Within my 2nd grade English Language Arts classroom in Pittsburgh, PA, I teach my students to read using constructivist methods and with a whole-language approach. Teaching in a constructivist manner involves first and foremost assessing my students on individualized interests, ability levels, and learning styles before I can begin successfully differentiating reading instruction to meet students’ individualized needs. Within my teaching pedagogy for English Language Arts instruction, I focus on providing opportunities for students to read both efferently and aesthetically to ensure that students are reading to learn information as well as finding a love for reading (Rosenblatt, 1991). Students need to be able to use text to find and recall
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This time is divided into two 90 minute periods with the students on a daily basis. The first 90 minute period includes reading workshop, whole group novel studies, and literacy centers where students read to self, read to other peers, and respond to reading. The period begins with reading workshop which will allow the teacher to instruct mini lessons on reading strategies that the students should be using. The mini lessons may focus on strategies such as questioning skills, comprehension, predicting, evaluating, visualizing, and connecting meaning to the text through text to self, text to world, and text to text connections (Newingham, 2009). I teach my students as a whole group during the mini lesson and then allow the students to practice using the skill during their independent reading time. The students will individually read independently on a text that they selected at their individualized independent reading level. The students will complete learning logs as the students record what they are reading, what personal connection they are making to the text, and how they used the strategy taught during the daily mini …show more content…
I begin this period of the class with a read aloud of a short text or section of a grade level novel to motivate and engage students in different reading contents. Once having read aloud for 15 minutes to the students, I teach a mini lesson on grammar or writing style that will help students further develop their skills as successful writers. These lessons will explicitly teach ideas such as writing persuasively, informatively, or in an entertaining manner (Newingham,
This time is divided into two 90 minute periods with the students on a daily basis. The first 90 minute period includes reading workshop, whole group novel studies, and literacy centers where students read to self, read to other peers, and respond to reading. The period begins with reading workshop which will allow the teacher to instruct mini lessons on reading strategies that the students should be using. The mini lessons may focus on strategies such as questioning skills, comprehension, predicting, evaluating, visualizing, and connecting meaning to the text through text to self, text to world, and text to text connections (Newingham, 2009). I teach my students as a whole group during the mini lesson and then allow the students to practice using the skill during their independent reading time. The students will individually read independently on a text that they selected at their individualized independent reading level. The students will complete learning logs as the students record what they are reading, what personal connection they are making to the text, and how they used the strategy taught during the daily mini …show more content…
I begin this period of the class with a read aloud of a short text or section of a grade level novel to motivate and engage students in different reading contents. Once having read aloud for 15 minutes to the students, I teach a mini lesson on grammar or writing style that will help students further develop their skills as successful writers. These lessons will explicitly teach ideas such as writing persuasively, informatively, or in an entertaining manner (Newingham,