Reflection

I came in to Theories and Strategies for Developing Literacy unsure of how to provide students support with what I view as one of the greatest tasks of elementary education – learning to read. I had not realized that as adults we have internalized but do not openly perform and model the strategies and skills required for fluency and comprehension. It is the teacher's role to pinpoint and articulate these methods, modeling them to students and giving the students ample opportunities for practice. Through the use of minilessons students are introduced to a variety of decoding, fluency, and comprehension techniques that they can then practice, internalize, and decide what works best for them. Minilessons aim to decrease the teacher led classroom that once predominated the educational landscape. In lieu of teacher dominated instruction students are spending more time on their own work and thought processes, more time reading, and more time writing. Less teacher instruction fosters collaboration on the part of the students making them active participants in their own education. I did not know about the strong push towards student choice, but it struck a chord with me and I would like to know how to implement it in other content areas as well. Choice imparts responsibility as the student chooses their own books, their own writing, and finds in time their own interests. It is the teacher's role to facilitate student's comprehension skills, fluency, and vocabulary.

After taking Theories and Strategies for Developing Literacy and reading Tompkin's Literacy for the 21^st Century: A Balanced Approach my literacy goals have become much more cohesive and inclusive of all students. Creating literate students that can read and write and recognize the many needs of both, such as communication, information, or enjoyment is still my overall goal. However, I have realized that the path to the end goal is different for each student. The roadblocks that each student will have to cross are going to vary greatly. Through this class I now know how to assist children in clearing these barriers. Through assessment and observation I can pinpoint the areas that a student struggles and include lessons and activities teaching strategies to help students in their trouble areas. Differentiation allows me to help groups of students that are having similar problems, allowing students to get the exact help that they need, not a blanket solution that will help some and bore others.

With the strategies and skills needed to teach children literacy my personal goal for the future is to be flexible. Despite all of the plans and best practices in textbooks and in my head, I have to do what works for my students at that given time. When something is not going as planned and the students are not getting what they need, I have many new strategies, skills, and approaches to adopt. My goal is to have the malleability, ingenuity, and determination that makes a teacher not just a good teacher, but a great teacher.