EDLI635 Theory and Practice of Literacy Instruction

My career in education began as administrative assistant in a Head Start early childhood program. I worked alongside the educational coordinator, supporting her in curriculum design, assessment strategies, and professional development trainings. Mastering these skills eventually helped me become better teacher when I chose to go into the classroom. I am now an Early Head Start Teacher in a thee-year-old classroom. I find that at this age, a child's brain is literally like a sponge and they absorb everything I learn, even beyond my wildest expectation. I use a lot of scaffolding in my instruction, as well as learning through play and teaching by example. My Teaching Philosophy

Shared Reading: Ms. Perez reads a poem with her students together as a whole group activity, and then branches it out into a short phonics lesson. The lesson addresses the essential components of oral language, phonological awareness, word identification, and phonics. Since it's shared reading, everyone reads together with the teacher so everyone feels comfortable, even the weaker students. During the explicit phonics lesson, Ms. Perez supports her students' problem-solving skills as we see in the following examples: - When a student confuses "d" for "b," she explains his reasoning and helps him reach the right answer on his own. - She encourages students to sound out each letter seperately, and then blend the sounds together to form words. Shared reading promotes literacy by introducing harder words that children wouldn't necessarily be able to read on their own. It also boosts their confidence in reading, because no one will scrutinize their mist...