Through an exploratory study, authors Poulson, Avramidis, Fox, Medwell and Wray, investigated how 225 effective teachers of literacy viewed certain literacy approaches/strategies and considered how their educational backgrounds influenced these views. This study also included a group composed of 71 math coordinators, which served as a comparison to the effective teachers of literacy. The instructional views of the effective teachers of literacy were compared to the instructional views of the math coordinators. Having a profession in research or education gives these authors authority to write about and share information on this topic of study. Poulson, Fox, and Medwell are education lecturers at universities. Avramidis is a “Research Fellow” and Wray is an education professor. The authors’ work experience gives credibility to this study. This study conducted in 1996-1998, appeared in a 2001 edition of Research Papers in Education. This article critique provides a summary of the exploratory study, discusses the relevance of the study to the classroom and determines how these authors define “literacy.”
Content Summary
This exploratory study sought to reveal effective teachers’ views of teaching reading and writing, in correspondence to their qualifications, and furthermore, compare the effective teachers’ views to a group of math coordinators. This exploratory study involved 225 effective teachers of literacy and 71 math coordinators, which served as a comparison group. The comparison group incorporated various levels of effectiveness (some were considered to be more effective than others). The teachers were selected from primary schools in Britain. The qualifications of the participants included “effective teachers’ education...
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...r own views impact their reading and writing instruction. I determined that the literacy definition present in this study is reading and writing; reading by decoding words, previewing and repeating new words, and guessing unfamiliar words and writing by focusing on content versus correct spelling, varying the intended audience, and considering elements of presentation. I would recommend this study to any grade level teacher, literacy coach, or curriculum developer. After reading this article, these individuals could reflect on how their own views could be influencing their instruction.
Works Cited
Poulson, L., Avramidis, E., Fox, R., Medwell, J., & Wray, D. (2001). The theoretical beliefs of effective
teachers of literacy in primary schools: An exploratory study of orientations to reading and
writing. Research Papers in Education, 16(3), 271-292.
For this assignment, I completed a survey to assess my school’s literacy program by using a survey that was adapted from by Patty, Maschoff, & Ransom (1996) to analyze the instructional program and the school’s infrastructure. To be able to answer my survey, I needed to go colleagues of mine in the English Department and to my administration to help with these questions. Being a math teacher, we hardly ever discuss the literacy and the students’ acquisition of it in our department meeting during staff development days. Since I am not truly current with literacy acquisition in education, I am hoping to understand more from this process so I can help all my students. I want them to be able to read texts related to math and find information that will be useful to them during the year.
Rassool, N. (2009) ‘Literacy: in Search of a Paradigm’ in Soler, J., Fletcher-Campbell, F. & Reid, G. (eds.) Understanding Difficulties in Literacy Development: Issues and Concepts, London, Sage, pp.7-31.
Knoblauch argues that there are many definitions of literacy that impact people’s lives. Although he argues there are many definitions, he focused on four types of literacy that are most common in society. Knoblauch labels them as functional, cultural, personal-growth/liberal, and critical literacy. He defines functional literacy as a level of literacy that is “readying people for the necessities of daily life—writing checks, reading sets of instructions”(1990, p. 3) and other basic reading and writing skills. However, he also warns that there are hidden agendas in these types of defined literacies. Ill prepared teachers who do not connect to and challenge their students result in no critical literacy and very little
Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Tenth edition. Edited by Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. New York: Longman Publishers, pp. 371-377, 2008.
Finding a definition of literacy is not as easy as it sounds. The Webster definition says that to be literate is to be” able to read and write.” But to some researchers, this definition is too simplistic, leading to multiple models of literacy. Most Americans adhere to the autonomous model, which falls closest to the standard, dictionary definition. Believers in this form say that literacy is a cognitive activity that students learn like any other basic skill. It has a set of proficiencies that one must master in order to be capable of decoding and encoding text (Alvermann, 2009; SIL International, 1999). A competing theory is the ideological model, which claims literacy is intrinsically linked to culture, and therefore what constitutes a “literate” individual is ever-changing. Society is the largest influence on literacy, according to this thought, and it is affected by politics, religion, philosophy and more (Alvermann, 2009; SIL International, 1999). These two are just the tip of the iceberg. For example, some studies recognize “literacy as competence,” which is a “measure of competence to do a given task or work in a given field,” (SIL International, 1999) such as being computer literate. Although more researchers are recognizing and exploring multiple literacies, the one that most influences American schools is the autonomous, cognitive model – the ability to read and write. For many, it seems a simple task, but millions of adolescents are struggling or reluctant readers, and there are many reasons why young readers have difficulty with reading. XXXXXX------NEED HELP WITH THESIS STATEMENT HERE PLEASE—(This paper will focus on the effects of low reading skills, some of the possible causes of reluctant and struggling readership...
Literacy, as a concept, has been evolving during the last few decades, presenting itself as a more complex term to comprehend. The deeper understanding of this notion has made the process of learning it, a bigger and more elaborate challenge.
