Fourth Grade Literacy Plan

8/3/2019 Fourth Grade Literacy Plan

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Andrea Derrick

Alverno College

Fall 2010

ED 345


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327 W Allerton Ave

Milwaukee, WI 53207

Selection Committee

District Office

City, State, Zip

Dear Selection Committee:

Thank you for your consideration and the chance to show my ideas and understandings of

a balanced literacy plan. The plan I am submitting consists of my personal philosophy on

literacy learning, a variety of instructional strategies, roles that I expect to fulfill as the teacher,

expectations for the roles of my students, the physical layout as well as the atmosphere of the

classroom environment, and how I will assess each of my students learning. The goal of this plan

is to show that through my instruction, classroom environment, and assessments, students will be

learning the strategies to help them grow and develop as readers and writers. All instructional

strategies, assessments, and classroom design are based on my beliefs of how students grown and

learn as literacy learners.

Thank you again for this opportunity,

Andrea Derrick


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Philosophy/Beliefs about Literacy Learning

Beliefs about Learning

In order for students to learn, they must be taught at a level that the content is challenging

yet they are able to comprehend. If the material is too easy for students, they will become bored

and disengaged. If the material is too hard the student will be disheartened and give up. When

the student is challenged by the material but just enough that comprehension occurs, the child

will be learning.

As the child is taught the material, the amount of support they are given moves from high

to low as learning occurs. When a new idea or strategy is taught in the classroom the child will

receive high support, the teacher will model the new idea for the students and they have a

discussion around this idea. At the next level, the teacher works with a small group of students,

but there is more individual student responsibility. Finally, the student will be able to work

independently on the idea in their writing journal or while reading a book. Teaching in this way

allows the student to receive help on an idea until they are able to practice it on their own.

Having reminders, visual and auditory, in the classroom guides the students to

remembering the ideas and strategies they were taught. As a teacher, verbal reminders are given

to the student helps them remember what it is they have to do. In the environment, there are

posters hanging on the walls that will aid students as they are working. The student can look at

the poster if they need a reminder of how the idea or strategy works. As the student, they will

give themselves an internal reminder of what it is they are supposed to be doing. Once the

student is able to remind themselves without any external mediators, learning has occurred.


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Beliefs about Literacy

The purpose of teaching literacy is so the students will learn the ability to participate in

the communication system of a culture. The communication system of our culture is made up of

six components. Those components are reading and writing, listening and speaking, viewing and

visually representing. A person who is literate is able to communicate using all six components

of the communication system. It is the teachers responsibility to teach these elements of literacy

to all students in the classroom with a balanced approach. Literacy learning should take up the

largest chunk of the day. It should be comprised of a mixture of activities structured around

reading, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, literature, content-area study, spelling, and

writing. It is important to have a balance of these components, if one area is focused on more

than the other, the other areas will be under developed (Components of a Balanced Literacy

Approach). At the third-fifth grade level, students begin to look at critical literacy, become

cognitive readers, and formulate a response to what they are reading.

Teachers can implement critical literacy into the classroom starting around the third

grade. Through critical literacy, students will learn social justice issues. The students will begin

to analyze the issues of equality, ethics, and justice. They will be reading for a greater good. The

students will need to take a stance on these issues and will have the motivation to read (In class

discussions).

As students read, they will think about and process what they are reading. A cognitive

reader does thinking before (what do I know about this genre, what predictions can I make by

looking at the cover, what do I want to learn from reading this book), during (make connections,


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predictions, and inferences), and after (were my predictions accurate, what have I learned, would

I suggest this book to a friend).

The students will analyze the text for meaning as they read, using their background

knowledge and life experiences. By doing so, the students will be able to interpret and respond to

the text. The teacher will provide opportunities for the students to develop their responses to

literature and share with the class.

The students will be intrinsically motivated, through the use of these processes, to

become fluent readers and writers. They will become accomplished readers and writers in their

own time. They will be collaborative learners, open minded, and willing to expand their literacy

skills.

Theoretical Background

As children in grades third-fifth move from childhood into adolescence, effective literacy

programs help these students use literacy as a tool and fostering active, responsible learning

(F&P). There are four theorists who framed my philosophy for these grade levels; these theorists

include Vygotsky (sociolinguistics), Freire (critical literacy), Rummelhart (Interactive Theory),

and Rosenblatt (Reader Response Theory).

