Balanced literacy
Balanced literacy is a comprehensive approach to literacy education. It includes all components of oral and written language. Experiences in read alouds, guided reading, independent reading, interactive and guided writing, independent writing, and vocabulary-rich conversations surrounding each provide students instruction in mechanics (i.e. phonics and grammar) as well as comprehension. The balanced literacy approach often incorporates the Reader/Writer Workshop model which scaffolds students' journey to becoming proficient readers and writers with mini-lessons (direct instruction), guided practice, independent practice, and consistent teacher feedback.
The first artifact is an article by Bogner, Dolezal, Pressley, Raphael, & Roehrig (2002), titled Balanced Literacy Instruction. The authors discuss evidence to support the model, especially for elementary students, as well as what it is supposed to look like in the classroom. The second artifact is the daily schedule in my classroom. As you can see, I follow a balanced literacy approach including phonics (Fundations), Writing Workshop (Lovely Writers), and Reading Workshop (Shared Reading followed by Daily 5). Although Read Aloud is not on the schedule, it is often incorporated into Writing, Theme Activity, and/or Math. We use the Lucy Calkins curriculum for writing, which closely follows the Writing Workshop model. Our reading curriculum, Good Habits, Great Readers, follows a strategy-instruction model. Each week, we work on a particular strategy. I also incorporate our themes into this instruction and practice as much as possible. For example, one of our fall themes is "scarecrows", so I selected an emergent reader entitled, "Look at the Scarecrow" to teach students strategies for problem-solving unknown words (God Habits, Great Readers strategy for that particular week). Students received their own copy of this book to keep in their book buckets. These artifacts show my understanding of the balanced literacy framework, and my ability to apply it in the classroom.
Balanced literacy is a comprehensive approach to literacy education. It includes all components of oral and written language. Experiences in read alouds, guided reading, independent reading, interactive and guided writing, independent writing, and vocabulary-rich conversations surrounding each provide students instruction in mechanics (i.e. phonics and grammar) as well as comprehension. The balanced literacy approach often incorporates the Reader/Writer Workshop model which scaffolds students' journey to becoming proficient readers and writers with mini-lessons (direct instruction), guided practice, independent practice, and consistent teacher feedback.
The first artifact is an article by Bogner, Dolezal, Pressley, Raphael, & Roehrig (2002), titled Balanced Literacy Instruction. The authors discuss evidence to support the model, especially for elementary students, as well as what it is supposed to look like in the classroom. The second artifact is the daily schedule in my classroom. As you can see, I follow a balanced literacy approach including phonics (Fundations), Writing Workshop (Lovely Writers), and Reading Workshop (Shared Reading followed by Daily 5). Although Read Aloud is not on the schedule, it is often incorporated into Writing, Theme Activity, and/or Math. We use the Lucy Calkins curriculum for writing, which closely follows the Writing Workshop model. Our reading curriculum, Good Habits, Great Readers, follows a strategy-instruction model. Each week, we work on a particular strategy. I also incorporate our themes into this instruction and practice as much as possible. For example, one of our fall themes is "scarecrows", so I selected an emergent reader entitled, "Look at the Scarecrow" to teach students strategies for problem-solving unknown words (God Habits, Great Readers strategy for that particular week). Students received their own copy of this book to keep in their book buckets. These artifacts show my understanding of the balanced literacy framework, and my ability to apply it in the classroom.