Teaching Literacy

Throughout this program, I have expanded my definition of literacy quite a bit. I used to think that teaching literacy was solely about teaching students how to read. I thought that those who could read were literate and those that couldn’t weren’t. I’ve since come to realize what a narrow definition of literacy that was. Through my September Experience, my definition broadened to include reading and writing as a means of communication for someone to express their ideas. Since then I’ve furthered it to mean the ability of person to use language to communicate with others and express ideas both orally and through the written word in order to participate effectively in society. This implies that even before children are able to read, they are growing their literacy abilities (Sulzby and Teale). The changing of that definition will make a huge difference in the way I both instruct and assess my students in areas of literacy.

Sulby and Teale’s article on emergent literacy discusses methods teachers can use to develop students’ literacy at every level. Even before children are able to read and write fluently, they are still able to some extent to communicate their ideas through writing and to take in other ideas through reading. Successful literacy curriculums prioritize “active involvement” in literacy and should have opportunities for both reading and writing daily (Sulzby and Teale). This standard for literacy has been modeled to me by my master teacher, who makes time for both reading and writing daily. During the majority of days, there is a specific lesson centered around reading and writing, but on the days that there aren’t, children still have opportunities to do both. She models this through giving students opportunities to journal about their learning in other subjects, giving them opportunities to read aloud and silently in other subjects, and reading aloud to students at a variety of reading levels.

Read alouds are a great way to engage students in text they may not otherwise try (Ivey). Students take an interest in texts that may be above their reading level and then have the read aloud to help them navigate that text. Reading at different ability levels helps “demonstrate value for all levels of text,” which can build the self esteem of students who may be a lower reading level than the rest of their class (Ivey). Students are able to derive a deeper meaning both from texts that may seem below their reading level and from ones they wouldn’t be able to understand on their own. When teachers read aloud, they can model strategies for the students to use when they are reading silently. When students apply these techniques to their own reading, they are able to make deeper meanings from their own reading. My master teacher often uses read alouds to explicitly teach techniques she expects the students to adapt to their own reading. She uses multiple levels of texts to model to students how to make predictions in their readings and to stop and ask what the author is trying to tell them in their text.

I am excited to start using these techniques with students so I can more fully understand their value!