One way I believe helps learning to occur in the classroom is by scaffolding instruction,

Socio-linguistic theorist Lev Vygotsky. According to Vygotskys theory, children can do more

with the help and guidance of an adult or more experienced person than they can do by

themselves. Some methods of scaffolding include the use of external mediators, private speech,

and shared activities. These methods help the student move from being completely dependent on

the teacher to becoming a more independent learner. External mediators are posters that are

created by the class as a group to be a reminder when working. The reminders will help trigger


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the mental process that goes along with the activity. For example, if the children are working on

writing letters, the external mediator may say start the letter with Dear _____, the next line is

indented, end the letter with from or sincerely, lastly, sign your name. The students are able to

look at the external mediator for guidelines, but eventually will be able to do the process without

looking. Private speech is a vocal reminder for the students. The students start out by receiving a

social external reminder from the teacher, then transition to private speech where the student

remember silently or in their head what is expected, and finally the students are able to complete

the task without any kind of reminder , private internal. Through shared activity, the students

can think back to the group activity and remember what was done. In readers and writers

workshop, the lessons are scaffold as well. The students in readers workshop start by receiving a

high level of support through an interactive read aloud and eventually work their way to doing

the taught strategy or activity independently during independent reading. The same working in

writing, the students are taught a task in a modeled writing lesson and eventually work their way

to independently writing using the taught task. Scaffolding is important for students to get the

level of support that the need in understanding new concepts so they are able to eventually

become independent readers and writers (Vygotsky packet).

I also believe that learning can only occur when the student is in their Zone of Proximal

Development, Vygotsky. If the material is too hard for a student, the student is likely to give up.

Likewise, if the material is too easy the student will be bored. If the student feels challenged, but

not overwhelmed, they are in the ZPD, and they are learning. If I have a classroom where

students are at all different levels, how do I teach to meet each childs ZPD? Selecting a variety

of leveled books for the children to choose from is a way for each child to be reading a book that

will challenge them so they can be in their ZPD. When doing guided reading and writing


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grouping the children who need the same level of support and work will also be a way to teach

the students in their ZPD (Vygotsky packet/ F&P ch. 13).

Paolo Freire, in pedagogy of the oppressed, proposes a system in which students become

more aware of many forms of social injustice. This awareness will not be reached if students are

not given the opportunity to examine and analyze critical literacy themselves. The students are

guided by their own interpretations as well as the teachers and their peers. They learn decision

making skills as well as learning to explore a variety of perspectives (F&P p. 253, in class

discussion).

The Interactive Theory was given by David Rummelhart. His theory is that students will

become cognitive readers if they are interactive with a text. This means that as they are reading,

the students are also thinking. They are using the strategies and ideas presented to them in mini

lessons while they read independently (In class discussion).

Louise Rosenblatts theory of readers response stated that readers actively make

meaning in literature. The text helps guide the reader, and the readers background knowledge

helps the reader make meaning of the text. Two different readers may have different

interpretations of the text because of different life experiences (In class discussion).

The majority of my philosophy on literacy learning is pulled from sociolinguistics.

Sociolinguistics focuses on the importance of language and social interaction. The main concepts

of sociolinguistics are creating authentic literacy activities that are engaging and interactive for

the students, the students work towards independence and are encouraged to take chances, and

the environment is a warm/safe place ideal for discovery (Tompkins).


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Range of Reading and Writing Behaviors

As a teacher it is important to know the range of behaviors of each individual student for

both reading and writing in order to create a literacy plan. Reading and writing develops at

varying rates for students. If a child is forced to read outside of their zone of proximal

development, Vygotsky, learning cannot take place. The literature will either be too easy and

the student will become bored with the text, or the material is too hard and the students will give

up. Also, by knowing where a student falls within the characteristics of a reader and writer will

help decide what strategies the students need to learn, what areas need to be developed, and how

to group the students for activities such as guided reading or what leveled book the student

should read. As a teacher, knowing the students range of reading and writing behaviors helps

assess progress the student makes throughout the year and guides lesson objectives.

The average 4th

grader will have or will be developing the characteristics of a transitional

writer. From previous grades, most students will have mastered the basic understandings of

emergent and early readers (it is important to note that some students may still need help with the

concepts of emergent and early readers even by fourth grade). The following are characteristics

of a transitional reader: (Fountas and Pinnell, pg 8):

Reads silently most of the time.

Have a large core of words that are recognized automatically.

Uses multiple sources of information while reading for meaning.

Integrates sources of information such as letter-sound relationships, meaning and

language structure.

Consistently check to be sure that all sources of information fit.

Do not rely on illustrations but notice them to gain additional meaning.


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Understand, interpret, and use illustrations from informational text.Know how to read differently in some different genres.

Have flexible ways of problem solving words, including analysis of letter-sound

relationships and visual patterns.

Read with phrasing and fluency at appropriate levels.

Some students may demonstrate or develop the traits of a self-extending reader; these traits

include (Fountas and Pinnell, pg. 8):

Read silently; read fluently when reading aloud.

