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RUNNING HEAD: LITERACY: A TOOLKIT OF INSTRUCTION

LITERACY:
A TOOLKIT OF INSTRUCTION

By: Janet F. Albright

Arkansas State University RDGN 6313

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RUNNING HEAD: LITERACY: A TOOLKIT OF INSTRUCTION

Introduction

Over recent years there has been a large and broad focus on early literacy and best teaching

practices. There are several instructional practices that have proven to be effective teaching

strategies. Teachers must consider interventions, differentiation and practice. This paper will

discuss three teaching practices used in my own classroom; the KWL chart, Phonics and Reading

and Writing and how theories are considered in these practices. I will also address the outcome

from teaching through these instructional practices.

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RUNNING HEAD: LITERACY: A TOOLKIT OF INSTRUCTION

KWL CHART

A literacy instructional approach that I use in my classroom is the KWL chart. This

means my students and I have a discussion about what they all ready know, what they want to

know and then following a lesson; what they have learned. KWL charts help my students

organize information throughout a lesson. Using the KWL chart in my classroom has been an

effective tool because it allows me to monitor student input and gage where they are. The KWL

chart also helps me to plan appropriately and for differentiated instruction. Students respond well

with the KWL chart and it is something that we have done several times. My students love to

have their input and recorded and they really enjoy coming back and reflecting on what they

have learned and what they are still not too sure about.

I have found the KWL chart to be an effective instructional approach in my classroom. So and so

states “the KWL chart provides a guide and a support for students as they read widely” (p. 271)

The KWL chart is aligned to both the schema theory and the constructivist learning theory. The

schema because it helps students organize their thoughts and students store than information into

“slots” in their brains to retrieve information for later use. The use of the KWL chart is also in

alignment with the constructivist learning theory, because the KWL deliberately focuses on the

thought process of the given topic. (Handsfield 2016)

PHONICS

Teaching of phonics is an additional and integral literacy approach used in my classroom.

Phonemic awareness is a foundational component to learning to read. Teaching phonics reflects

the Heggertys Phonemic Awareness Curriculum, (Handsfield 2016) in the sense that phonemic
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RUNNING HEAD: LITERACY: A TOOLKIT OF INSTRUCTION

awareness is taught daily, explicitly, controlled, whole class and in a short amount of time.

However, my classroom also reflects a behaviorist approach in that "The program emphasizes

short intervals of practice and repetition, with an emphasis on incremental growth and stamina

(Handsfield 2016) Teaching phonemic awareness coincides with letter and sound knowledge.

Students learn specific patterns and rules that further enable them to decode words. Phonics

gives students the knowledge to break apart words by their sounds.

I follow a program called Fundations. Fundation teaches in a sequential manner and

builds from previously taught skills. I begin each day reviewing just a handful of letter sounds

with a picture flash card. We also review a couple of previously taught sounds like diagraphs.

We practice tapping out sounds with our fingers and sweeping our fingers across to blend the

sounds to formulate the word. Then we will introduce the new rule like blending short vowels

with consonants. We will practice on white boards independently several words focusing on

blending short vowels with consonants before we will do a quick activity in our workbook. The

whole lesson is between fifteen and twenty minutes. I am consistent with teaching phonics

through Fundations and I believe the program works and the explicit and consistent teaching

works. My students gain a breadth of new knowledge and skills. They are able to understand

letters and sounds and how they formulate into words. They are able to understand rules to the

English language. Fundations is an effective teaching tool because it is consistent. The children

are receiving the repetition that they need to eventually memorize a new skill. Fundations is

effective because it builds fluency with the repetition and builds from previously taught skills.

Sometimes I will re-teach a lesson because my students had doubt or lack of confidence in a

particular skill and I want them to feel confident to learn a new skill or rule. I also believe it is

important to use Fundations to its full potential which includes several short stories. Sometimes
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RUNNING HEAD: LITERACY: A TOOLKIT OF INSTRUCTION

part of the lesson includes reading the short story and finding the patterns taught that day. For

example, two consonants put together to make a new sound such as ch, sh, th are called

consonant diagraphs. I will use the promethean board to display the story and students will locate

the consonant diagraphs and circle them with a whiteboard pen. They usually enjoy this activity.

Also when teaching phonics I incorporate hand movements or other motions whenever possible.

I find that children are more engaged in learning when they are able to move and I believe it

helps them to recall information taught to them. For diagraphs we will say a diagraph is two

letters and we will hold up two hands, put together to make one sound, then we will clasp our

hands together. As we practice different diagraphs we will do these motions. T one hand up H

one hand up th sound as we clasp.

Information processing theories attempt to understand direct cognition from within the

head, “addressing the processing of stimuli.” Hansfield (2016) The theory is basically that the

brain is like a computer and it gathers and stores information for use in the future. Phonics

instruction is explicit and consistent. The students repeat the sounds taught daily therefore they

are storing the information and using it later to decode.

READING AND WRITING

Reading and writing complement each other and should be taught concurrently. Teaching

reading and writing means I must empathize and relate to my students and have a deeper

understanding of their perspectives. In the case study of Regina, Brooks states that she believes

that she can not engage the students in reading and writing if she is not doing the same. Brooks

p183 (2007). I often say this about different aspects within our school. We model. Constantly.

Students view and learn from our modeling from the top down. If the teacher doesn’t show a
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RUNNING HEAD: LITERACY: A TOOLKIT OF INSTRUCTION

personal connection and eagerness towards reading and writing; how could it be that students are

expected to be so? Stage theories reflect that reading and writing are taught concurrently. As

soon as children are learning letters and sounds they begin to making the connection that letters

together form words and words communicate. (Handsfield 2016) While we are teaching letters,

sounds and phonics, we are teaching the students how to write these letters. We are dictating and

formulating words, modeling proper writing techniques and communication.

Teaching reading and writing effectively will blend together skills and knowledge while

building on them and providing challenges for children. Simply learning letters and sounds

builds into spelling which also is building vocabulary and will lead to writing words and

stringing words to formulate sentences. Reading a story and asking a student to retell the story in

their own words allows them opportunity to demonstrate their comprehension and practice

writing. These are all tremendous gains for a student.

CONCLUSION

Using the KWL chart, teaching phonics and reading and writing are all teaching practices

implemented in my classroom. While they share the common goal of reading, they address

several components of reading. These methods all complement each other and the students

receive reinforcement and repetition. As a whole, there is not one teaching practices that does it

all and not one theory that encompasses all aspects of teaching reading. We as teachers have a

toolkit; a range of practices and instructional methods to deliver a high quality and meaningful

purpose; providing our students with the skills necessary and the confidence to be readers.
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RUNNING HEAD: LITERACY: A TOOLKIT OF INSTRUCTION

Bibliography

Brooks, G. W. (2007). Teachers as Readers and Writers and as Teachers of Reading and
Writing. The Journal of Educational Research,100(3), 177-191.
doi:10.3200/joer.100.3.177-191

Guzzetti, B. J. (2002). Literacy in America: An encyclopedia of history, theory, and practice.

Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio.

Handsfield, L. J. Literacy Theory as Practice: Connecting Theory and Instruction in K–12

Classrooms. [Chegg]. Retrieved
from https://ereader.chegg.com/#/books/9780807774144/