Essay On Teaching Literacy

Chapter One and Two

“Knowledge and beliefs about reading and learning to read are wedded in ways that influence almost every aspect of a teacher’s instructional decisions and practices” (Vacca

Vacca, Gove, Lenhart & Burkey, 2012). A teacher’s belief system is formulated around what he or she knows about literacy learning and teaching literacy. A teacher’s beliefs can be based off ones own personal experience with reading and writing as well as practical experience which is obtained from working and learning with students throughout his or her career. A teacher also uses ones professional study to formulate beliefs. This practice helps a teacher expand on his or her knowledge when teaching literacy. Even though teachers all share the same common goal when it comes to teaching literacy, it is the teacher’s beliefs in literacy learning that influence instructional decisions and practices. Teachers may use different methods of teaching literacy to different students within ones classroom based on the needs of his or her students. When teaching literacy through ones beliefs, a teacher finds ways to explore reading and writing in the classroom. This allows students to feel comfortable to grow as independent readers and writers. Teachers who engage in professional study may rely on a literacy coach. “Using their expertise in reading and learning to read, literacy coaches provide professional development opportunities and resources” (Vacca et al., 2012). A literacy coach has many various roles, but their primary goal is support teacher learning. Literacy coaches also develop curriculum, present valuable professional development to teachers, model lessons and supply material and feedback. Teaching the provided lessons and u...

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...with them before they are able to understand the meaning of sentences or other bodies of text. Teachers who believe in the bottom up method also feel that students must obtain other prerequisites such as mastering letter-sound relationships and word identification in order to comprehend any meaning. Where as teachers who believe in the top down method feel that reading for meaning is most important. They feel that students should select material that has meaning to them and that they will enjoy. Teachers who use the top down model encourage their students to engage in activities where they are able to speak, write and read to develop the skills they need in order to read. This method implies that a teacher believes the students will be able to read the words on the page by using context clues to help figure out words he or she may not be familiar with.