Engagement
Literacy education should never lose sight of the goal to create lifelong readers. They best way to encourage students to develop good reading behaviors and skills is to engage them in books they will love. Engagement strategies should be incorporated into all parts of the literacy block (read-alouds, shared, guided, independent) and be done in a variety of ways. Stories and articles chosen for instruction can have a greater impact if the teacher has an active awareness of the students’ interests as well as their needs. Students are more likely to link their learning to other subjects and activities if they are strongly invested in the material.
Instruction
The Literacy Block should combine direct instruction, guided exercises, and opportunities for independent practice. By allowing students the chance to access materials in a range of ways, and exposing them to good reading behaviors, their reading confidence is increased. Explicit and implicit instruction should be utilized for incorporating areas such as vocabulary and spelling. By allowing assessment data and student interest to guide of the curriculum, it will make meeting the needs of the students possible.
Social Justice
The elementary classroom is a great place to begin promoting change in society towards full respect and appreciation of diversity. By providing opportunities to acknowledge the privileges and disadvantages people face, and identify the biases that result from them, we can move towards a more equitable system.
Some of the most effective forms of social action in history have been done through literature, speeches, and scholarly publishing. By giving this power to the students, their unique perspective and experiences are validated and their writing and reading can become more purposeful.
Assessment
Formative and summative assessments should be incorporated purposefully as a way to guide instruction. As easy as it is to get wrapped up in standardized data, it is important to combine the findings with less formal measures; high-stakes evaluations should be balanced with authentic reading and writing tasks. It is important that a classroom environment and community is developed in a way to minimize testing pressures and anxieties.
Literacy education should never lose sight of the goal to create lifelong readers. They best way to encourage students to develop good reading behaviors and skills is to engage them in books they will love. Engagement strategies should be incorporated into all parts of the literacy block (read-alouds, shared, guided, independent) and be done in a variety of ways. Stories and articles chosen for instruction can have a greater impact if the teacher has an active awareness of the students’ interests as well as their needs. Students are more likely to link their learning to other subjects and activities if they are strongly invested in the material.
Instruction
The Literacy Block should combine direct instruction, guided exercises, and opportunities for independent practice. By allowing students the chance to access materials in a range of ways, and exposing them to good reading behaviors, their reading confidence is increased. Explicit and implicit instruction should be utilized for incorporating areas such as vocabulary and spelling. By allowing assessment data and student interest to guide of the curriculum, it will make meeting the needs of the students possible.
Social Justice
The elementary classroom is a great place to begin promoting change in society towards full respect and appreciation of diversity. By providing opportunities to acknowledge the privileges and disadvantages people face, and identify the biases that result from them, we can move towards a more equitable system.
Some of the most effective forms of social action in history have been done through literature, speeches, and scholarly publishing. By giving this power to the students, their unique perspective and experiences are validated and their writing and reading can become more purposeful.
Assessment
Formative and summative assessments should be incorporated purposefully as a way to guide instruction. As easy as it is to get wrapped up in standardized data, it is important to combine the findings with less formal measures; high-stakes evaluations should be balanced with authentic reading and writing tasks. It is important that a classroom environment and community is developed in a way to minimize testing pressures and anxieties.