Synthesis of Course

Having this class has really opened my eyes to how important and how much I will use literacy in my classroom. I never really thought about the expectations I had for my students when they came into my class involving literacy. I never just assumed it was the English teacher’s job to teach my students literacy. I knew I would be teaching my students different vocabulary words because a lot of the vocabulary would be new to them in my content area. Words like whisk, wire rack, bobbin, carbohydrates, etc. There are so many vocabulary words my students need to know to be successful in my classes that I always knew teaching them would be part of my curriculum. I planned to teach them these words by treasure hunts, matching games, jigsaw presentations, etc. I am not a huge fan of students just looking up vocabulary words from a textbook and copying them onto another sheet of paper. I don’t feel like they really get as much of an understanding of the words as I would like them to have. Thus having fun games and activities will get them more engaged and be able to make more connections to remember those words.

I have always dreaded textbooks. The word alone makes me cringe. I also have come to realize that textbooks are a useful resource if used correctly and if students have an understanding of how to read a textbook. Before this class I never made the connection that there was a difference between reading a novel and reading a textbook. Reading and getting needed information from a textbook is a completely different skill than reading a novel. I have decided that since I will implement a textbook into my classroom I will help students develop that skill. I plan to do this by taking a little time to go through a few pages and help them to know how to pull out the information without having to try and read it like a novel. Therefore, they will save time and energy and be more successful in pulling out the knowledge they need.

Something else I have decided that will be extremely important to my student’s success is integrating digital technology. In many ways it will help them and me to simplify things. I never considered digital text as literacy. I feel that digital literacy is important to my students as much as hard copy written things are. With all the technology these days it is important to use those resources in my classroom. A few ways I plan to use digital literacy is PowerPoints, video clips, instructional videos, etc. One of my favorite ideas came from my clinical teacher. She set up her own web page that the students could go to, to get the information they missed if they were absent. This saved her a lot of time because she didn’t have to explain to every student that missed what they missed and how to make it up. They just had to go online and look. If there was a circumstance where a student did not have access to a computer at home then I would obviously make an exception and tell the student what they missed. To know if this would be an issue or not I would ask in my beginning of the year questionnaire if the student had access to a computer, if so if it had reliable internet. This way I could tailor my instruction and assignments to allow for time in class for students to work on things rather than making it homework.

I always just thought basic reading and writing was literacy and that was it. This class has broadened my understanding of what literacy really encompasses. It has allowed me to explore new ideas of how to integrate more literacy in my classroom and what my responsibility as an educator is in teaching my students literacy in my content area. I have learned that literacy is the foundation of my classroom and without proper knowledge of the literacy in my classroom students won’t be as successful as I’d hope.