What I've Learned about Literacy

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Over the last seven weeks of this course, I have activated prior knowledge, learned new information, shared concerns, and strategies with my colleagues. This class affirmed knowledge gained both from my undergraduate studies as well as additional research I have independently completed on literacy. The first week of this class required me to think about how I define literacy. I believe that know that I have completed this course, I am better able to summarize and identify my definition of literacy. Like Tompkins (2010), I define literacy as the ability to read and write inside and outside of the classroom. Comprehension is a large piece of reading. Many students can recite words on a page, but some lack the ability to apply phonics skills to new words and some lack in the comprehension department. Tompkins (2010) defines comprehension as the readers’ ability to gain meaning from a text as well as the reader's ability to activate background knowledge while reading. One of the questions I had from the start of the class was ways to get parents involved in their child’s journey to become life-long learners and readers. Through this class I have learned the importance of parental involvement in the successfulness of students’. Home environment places a crucial role in the development of the mind’s of students. This class has encouraged me to reach out to each of my parents to ensure that my students have access to quality literature in their home. For Christmas, I purchased each of my students a book based on their elementary reading attitude survey (ERAS) as well as their reading interest inventory. Another area that I had several questions about was technology. As a teacher I know the importance of technology in the lives ... ... middle of paper ... ...ted Brown, J., J. Bryan, and T. Brown. 2005. Twenty-first century literacy and technology in K-8 classrooms. Innovate 1 (3). Retrieved from: http://www.innovateonline.info/ index.php?view=article&id=17 Cloer, T. & Ross, S. (1997). The relationship of standardized reading score’s to children’s self-perception as readers. Yearbook of the American Reading Forum. Retrieved from http://americanreadingforum.org/yearbook/yearbooks/ 97_yearbook/pdf/08_Cloer_2.pdf Hall, T., Strangman, N., & Meyer, A. (2003). Differentiated instruction and implications for UDL implementation. Wakefield, MA: National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum. Retrieved from: http://aim.cast.org/learn/historyarchive/backgroundpapers/differentiated... Tompkins, G. E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

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