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It is very important for me to create an environment in my classroom that allows students

to apply themselves without worrying about fear or feeling pressure. Strickland, Ganske, and

Monroe (2002) list the following characteristics that inspire reading and writing in the

classroom: the teacher is an explicit reading model, a book rich environment, opportunities for

choice, opportunities to socially interact with others, opportunities to become familiar with lots

of books, and appropriate reading related incentives (p. 18). I want students to view reading and

writing as valuable tools for learning. Learning to read requires one to bring meaning to a text in

order to get meaning from a text or to understand the text.

Here is a literacy project about developing and emergent literacy awareness and progress

where a student and I co-created three emergent level early reading books. For this project, I had

the opportunity to work with a student who was struggling as an emergent reader and writer. By

conducting a mini interview, I found out what that the student really enjoyed going to recess so

we co-created a book with photographs of her playing at recess followed by her writing

sentences that matched the pictures then she was able to read the book and share it with her

peers. The best part for me was to see how excited she was to see herself in pictures! It is

amazing how excited kids get at this age to see pictures of themselves. This excitement really

encouraged her to connect different concepts about print. “Assessing children’s understanding,

and sometimes misunderstandings, provides insight into students’ print awareness and learning

needs” (Gillet & Temple, 2004, p. 34). By conducting this project, I was able to identify that this

student was aware of letter knowledge and the directional rules for ordering print, working on

phonemes, phonemic awareness, and becoming aware that each letter makes a sound and that by

combining these sounds she can make words. This project really made this concept concrete for

her and it was truly thrilling to watch this happen right before my eyes!
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According to Weaver (2009) everything a person reads is influenced by the readers own

personal schema which includes knowledge, experiences, and feelings (p. 17). As a teacher, my

goal is to value each individual student and take into consideration personal schemas when I

develop instruction and assessments. I can accomplish this goal by analyzing students’ miscues

to determine and classify strategies that they are making. I need to look for patterns and draw

conclusions from this analysis to help guide my instruction. Matching instruction to readers’

needs is critical for student achievement. I will characterize reading by looking at miscues

(syntactic, semantic, and graphic) to determine and classify strategies that the reader is making.

Here is a literacy assessment portfolio that I created that includes concepts about print,

emergent writing with an analysis of student work, and oral running records. “To determine the

most appropriate next step in literacy instruction, the teacher observes a child as he reads and

shares an understanding of the text” (Shea, 2012, p. 12). Conducting running records allows

teachers to see skills and strategies that students use to decode, comprehend, and interpret

different levels of text. When I conducted the running records found in the assessment portfolio,

I concluded that the student was an emergent reader who should be focusing on one on one

matching and voice to print using sight words. The student was just on the cusp of becoming a

fluent reader. I concluded that the student would benefit from more practice with sight word

recognition, phonemic awareness, and blending. They were able to use meaning throughout the

text, showed signs of using visual features of print by attempting to blend and use decoding

strategies. Running records helps me to determine what reading level a student is currently

reading at and also helps to guide future instructional reading levels and skills.

“Reading instruction is delivered through shared reading, small-group meetings, one-on-

one conferences, and modeled read- alouds” (Boushey & Moser, 2014, p. 13). My approach to
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teaching reading also includes providing read-alouds that incorporate mini lessons that focus on

a certain aspect of reading. Read-alouds are so beneficial because they provide a demonstration

of fluent reading and build comprehension skills by demonstrating the relationship between

printed word and meaning. I also model specific comprehension strategies into the lesson and

refer to think-pair sharing at least two times per lesson. I also provide time every day for

independent reading where students can choose a text that is of interest to them. During

independent reading time, I am able to meet one on one with my students to focus on their skills

and comprehension. “As professionals, we include an extensive amount in our literacy block. We

teach specific reading strategies to increase comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and vocabulary”

(Boushey & Moser, 2014, p. 13). I keep notes in a journal and track student progress and goals. I

assess my students’ reading by conducting running records and providing additional

comprehension and fluency assessments frequently.

Theorists, professional communities, and proven practices have all had an effect on how I

teach Language arts. The daily five (Boushey & Moser, 2014) has had a significant influence on

how I teach language arts. There are so many benefits to this practice for both teachers and

students. I have now witnessed in several classrooms and demonstrated in my own classroom

that this practice is successful in teaching students how to engage in the acts of reading and

writing independently, provides the ability to differentiate instruction, gives students choice, and

students are held accountable to stay on task. This practice also allows the teacher to engage in

the act of teaching students in many settings: one-on-one, small groups, and whole groups,

teaches students how to be independent and build stamina. Weaver (2009) has also had a

significant influence on how I teach language arts. Using running records and miscue analysis is

definitely a practice that I will continue to research and implement into my classroom in the
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future as I find this essential to accurately measure students’ progress, plan for future instruction,

provide a way for students to understand their progress, and communicate progress to parents

and the school community. My professional community is also very influential because we all

share a common goal and can network to connect with new knowledge and skills.
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References:

Boushey, G., & Moser, J. (2014). The daily 5: Fostering literacy independence in the elementary

grades. (2nd ed.). Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Gillet, J., & Temple, C. (2004). Understanding reading problems: Assessment and instruction

(6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Shea, M. (2012). Running records: Authentic instruction in early childhood education.

Routledge. Retrieved from: EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=463368&site=eds-live&scope=site

Strickland, D. Ganske, K., Monroe, J., (2002). Supporting Struggling Readers and Writers:

Strategies for Classroom Intervention 3-6. Portland, Maine: Steinhouse Publishers

Weaver, C. (2009). Reading process: Brief edition of reading process and practice (3rd edition).

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.