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.
Teaching
students that are below the grade level and probably have little to no access
to books outside of the school day, it should be the teachers commitment to provide
as many reading and writing opportunities to those children at all times. I would
create a system where students could take books home once or twice a week. This
process would help encourage further reading outside of school, while also
hopefully involve some parent-child reading and academic interaction. When the
students would take the book home, they would mark it off their list once it
was completed and brought back to school. Then they could take home the next book
on the list for the following week or however quickly they finished the book.
Already printed for each child would be extension activities to help them
continue thinking about the book and exercising some skills learned throughout
the school day. During my internship, the teacher I observed did this, and she
did not always get as much parent interaction as she had hoped, but it did encourage
the students to read more and provided them more access to books.
In
the classroom, I would organize different reading centers that involved peer or
small group reading. This would allow the stronger leaders to help the
struggling readers while also encourage peer interaction and learning from their
classmates. I would also heavily emphasize read aloud time and shared reading
in my classroom. Allowing the struggling students to hear the proper way a text
should be read and discussed about would be key in enhancing these students
reading abilities. I also think shared journal would be key in a classroom like
this. My internship was at a Title One school where most of my students were on
a free or reduced lunch. Shared journal was a time where they all became very
excited to share about their experiences and take pride in their moment to talk
about themselves. Afterwards, the class asked questions and then everyone wrote
and drew about the story. This is a great way to not only encourage active
participation, discussion and writing skills, but it brought a confidence and excitement
to many students.
Lizzie,
ReplyDeleteI like the suggestion of sending students home with books from the classroom or school library. Many students don't have many options of things to read at home. You could encourage them to look for any print sources at home such as newspapers, magazines, cook books, etc., and have the students bring examples to school for sharing time. Getting students motivated about reading and helping them to make connections is so important. I also like the writing journal suggestion. Students really do love to share their own personal experiences. This is another way to help students make connections between their home life and school. I hope to create an environment where my students feel free to share and explore their ideas. I believe that this will directly impact their success in learning.
I think it is a great idea to allow students to take home books each week. This is how students are able to apply what they learn at school, and use it at home to read independently, or to a sibling, or parent. I worked in a classroom during student teaching where the students had a "trust" system that they did not have to check out books, they were trusted that they could take any books home, but it should be returned so others can read them. I found great success in this because students took responsibility and wanted to do the right thing by bringing the books back. We did not have a problem with missing books. Modeling text is a great idea, even if it is the stronger readers modeling reading to the struggling readers. I think it is great for struggling readers to hear how it should be read, then they should have the opportunity to read as well.
ReplyDeleteI also think encouraging reading outside of school as well as parent interaction with all schoolwork is important. I like your idea about providing extension activities to go with the books children take home from your classroom. Like you mentioned, I also think student interaction during learning is important. I’ve learned this semester that the reading workshop model supports this type of interaction and collaboration among students as well. Your shared journal idea is great too, because it incorporates writing, reading, and speaking, and it is also a good way for students to share personal experiences which can make learning more interesting and purposeful.
ReplyDeleteReading outside the classroom is huge! I think that often times, parents or guardians think children read all day within the classroom. However, that may not necessarily be the case, with breaks, specials, lunch, recess and math teachers may not have enough time for a lot of time to read. By reading outside of the classroom, parents and students interact with one another. They share what they liked and disliked about the book. Appropriate reading strategies are modeled, and creative and meaningful discussions arise. This is so important, and is often a treasured moment for many students.
ReplyDeleteLiteracy centers is a great way to get your students involved in appropriate reading strategies. They are able to practice an abundance of strategies then take those skills and utilize them while reading and writing. They are able to expand the skills through real life application in processes such as reading and writing workshops. Great ideas!