Teachers as Literacy Leaders is a very informative article for future teachers of America. The article states that it is necessary to have literacy leaders in every classroom and I believe having a teacher that is a literacy leader in every classroom would make a difference in the student’s achievements. By having literacy leaders in all classrooms, it would provide students with equal opportunities in literacy. The article also discusses how one of the first steps to becoming a literacy leader is having a love of reading. I do not necessarily agree with this statement only because there are plenty of influential teachers who do not have a love of reading. On the contrary, I believe all teachers should have a respect of reading not a love. Another statement correlating with teachers having a love of reading is that teachers would like to give students a love of reading that they themselves do not have. I believe that all teachers who do not have a love of reading agree with that statement and hope to be able to provide an appreciation and love of reading that they do not have.
For the teachers who do not love reading they attend workshops or observe colleagues who do love reading to see how they transmit this to their students. I believe that this is one of the best ways to learn how to be a great literacy leader if you are struggling in that area. This allows teachers to continue their education to become a better literacy leader. The article discusses how literacy leaders strive to help the disadvantaged students by being skilled literacy leaders. I think that when teachers become skillful and confident in being a literacy leader the disadvantaged students will start to have more progress in their reading. This way both students and teachers are confident and comfortable in what they are learning and teaching. One section of the article that is a crucial component in being a successful literacy leader is creating engaging and significant activities for their students. The more engaging and educational the activity is, the more the students will involve themselves. The article also mentions that by creating these activities they are improving the student’s background knowledge. I believe that students need to build their background knowledge so that they can make connections between other materials they see and read. This is why I agree to add multicultural text to the classroom. Students build background knowledge by making real world connections to themselves, and what better way to do it then to include more personal text about student’s lives.
Response to Jaime's Blog
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jaime that it is imperative that teachers have a ‘respect’ for reading. It is not realistic to assume and demand that all teachers ‘love’ reading. However, all teachers should respect their student’s strengths and weaknesses to encourage students to practice their reading. Also, teachers should create opportunities for students to engage in various texts, and have plenty of resources in the room to support this. When evaluating and knowing your individual students strengths you can help them find a book of their interest. I guarantee if you capture one student and show them a book that caters to their style, the rest will work itself out. Students will find their respect and love for reading once they understand they have a choice. A choice in what they read, and how they make connections. Again, fluency and comprehension will follow once students are given the skills and practice to find reading material that interests them.
Jaimie makes a great point that teachers do not necessarily have to have a love for reading but rather a respect for it. As long as they are promoting reading in a positive way to their students then their students will also portray reading in a good way as well. Teachers are the biggest role models in school for their students so they need to be as positive as they can especially with reading and literacy. The more students become familiar with or surrounded by literacy the more they will want to read which can only be a beneficial thing in the long run. As future educators we need to show our students that not everyone needs to be the greatest reader but that it is a process and the more we work at the better we become.
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