from one teacher. However, as they grow older, this learning branches out and they learn the information through a diverse curriculum of numerous subjects delivered by multiple educators. When teaching children to read, our focus should be on comprehension and the students’ ability to apply their readings to the real world. Students respond to their reading through writing, mainly in the categories of argumentative, informative and explanatory, and narrative writing. They must be able to plan, revise, edit and eventually publish their finished products. Speaking and listening work together, where we aim to have students who can communicate w...