Use all sources of information flexibly in a smoothly orchestrated way.

Sustain reading over texts with many pages that require reading over several days or

weeks.

Enjoy illustrations and gain additional meaning from them as they interpret texts.

Interpret and use information from a wide variety of visual aids in expository texts.

Analyze words in flexible ways and make excellent attempts at new, multisyllable words.

Have systems for learning more about the reading process as they read so that they build

skills simply by encountering many different kinds of texts with a variety of new words.

Are in continuous process of building background knowledge and realize that they need

to bring their knowledge to their reading.

Become absorbed in books.

Begin to identify with characters in books and see themselves in the events of the stories.

Connect texts with previous texts.

Farther into the fourth grade year, a few students may take on the behaviors of advanced

readers (Fountas and Pinnell, pg. 8):


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Read silently; read fluently when reading aloud.Effectively use their understanding of how words work; employ a wide range of word-

solving strategies, including analogy to known words, word roots, base words, and

affixes.

Acquire new vocabulary through reading.

Use reading as a tool for learning in content areas.

Constantly develop new strategies and new knowledge of texts as they encounter greater

variety.

Develop favorite topics and authors that form the basis of life-long reading preferences.

Actively work to connect texts for greater understanding and finer interpretations of texts.

Consistently go beyond the text to form their own interpretations and apply

understandings in other areas.

Sustain interest and understanding over long texts and read over extended periods of

time.

Notice and comment on aspects of the writers craft.

Read to explore themselves as well as philosophical and social issues.

As the students grow in their reading behaviors, their writing behaviors are developing as

well.

Similarly to the characteristics of reading, the levels of writing may be found all over the

spectrum. On average the fourth grade student will enter at a transitional level, for some

students they may need more time to develop through the stages of emergent and early

writers. For the students who are at the level of the transitional writer, they will be able to:

Spells many words conventionally and make near-accurate attempts at many more.


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Work on writing over several days to produce longer, more complex texts.Produce pieced of writing that have dialogues, beginnings, and ends.

Develop ideas to some extent.

Employ a flexible range of strategies to spell words.

Consciously work on their spelling and writing skills.

Write in a few different genres.

Demonstrate ability to think about ideas while encoding written language.

Use basic punctuation and capitalization skills.

Continue to incorporate new understanding about how authors use language to construct

meaning.

Some students mayenter fourth grade at or be working towards self-extending writing

behaviors which include (Fountas and Pinnell, pg. 8):

Spell most words quickly without conscious attention to the process.

Proofread to locate their own errors, recognize accurate parts of words, and use

references or apply principles to correct words.

Have ways to expand their writing vocabularies.

Understand ways to organize informational writing such as compare/contrast, description,

temporal sequence, cause/effect.

Develop a topic and extend a text over many pages.

Develop pieces of writing that have voice.

Use what they know from reading texts to develop their writing.

Recognize and use many aspects of the writers craft to improve the quality of their

writing.

Write for many purposes.

Show a growing sense of the audience of their writing.

Critique their own writing and offer suggestions to other writers.

Near the end of the fourth grade year, students may start showing characteristics of the

advanced writer:

Understand the linguistic and social functions of conventional spelling and produce

products that are carefully edited.


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Write almost all words quickly, accurately, and fluently.Use a dictionary, thesaurus, computer spell check, and other text resources; understand

organization plans for those resources.

Control a large body of known words that constantly expands.

Demonstrate a large speaking and listening vocabulary as well as knowledge of

vocabulary that is used often in written pieces.

Notice many aspects of the writers craft in texts that they read and apply their

knowledge to their own writing.

Critically analyze their writing and that of others.

Write for a variety of functionsnarrative, expressive, informative, and poetic.

Write in various persons and tenses.

Write for different audiences, known and unknown.

Write about a wide range of topics beyond the present time, known settings, and personal

experiences.

No matter where the student falls within the ranges of these behaviors, the teacher must

always be developing curriculum to help each student progress towards that next level. That is

why it is important to know the ranges of each and every student in the classroom. Once the

students are assessed for the range, then the lesson objectives can be adapted to meet the needs of

the learner. It is also important to remember that all students learn at varying rates and they may

not be at the high end of the spectrum now, but they will get to that point eventually through the

use of a balanced literacy plan. The key is for students to practice reading and writing skills often

so they move progressively up the spectrum.


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Role of the Teacher

It is the role of the teacher in the classroom to teach literacy concepts and strategies that

will guide students to become better readers and writers. The teacher will implement a variety

of instructional strategies that will aid the development of the literary concepts. To determine

where the students are at in developing their literary concepts, the teacher must create and

implement assessments. During the entire teaching process, the teacher will be conducting

assessments formal, informal, on students, and on her own teaching.

