Integrating+Theory+and+Practice

**How were the various theories about literacy teaching addressed in course texts evident in early years teaching approaches you observed in the classrooms?**

**Modelled Reading**:

Modelled reading was observed on several occasions. In all cases it proved to be effective and was enjoyed by the majority of students.

Having carefully selected the book they were to read, teachers then often incorporated their modelled reading into the morningʼs literacy rotations. The book may have corresponded with a letter sound being learned by the children, an inquiry unit, a style of writing or a general topic of interest.

Modelled writing seemed to work most effectively as it included all children, even those who were not strong readers or writers. It was an activity that all children could enjoy and participate in fully.

**Asking of Questions:**

This was observed alongside examples of modelled reading. Students were asked various literal, interpretive and inferential questions throughout the modelled reading process. This proved to be quite effective in engaging all students and enriching the knowledge students drew from the text.

**Shared Reading:**

Shared reading was mostly conducted with parent helpers. This too was an activity that appealed to all ability levels as the parent helpers assisted the children with words as necessary.

When shared reading occurred, it often involved removing the student from the main class activities and reading one-on-one with the parent helper.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Shared reading was also observed in small groups. The students were expected to read a <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">book together and assist each other in sounding out difﬁcult words. This occurred as a part of the morning literacy block rotations.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Modelled Writing:**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This activity seemed to work as effectively as modelled reading. It was a process that <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">appealed to all students abilities and engaged the entire class. Students were quite enthusiastic about contributing to the piece and were able to recall the various writing practices they had learned (ie. ﬁnger spaces, capital letters, full stops, etc.). This activity was lead by the teacher with input from the entire class.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Independent Writing:**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Independent writing was observed on multiple occasions with varying degrees of success. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One particular example occurred as a whole class activity on the enquiry unit. This task proved to be fairly successful as it was reinforcing the knowledge of writing concepts in the minds of grade one students. As this was a polished piece of writing, the students already had a ﬁrm grasp of the task and were conﬁdent in undertaking the task independently. Another, not so successful example, was observed in a prep classroom. As these students had less of literary foundation they found it considerably more difﬁcult than the grade one <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">students. It was suggested that the activity may have been more successful should the <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">teacher have made it clearer to the students that they would not be receiving her assistance with the piece. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Go to: References and Resources <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Go to: Home