Emergent Literacy is based on the idea that the world is full of print that children begin to

notice at a young age long before they learn to actually read and write the words. Teaching

students to read and write is making connections and building on things they already know.

Understanding this philosophy is essential for teacher to possess because it is up to the teacher

provide a balanced approach that successfully combines top down and bottom up methods of

teaching concepts without overemphasizing one over another. Teachers need to understand the

foundations behind this philosophy, so they can give a lot of opportunities for children to explore

reading and writing in various forms through teacher and student directed lessons.

Emergent literacy approach helps teachers think critically about the curriculum because it

forces in depth analysis, judgments, and decisions on how to reach all students. A great example

is when teachers evaluate students on reading with miscue analysis. Teachers are able to look at

the results and/or patterns for each student and the class as whole to determine who is struggling

in what area and then critically reflect on how to address the issues. With writing, teachers

should give a lot of opportunities for students to write. By providing markers to draw,

whiteboards, magnetic boards, and allowing students to engage in invented spelling. Observing

and monitoring will provide much information that can will help the teacher make sound and

well throughout judgments and choice for the progress of each student.

Teachers must find the strengths and weaknesses of students. For example, a teacher may

know Billy likes art and he really likes to draw. Therefore, she knows that forming letters, words,

and sentences may take a little longer. The teacher would use this knowledge to incorporate

drawing into teaching to write letters and words underneath the drawing. This will not only play

to his interests but also his strengths while Billy is learning at the same time. Furthermore, when

understanding and knowing what interest students, teachers will be able to help the student feel
confident in their abilities. Cultural and community influences help formulate the lesson. For

example, knowing the academic knowledge of your students, will help the teacher determine

each student's zone of proximal development.

When teaching young students to read and write, creativity is a must. Teachers must

understand their students and provide creative options to help them learn to read and write.

Personally, my creatively will address the needs of all students. Thinking critically help teachers

form opinions and ideas to effectively reach all students. They consider many factors (cultural,

community, students with disabilities, ELL) that will help plan the lesson. For example, knowing

the interests of students, teachers can use the ingenuity, creativity, and innovation to present a

balanced literacy approach to learning.