Assessments

One important role of the teacher is to assess the effectiveness of her teaching and the

abilities and progress of her students. All assessments are authentic, meaning that they are

continual, informs teaching, are integral to the curriculum, are developmentally and culturally

appropriate, recognizes self-evaluation, and invites active collaboration (F&P, 484). Within the

constructs of a balanced literacy, there are many approaches to assessing the students. There are

assessments that are specific to either reading or writing, and some that can be used to assess any

literacy skills.

For example, the teacher may want to implement a performance assessment. This type of

assessment requires the student to perform a specific task which is then compared to standards of

what the student should know and how they demonstrate their knowledge and skills (F&P, 486).

The standards used to assess each student may be holistic scoring, a set of characteristics ranging

from low to high; or a trait analysis, which are individual, specific traits along a continuum, low

to high (F&P, 486). A teacher may use this type of assessment to determine where the child is at

developmentally or how they have grown throughout the school year. The teacher can then vary


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instruction based on the diverse developmental needs of her students. It may be used for both

reading and writing skills.

During the readers workshop, there are several authentic assessments the teacher may

want to implement in her classroom. Some informal ways of assessing include observing student

response and comprehension, students attitudes and interests, observing a think aloud, and

checking progress in their readers notebook. From these types of assessments the teacher will

learn what kinds of instruction the individual student needs in order to grow in reading, where

the child is at on a continuum, and what reading strategies the student is implementing during the

reading process.

There are also more formal assessments a teacher will use to assess reading. One way is

through running records. This assessment is used to analyze students reading for processing

strategies (F&P, 490). For every word that is read correctly in a passage is marked with a check,

mistakes made and strategies used while reading are recorded. This type of assessment will

inform a teacher if the text the student is reading is too easy or too hard, as well as what

strategies the student uses during the reading process. Another formal assessment is the fluency

assessment. Oral reading for fluency is evaluated on rate, accuracy and scores on comprehension

tests. The results of the evaluation can be compared to a fluency scale to determine the students

ability level (F&P, 491). A final formal assessment a teacher may use to determine a students

abilities in reading is called a benchmark conference. The student begins by reading orally, once

it is determined that the text wasnt too difficult, the teacher checks for key understandings

through conversation (F&P, 496). The teacher will prompt the student to talk about concepts in

the story, then the teacher and students actively converse about the text. A form is used to record

students understandings; the form also includes a place to give a score. This score is based on


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the degree to which the student has comprehended the text. Assessing a student in this manner

will help establish what level a student should be reading at and should be done periodically

throughout the year. While the teacher is completing these assessments in the classroom, the rest

of the students are reading independently at their desks. The teacher may be going around to

individual students at their desk, or may have them come up to her desk to conference. Just as

there are reading assessments, there are many forms of writing assessments.

Writing assessments, like reading, occur throughout the year on a consistent basis. They

help a teacher plan or adapt her lesson to meet the needs of the students, know the students levels

of writing, and observe student growth and development. Some examples of authentic writing

examples that would be crucial for a teacher to utilize in her classroom include spelling tests,

spelling analysis, writing records, writing checklists, and reflection.

Spelling assessments are used to identify the childs strengths and needs as a speller. By

the end of fourth grade, there is a list of words that students should know how to write

automatically. An initial assessment is done to see how many of the words the students already

know coming into the fourth grade, then throughout the year the child works at their own pace to

learn the remaining words. Another spelling assessment is the Developmental Spelling Analysis.

This assessment has the student write groups of words, as the student correctly spells the words,

the groups become increasingly harder. The DSA identifies the childs stage of development

(F&P, 497-498).

Children in the fourth grade keep a record of their writing. The writers notebook is filled

with examples of student work that can be assessed for development and progress. Entries are

made on a regular basis, so by the end of the year the student will be able to see the growth from


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the first entry in their notebook to the end of the year. The notebook will also be an indicator of

how frequently a student is making notebook entries. Another form of writing records is done

through the analysis of final drafts. The draft can be examined for the proper use of conventions,

revision strategies, and content (F&P, 498).

Writing checklists are another way a teacher can evaluate writing. A checklist works

almost like a rubric in that the characteristics found in the writing are marked off, but are not

rated. A checklist can be used to analyze the strengths of student writing, make judgments about

the writers progress, and guide discussion during writing conferences. Writing assessments are

done in the same way as reading, where the teacher will meet with individual students to discuss

their work while the rest of the class works on independent writing.

A final way a teacher may use assessments in her classroom is through a literacy

portfolio. The portfolio allows students to be actively involved in the assessment process. The

student, with assistance from the teacher, will chose pieces of their work in reading, writing, and

word work that shows their growth over the semester. Also included in the portfolio would be a

list of books read by the student, the level of the texts read, self-reflections and/or rationale for

choosing the pieces they did, a list of learned spelling words, and student evaluation of their

work (F&P, 499-500).

