Reading instruction in the elementary school is critical to students’ success in school. Students leaving elementary school, not reading at grade level, have a much lower chance of graduating from high school. “A student who can't read on grade level by 3rd grade is four times less likely to graduate by age 19 than a child who does read proficiently by that time. Add poverty to the mix, and a student is 13 times less likely to graduate on time than his or her proficient, wealthier peer” (Hernandez, 2011).
The teaching of reading has gone through numerous transformations and controversy continues over what is the best reading instruction. However, there is overwhelming evidence that the use of authentic literature and time for children to read, discuss what they have read and hear fluent readers, are critical to success.
Richard Allington has emerged as an expert on literacy education and continues to lead changes to instructional programs in the United States. He offers six critical elements of effective reading instruction. Those six elements are:
1. Every child reads something he or she chooses.
2. Every child reads accurately.
3. Every child reads something he or she understands.
4. Every child writes about something meaningful.
5. Every child talks with peers about reading and writing.
6. Every child listens to a fluent adult read aloud.
Allington states, “It’s time for the elements of effective instruction described here to be offered more consistently to every child, in every school, every day” (Allington, 2012, pp 14-15). When these six elements are included into daily literacy instruction students are able to make gains in their reading and writing abilities.
The Teachers’ College at Columbia University...
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Literature is a key component when speaking of literacy. Teachers need to provide students with endless amounts of practice experiences in reading to build their fluency rate. This should be done with different genres of texts and different levels. Reading a wide variety of literature help children develop rich vocabularies.
...ities. It also provides verifiable evidence that supports my points that contribute in helping children to gain reading comprehension in order to resolve reading difficulties at school and at home as well. Having proficient reading skills is critical to success. When students are not able to be competent readers, they are at risk for academic, behavioral, social, and emotional difficulties. Because all students have the right to be provided with educational knowledge, children with reading disabilities also have the potential to be successful academically and socially. By doing this, teachers can change the trajectory of those children who are at risk for failure in reading comprehension skills. All this information is based on effective researches and practices given to students to increase comprehension skills and better tackle their reading disabilities.
Six years ago, I decided to go back to school to obtain my certification in reading because throughout my teaching career, I have always gravitated towards literacy. My inquiry led me to acquire knowledge and strategies to benefit the struggling readers in my classroom. I believe reading is the basic foundation that holds the gap between all subject areas. I was able to help so many students in my classroom.
Martínez, Harris and McClain (2014) maintain that, “among all of the academic skills a student learns in school, none is more fundamental than reading” Furthermore, they believe that competence in reading is essential for education, employment, productive citizenship, and living a successful and satisfying life. (p. 129) Daggett and Pedinotti (2014) explain that “life outside of school requires substantially higher levels of reading proficiency than most students experience in the high school classroom and even in post‐secondary education” (p. 1). Students, who struggle with reading in early elementary years, tend to fall farther behind as they progress through the educational system. Fiester (2010) confirms, “The National Research Council asserts academic success, as defined by high school graduation, can be predicted with reasonable accuracy by knowing someone’s reading skill at the end of third grade” (p.9) Thus, efforts to meet the needs of all learners remains a priority across the nation. As a result, states and districts require schools to submit school improvement plans, which identify specific needs based on data, strategic goals and instructional strategies targeted toward
After examining a series of studies, one conclusion was made—good, effective teachers are more important than curriculum materials, pedagogical approaches, or proven programs. For ten years, the National Research Center on English Learning and Achievement have been compiling data based on some of the best elementary teachers in the country. These teachers were chosen from schools that reflected the diversity of the country and schools that enrolled lower income children. This article, The Six T’s of Effective Elementary Literacy Instruction, examines time, texts, teach, talk, tasks, and tests and how they are used in the classroom by effective teachers.
Due to the limited many factors in reality bothering children’s learning to read and write in English, author claims that teachers have to make sure that students of diverse backgrounds have the opportunity to participate in literature –based instruction and the reader’s workshop, following a continuum of teaching strategies that involves them in motivating, meaningful reading experience.
