Journal Question #1

This blog entry is a response to #1 of the Journal Questions.

Respond to what you have gained through your textbook and journal article readings, class projects, and discussions.

As I reflect on what I have learned throughout the entirety of my Elementary Reading Methods class, textbook readings, class projects, and class discussions, it is overwhelming and I am not quite sure where to start as I put pen to paper and get going.

Perhaps I should start with the umbrella under which everything that I have learned rests- Balanced Literacy. Balanced Literacy is incredible. I am amazed by its utility and efficiency in guiding children through the learning process as they express themselves using language arts. I am in love with the Balanced Literacy approach and look forward to implementing it in my classroom.

Some of the goals of the Balanced Literacy approach that I have learned are the following:

o To use children’s background knowledge to make connections with new concepts being taught
o To differentiate instruction based on the diversity and needs of learners in the classroom.
o To inspire a desire/need for reading in children and to show them the purposefulness of reading in everyday life
o To provide ample opportunities for children to participate in and express themselves through the various language arts- reading, writing, speaking, listening, visually representing, and viewing
o To build reading fluency and comprehension (which both make reading a more enjoyable experience)
o To help children become proficient word decoders
o To provide many opportunities for children to express themselves through writing.
o To provide opportunities to construct pieces of writing as a group and discuss the elements of writing
o To show children the purposes behind expressing oneself through writing.
o To use writing throughout multiple disciplines in order to deepen and enhance learning

The general goal is, of course, to enhance learning in all areas and disciplines through the use of literacy instruction.

In class, we focused on four different styles of lessons, how to facilitate them, and what their purposes were through the lens of the balanced literacy approach. I learned about how to conduct Read Alouds, Shared Readings, Interactive Writing, and Interactive Editing lessons in a purposeful way. Each lesson is incredibly functional and can be used in many different ways, for many different disciplines, to reach many different students.

I had the opportunity to conduct three of the four lessons discussed in class and also was able to provide and respond to in-class feedback with my peers regarding our lessons. I learned that challenges will arise in the beginning of implementing new lessons, but many times will be smoothed out through practice and repeated experience.

One thing that I am infinitely glad that I learned in Reading Methods was Educational Theories and the theorists that produced them. Being able to connect my thinking with a theory and a name not only makes me a more knowledgeable individual, it helps me to organize and categorize my thinking. I can now recognize what P. David Pearson’s Gradual Release of Responsibility looks like in the classroom or Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development or Keene and Harvey’s Comprehension Strategy Instruction. I am grateful to have learned these things and have vocabulary to attach to my thinking.

I feel that I am a different person and think very differently than I did when I began this semester. I can literally feel myself becoming a teacher with every insightful discussion, every chapter read, every journal article reviewed. I am ravenous to learn information about the ins and outs of the classroom, different approaches to learning, and activities that can be used to produce purposeful learning. I feel that I have received all of those things in Reading Methods.