Literacy Philosophy

Jessica McCracken
Longwood University
 As a literacy educator, it is my imperative to determine the needs of each learner and

construct a plan that addresses those needs. To be successful, I need to be knowledgeable of the best

practices for current research-supported literacy instruction. Strong literacy instruction prepares our

young learners with the knowledge and strategies required to acquire all other subject matter.

Twenty-first century learners engage in a large variety of texts throughout a typical day. Their

literacy competency is the gate that stands between immersing themselves in these texts or being

unable to partake in the conversation. There are basic tenets of strong literacy instruction, including

phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension (Morrow & Gambrell, 2019),

but student learning also requires engagement and relevancy. “Reading does not consist merely of

decoding the written word or language; rather, it is preceded by and intertwined with knowledge of

the world” (Freire et al., 2018, p. 29). Once learners master the mechanics of how to read and write,

it then falls on the literacy instructor to aid them in understanding how these skills allow us to

venture down other avenues of learning.

Literacy instruction should be personalized for every student, differentiated for their unique

learning needs and goals. According to Morrow & Gambrell (2019), a comprehensive view of

literacy includes “three reciprocal modes of communicating: speaking/listening, reading/writing, and

viewing/representing.” Literacy educators work towards providing opportunities for learners to foster

independence in each of these skills. To be successful, many students will need differentiated

support and structures. When differentiating instruction, it is important that there is curricular

coordination between what is taught in a whole class setting and what is taught as an intervention

(Allington, 2009, p. 90). Ensuring that intervention strategies taught to students are not in conflict

with each other encourages consistent use of those strategies instead of partial use of multiple,

varying strategies (Allington, 2009; Calkins, 2001). Kilpatrick (2015) states that there are three

things that must happen to advance struggling readers. Readers must first develop strong phonic

decoding skills for when they inevitably encounter unfamiliar words. Readers must then develop
sight vocabularies to remember words they have read. Once a reader can competently decode

unfamiliar words and efficiently store new words, then the reader needs a high levels of reading

practice (Kilpatrick, 2015). When supporting struggling students, it is important that differentiated

interventions do not limit the student’s reading volume. A higher volume of reading and writing

paired with additional intervention support yields more accelerated literacy growth (Allington, 2009).

Personalized literacy instruction is essential to ensure that all students can engage in Morrow &

Gambrell’s three reciprocal modes of communicating.

Disciplinary literacy is the key for students to be successful readers as they encounter more

complex and content-specific texts. My role as a literacy educator is not limited to preparing students

with a basic literacy understanding, but also to prepare readers to engage in the large swaths of

discipline-specific texts they will encounter in their daily lives. Even from an early age, readers must

have access to appropriate leveled texts across all disciplines to be competent readers (Allington,

2009). This not only allows students to continue their reading growth by encouraging high levels of

reading volume, but it also allows students to engage in content from specific disciplines, like

mathematics, social studies, or sciences. Once readers have mastered a basic literacy understanding,

they must attain additional strategies in disciplinary reading to be able to access more challenging

subject-specific texts (T. Shanahan & C. Shanahan, 2008, p. 44). Reading strategies and thinking

processes used by readers varies depending upon the subject of the text and learning these discipline-

specific strategies aids in text comprehension (T. Shanahan & C. Shanahan, 2008). This level of

literacy competency allows students to engage more successfully in the world around them.
 References

Allington, R. L. (2009). What really matters in response to intervention: research-based designs.

Pearson.

Calkins, L. (2001). The art of teaching reading. Longman.

Freire, P., Ramos, M. B., Shor, I., & Macedo, D. P. (2018). Pedagogy of the oppressed: 50th

anniversary edition. Bloomsbury Academic.

Kilpatrick, D. A. (2015). Essentials of assessing, preventing, and overcoming

reading difficulties. Wiley.

Morrow, L. M., & Gambrell, L. B. (2019). Best practices in literacy instruction. The Guilford Press.

Shanahan, T., & Shanahan, C. (2008). Teaching Disciplinary Literacy to Adolescents: Rethinking

Content- Area Literacy. Harvard Educational Review, 78(1), 40–59.

http://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7539/urlt/Mod4-TDLS.pdf