Literacy Philosophy
"Literacy is not just reading. Literacy is seen throughout the school day integrated into different subject matter."
Before taking courses on Literacy I always thought Literacy was seen during your reading block only. It was brought to my attention early on that Literacy only in reading is not the case. Literacy is seen all throughout the school day. There is no limit to it. I have learned that good lessons will follow the eight pillars of literacy. However one of the biggest things of literacy I have learned about is the importance of integration.
Teachers often time say we do not have the time to teach all of these different subjects. In reality that does seem to be the case sometimes. But, if you integrate subjects together you can be more efficient and often times more effective. For instance, you could be focusing on a topic in social studies but not have time during social studies to cover it. You can then bring that topic into reading and cover the social studies standard and tie in the reading standard that you are working on. Is that a crime? Definitely not! It should be encouraged.
Furthermore, good literacy takes good lesson planning. You cannot expect to throw together a lesson that is integrating science into reading and expect it to work without careful planning. You need to make sure you are making the connections, making objectives clear, and covering the standards. You cannot just say, "Oh I'll read a book about this" that does not mean you've integrated subjects. The integration has to be meaningful.
Also, good literacy focuses on the spectrum of unconstrained and constrained skills. There should never be a time where you spend a whole week on only unconstrained or constrained. This falls into the pillar balanced comprehensive instruction. You should be balancing your unconstrained and constrained skills throughout the week and according to what students need.
Literacy needs careful planning and needs to be targeted at your students needs. Make sure you take the time to get to know your students and their strengths and struggles. Most importantly, do not put literacy in a time frame or box literacy should be seen all throughout the day! Do not say it is only in reading.
Before taking courses on Literacy I always thought Literacy was seen during your reading block only. It was brought to my attention early on that Literacy only in reading is not the case. Literacy is seen all throughout the school day. There is no limit to it. I have learned that good lessons will follow the eight pillars of literacy. However one of the biggest things of literacy I have learned about is the importance of integration.
Teachers often time say we do not have the time to teach all of these different subjects. In reality that does seem to be the case sometimes. But, if you integrate subjects together you can be more efficient and often times more effective. For instance, you could be focusing on a topic in social studies but not have time during social studies to cover it. You can then bring that topic into reading and cover the social studies standard and tie in the reading standard that you are working on. Is that a crime? Definitely not! It should be encouraged.
Furthermore, good literacy takes good lesson planning. You cannot expect to throw together a lesson that is integrating science into reading and expect it to work without careful planning. You need to make sure you are making the connections, making objectives clear, and covering the standards. You cannot just say, "Oh I'll read a book about this" that does not mean you've integrated subjects. The integration has to be meaningful.
Also, good literacy focuses on the spectrum of unconstrained and constrained skills. There should never be a time where you spend a whole week on only unconstrained or constrained. This falls into the pillar balanced comprehensive instruction. You should be balancing your unconstrained and constrained skills throughout the week and according to what students need.
Literacy needs careful planning and needs to be targeted at your students needs. Make sure you take the time to get to know your students and their strengths and struggles. Most importantly, do not put literacy in a time frame or box literacy should be seen all throughout the day! Do not say it is only in reading.