LITERACY FOCUS PROMPT
Having spent two weeks in your clinical classroom, you have become acclimated with the literacy instruction in your setting. Draw on that knowledge in this discussion.
What have you noticed about literacy instruction and assessment in your setting?
Having spent two weeks in your clinical classroom, you have become acclimated with the literacy instruction in your setting. Draw on that knowledge in this discussion.
What have you noticed about literacy instruction and assessment in your setting?
- When does it take place?
- What does literacy instruction encompass?
- During literacy instruction, what does your CT do/ say?
- What do students do/ say? How do they respond?
- What are your opinions/ feelings about this?
- How does what you observe about literacy at this site connect with past clinical experiences/ early childhood theories/ and or literacy practices you have been learning about at ISU?
- How does knowing this inform what you will do when teaching and assessing literacy (either this semester, next semester in student teaching, and/or next year)?
Literacy instruction plays a very big role in my
classroom. Literacy instruction takes place in the morning right after what
seemed to be to be rather short math lessons. The main part of the literacy is
done by completing Daily 5. Daily 5 is something I have learned about in my
classes at Illinois State but this is my first opportunity to actually see it
done in a classroom. When I was learning about Daily 5 in my literacy classes,
it was always one of my favorite ways to go about literacy instruction for a
classroom. The 5 parts of Daily 5 in my
classroom consists of reading to yourself, reading to someone, word work,
working on writing, and listening to
reading. One thing I noticed while observing students during their Daily 5 work
time is that students who were at the center where they were supposed to read
to themselves, they had a hard time staying on task. The students would talk to
each other, they would get up and go talk to other students, or they would just
sit there and not do much of anything at all. During this time the teacher is
working with a small group of students on reading at a table so there really
isn’t anyone monitoring what they are doing. As a future teacher, I have been
thinking of ways that I could make sure my students are taking away something
from being given the opportunity to have the time to read to themselves. One
thing I would do to make sure students are getting work done during this time
and this station of Daily 5 is create a list of expectations that the students
come up with in the very beginning of the year. There is something like this in
my classroom but it was all created by the teacher and students didn’t have any
input. I think that by letting the students think about and come up with the
ideas of what they think they should be doing during that time to be
successful, they are taking responsibility for their actions. I would then make
sure those expectations are posted up in the area that the students read to
themselves so they can be reminded of what they should be doing. Also, I would
make sure that students have a section of books to choose from that they are
interested in. I could do some survey to find out what topics the students are
interested in throughout the year. I will make sure to keep my books updated
and varied so that all students have an option to choose that they will really
enjoy. Finally, I will make sure that there is a variety of levels present for
the students. I noticed a lot of the books the students get to choose from are
at a higher level than the students are actually ready for and I’m sure that
plays a role in them not focusing. By giving students books they are capable of
reading on their own, it should hopefully motivate them to stay focused.
**This is the bulletin board in my room that explains to the students what each of the 5 steps of Daily 5 consists of and what they should focus on while at each station. It is posted in the back of the room near the computers.
Besides daily 5, my class also has some time during the
day where they do read aloud as a whole class. Unfortunately because I have to
leave a little early I don’t always get to see this done in the classroom. In
the afternoon after the students have attended their special for the day, they
come back together as a whole group and the teacher will read them both picture
books and chapter books. I personally think group read alouds are a very
important part of the day. There are so many times during centers where
students are being quizzed and put under pressure to succeed in reading and I
think group read alouds are a much more relaxing time where they can really
just enjoy reading. My teacher uses it as a great tool to bring the students
all back together after they have been at lunch, recess, and specials for a
significant amount of time and it seems to really get the students to calm down
and get back into the mindset of listening.
The final section of literacy instruction that takes
place in the classroom is right after classroom centers are complete. The
students from the entire first grades move into different classrooms and work with
different students and teachers. From
what I have observed in my classroom, students do a lot of independent work
during this time. They have a packet with word work, writing, reading, and vocabulary
that they work on. Some activities in the packet involve using partners but for
the most part, students are working independently and once their packets are
complete, they go to the computer to listen to interactive readings. During
this time the teacher preforms reading assessments for each child’s specified
reading. I started practicing their running records for this type of literacy
and learned how to calculate percentages to determine which letter stories the
children are reading at. This is something we have been discussing in TCH 274
so it was great to be able to put it to use in a real classroom setting.