Another reason to use assessments in the classroom is so teachers can assign their

students a grade. These grades are based upon information gained from assessments. A literacy

grade will be determined by looking at the quantity of work produced by the student, the quality

of the work, the progress the student makes over a period of time and the dependability of the

student to turn in their work (F&P, 502).


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Assessments are crucial to the learning process of the students and to determine the

diverse needs of students. In my classroom I will include a variety of assessments for both

reading and writing, all of which are listed above. The assessment process in my classroom will

be continuous, integral to the curriculum, and inform my teaching. They will help me know my

students strengths and weaknesses as readers and writers, develop lesson plans, and assign my

students grades. During the assessment process I will meet with individual students to listen to

their reading or writing and conference with them, as I do so the rest of the class will be working

independently. Most importantly, through assessment I will know the concepts and strategies that

my students need to learn in order to grow in reading, writing, and word study.

Concepts and StrategiesFrom assessment, the teacher will know what concepts the students need to develop more.

The areas that as a teacher I will cover in my classroom in order to teach the concepts of a

balanced literacy include reading, writing, and word study. Each one will have an hour block

devoted to the development of the students abilities in those areas. During that hour block, the

students will also learn the strategies to use when struggling in reading, writing, and word study.

During the readers workshop block, the teacher will cover the following concepts: critical

literacy, genre study, and readers response. Critical Literacy can be implemented at this grade

level to have students begin to question their own views and opinions. They will look at concepts

of social justice and ethics, and learn more about the world around them. By learning this

concept, students will gain new perspectives and be engaged readers in the classroom.

Students in grade four will expand their knowledge of genres of literature. The concept of

genre will allow students to understand the characteristics a book will have. Having knowledge

of these characteristics will guide students to becoming cognitive readers. The more the student


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knows about a variety of texts combined with their background knowledge and life experiences,

the more meaning the student is able to make from the text (F&P, 306-308). Through genre study

students will develop an appreciation for a wide range of fiction and nonfiction texts, enrich their

knowledge of language, form their own opinions about authors and illustrators, become critical

readers, learn how to select texts for themselves, and most importantly learn to read for different

purposes (F&P, 390).

Through readers response, the student will learn how to think as they read and express

their feelings and opinions after reading a text (F&P, 277). The responses from a text can then be

shared with the rest of the class through talking, writing, reading, and the arts. The student must

support their response with evidence, finding evidence to support their feelings strengthens their

response. Some strategies that as a teacher I will teach them to use include finding facts from

specific pages of the text to strengthen their response, read passages from the text, retell part of

the text, tell why or use because statements, and provide details or examples to support their

responses (F&P, 281). Another strategy that students will learn through effective teaching

methods is active listening skills. As the students listen to their peers respond to a text, they

should be thinking about if they agree or disagree, ask for clarification if the reasoning is unclear,

expand on their peers ideas, rephrase to verify an understanding, or ask their peer for evidence

(F&P, 281).

Some strategies students can use as they read include syntactical clues (does what Im

reading make sense), phonological clues (how the word sounds), visual clues (does the picture on

the page fit with what Im reading, does the word look like the pronunciation), and organizing

the concepts of what they are reading into sets of knowledge. For example, if the students are

reading about tiger sharks, they may place that into the set of knowledge they already have


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formed about sharks, types of fish, or animals. In order to sustain reading a student will be taught

how to summarize, searching for and using information in a text, solving words, and monitoring/

correcting their reading. These active reading processes will help students make sense of what

they are reading and will help them sustain the knowledge for a longer period of time (F&P,

310).

The content and strategies that a teacher uses to instruct their students in the r eaders

workshop block will be ideas they can use when reading independently. These strategies will

guide readers to become more cognitive as they read. They will become more aware of their

thoughts and feelings as they become active readers. Through critical literacy the students will

gain new perspectives of the world and the idea of social justice. Through genre study a student

will know what types of texts are appropriate for different types of reading. For example, using a

nonfiction text to do a report on the anatomy of whale rather than using a fictional text about

someone swallowed by a whale. The concepts and strategies taught to the students will make

them stronger readers as well as writers in the classroom.

Some writing concepts that are taught to students in the fourth grade include: the six traits

of writing, the writing process, and the genre or types of writing (writing for a purpose). From

learning these concepts, and the strategies that go along with them, students will know how to

write for a specific audience, know how to structure different types of writing, understand how to

express their ideas in a clear, organized way, check their paper for flaws (does it flow, do the

words make sense, are conventions used correctly, and appropriately), and will publish

completed work.

