The three articles for this week list many strategies and
methods used to prepare children for reading.
The article by the IRA and NAEYC emphasize that teaching children in a
classroom, especially reading skills is a process. Of these activities listed, it seems that
reading aloud to children is the very important. This is important because it exposes children
to a variety of concepts, and allows the child to interpret the readings in a
way that makes sense to them. For kindergarteners, the major point is to
expose a child to a variety of print, so that the child can develop concepts
about them. This only further
strengthens their literacy skills. When
a child’s literacy skills improve, systematic code instruction along with
meaningful connected reading further strengthens it. Overall, the key is to continue to
reintroduce concepts and words to a child, which enhances comprehension and
fluency. Reading is a process that
starts from infancy, and continues through grade school.
The "Letting Go of 'Letter of the Week" article emphasizes the results from using
several different methods in a classroom.
By examining these educators literacy history, they were able to improve
how they taught in the classroom. I
especially like how both Donna’s used real world examples to show their
kindergarten classes that they already knew how to read, even if they thought
they didn’t. This method was constantly
used in the classrooms, which helped children continue to compare these sounds
to other words, which enhanced their reading and writing skills. This article assesses that teaching many
teaching strategies out of the “norm” are actually helpful in a classroom,
especially if they are constantly reinforced.
The last article on phonemic awareness emphasizes how important this skill is when learning to read. This involves the breakdown of words into smaller parts. While teaching phonemic awareness, there are several things to keep in mind, such as keeping it playful and interactive, yet purposeful. Overall, this article assesses the methodology of phonemic awareness and lists useful ways to teach this to children.
- Do you feel your literacy history will impact your future teaching style?
- What activities could you use in your classroom to show children that they can read, even if they cannot?
I definitely think that my literacy history will affect my teaching style. I can’t remember anyone intentionally introducing me to different forms of print before kindergarten, but for some reason I have always loved reading! One of my main goals as a future teacher is to pass my love for reading on to young children. The articles for today’s reading will be very helpful because I know that my students will come from very different backgrounds. Some will have had a print rich early childhood and some will not. It’s important to have techniques that I can use to get all of my students to be proficient readers.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how Bell & Jarvis took something as simple as a McDonald’s bag to show their students that they could read. I think that this is a great activity that I could use and I could include items that are specific to the community I am teaching in as well.
My literacy history will definitely impact my teaching style. As a child I was always encouraged to read and write and always considered language arts to be my favorite subject because I excelled in it. This class has introduced me to the idea that not all kids have the literacy background that I was given by my parents. I didn't consider that some of my future students will never be read to at home. Considering not only my literacy history but also my students literacy history will be an extremely important thing to do in my classroom one day.
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