Reading Philosophy Paper

Today, I accomplished finishing my reading philosophy paper for my Reading Essentials class. It was a long process. It took me two weeks to write it. I'm so happy it's done. I already finished my final papers for my teaching math and language development classes. I will share my math paper another day.

Here is my reading philosophy paper:

“The books that help you most are those which make you think the most. The hardest way of learning is that of easy reading; but a great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and beauty,” said Theodore Parker on books, an 18th century minister and abolitionist. The author of Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson said about reading, “It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations—something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own.” These quotes summarize to me what reading is all about. Reading is about thinking and connecting to what is read from various types of text. A well-balanced reading program is needed so students can become proficient readers, in doing so, they will continue to read for pleasure all of their lives. A good reading program requires these components: comprehension, accuracy, fluency and extended vocabulary. To implement a well-balanced reading program, I would need to focus in curriculum, assessment, instruction, classroom environment, and how students affect in relation to the teaching of reading.

First, I would investigate the state standards and review the curriculum provided at the school I am placed. The state standards set the tone on what the reader of a particular grade level need to know on reading. When I plan lessons, mini-lessons and guiding reading groups, my objectives need to be aligned with the state standards. As I mentioned previously, I also need to review the curriculum if any provided by the school. The curriculum must align to the state standards. Ideally, I would like to have Professional Learning Community (PLC) with the same grade level teachers to plan together on basic lesson plans and thematic units. This will help me greatly because I could continue to learn from experienced teachers about teaching reading. It is also nice to share the load since if I plan everything on my own, it would take too long. For example, in my courses at Marylhurst, it takes me about a couple weeks to create one lesson plan together. In reality, as a classroom teacher, I do not have that much time. With the PLC time with fellow teachers, we encourage each other and share teaching strategies that individually did not think of at first or provide resources that individually did not have. From there, I would modify these lessons to personalize them to better serve my own students.

Second, I would use assessment to gather information in my students’ progress of their learning and their achievement in attaining the reading level and concepts. Assessments should be use to encourage students’ learning and making instructional decisions. The appropriate assessment reflects where the students are at in reading through using running records, reading interviews, anecdotal notes, and observation checklists. By using these assessment tools, I could better plan lessons and guided reading groups.

Third, I would adapt and be flexible when instructing the best way for my students. I know what the best way is based on my assessing my students on their progress, process and responses to the learning. The best way is also using teaching strategies and best practices to engage students on their thinking and learning. I will teach various strategies so students can read at deeper levels and be engaged with what they are reading. I would teach several comprehension strategies explicitly and have plenty of practice time in learning these strategies. Teaching various reading strategies is important because it helps students continue to learn to read while giving them the independence to read on their own. The more practice a student have to reading, the better this person gets.

Furthermore, ideally I want my literacy block be uninterrupted for two hours each day. Though, a 15 minute morning break between reading and writing would be good. Students do need a break from learning since a short break will aid students’ retention of learning. In addition, play time is important to young students since the act of playing is about imagination, cooperation, and many other beneficial aspects to a well-balanced child. Back to my point about my instructional time, as a reading teacher, the cognitive strategies I teach my students will be surface and deep level structure systems. In my literacy block each day, there would be read aloud, interactive read aloud, shared reading, guided reading groups, sustained silent reading, and writing time. I want to create a learning environment where reading is fun and everyone is a reader.

Meanwhile I will continue to reflect on my teaching practices and keep students’ goals in mind. To be successful, I will need to be very organized in keeping track of state standards, objectives, lesson planning, student assessments, gathering materials and other teaching duties so I can better serve my students. As a teacher, I would need to check on state standards before I plan my lessons. The objectives will fit the state standards. When I plan my lessons, I have to make sure each step is aligned with the state standards. Before I implement my lessons, I need to gather materials so they would be ready during the lesson time. If I scrambled for materials during my teaching time, it will waste my instructional time and students’ learning time. Assessing students is important for the teacher to know how the students are progressing and attaining or not attaining the reading concepts expected by the state standards.

Next, the literacy block can only happen when the classroom environment is conductive to learning. Teachers need to be in control to keep order but they also know need to be aware of the learning community of their classroom. On Day One, I would teach explicitly about the classroom norms, how grouping of students work, and how the students are to behave during the literacy block. The teacher and the students collaborate on how the learning environment is to be. I would work together with my students to create a peaceful, supportive, and respectful learning environment where everyone is safe to learn and take risks without negative feedback. The students are in control of on-task behavior, thinking and learning, helping each other and asking questions to continue their learning. Teachers do play a huge influence in students’ attitude toward school and learning and whether they succeed or fail. First of all, I would show respect to my students in word and deed. I need to create a classroom environment where everyone is heard and respected. Teachers who let their students collaborate with them on how the classroom environment should be like, everyone would know what is expected and get excited that learning would happen without behavioral distractions.

At last, the students’ beliefs and experiences with reading do affect the teaching of reading. The attitude of the students affects how they want to learn how to read and reading in general. If students come from a low or non-existent reading home, they would have no relationship with the written word. It would be up to the classroom teacher to teach these students how to read and hopefully build a good school-to- home relationship as another place of support for these children. If some students hate to read for the reasons of poor reading skills or no real exposure to pleasure reading, then I need to share my passion of reading as their teacher. I would need to pick books for read aloud and guided reading groups to intrigue all students as well as assisting the independent reading book choices that connect to the individual student’s interests.

In conclusion, I believe that the curriculum, assessment, instruction, classroom environment and students’ attitude of reading play a part in teaching reading. The curriculum, assessment, instruction and classroom environment must align to the academic needs of the students. As a reading teacher, I have influence on how my students relate to reading. It is my job to effuse the passion of reading to my pupils so they would become thinkers and creators. In other words, I end this paper with this quote from Albert Einstein who said, “It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”
~By Stacey Moy