The first step in the writers process is to think about what they are going to write before

they write it. This stage is called the pre-writing stage. The student will use brainstorming


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strategies during this stage to organize ideas; this may be done using a graphic organizer. During

this stage the student will also be actively thinking about the purpose of their writing, who is the

audience, how the writing needs to be organized, what background knowledge do they have on

this topic, and what kind of content knowledge they need to know in order to write about the

topic. The traits of writing that the student needs to focus on at this stage are ideas and

organization.

The next step in the writing process is to begin writing. The writer creates their first draft

with a focus on sequences of events, choosing descriptive words, writing sentences completely

with proper conventions, and transitions between ideas. The writer will also revise their work

during the writing process. Revision in an ongoing process during writing that involves thinking

about language use, organization, and audience (F&P, 64). To assist with the revision process,

the teacher can develop prompts that the writer can use to check their work for structure, details,

flow, and to see if the writing makes sense. During writing, the student focuses on voice, word

choice, sentence flow and conventions from the six traits of writing.

After writing, the student will edit their work. They will check to see if their writing

addressed the prompt, uses appropriate conventions (grammar, punctuation, and spelling), for

content (does it make sense?), and if it flows smoothly. A strategy the student may use during the

editing stage is to have a peer read over their work for suggestions. Once the student believes

their work has addressed all the necessary components, the will write a final draft and publish

their work. After writing, the student will focus on the following traits of writing: voice, word

choice, organization, ideas, sentence flow, and conventions (Class discussion, Writing process

worksheet). The organization and ideas of the paper will depend on the type/genre of writing the

student uses.


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There are four genres of writing that students will use for different purposes; these include

narrative, persuasive, informative, and descriptive. A narrative is used when the student is telling

a story. Writing narratives may lead students back into literature to study the writers craft or in a

nonfiction text to learn more about a place or time to better understand a story (F&P, 5). A

student will write a persuasive piece if they are trying to convince their audience to take a

particular stance. This type of writing will sometimes be done in the form of a letter, editorial,

petition, speech, and opinion pieces. Expository writing is done to inform the audience through

an explanation or set of directions. Expository can be written as definitions, instructions,

guidebooks, catalogues, newspaper articles, magazine articles, manuals, pamphlets, reports and

research papers. Descriptive writing depicts a person, place, or thing in a way that the reader can

envision the topic and visualize the writers experience. Learning the different genres of writing

will help students know how to write for different purposes. As they learn the characteristics of

each genre, they will know how to organize their ideas in a way to fit a specific genre (Class

discussion Cinderella).

Teaching the traits, the process, and the genres of writing will help fourth grade students

develop their writing skills and practice using the strategies. If the students are having trouble

during the prewriting stage, brainstorming strategies will help them organize their idea. A

strategy for a student struggling during the revising and editing stages are to have a peer proof

read for flow, conventions, voice, content, description, and organization. The final area that a

teacher needs to teach literacy concepts and strategies in is during word work.

As a teacher, I will need to introduce the concepts and strategies of word study to my

students. The concepts of word study include: vocabulary, spelling, and phonics. Vocabulary

study will not be students looking up definitions and writing the word in a sentence. The students


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will have constant exposure to new words in context (F&P, 375). This will teach the students the

proper way to use the words when reading or writing. Spelling, as stated in the assessment

section, will be an ongoing assessment of the students knowledge of how to write words. The

students will work continuously throughout the year on a list of words that frequently are used

misspelled by readers and writers. The study of phonics will teach students how words are put

together, the sounds consonants and vowels make when paired or separately, prefix and suffixes,

root words, and syllables (F&P, 374).

Some strategies that will help students during word study are making words, word sorting,

and making meaning. Using magnetic letters or letter cards the students can arrange them to

make words. By moving the letters around, the student will learn about root words, homonyms,

prefixes, suffixes, and compound words. Through word sorting students will learn where in their

contextual knowledge to fit new words. Through reading word in different contexts, mapping out

different meanings of a word, studying connotations of a word, and using the word

metaphorically will help students make meaning of words (F&P, 374-377).

As a teacher I will provide my students with knowledge of content and strategies in

reading, writing, and word study to create a balanced literacy program. Knowing the content and

strategies will help my students become active readers and writers and cognitive learners. The

content taught to my students will be based on their needs as learners to help them grow in the

developmental process. Instruction of the content will be broken down into three one hour blocks

of reading, writing, and word study.

