Entry #1

This week I shared a conversation with a colleague concerning her philosophy on teaching literacy. She strongly feels that reading and writing need to be linked together and taught across the curriculum so students recognize how literacy skills impact and affect numerous aspects in our lives. 

She also believes it is vital to model for students when she uses literacy skills in her own life to help students see how these skills are applied in the "real world".  She shared a classroom example from the past week where she brought in her water bill that had a graph of water usage, a tiered chart reflecting water rates based on amount used, a brief paragraph detailing how water rates will be changing in the coming months, and a short survey on the back asking about customer satisfaction (which if completed, would result in a coupon to reduce a future bill payment). She shared that this type of literacy integration is vital to show students the numerous ways in which literacy skills are utilized in our lives.

She shared that she feels it is important to provide choice for her students when selecting reading and writing content, but that it is not always feasible due to school/district curriculum requirements.  She shared that her philosophy has recently changed to incorporate the importance of using technology for our digital natives as a medium for learning and practicing literacy skills.  As she prepares students to be successful literate learners, she is frustrated with the lack of sufficient technology to help support her belief in this important area.

At the end of our conversation, my colleague shared how her philosophy continues to change, especially as she sees more and more students coming to school without any literacy background.  She feels that more resources need to be directed at early intervention literacy programs and more community outreach to stress the importance of starting literacy skills at an early age.