While I believe every child is a reader, I do not believe every child will be enthralled with reading all the time. All students have the capability to read and enjoy reading, but just like any other hobby, interest will vary from student to student. The students in my classroom will be encouraged in their reading, be provided with choice, taught how books can take you into another world but, my students will not be forced to read. This paper will illustrate my philosophy of reading through the theories I relate to, the way I want to implement reading and writing curriculum, and the methods I will use motivate my students to read and help them become literate.
(Department of Education, Science, and Training, 2005). Effective reading instruction occurs when a child successfully learns to read fluently, confidently, with full comprehension of meaning and context. A teacher should understand the developmental aspects of how a child learns to read, but also how to engage a modern day child with rich, authentic texts that motivates them and connects to their social backgrounds. An educator should incorporate curriculum and also be open to choose, adapt, and structure approaches using techniques that best fit their teaching styles and situations. Approaching literacy with a balanced approach of both meaning and skill orientated methods, supports a child’s phonological awareness development and comprehension skills, and supports the elements that surround these components. Each area needs to be explicitly and systematically taught for learning to occur, and strategies set in place to work towards developing independent readers who can read text fluently, but also create meaning from it, which is both beneficial and critical in the long-term success in a child’s literacy
A question that should be asked often is what impact does reading comprehension have on early childhood students? Two articles pertaining to this question were Improving Reading in the Primary Grades by Duke, Neil K and Block, Meghan K from The Future of Children and Early Literacy Instruction in the Climate of No Child Left Behind by Margaret Taylor Stewart from The Reading Teacher. The first article deals with different approaches in order to better enhance children’s comprehension and reading skills. The article is broken down into six different recommendations for the improvement of reading such as promoting reading comprehension, comprehension strategies, promoting out of school reading activities, access to kindergarten, word-reading
A comprehensive approach to literacy instruction is when reading and writing are integrated. This happens by connecting reading, writing, comprehension, and good children’s literature. A comprehensive approach to literacy should focus on the many different aspects of reading and writing in order to improve literacy instruction. This includes teachers supporting a comprehensive literacy instructional program by providing developmentally appropriate activities for children. Comprehensive literacy approaches incorporate meaning based skills for children by providing them with the environment needed for literacy experiences. This includes having a print rich classroom where children are exposed to charts, schedules, play related print, and
A problem that I believe is becoming a bigger issue now, than ever is the underdevelopment of childhood literacy. In the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress reading test, sixty percent of fourth graders across the United States are not reading at grade level. Since 2013, the numbers of under developed reading skills in young children have only increased. In 2015, the same test came back but the number of students not meeting their benchmark was sixty-six percent, which is two-thirds of children set up for failure at such a young age.
Moy, N. (Designer). (1998). Reading strategies. what do good readers do?. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/
Reading is such a complex combination of skills that may affect an individual 's ability to read in several ways. A study reveals that often students bring to the reading process their own set of experiences and knowledge that affect their behavior. Besides, a lots of them are faced oftentimes with other problems such sociological, political, and psychological issues that can impact their mastery of the reading process. Therefore, It is important for instructors to acknowledge
I thoroughly enjoy teaching reading to students. It is wonderful to see students learn something new by reading, anticipating what may happen next and finishing a great story and excitedly sharing what happened. I think it is so important to instill a love of reading in children early. Showing them that reading is exciting and fun will make them want to learn. Children need to know that reading isn’t just something they have to do but something they can learn that they will enjoy and will benefit them forever.
I believe that every student has the ability to learn how to read in one form or another. I must assess all of my students’ learning styles in order to meet their specific needs in the development of reading. I must also provide them with meaningful instruction and with a variety of rich appropriate books. It is crucial that my students are motivated to learn how to read, and I can do this by providing them with that meaningful instruction and by using books that will hold their interests and attention. It is my job to motivate them to learn how to read, so they will then want to read independently when they start to gather those skills.