Instruction

Assessments (previously described) help to inform instruction. It is through assessment that

a teacher can determine what the students needs are in the developmental process of literature


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learning. To facilitate the development of balanced literacy concepts, skills, and strategies the

teacher will organize readers and writers workshop and word study blocks. The readers

workshop will be comprised of a mini lesson, guided reading and literature circles, and

independent reading. Writers workshop is made up of a mini-lesson, guided writing, and

independent writing (with conferencing). The last component of a balanced literacy, word study,

is comprised of an interactive read aloud, shared reading and writing, word study, interactive

edit, and interactive vocabulary. In each component there are different roles that the teacher,

student, and environment will take on.

In the readers workshop, the teacher starts with a connection to what the students have

been working on recently then connects it to a new concept to be taught in the mini-lesson. The

teacher explains the focus of the lesson and moves into a demonstration of how to use the

concept or strategy. During the lesson, the teacher uses think aloud language to explain the

process. The teacher actively involves her students by having them turn and talk with a partner or

through questioning. The teacher will then make a connection to how the students will use their

new understandings that day, in the future, and everywhere (Collins, Workshop and Mini-Lesson

Structure sheet). The role of the teacher is to introduce the concept with clear, concrete

examples, provide the students with rationale so the students know why it is necessary for

readers to know, provide opportunity for student interaction, ask students to apply new learning,

reinforce and extent learning in conferences, sharing sessions, and following-up mini-lessons

(F&P, 141). When the mini lesson is complete, the teacher will invite students to guided reading

while the rest of the class reads independently.

The guided reading lesson begins with an introduction to the text. During the introduction

of the text, expectations are set, reveal the setting of a story, to identify the supports (i.e. pictures,


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large text), and identify the challenges (number of lines per sentence, words, quotations,

italics). During the reading of the text, the students will make predictions, connections, make

inferences, and use reading strategies. After reading, the text will be summarized, observations

will be made, and the teacher will question for understanding (Guided Reading Lesson

Components sheet). The role of the teacher in readers workshop is to introduce the text making

connections to texts the students have read previously, engage students in reading and

responding to text, mediate text discussion, access the path to meaning through talking, reading,

writing, and visual/performing arts, and encourage the students to use a variety of ways to

express ideas (Thinking Sheet chapter 10 and 17). Another way a teacher will work with a small

group of students with reading is through literature circles.

A literature circle is a group of students that chooses a text to read together and with the

teacher. The discussion is based on questions created by the teacher as a guide. The teacher

provides a variety of questions that can be chosen from as a group. The questions help the

students think about the story in terms of the author or setting in the beginning, in terms of

characters and events in the middle, and a summery or response to the reading at the end

(Literature Circle Plan worksheet). The roles of the teacher, student, and environment are very

similar to guided reading except that in literature circles, the student has more choice. As the

teacher works with the students in guided reading or working in a literature circle, the rest of the

class will be reading independently.

Independent reading is a cognitive process in which students are actively reading. The

student reads from a leveled text that is at their zone of proximal development. They practice the

strategies they have been learning in mini-lessons in order to improve competence. During this

time the teacher will assess the students development through some of the assessment modes


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previously stated (including running records, fluency, and cognitive assessments) (Thinking

Sheet, chapters 7, 8, and 9).

The role of the teacher (more specifically stated in each section) is to scaffold the reading

process from high support during the mini-lesson, to medium support in guided reading, to low

support in independent reading and also perform assessments. The role of the student during the

readers workshop is to be responsible and respectful, be willing to listen and make observations,

apply what was taught in the mini-lesson to reading, be an active reader (make connections,

formulate questions and predictions, use background knowledge), share and communicate during

conferences. In order for the students to feel safe enough to share their ideas during the readers

workshop block, the environment must consist of a community of learners, be organized for

effect teaching and learning, and contain a variety of leveled texts in different genres, authors,

and levels of difficulty. There must be areas specific for the mini-lesson such as a carpet area, a

table for guided reading, and places for students to read independently (Reading and thinking

sheet, chapter 8). The writers workshop works in a similar fashion in that the teacher scaffolds

writing from high support to low.

The writers workshop begins with a mini-lesson in which the teacher introduces a new

writing concept. The teacher will provide students with possibilities for their writing, confer with

students, and teach students to analyze and evaluate their writing. While the teacher is guiding

and modeling for the students, they are attentive and actively listening, focused on an aspect they

will use when writing in independent or group work, and may make notes in writers notebook.

The mini-lesson is approximately 5-15 minutes long and takes place with a large group on the

carpet or at desks. From the mini-lesson, students move to guided writing or independent

writing.


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In the guided writing, the teacher focuses on one aspect of writing according to the needs of

the students. The teacher will also use this time to check-in with individuals within the small

group. The students of the small group share their writing for feedback from both teacher and

peers. They apply new knowledge and understandings from the mini-lesson, confer with teacher

and peers, and publish their stories if appropriate. The guided writing process takes 30-45

minutes in small groups at a kidney table.

