Literacy Focus

LITERACY FOCUS
Having spent two weeks in your clinical classroom, you have become acclimated with the literacy instruction in your setting. Draw on that knowledge in this discussion.

What have you noticed about literacy instruction and assessment in your setting?

• When does it take place?
• What does literacy instruction encompass?
• During literacy instruction, what does your CT do/ say?
• What do students do/ say? How do they respond?
• What are your opinions/ feelings about this?
• How does what you observe about literacy at this site connect with past clinical experiences/ early childhood theories/ and or literacy practices you have been learning about at ISU?
• How does knowing this inform what you will do when teaching and assessing literacy (either this semester, next semester in student teaching, and/or next year)?

What other additional reflections/ concerns/ questions/ musings do you have after spending these last few weeks on the site? Use your own experiences, especially those from your activity log for the last few weeks.

After spending 2 weeks in my clinicals classroom so far, I have learned a couple things about the literacy instruction in the classroom, something I feel as though I did not have the opportunity to learn much about in previous clinical placements. Even though the first week I was at my placement I was unable to see much literacy instruction because it was a “special day” and they had other activities planned, I was able to see it the second week. Literacy in the 3^rd grade classroom is incorporated throughout the day in basically every subject someway or another. The class begins with morning routine and spelling for about 30 minutes. During spelling, the students are to work on their spelling that is provided to them on the SMARTboard as well as on a worksheet. The students are to practice writing the spelling words in cursive and once they are finished they are to find an additional creative way to practice writing their spelling words, whether it be writing them in different colors, a triangle, or any other way the students come up with. Based on what I have learned in previous classes at ISU, it is great to have the students practice writing the words in different forms to help promote their learning.

            Next, the students have reading for about 45 minutes. The students are usually reading in groups, with a partner, as a class, or on their own. My CT has been trying out literature groups in the classroom. In each group the students are to read the provided book aloud to each other and then complete worksheets as a groups. Since the students get a little side tracked during this time, it has not been working out so well. The students take a while to get into their groups, open up to the right page, decide who is reading, and figure out who is going to read next. While the students are in their groups, my CT walks around to each group helping them and making sure they are staying on track. Although I do like the idea of literature groups in a 3^rd grade classroom, in my opinion, I feel as though it does take some time away from the students because it does take them so long to get everything situated in the groups. I think that if I were to do this in my own classroom I would assign the groups a designated area in the classroom for them to meet as well as a bin for them to place their books, worksheets, and other materials in so that everything would be ready to go when it is literature group time.

            After lunch, the students have DEAR, Drop Everything And Read, time. The students are either doing silent reading or reading aloud as a class for 30 minutes. The students are able to pick a book of their choice and are free to sit anywhere in the room where they are comfortable. I think that allowing the students to do that is important to them as readers and I have also learned in Dr. Sanden’s class that the students should have the opportunity to sit in other locations than their desk to read. Once the students have completed the book they have been reading, they are to take a reading test on the computer for scholastic points.

            Next the students have writing for about 30 minutes. Throughout the day my CT incorporates a lot of use of technology through the SMARTboard. From only being there for two weeks, I haven’t been able to see this implemented very much. I do know that the students have pen pals with the elderly at a nursing home near by. In previous literacy classes I have taken here at ISU, I have learned that it is very important to provide the students with a variety of audiences to write for.

            I am able to see many different things that I have learned at ISU in my clinical placement in a 3^rd grade classroom. I am also able to see a small group instruction and assessments with a couple of students. The assessments my CT uses during this time are generally fluency checks of having the students read aloud a selection and her scoring them as they read. I think that in my future classrooms I would like to use her method of assessing the students and also using running records on the students.

One great activity I was able to see a student do was present a book report. In this project, the students are to read a chapter book, preferable a mystery, and present a book report to the class. They are to create a mobile that includes the plot, the mystery, outcome, and other information they find in the book. While the students are presenting to the class, my CT sits there with a rubric and is able to provide them with their grade right after they are finished. One thing about this that I really liked was how the class was to provide the presenter with “stars”, things they liked about the report, to the reported after they have finished. In Dr. Sanden’s class, we had to do something very similar but we also included “wishes”.

At the end of the day while the students are lining up to be dismissed, my CT pages out of a book to the students. I really like this idea because I feel as though it helped calm the students and make what can be a chaotic time into a relaxing time.

I would like to end with a quote from Frank Serafini..

“There is no such thing as a child who hates to read; there are only children who have not found the right book”

This quote assures me that I want to be the kind of teacher that helps my students find books that are enjoyable and interesting for them to read.