Philosophy of Literacy
Grades 3-6
I believe …
- Students learn best from a strong model. As a teacher, we should model what we expect from our students. For example, if we would like our students to read, then we should model reading ourselves.
- Students should be given the opportunity to hold meaningful discussions within small groups without the teacher.
- Students must follow the practice principle. Students should be given the time and opportunity to read a variety of books and write to develop as readers and writers.
- Students need to engage in independent reading and writing every single day to further their development.
- Students should be given choice. Students must be given multiple opportunities to self-select books that are just right for them in order to maximize student interest. When students are given choice, they can become validated and motivated about the work they are doing.
- Students need to take risks when in the classroom. In order for students to take risks, they need to feel comfortable, safe, valued and respected as both a student and an individual. It is imperative that teachers build meaningful relationships with their students in order for a student to take risks and further their knowledge.
- Students learn best when there is balanced literacy. It is essential to use a balanced literacy block within my classroom, which is made up of language and word study, reader’s workshop and writer’s workshop. I will use both mini-lessons and one-on-one conferencing within both reading and writing workshop. This balanced literacy approach is based off of Fountas and Pinnell’s workshop model.
- Students should be both homogeneously and heterogeneously grouped when in the classroom. I believe in the power of differentiation among the variety of learners within my class.
- Student assessment drives instruction. I believe in both formative and summative assessment. Both sets of assessment are beneficial to building a strong reading and writing foundation within my students. Formative assessment can be accomplished using data and monitoring of each student, to further develop instruction. While summative assessment can be completed to display the student’s progress and achievement level.
- Students should use literacy across all subject areas. The use of literacy across all subject areas will further help students become fluent in all forms of reading and writing.
- All students can succeed as readers and writers.