Balanced Literacy Lesson Plan Implementation And Reflection

Times are changing. Literacy is not only a problem that the English teacher has to deal with. Literacy is defined as the ability to read and write (Oxford Dictionaries). However, you have to use different skills to read a novel than you do with reading a science question. So it only makes that literacy should be taught in different ways for each different subject. It does a student no good to be able to physically read a science question but have no idea what it’s asking for. The last five years have seen unprecedented attention given to the literacy achievement of adolescents in secondary schools in the United States. Spurred by the release of flat or declining reading scores on national tests. (Donahue, Daane & Grigg, 2003). This could be easily linked to a lack of literacy techniques being taught in schools.

he most fundamental responsibility of schools is teaching students to read. Indeed, the future success of all students hinges upon their ability to become proficient readers. Recent scientific studies have allowed us to understand more than ever before how literacy develops, why some children have difficulty, and what constitutes best instructional practice. Scientists now estimate that fully 95 percent of all children can be taught to read. Yet, in spite of all our knowledge, statistics reveal an alarming prevalence of struggling and poor readers that is not limited to any one segment of society:

Just as the needs of students vary teachers methods of instruction should vary. Meeting the literacy needs of students should be done through a wide variety of instructional strategies that meet the needs of students and meet the requirements of a balanced literacy program. The following information shares 12 instructional procedures to be used in a third grade classroom. The procedures are from the Tompkins’ Compendium shared in the text Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach (6th ed.).

This course has provided a window into the resources and strategies available to create rich instruction for diverse needs of all literacy learners. The media segments and virtual field experiences provided models of the strategies and activities being conducted in the classroom. This was very helpful in implementing my own versions of those lessons with my literacy learner and completing the literacy development study. I believe this course has prepared me to be a more efficient educator when teaching students of diverse reading abilities. I plan to continue using my newfound knowledge and skills to create an enriching learning environment for all students in my classroom.

According to the article, the balanced literacy allows children to choose their own books to study and work in groups, where the combination of approaches to reading and writing will be provided by a teacher. The idea is that students are “ natural readers and writers; teachers needed only to create the conditions to unleash their talents.” On another side, we have Common Core Standards call for to read books on and above the grade level with more challenging texts, where students will focus on what the text says, while balanced literacy will focus on personal response to the book.

For this assignment, I completed a survey to assess my school’s literacy program by using a survey that was adapted from by Patty, Maschoff, & Ransom (1996) to analyze the instructional program and the school’s infrastructure. To be able to answer my survey, I needed to go colleagues of mine in the English Department and to my administration to help with these questions. Being a math teacher, we hardly ever discuss the literacy and the students’ acquisition of it in our department meeting during staff development days. Since I am not truly current with literacy acquisition in education, I am hoping to understand more from this process so I can help all my students. I want them to be able to read texts related to math and find

However, regarding the entire high school, there are many areas in our literacy program that could use attention. I was shocked to discover that our literacy program infrastructure, fundamentally, does not exist; we do not have a program or even a librarian. My greatest concern is that we do not currently have an ongoing summative assessment process which we can use to truly identify students’ areas of need. A testing program could work to also strengthen our differentiated instruction since we would be able to provide students specific assistance in

The role of the reading specialist is to be able to teach all children to read, which requires that every child receive excellent reading instruction and that children who are struggling with reading receive additional instruction from professionals specifically prepared to teach them. Teaching all children to read also requires reading specialists in every school because the range of student achievement in classrooms, with the inclusion of children who have various physical, emotional, and educational needs, requires different educational models from those of the past. In order to provide these services, schools must have reading specialists who can provide expert instruction, assessment, and leadership for the reading program. Reading specialists are professionals with advanced preparation and experience in reading who have responsibility for the literacy performance of readers in general and struggling readers in particular. This includes early childhood, elementary, middle, secondary, and adult learners. Learners can be in public, private, and commercial schools, or in reading resource centers or clinics (Roles). This paper will explore what it means to be able to encourage and enhance instruction within content area learning and literacy competence, as well as identifying research initiatives, which have a profound impact upon teaching, and learning of reading and the language arts.

During my West Middlesex observation, based on Balanced Literacy changed my vision in the classrooms of Mrs. Wiles 3rd grade room and Mrs. Hall reading specialist room. Some of the elements from each classroom emphasizes rich-environment such as; lighting, seating areas, different chairs for each student (yoga balls, spiral stools, and crates), pillows around the room, and furry carpets. Incorporating these arrangements in the classroom increase the child’s thinking and learning process.

Balanced Literacy provides the foundational structure and scheduling for delivering the North Carolina English Language Arts curriculum in kindergarten through eighth grades. Balanced literacy along with our scope and sequence defined in our pacing guides enhance vertical and horizontal

According to Bean and Dagen (2011), “The very best curriculum taught poorly is no better than the worst curriculum taught well.” (p. 152). This statement is close to my heart, as it is something I have been struggling with the past two years at my current institution. I am currently teaching at a school without any curriculum in place, hence, I was challenged to find a balanced and comprehensive literacy program that was also rigorous. However, I realized that having a sound literacy curriculum could be jeopardized by the delivery of instruction (Bean, 2011). Therefore, I have decided to further research the International Literacy Association’s, Reading Specialists/Literacy Coach 2010 Standard 2: Curriculum and Instruction; to gain further understanding of how and what curriculum should be taught as well as how this standard is important for literacy coaches.

Literacy is referred to as reading and writing. As we learned, both reading and writing must both be taught together within a balanced literacy program. Throughout the semester, we discussed the 5 parts that make up a balanced literacy program. These 5 elements, identified by the National Reading Panel, are: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. These 5 elements are what the educator teaches their students. It should be the educator's goal for their students to understand these 5 elements, but in order for the students to understand them, the educator uses 8 strategies to teach the 5 elements. These 8 strategies are: Interactive read-aloud, shared reading, guided reading, independent reading, shared and interactive

In chapter one, I read about the fifteen standards developed by The National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. Subsequently, I read about the eight principles of balanced literacy instruction and how effective teachers utilize them. In chapter two, I read about the reading process which contains the following steps: prereading, reading, responding, exploring, and applying. In addition, I also read about the writing process which contains the following steps: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. In chapter three, I read about the different types of assessments for literacy development, including classroom assessments, diagnostics tests, high-stakes testing, and portfolio assessments. Lastly, in chapter three, I read about how these two processes are reciprocal processes in that they are both constructive and mean-making processes.

Balanced Literacy offered a great deal of innovative methods that utilizes the critical aspect of the student-teacher relationship to enhance knowledge. In most cases, I have found that most students utilize the hand-holding implementation as leverage and/or verification, which are on the correct track. Although, hand holding is time consuming, it is continuous method that offers students the ability to know that their teacher cares. Quite as it is kept, this is really what naturally motivates and stimulates students. Another concept that was mentioned and very effective, is writing as a group. By having the student share and write, they are practicing and implementing, the concepts of fluency and reading/listening for meaning. It also

In my second and third grade years, I remember the struggle I faced with reading fluency. I avoided reading aloud and would even conveniently have to go to the bathroom right before my turn during Round-Robin Reading activities. During my fourth-grade year, a teacher took a special interest in me and was determined that I was going to be a fluent reader. Including the suggested approaches in my future literacy instruction, I can avoid my students having to face the same difficulties I encountered with reading fluency. As a future educator, I will be sure to select appropriate instructional approaches that will support my students needs and their overall fluency