Literacy
Literacy, the process of expanding knowledge through reading and writing, is imperative to student success in the classroom. As a future educator, it is my responsibility to provide opportunities for my students to expand their literary horizons and read things that they can relate to and learn from. Reflecting on these readings is also an important part of the learning process as it allows children to form opinions and express their thoughts.
CTRD 3000
Fundamentals of Language and Literacy Instruction
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As part of our field experience, we were paired with first-grade students from Richland Elementary to tutor children who needed additional help with reading.
I developed weekly, individualized lessons that provided several opportunities to practice phoneme awareness (recognition of sounds in words), learn new vowel correspondences, read decodable texts, and model how to spell and read tough words.
EDMD 5100
Outstanding Authors Project
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In this course, we were given a list of children's authors to research more about. In doing so, I was able to learn about author Kate DiCamillo who wrote several well-known children's books such as Because of Winn Dixie, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, The Tale of Despereaux, and more!
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Her novels were some of my favorites in elementary school, so I enjoyed being able to discover more about her and how her writing career began. The class presented their findings, so I was able to gather insights into many other wonderful children's authors and some good books to read in my future classroom.
CTRD 3013
Reading Lesson Plans
In this course, we were instructed to design two reading lessons: a whole group and small group lesson. For the whole group lesson, I chose to use an interactive read aloud with The Lorax to teach the standard of cause and effect. As we read the book, I had students help sequence the events to understand their relationship.
For the small group lesson, I continued using the same book and standard and designed related activities for struggling readers. This lesson builds off the whole group and provides additional examples and activities to ensure that students understand the cause and effects of events from The Lorax.