Philosophy of Teaching Literacy

I enjoyed having an opportunity to visit with colleagues about their philosophies of teaching literacy.  Although we all had the same general ideas, the way we described our approaches varied.  My basic philosophy of teaching literacy is that every student can learn to read.  They do not all learn to read the same way or at the same pace.  That is where the art and science of teaching come in to play.  It’s the job of the  literacy teacher (in some cases, the classroom teacher) to help students build the necessary skills to become a proficient reader.  The needs of each student vary.  Some students may need support to improve vocabulary,  fluency, comprehension, or phonics.  Some may need additional attention to basic  phonemic awareness .    The challenge for the teacher is to balance how instruction is focused to meet each student’s individual needs.  The overarching goal is to help students discover the joy of reading as well as the skills necessary for proficiency.

                I’ve spoken at some length over the past weeks with Mrs. B, the Reading Specialist at the school  where I have been doing some work.  I have learned an immense amount from her.  When asked to share her philosophy, she said that “Literacy is a balance of creative thinking, reading, and writing.”  She also mentioned that she is not the only teacher in the room.  The students teach each other as they make connections and discoveries.  Mrs. B reminded me of the importance of visualizing during reading.  Students need to not only visualize the story as they read, but visualize how words are put together as they write.  Visualization is a difficult skill to teach because it is conceptually complex.  Mrs. B commented that phonemic awareness often gets lost in the intermediate grades.  I completely agree.  This takes me back to the way that I feel about finding the perfect balance of instruction that covers the components of literacy instruction to support the needs of each student.  We agreed that instruction often focuses on comprehension as we prepare students for assessments, but the area that needs the most support may be vocabulary or word study. 

                I have had numerous opportunities to observe Mrs. B since the beginning of the school year.  She uses strategies from Wiley Blevens, Orton-Gillingham, Reading A-Z, ZooPhonics, Words Their Way, Soar to Success, and other various materials.  She uses a variety of strategies depending upon the skill level of the students and the specific skill she is teaching.  Her lessons generally start by talking about vocabulary and brainstorming definitions followed by explicit vocabulary instruction, pre-reading discussion, reading and reading for fluency, followed by comprehension activities.  Students enjoy time in her groups.  The strategies she uses focus on the needs of individual students.   These multi-sensory strategies are beneficial to all students.