Literacy is the ability to comprehend the English language through reading and writing. The Ministry of Education (2003) defines literacy as “. . . the ability to understand, respond to, and use those forms of written language that are required by society and valued by individuals and communities” (p. 19). Oral language is also …show more content…
No student is ever the same, they are all unique and come from different socioeconomic backgrounds (Snook & O’Neill, 2010) with different previous knowledge of literacy learning from their homes or communities (Behrman, 2002). Assessments are done before teaching to enable the teacher to identify the students’ progress within a certain area and where they can challenge them effectively (Ministry of Education, 2003). Without assessing the student, the teacher is unaware of that student’s knowledge which could lead to them losing interest. This may be due to the task being too challenging or not challenging enough. An ideal method to keeping track of each individual is by making folders to keep accurate records which can be added to over time (Ministry of Education, 2003). Although assessing the students informs the teacher, it also helps develop the students to become reflective and self-managing. This can be achieved effectively with self-assessment and peer assessment, these are important for the students because they need to be able to understand what they need to improve on further (Ministry of Education, 2003).
I would incorporate the principle ‘knowledge of the learner’ into my classroom writing programme, by using the many types of assessment to review the next steps in developing the students’ literacy skills. There are a range of assessment procedures …show more content…
. . is perhaps the most powerful and persuasive form of instruction” (p. 80). Modelling occurs throughout the day in a classroom, whether it be deliberate or subconsciously (Ministry of Education, 2003). I would use the thinking aloud process while working on tasks to model how they should be completing the task. This would be done to promote active reading and writing (Ministry of Education, 2003). Modelling is a strategy that needs to be combined with other strategies to be completely effective towards literacy learning (Ministry of Education,