My Personal Model of ReadingTheory

My view of reading instruction has completely changed since starting this course. I have learned new ways of teaching reading and writing. I cannot wait to implement them in my classroom this year to see the positive outcome!

My personal reading theory model will now consist of a comprehensive literacy program. Students learn best from whole to part, so my focus this year will be putting a lot of emphasis on shared reading with predictable texts, reading workshop and writing workshop. I will no longer have a set time to just focus on phonemic awareness and phonics. These should be learned in context, not separately. It has been proven time and time again that early reading instruction begins with a comprehensive literacy program. As a result of this instruction, students will begin with whole texts, and then move to words and word parts. During this progression, phonemic awareness and phonics will be taught in context. Writing will also be a major factor of this progression, as well.

Reading workshop will become a major part of my classroom. The scaffolding that takes place during this learning time is one of the most beneficial times of the day. Students will have many opportunities to read and be read to through read alouds, shared reading, guided reading, and sustained reading, as well as, individual conferencing. All of these opportunities will allow me as a teacher to reach my students on their level and provide the support they need to read successfully and proficiently using strategies to be effective and efficient readers.

Shared reading, a component of reading workshop, will become one of my main instruction times, as opposed to last year. Shared reading is the opportune time to implement phonics learning in context and giving students the tools they need to read by modeling good reading strategies and encouraging student participation with these strategies. I will focus on reading predictable texts so students are able to pick up on the reading and participate. Shared reading will begin with reading a book as a whole group, while modeling good reading strategies. We will then move to focusing on reading strategies (also including phonics and phonemic awareness where needed) and finally move on to independent reading of the book.

Writer’s workshop will also become a major addition to my classroom. Part of gaining skills for reading is directly related to writing strategies and vice versa. Writing workshop will consist of many opportunities for shared writing, guided writing, and sustained writing. In my classroom, shared writing will be one of the most focused on aspects of writing workshop, as I am prekindergarten teacher. Writing will be modeled, strategies discussed, and opportunities to work together on writing will be a daily activity. When students see good writing strategies used by the teacher, they will most often take those strategies and use them in their own writing. For this reason, writing will be one of the major focuses in my room.

By implementing a comprehensive literacy program in my classroom this next year, I am hoping to see a dramatic change in my students’ motivation to read and write. They will be equipped with the strategies they need to become effective and efficient writers and readers. The skills they gain in my classroom will be carried throughout their educational lives. For this reason, it is my upmost goal to give my students all the strategies they need to be successful!