Post for 1/28 Literacy

I would say literacy is involved in my placement in multiple ways. The students do literacy in the morning and they learn new spelling words and new definitions and how to use them in a sentence. Once the students lean new words the words get added to their word wall. They also encounter literacy during centers. They have different worksheets that forces them to use their spelling words or they'll have to find 10-12 words that have particular letters in them or are spelled a certain way. For example one day they had to find words that ended in "ed". This activity was difficult for them because there aren't a lot of words in the classroom that end in "ed".  The students learn a lot about literacy and grammar and spelling through these assignments.
Additional ways to incorporate literacy in this class would be creating reading games for the students or making sure the students have a lot of literacy components in the classroom. Although I have first grade students I'm surprised by some of their reading levels. Some of the students are reading at a second grade level and even the students who are reading below level still make attempts to do better and learn. I do think literacy is a component for the students to learn and to become good at. Literacy is used all day everyday and the more practice students have with it the better their literacy skills will become.

Prompt 1: Response to the Course Syllabus

Prompt: After reading the course syllabus and the assigned readings, write about goals for your learning in the course.  In what type of school and community context do you hope to teach? How can this course help you prepare for that context or other contexts where you might find yourself teaching? What do you want to learn about literacy instruction? 

My main goal, like most people, is to do my best in the course. In the past, I feel like I have short changed myself by not doing the readings in my TE courses. Essentially, by skipping my readings, I am missing out on information that is going to help me becoming a better educator and an advocate for my future students and parents. So one goal of mine is to not miss more than two readings per this section in the course. 

Another course goal of mine is to really hone in on teaching strategies that will benefit different types of learners in my class. I am a firm believer in the idea that every student can learn, just in a different way. I am looking forward to learning about new technologies that will help my students become better speakers, writers, and readers!

I hope to teach in an urban community, preferably in failing schools. There are so many opportunities that failing schools within urban environments offer. There are opportunities to make a difference and help students realize their potential despite what the media or other areas of society say. The teaching strategies I learn in the course will help me to assist the various learning styles and struggles that exist within failing schools. I will use these strategies to help students get to where they need to be academically. A new perspective on standard based teaching will help me develop creative lesson plans that will make learning engaging and enjoyable for my students. 

As far as literacy instruction, I hope to learn how to better teach students who speak English as a second language.