When the students arent working in a guided writing group, they are working

independently on their writing. The student receives explicit instruction for their writing through

writers talk, mini-lesson, conferencing, and sharing. They will apply their new understandings

from the mini-lesson to their writing, revise, edit, and publish their work. Independent reading

consumes 30-45 minutes on the writers workshop through which the students write continuously

in their writers notebook. After the hour of writers workshop, the students will have an hour

devoted to word study.

The word study block, is broken into the study of spelling, vocabulary and phonics. These

concepts are taught through a variety of instructional strategies. These strategies include shared

literacy, shared reading and writing, interactive read aloud, interactive edit, and interactive

vocabulary. Interactive vocabulary is done through the teaching a new term by providing a

description, explanation, or example. The student restates the term in their own words, creates a

representation of the term, do activities that add knowledge to the new term, and play games

using their new terms. Shared literacy allows students to converse about observations and

understandings they gained through authentic reading and writing activities. Interactive edit is a

short, five minute, lesson on proper use of conventions. Shared reading and writing is a process

of modeling reading or writing to help expand literacy understandings. Each student will have a


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copy of the text and can volunteer to take over or join in reading aloud. In an interactive read

aloud, the teacher reads and students listen. At certain points in the text, the teacher will pause to

ask the students questions, to make predictions/inferences/connections, and shares her own

thinking. During the word study block it is the role of the teacher to create authentic learning

experiences for her students that facilitate the development of literacy. The students are actively

engaged in the lessons, respond to teacher questions, and are respectful to others responses.

Instruction for the three-block framework moves from high level of support from the

teacher in a mini-lesson to low level by the students being able to use the new learned strategies

independently. Guided groups are made to teach new concepts that are within the students zone

of proximal development. All instructional pieces used are to provide the students with the best

support towards growing as a literacy learner. Through the three-block framework, the teacher is

instructing how to use concepts and strategies during reading and writing and at the same time

assessing the students abilities and growth in order to create instructional objectives that meet

students needs.


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Classroom Design

My classroom is designed to meet the components of a balanced literacy program and

support my beliefs on how students learn. The physical layout of the classroom provides areas to

meet the instructional needs as a teacher. One of those needs is a space to do mini-lessons. The

carpeted area will be the place to teach new concepts to my students through mini-lessons and

teach language through interactive read aloud. The easel will be used to express ideas during the

mini-lesson. The chair will be a place for the teacher to sit while reading a book for interactive

read aloud. Located near the carped area is a book stand for easy access during instruction.

Another feature of my classroom on the left side includes areas to complete group work. I placed

shelving in between the tables to make the area seem more secluded. The kidney table will be

used during guided instruction and reading circles. The round table can be used for small group

discussions and conferencing. The placement of these tables and the teachers desk has been

placed in such a way that the teacher has a view of the entire classroom at all times.

Some other traits of my classroom are the computer in the back for word possessing and

publishing completed writing projects, the desk next to the teachers desk for individual support

and conferencing, and the numerous shelves placed around the room for books (separated into

groups by author, genre, critical literacy, readers and writers notebooks, writing supplies (dry

erase boards, pens, pencils, paper, and games for word study. On the walls of my classroom

(marked in red) are the external mediators that will help scaffold student learning. The

components of my classroom are built to support the needs of my students as literacy learners.


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Self-Reflection and Goal Setting

Now that I have completed the literacy plan for a fourth grade level, I can look back and

see where I had struggles in the development of the plan and create goals based on those

struggles.

One goal that I have is to become more familiar with the process of the language and

word study block. These were new concepts this semester that we didnt go over in depth in

class. I felt that during the instruction section of my plan I wrote a detailed description of how

the readers and writers workshop would look in the classroom in terms of the roles of the

teacher, student, and environment. For word study, I did not provide much detail for how it

would look in my classroom, but summarized the ideas from Guiding Readers and Writers.

My second goal is to be more aware of the audience and purpose that I am writing for.

When I first wrote my philosophy for the mid-semester, I thought that I was writing a comprised

philosophy of my beliefs from what I learned in 325 and 345. From the feedback I was given, I

realized that based on my audience, it would not make sense to include some of the theories from

325 for teaching an older grade. I think this is an important realization because when I go to

apply for a job, it will be for a specific grade, so I will need to know how to adapt my philosophy

to be grade specific.

A final goal I have for myself is to familiarize myself with more texts on literacy

teaching. I was very impressed with the theories and methods of Lucy Calkins in class


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discussions. I plan on buying Units of Study for Primary Writing written by Lucy in order to gain

more strategies for teaching a balanced literacy. The more I know about teaching a balanced

literacy, the stronger a candidate I will be to hire.

Documents

Fourth Grade Literacy Plan