August 26, 2015
Literacy is one of the most vital contributors to succeeding in our society. From birth, most children are taught to mimic adults in their life through speech. As they get older, they listen to their parents read to them or look at picture books and possibly begin to recognize letters before they ever have any formal literacy taught to them. Through my personal life, reading was an inexpensive way for my parents to keeping me entertained and my father instilled a love of reading early on.
As a future teacher, I think that teaching literacy should include letter recognition and word recognition (sight words). In the english language there are some words that can be sounded out. For example, the word cat and be sounded out by a student as long as they know what sounds the letters make (Kah-HA-Tuh). Students who develop mastery over letter recognition are more easily able to independently learn words because they can sound them out. However, there are some words that cannot be sounded out. For example, when my nephew was in Kindergarten and learning to read, he would get so frustrated with the word “The” because when he sounded it out it wasn’t correct. Words like “the” are considered to be sight words, meaning that students should recognize those words rather than attempt to sound them out. If students can learn to recognize letters and sight words, over time, with proper encouragement and practice, they can become great readers.
Literacy should be taught through practice. Students should be constantly exposed to text, whether through picture books or worksheets. An effective teacher would read aloud to her students both as a whole class and as in small groups so that students can follow along and learn to recognize words. Literacy should also be taught through learning the sounds that letters make and learning how to combine those sounds to make words. Students should also be exposed to words and their meanings so that they may make connections with the words they have learned to sound out and the meaning of the word.
When assessing literacy, it is important to assess the student’s mastery of phonetic recognition. Students need to know the alphabet and the sounds that they make. Students also should be assessed on their ability to recognize words based on their recognition of the letters and prior knowledge of the sounds they make. Students should be assessed on fluency, or how smoothly they read. Also, students should be assessed on how well they comprehend what they have read. Additionally, students should be assessed on how well they can write about what they have read, how well they can convey their thoughts on paper or in discussion. The true final step in mastering literacy, in my opinion, is whether a student can explain why someone else should read what he/she have read.
Students should be assessed in a multitude of ways. Students who are just learning to read can be assessed by a teacher observing them reading a text or a teacher may have students do a running record. Another way that emergent readers can be assessed is through activities that test their letter and word recognition, such as small projects about letters or worksheets that have students match a small word to a picture of the word. Students can be assessed on fluency by having the teacher observe them as they read to a shoulder buddy or in a small group. Reading comprehension can be assessed in emergent readers by having students draw a picture about the text they have read and accompany it with a couple of simple sentences. Students who are no longer considered emergent readers, or students who can read confidently can be assessed through writing about the text or continuing the story in their own words. Students can create projects that “sell” their text or participate in a group discussion about the text.
As a future teacher, I think that teaching literacy should include letter recognition and word recognition (sight words). In the english language there are some words that can be sounded out. For example, the word cat and be sounded out by a student as long as they know what sounds the letters make (Kah-HA-Tuh). Students who develop mastery over letter recognition are more easily able to independently learn words because they can sound them out. However, there are some words that cannot be sounded out. For example, when my nephew was in Kindergarten and learning to read, he would get so frustrated with the word “The” because when he sounded it out it wasn’t correct. Words like “the” are considered to be sight words, meaning that students should recognize those words rather than attempt to sound them out. If students can learn to recognize letters and sight words, over time, with proper encouragement and practice, they can become great readers.
Literacy should be taught through practice. Students should be constantly exposed to text, whether through picture books or worksheets. An effective teacher would read aloud to her students both as a whole class and as in small groups so that students can follow along and learn to recognize words. Literacy should also be taught through learning the sounds that letters make and learning how to combine those sounds to make words. Students should also be exposed to words and their meanings so that they may make connections with the words they have learned to sound out and the meaning of the word.
When assessing literacy, it is important to assess the student’s mastery of phonetic recognition. Students need to know the alphabet and the sounds that they make. Students also should be assessed on their ability to recognize words based on their recognition of the letters and prior knowledge of the sounds they make. Students should be assessed on fluency, or how smoothly they read. Also, students should be assessed on how well they comprehend what they have read. Additionally, students should be assessed on how well they can write about what they have read, how well they can convey their thoughts on paper or in discussion. The true final step in mastering literacy, in my opinion, is whether a student can explain why someone else should read what he/she have read.
Students should be assessed in a multitude of ways. Students who are just learning to read can be assessed by a teacher observing them reading a text or a teacher may have students do a running record. Another way that emergent readers can be assessed is through activities that test their letter and word recognition, such as small projects about letters or worksheets that have students match a small word to a picture of the word. Students can be assessed on fluency by having the teacher observe them as they read to a shoulder buddy or in a small group. Reading comprehension can be assessed in emergent readers by having students draw a picture about the text they have read and accompany it with a couple of simple sentences. Students who are no longer considered emergent readers, or students who can read confidently can be assessed through writing about the text or continuing the story in their own words. Students can create projects that “sell” their text or participate in a group discussion about the text.
April 13, 2016
At the beginning of the journey, I considered literacy instruction to be limited to letter, phonemic, and sight word recognition and how those come together to create meaning. While I think that the mechanics, so to speak, or reading are still vitally important I have grown to learn that is makes up so much more. Literacy instruction moves beyond how the students learn to read to what will they do with it. It is important for the teacher to teach her students how to interpret, analyze, synthesize and create works of literature.
With regard to how literacy should be taught, I still believe that practice is one of the best methods to teaching literacy. I value providing students with a massive amount of text at their fingertips. However, I have grown (and am still growing) to include all types of text and value it for literacy instruction.
I still stand that the mechanics of literacy is still something that should be kept in mind when assessing literacy. However, I would add that it is important to consider student's interests and motivations behind reading and how they interpret text.
FInally, like no student learns or can be taught the same way; no student should be assessed the same way. Students should be assessed using quality assessments that measure content rather than ability to follow directions. Students should be allowed to read to their teacher, to each other and the teacher should take note of it. The teacher should be growing and learning about different methods of assessments and how they measure literacy learned.
With regard to how literacy should be taught, I still believe that practice is one of the best methods to teaching literacy. I value providing students with a massive amount of text at their fingertips. However, I have grown (and am still growing) to include all types of text and value it for literacy instruction.
I still stand that the mechanics of literacy is still something that should be kept in mind when assessing literacy. However, I would add that it is important to consider student's interests and motivations behind reading and how they interpret text.
FInally, like no student learns or can be taught the same way; no student should be assessed the same way. Students should be assessed using quality assessments that measure content rather than ability to follow directions. Students should be allowed to read to their teacher, to each other and the teacher should take note of it. The teacher should be growing and learning about different methods of assessments and how they measure literacy learned.