Literacy Essay

Firstly what is literacy, and why should it be an important part of our everyday classroom routine. It is commonly thought that literacy is based around children reading books and writing, however literacy involves more. Literacy is the broader term for many smaller parts such as comprehension, vocabulary, and phonemic awareness.

Children of today were born into what Flint, Kitson, Lowe and Shaw describe as a “kaleidoscope of images, print and sound”. They suggest that literacy involves the way in which we use forms of and a mixture of media such as print, visual and audio technologies to make meaning.

So what should teachers include in their literacy classroom. There are three main models that teachers can follow: the industrial model focusing

These programs although designed by the teacher should take into consideration interests of the students. This increase engagement and quality of learning according to Cambourne.

Literacy programs should follow the six principles for teaching reading and writing. In summary these principles outline how beliefs about literacy are culturally and socially constructed, that literacy is best learnt through inquiry, that learners use their background knowledge and cultural understandings to make sense of texts and that literacy practices need to be able relevant to the real world.

Children naturally want to learn how to read and write. Literacy programs scaffold the progress of students, as Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development implies. Modelling shows children how to read and write, use different types of text, draw meaning, and at the same time develops listening, and viewing skills.

Transition through the stages of reading and writing is very important for students, we need to constantly assess through both formal and informal means, ensuring that children continue to learn. Assessments such as running records for reading assess the level a student is at in terms of reading; some teachers then use these levels to create reading

Forms of this are independent reading and writing, as implemented each morning by the teacher I observed through silent reading for 10 minutes.

It is also important the students read to each other. This is also implemented in the literacy program I observed as the students do pair/share reading. This involves students reading a section of a chosen book to another student and then telling their partner about the book. These books are taken home the weekend before and students are encouraged to read at home. Reading aloud develops speaking skills and summarising the book allows students to develop skills in conveying their thoughts through verbal communication.

It is important that as teachers we do not fall in the trap of believing that literacy is just reading and writing. Teachers should set activities that encourage students to go deeper into texts. This was implemented every morning, after reading the children would choose a comprehension task the teacher had hung on the wall and write about their