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Kristen Indriso
Doctor McKool
ELD-308
Philosophy of Literacy
A famous quote, which beautifully describes the importance in
teaching literacy by Donalyn Miller, The reality is that you cannot inspire
others to do what you are not inspired to do yourself. My philosophy of
literacy is to stress the importance of educators to be an active reader to
model for future effective readers. If a teacher does not read in front of the
students, then the students will not be encouraged to read or write. If I do
not read in front of my students, then my students will never grow in reading
or writing. Educators should provide several opportunities throughout the
school day for students to express their inner thoughts as a developing
reader. My philosophy of literacy will incorporate choice, discussions,
strategies, practice principal, a particular workshop model for reading and
writing.
Every student has an equal opportunity of expressing his or her
ideas about choice in the classroom. An educator is essential in the
classroom, but the primary reason why an educator is in the classroom is
that of the students. Without any students, there would be no classroom.
Everyone has a different opinion or idea, and the student has a right to say
their voice. An excellent way for students to express choice in writing is
establishing literacy rules in the classroom. The students can all agree on
which rules should use during literacy. For instance, the students should
discuss with three other students if they have any questions about their
writing before the student goes to talk to the teacher. If the students ask

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questions, the other student might be able to help answer their question for
establishing a stronger connection with their classmates.
Some ways the students can receive choice in reading are through
literature circles and book selections. Every week the students will be placed
in groups based on different reading levels to express their interpretation on
the same novel. The teacher will give the students a choice of five books to
choose from for the literature circles. Some of the groups can have the same
book. Students should be grouped heterogeneously to establish connections
with other readers, which students can incorporate reading strategies the
students learned from the educators mini lessons. Some reading strategies
could be making inferences, connections (self, text, or the world), and
predictions are talking back to the book, retelling, and using reader or
learning lenses.
Also, students should be able to choose which books they are most
interested to read. The educator must explain to the students the
importance of abandon books and how to choose the right book. The
student should be able to summarize the first three pages of a new book or
else the student is not ready to read the novel yet but will be able to in a
couple of months. The classroom will also create a class book
recommendation list from all their peers to motivate students on how to
choose a new book. If a student is not given a choice, then the student might
be unmotivated to read and struggle reading in the future.
Similar to option, students will be able to lead discussions in partners,
small groups, or sometimes the entire class. A pioneering theorist who
encourages student discussions is a psychologist named Vygotsky. Vygotsky

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quotes as inspiration for writers, It must not be forgotten that the basic law
of childrens creativity is that its value lies not in its results, not in the
product of creation, but in the process itself. It is not important what
children create, but that they do create, that they exercise and implement
their creative imagination. In writing, students should be able to talk to
someone about their writing prompt, which is known as peer revising. An
individuals writing is always going to grow if the person receives positive
feedback on necessary improvements. Group work I firmly believe is
essential in the classroom and students will learn from one another if they
communicate.
Using the workshop model of Fountas and Pinnell, in a school day the
students will have language/word study, reading, and writing. During
language/word study, the educator will have an interactive read aloud,
vocabulary, word study, current events, poetry sharing, and readers theatre.
Reading is broken up into three subcategories, guided reading, independent
reading, and literature study. Writing also had three subcategories, guided
writing, independent writing, and investigations. If an educator does not
incorporate the Fountas and Pinnell model with the features at least every
three days, then the students will struggle in literacy. Literacy must include
a variety of areas in knowledge to grow for academic success.
All educators should model reading and writing in front of their
students every day. If the students do not see a teacher reading or writer,
then the student will not be an active reader. Therefore, students will write
in their reader and writers notebooks every day. These two notebooks will

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be personalized to express their personal interests. The students will receive
an additional notebook for book recommendations of other peers; vocabulary
terms to use for the new vocabulary unit, and quotes that might help inspire
their writing prompts.
The teacher role in literacy is to allow the students to control the
lesson using hands off approach with no strict lesson plan to observe the
students progress and always ending with a debriefing. Teachers will help
meet all vary instructional needs of all the students in your class, including
English Language Learners. Most importantly, a teacher will help students
learn how to overcome difficulties, using a growth mindset. Also, educators
will help students learn how to process a variety of texts with
comprehension, fluency, selecting the appropriate text for students
knowledge level, and by developing strategies the students can use in all
documents.
The students role in the classroom is to assign tasks for his or herself
to establish responsibility and to feel part of the class. The students will
connect with other peers on specific books in a classroom reading alouds,
independent reading, or literature circles. Third graders should also reflect
from other another and continuously grow in literature.
Students should be able to walk out of the last day of school filled with
literacy knowledge, which the student can motivate others to read and write.
Classrooms must offer choice, discussions, and give students hope to change
as a reader with clear learning lenses. Doctor Seuss always quotes to
motivate readers and writers to never give up, The more that you read, the

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more things you will know, the more that you learn, the more place youll
go!