EDLI635 Theory and Practice of Literacy Instruction

The student was able to retell the basic ideas of the story, including details of how fish and whales were alike and different. However, she omitted all details from the first paragraph and included details from the second and third paragraph. She utilized vocabulary from the text in the retelling. The student required specific prompts to provide details and demonstrated difficulty with retelling in sequence. The students retelling demonstrated adequate understanding of the text. The student would benefit from working on her sequencing and memory skills. This might be achieved by asking her to summarize each paragraph as she reads thereby increasing memory for details, and honing her sequencing skills by providing sequencing cards and activities for practice. 

Students in Ms. Gaten’s class looked for imagery, personification, and a deeper meaning behind the lines of the writer, and how they can relate the poem to their own emotions. The teacher had the students analyze the poem line by line to allow the students to break down the poem and internalize the meaning of each line and the emotions that it sparks. Students prepared to make their collages by first brainstorming, then evaluating their ideas, and based on that they decided and created their collages. The teacher used this technique effectively in the classroom to help students use their own thought process and skills  to create a collage that best reflected the poems they had read.

Currently, I am working as a co-teacher in a 7th/8th grade self -contained class, teaching a variety of subjects. Additionally, I worked with autistic children for the past two summers and worked on behavior programs and advancing their ADL skills. Attached you will find my teaching philosophy. My Teaching Philosophy As I embark on the next phase of my journey towards attaining professional teaching certification. I am both excited and anxious. Excited about using my talents and passion to effectively educate youngsters of all cultures. At the same time, I am somewhat anxious as I realize the impact a teacher can have on the future of a child and want to be certain that I am properly trained to excel in every situation. I believe a teacher has many roles and functions. First and for most, to cover the curriculum and ensure that each student masters the knowledge and information being presented. Beyond this I strongly feel that it is imperative for the teacher not only to inst...

Ms. Perez’s First Grade Classroom Looking Closer-Assignment 1 Segment 1-Shared Reading In Ms. Perez’s classroom children on all different reading levels are participating in a shared reading activity. The teacher uses various methods to ensure that all students, no matter their literacy level will gain new skills and are engaged in the lesson. The more advanced students gain tremendously from watching their teacher, an expert reader, model fluency and automaticity for them. For the beginner readers in the classroom Ms. Perez uses many techniques to create phonological awareness, such as pointing out rhymes, and cues the students to help them decode words. During Ms. Perez’s explicit phonics instruction lesson she models think aloud and problem-solving skills. By doing so, she is giving her students the ability to become independent readers and writers, because they now acquired the skills and the thought process needed to decode and encode words. Additionally, shared readi...

Carolyn Wilhelm's four consecutive lesson plans, discusses her instructional methods for teaching students how to compose found poetry. I found her lessons to be stimulating, interactive, and educational. The teacher clearly stated her objectives and defined the goals of the lesson. This will most certainly be a useful tool when reviewing and assessing the outcome of her lesson. Her emphasis on review, helps the children access what they know and build on it to learn new concepts and acquire additional knowledge. Allowing the students to make connections, discover on their own, and enhance their thinking skills. It is evident that the teacher uses Vygotzky's theory of scaffolding in her lessons. She begins by modeling, and then gives her students the opportunity to create a poem together. However, she did not give independent work to her students to assess if they mastered the concept on their own. By presenting more advanced options to her older students, she personali...

The video titled   Practices in the Classroom: Becoming Readers and Writers represents a refreshing innovative and practical approach to teaching reading in the classroom. The teacher obviously has a good sense of her student’s abilities in how to promote their progress and development.             I was most impressed by some of the techniques that the teacher used so effectively during her lessons. Her employment of Vygotsky’s method of scaffolding was clearly evident. She followed the model of “I do, we do, you do,” by beginning with read aloud, followed by shared reading, then guided reading and independent reading. As the lesson progressed the teacher decreased her intervention and allowed for more student involvement and independent learning.  It was obvious that students at all levels even those who were English Language Learners were an integral part of the lesson as well as group activities. She used h...