The first component of a balanced literacy approach is reading. Learning to read is one of the most important skills children develop through their many years of schooling. According to Tompkins, to meet this component of a balanced approach, ELA curriculum needs to incorporate “modeled, shared, interactive, guided, and independent” reading experiences for students. (Tompkins 20) All of these aspects, and methods, of teaching reading are used in my placement.
Each afternoon in my placement class, we have readers’ workshop. This block generally begins with a short minilesson. Some of the minilessons we have had so far include: connecting and empathizing with characters, how readers can make predictions, a genre study of realistic fiction, how …show more content…
My mentor teacher believes that students should be given time each day to read books of their choosing on their own. Thus, she allots time each afternoon for silent reading time. For this, the students grab their book buckets and find a comfortable spot on the rug. Each student has their own book bucket, in which they place a set of books they find to feel just right. Meaning that difficulty level of these books fall within their reading capabilities. Also in their book bin, is a reader’s notebook in which they keep track of the titles they finish, and also jot down any thoughts or predictions they have. Silent reading time is a great chance for students to utilize the skills they learn during minilessons and through modeled read alouds, on their own. Every few weeks, during this silent and independent reading time, the students have reading conferences with the teacher. During these conferences the students are asked to give a synopsis of their book. They then read a small portion of the story, and are asked questions about what they just read. These conferences give the teacher the opportunity to discern whether or not the books students are reading appear to be right for them, and also what skills students are using as they read. Through these practices, it is clear that reading is integrated into my placement classroom in a multitude of ways. The next component of a balance …show more content…
According to Tompkins, students should be learning strategies and skills they can use to problem solve as they read and write. These strategies include: revising, making predictions and inferences, and drawing conclusions. The program we use in the classroom for ELA, Lucy Calkins, provides a plethora of minilessons on all these topics. For instance, in reading we have been learning about becoming active readers. To do this, readers must follow their characters into the story, and feel empathy for their struggles and plight. Through this, students can begin to make inferences and predictions based on what they already know about their characters and their stories. The students each are given a reading buddy who they share these thoughts with, and bounce ideas off of. We first modeled how to have these conversations and form these thoughts for the students, and then guided them through the process. Another reading strategy the students are learning is making connections. We have been working on connecting aspects of the stories we have been reading to aspects of our lives and world, as well as other books we’ve read. The class has also been taught several writing
Each afternoon in my placement class, we have readers’ workshop. This block generally begins with a short minilesson. Some of the minilessons we have had so far include: connecting and empathizing with characters, how readers can make predictions, a genre study of realistic fiction, how …show more content…
My mentor teacher believes that students should be given time each day to read books of their choosing on their own. Thus, she allots time each afternoon for silent reading time. For this, the students grab their book buckets and find a comfortable spot on the rug. Each student has their own book bucket, in which they place a set of books they find to feel just right. Meaning that difficulty level of these books fall within their reading capabilities. Also in their book bin, is a reader’s notebook in which they keep track of the titles they finish, and also jot down any thoughts or predictions they have. Silent reading time is a great chance for students to utilize the skills they learn during minilessons and through modeled read alouds, on their own. Every few weeks, during this silent and independent reading time, the students have reading conferences with the teacher. During these conferences the students are asked to give a synopsis of their book. They then read a small portion of the story, and are asked questions about what they just read. These conferences give the teacher the opportunity to discern whether or not the books students are reading appear to be right for them, and also what skills students are using as they read. Through these practices, it is clear that reading is integrated into my placement classroom in a multitude of ways. The next component of a balance …show more content…
According to Tompkins, students should be learning strategies and skills they can use to problem solve as they read and write. These strategies include: revising, making predictions and inferences, and drawing conclusions. The program we use in the classroom for ELA, Lucy Calkins, provides a plethora of minilessons on all these topics. For instance, in reading we have been learning about becoming active readers. To do this, readers must follow their characters into the story, and feel empathy for their struggles and plight. Through this, students can begin to make inferences and predictions based on what they already know about their characters and their stories. The students each are given a reading buddy who they share these thoughts with, and bounce ideas off of. We first modeled how to have these conversations and form these thoughts for the students, and then guided them through the process. Another reading strategy the students are learning is making connections. We have been working on connecting aspects of the stories we have been reading to aspects of our lives and world, as well as other books we’ve read. The class has also been taught several writing