E: Task 3

Promoting Literacy

1: THE POWER AND PLEASURE OF LITERACY

Observe your MST’s classroom and general practices you see around the

school. Discuss each statement below in the context of what you observe and

support with a photo when possible.

The teacher reads to the children. When,

where and why?

The first week was a reading week so the

teacher read a story for 25 minutes each day.

She asked them to sit on the carpet and she set

with them and read a story. She read a story to

improve listening skills in students.

Children select favorite books and participate in story time. How?

The teacher asks students to choose their favorite book so students will be

participate in story and like a story.

Describe the home reading program in place. If there is none, make

suggestions.

There is no home reading program. I think it will be better if they have because

that will improve students skill for example if the parents read a story for their

child and explain that will make the story easier for the child and they will be

participate in class.

The teacher reads and rereads stories to

give children a chance to become familiar

with them. Why?

Teacher use different strategies to make

students understand the story. She asked

them a question and gives them an activity

about the story so that is helpful for the

students to understand the lesson and that will motivate them to read more and

more.

Describe the reading area in the classroom.

Reading area in my classroom is an amazing. It is

colorful, organize and have a lot of books.

Students felt comfortable when they set there and

some students sais that the reading area is the best

area in the class and they love it.

Describe how the children participate as the teacher reads a story.

Students were sitting on the carpet and they focused with the teacher. They were

exited and they always are ready to answer the questions. Also they have a nice

imagination.

List any opportunities/activities that the children experience that allow them

to see how we use print in daily life experiences.

My MST teach students many things that help students to use it in their daily

life for example, she teach them how to write a letters and the parts of the

letters. That’s help students to understand how to write a letters in a correct way

to another person.

To do : Collect and copy some examples of children’s informal writing.

2: THE LITERATE ENVIRONMENT

Observe your MST’s classroom and general practices you see around the school.

Discuss each statement below in the context of what you observe and support

with a photo when possible.

The teacher:

Puts labels, captions, and other print in classroom

where they serve a purpose

The teacher put a caption in everywhere to make it

easy for everyone if they want to find something. For

example she put a caption on each drawer. She put the

students name and when should they put their books

or their worksheet so that make the class more

organize.

Stocks the classroom with a variety of books and print materials

The classroom is organized and it rich in different books and everything have a

different place that must put in it.

Places books where children can easily see/reach them – are covers displayed?

The student's books are in a close place which all students can take it. Other

books like stories and journals it was in a reading area and all students can rich it.

Evidence of attention to UAE Culture

none

3: KNOWLEDGE ABOUT PRINT

Observe your MST’s classroom and general practices you see around the

school. Discuss each statement below in the context of what you observe and

support with a photo when possible.

The teacher:

Shows children that we read English from left to right / top to bottom

In reading week the teacher used an appropriate story for grade 3. She asks

them some questions like from where we read the story and most students know

the answer.

Identifies features of a book, such as the author, title, table of contents etc

The teacher show students the cover page and she asked someone to read the

title and the author. After that she read the table of contents than she started read

the story.

Points to words, labels, letters and reads or names

them

The teacher explained the hard word and she wrote it on

the board and she repeat the meaning every day.

Helps children to recognise and write words

She gave students a word bank books so, students

will ask the teacher to write any word that they did

not know how to spell it correctly.

Draws children’s attention to uppercase and lowercase letters, punctuation,

and other print features.

She gave them a colorful paper and she asked them to imagine what will

happen next in the story. She teaches them the steps and they should start the

sentence in a capital letter and use punctuation correctly then her correct for

them.

4: LITERATURE RESPONSES

How and why children are encouraged to …… : Provide examples.

• Retell stories in their own words

Teacher give watch students a paper and she present the story on the board and

she asked them to change the story in their own word then they will present their

work and when she likes it she gave them a points.

• Act out stories / take part in a reader’s theatre

She chose some students and she motivated them to act the story by telling them

they are strong. She asked them to wear different clothes and clap their hand for

them and that encourage students to read imagine and understand the story.

• Make story maps, story carousels, puppets, murals, posters

She used a poster and she wrote inside it the important information and words

about the story and that help students when they write.

• Perform a puppet show, dress up as characters from a book

She just told them to wear the crackers story which is a bear, elephant and cat

and motivated them to act the story.

• Create videos, animated films, radio scripts, songs

None

• Make big books, book jackets, timelines, mobiles

She bring a big story to make sure that all students can see the words clearly and

that encourage students to see the pictures and imagine what happen in the story.

Another thing is that each class designs their door like a story.

• Other

5: PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS

How and why the teacher …… : Provide examples.

• Draws children’s attention to the sounds they hear in words

When she read the story she stopped in some words and repeat it for

example when she explain the word tusks she said tussssks so students

pay attention and remember the word.

• Plays games that emphasize rhyming and beginning sounds

She wrote the first two litters of the word and she asks students to guess

the word. That will help students to pronunciation the word correctly.

• Reads and rereads stories that have predictable sound patterns.

They reread a poem and used a song when they read it. It was about the

health. The teacher asked each group to sing and act the poem so that

help them to understand the words of the poem.

• Sings, uses rhymes and claps out syllables of songs/chants

Teacher told students to stand up in the carpet and she presented the

poem on the board and she read it and sings with them. Then students

start sing by themselves and act the poem. For example they jump and

wash their hands like the poem said.

• Teaches phonics and word attack skills to children

In this school they have 25 minutes every day to practice the phonics.

It's a useful class and help students to pronunciation the word correctly.

For example when they want to said the word fox they divided the word

in three parts f-o-x.

• Encourages children to sound out the words they meet

They encourage them to say the sound and the teacher correct for them.

She motivated them to say it again and again. Also she asked them to

use their hand when they want to say the word.

• Provides opportunities for word identification and word recognition

The teacher showed students the word and she told them to draw the

word so, that help students to know the meaning of the word and

memorize it. She also wrote the new word on the poster and put it

beside the board and she reminds them every day about the meaning of

the word so, that's important because it help students to memorize the

word.

Reflection

Promoting literacy in students is something important. I believe that it is a hard and need a lot of effort to make all students understand the literacy. I was surprise when I saw my MST used different kind of activities just to promote literacy in students. To make students understand the literacy we should make an appropriate activities or strategies like :

- Giving Students a Choice. The first step to promoting literacy in the classroom is to offer your students the chance to actually read. Independent reading is one of the best ways to encourage students to read.

- Encourage Read Aloud. In the Becoming a Nation of Readers report (1985), experts reported that “the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.” So that will help them to understand the complex vocabularies.

- Divide the students and put the low abilities together and high abilities also together. That will help the teacher to focus with low abilities and give them different activities that will help them to

promote the literacy.

- Set the Ground Rules. You might list the following to help students understanding: No talking at all - not even to the teacher and eyes on your own book.

These steps will help the teacher to promote the literacy in their students. Although it is something hard to make students understand everything in class but the teacher should try and try and use different way to improve literacy in students.