Reader's Workshop

I envision Reader's Workshop being used to encourage enthusiasm for reading.  Giving students choice in what they read and allowing them to explore their interests through literature can not only lead to increased literacy skills and standardized tests scores but also help students view reading as enjoyable rather than simply mandatory.  

For the beginning sessions of Reader's Workshop I would focus my mini-lessons on the layout of Reader's Workshop and my expectations for students.  It may also be helpful to give a mini-lesson on helping students pick books that are appropriate for them, suiting their interests and reading abilities.  After explaining to students the different workshop activities and establishing a routine, mini-lessons could be focused on theme, character conflict, similes/metaphors, connecting texts, ect...  

Depending on the age of the students, different centers could have different Reader's Workshop activities or student's can log their reading and responses to varying topics in a notebook.  I also think it is important to meet with students periodically on an individual basis to assess their progress in Reader's Workshop and their feelings towards it.  

Literacy Success For All Learners!

Being conscious of each individual student’s current reading level can help teachers plan and differentiate instruction to create the most effective literacy classroom possible.  Initial assessment of student’s reading ability can help a teacher to determine which students are above grade level, on grade level, or below grade level in reading and more specific assessments can help teachers determine where students are struggling (decoding, comprehension, ect).  Similar assessments for writing can further help teachers determine which students may need extra help and which students need to be challenged.  Being aware of students’ ability helps teachers to form guided and peer reading or writing groups and plan instruction that focuses on the specific needs of their students.  Frequent informal assessments can be used to track student progress. 

Using leveled texts can help challenge students who are reading above grade level and support readers who are struggling in building and improving essential skills, such as fluency, decoding, comprehension, and confidence.  Having a variety of different books spanning different genres, levels of difficulty, and interests available for students to read is important in encouraging students’ interest and desire for reading.  Monitoring individual reading is also important to ensure that students understand what they are reading and are using effective strategies and not developing bad habits when they encounter words they don’t understand.  Effective strategies are also a good way to help support all learners because students learn differently and different strategies may help different students, so having strategies available will teach students to overcome challenges they face while reading. 

The Perfect Classroom

In my opinion the perfect classroom is defined more by its atmosphere than by the materials within it.  Many school districts, especially those located in large cities, do not have budgets that support allocating resources that would likely be found in 'the perfect classroom'.  It is for that reason that I find equal importance in a teacher's ability to use the resources they have to teach students with different needs in the most effective possible way.  Even simple things like ensuring that students can feel confident and safe when asking or answering questions is essential to perfecting a classroom.  Establishing mutual respect, rules, and routines with students can be just as important as the books or computer programs that can be found in a classroom.    

That being said, if given the opportunity to design the perfect classroom I would ensure that I had all the materials necessary to help students achieving at different levels reach success.  I would have books, of multiple genres, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and plays at varying levels of difficulty.  There would be posters on the wall encouraging creativity, good work ethic, and literacy.  There would also be a map on the wall which we could use for activities about the world's different places and cultures. The student's work would also be displayed throughout the classroom.  A word wall would have vocabulary words and other words students wanted to learn to define and spell.  The students have individual desks but also have seats at round tables giving them the opportunity to work collaboratively in small groups.  There would be an schedule that can be adjusted for each day's activities posted in a location that students could easily see and a calendar to remind us of important dates.  There would also be an area for the class to get together for shared reading.  Ideally there would be iPads or computers for the students to use to help them become technologically literate, and to also do activities that reinforce the skills we work on as a class.  A smart board can also be useful to encourage student interest and participation.    

Ultimately, I would like a classroom that offers students a safe and encouraging learning environment where they can be excited to learn and grow not only as readers and writers, but also as individuals.  

My Literacy History

Throughout the majority of my public school education I did not like reading.  I learned to read without any major difficulties but as I got older and books started getting longer and more difficult to comprehend I struggled and I quickly lost interest.  ADHD made it extremely difficult for me to focus and when I read I would lose my place and start reading in a completely new spot, sometimes on the next page, and finish reading only to realize I had no idea what was going on.  I particularly remember being assigned The Pearl by John Steinbeck in sixth grade language arts class; I read the first two chapters and unsuccessfully attempted to answer the questions we were assigned for homework.  After I tried again with the next two chapters and was not any more successful so I became frustrated and just stopped reading.  My teacher made me sit at a table by myself in class everyday because I stopped handing in the homework questions.  In hindsight I shouldn't have given up, but at the time I was frustrated and I had no idea what was going on in the book no matter how carefully I tried to read it.  Despite my many initial frustrations with reading I eventually learned to love it.  Using strategies that I've taught myself along the way I became better at reading and found books that I liked.  The first book I ever really loved was Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick, which I read in eight grade.  In high school I found that I loved reading autobiographies, especially about athletes and musicians. 

I learned to write a lot more easily than I learned to read.  I have also always liked writing.  Initially I think I liked writing because I didn't like talking and it was a lot easier, and oftentimes more effective, for me to express myself through writing.  Writing gave me more time to sort through my thoughts and express them in a way that was coherent to other people.  Speaking was frustrating for me when I was younger because I was in speech for all of elementary school and a lot of people couldn't understand what I was trying to say to them and repeating myself eventually got frustrating, especially because it wasn't always that they couldn't understand the words I was saying but more that I couldn't express the thoughts in my head into words.  Writing helped me prove to people that I wasn't stupid and that I did have things to say.  

Both my failures and my successes in literature have led to my desire to become a teacher.  I want to help students learn to love reading and writing and help them learn to use literacy as a source for knowledge, an escape, and a way to learn about and express themselves.  I don't want students to become frustrated by their struggles, but instead to accept them, overcome them, and learn from them just like they will with every other struggle they encounter throughout their lives.