In recent years the meaning of literacy has become much more than that. Now literacy includes things such as, numbers, images, and technology. Literacy can be something that developed through things like Books, the internet, television, family, and many other resources. In this literacy narrative I will discuss the origins of my current attitudes about writing, and reading.
My philosophy of literacy instruction includes using a constructivist approach to implement lessons while teaching using the top down reading model with a balanced approach to literacy instruction. I have a constructivist view when it comes to teaching literacy because I love teaching with hands-on approaches that includes the students being active in their learning. I follow the top down model by introducing phonics while reading texts. Also, I use a balanced literacy approach in my classroom; the work the students complete is authentic and focused around reading, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, spelling, oral language, writing, and literature.
There are many complications that arise when seeking a single definition of literacy. The debate over what is literacy and what isn’t is one that is of critical importance to the education of our country’s students. When originally asked at the beginning of this course about what literacy is, my initial response was the ability to read and write. While I suppose my answer wasn’t wrong, it certainly wasn’t entirely right either. Reading and writing are certainly important aspects of any persons literacy and are therefore one of the reasons why schools test in these areas frequently. However, as the course progressed I came to understand that there maybe more to what I originally thought about what literacy is. I came to realize that coming up with a single definition would prove to be a tedious task since there now appeared to be so many things that can be considered literacy. Through reading articles pertaining to literacy and observing various settings where literacy is used, I have been able to come to a better understanding of what literacy is.
Literacy embraces reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Integrating all of these into a literacy program is key. Teachers must provide endless and ongoing opportunities for their student to read, write, listen, and speak.
Literacy is the ability to read and write and use written information and to write appropriately in a range of contexts. It also involves the integration of speaking, listening, viewing and critical thinking with reading and writing, and includes the cultural knowledge which enables a speaker, writer or reader to recognise and use language appropriate to different social situations (Freebody & Luke, 1990).
Literacy is defined as “the ability to use available symbol systems that are fundamental to learning and teaching for the purposes of comprehending and composing, for the purposes of making and communicating meaning and knowledge” (Stock, 2012), and it is one of the most essential skills that an early year student will learn. Literacy serves to provide the building blocks for the continued knowledge acquisition and general education of individuals of all ages; by working to understand and identify how and why literacy is taught using the structured literacy block format in Australian schools, and in identifying the benefits of utilizing this type of tool for teaching literacy in student’s early years, it will be possible to gain a better understanding of the organization, planning, and teaching approaches that are used in a literacy block approach. A sample standard literacy block will be provided, offering the means of understanding the applications of the tool, which will serve to further stress the necessity of this tool’s usage.
Every child deserves a positive, safe, nurturing, and stimulating learning environment where they will grow academically, socially, emotionally, and physically. My role as an educator is to provide my students with this type of environment as well as an education that will help them succeed academically and become life long learners. It is the responsibility of a literacy educator to provide students with this type of environment, but also to provide instruction that will help students become successful readers and writers. There are numerous programs and philosophies about literacy and reading. Through years of experience and research, one begins to develop their own creative approach on teaching these skills. After looking at different programs and seeing the positive and negatives of each, an integrated and balanced approach of literacy seems to be the best way to teach the differing needs of each student.
Ward (2005) explores writing and reading as the major literary mediums for learning mathematics, in order for students to be well equipped for things they may see in the real world. The most recent trends in education have teachers and curriculum writers stressed about finding new ways to tie in current events and real-world situations to the subjects being taught in the classroom. Wohlhuter & Quintero (2003) discuss how simply “listening” to mathematics in the classroom has no effect on success in student academics. It’s important to implement mathematical literacy at a very young age. A case study in the article by authors Wohlhuter & Quintero explores a program where mathematics and literacy were implemented together for children all the way through eight years of age. Preservice teachers entered a one week program where lessons were taught to them as if they were teaching the age group it was directed towards. When asked for a definition of mathematics, preservice teachers gave answers such as: something related to numbers, calculations, and estimations. However, no one emphasized how math is in fact extremely dependable on problem-solving, explanations, and logic. All these things have literacy already incorporated into them. According to Wohlhuter and Quintero (2003), the major takeaways from this program, when tested, were that “sorting blocks, dividing a candy bar equally, drawing pictures, or reading cereal boxes, young children are experienced mathematicians, readers, and writers when they enter kindergarten.” These skills are in fact what they need to succeed in the real-world. These strategies have shown to lead to higher success rates for students even after they graduate
Literacy is also gained through an education, and this is shown through Shannon Nicholas’s narrative about her taking the standardized writing proficiency test. Education teaches you to be literate, but how much you learn depends on you. In the case of Nicholas, she repeatedly failed the test and began to believe she was not a good writer, even through she was told she was a good writer and received passing grades in all other writing assignments. Nicholas realized how differently her writing could be judged by different people and this is true for all writing. The ability to change viewpoints can also be used as a tool in