Literacy Belief~Danie Hesson !

ED 320 Class!

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Readers, Responsible Rule Followers
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I believe that all children have the potential to

become fluent readers. My classroom will
look like the diverse culture that is in our
society. I will teach my students that learning
can and will be fun and they will only grow in
knowledge with life-long learning. But, first
and foremost, students need to feel
connected and respected in order to grow
socially and emotionally before they can grow
academically. I will implement the
importance of feeling
accepted. I will accomplish
this through SEL lessons. I
plan on having 20 minutes
daily as a check in that
would entail a whole class
meeting on the carpet to
discuss events that are happening in the
students lives. Being socially aware of each
childs strength comes from assessing and
observing each one of my students. I have a
positive attitude with each child as they bring
something unique to the classroom, because
no two students are the same, therefore, I
need to differentiate in order for the student
to grow academically as well as emotionally. !
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!RESOURCES

Jo Anne Vacca and Richard T. Vacca, the

authors of Reading and Learning to Read,!
(2012), states that using contractual cues
and clues help children as it is a written
contract, but it acts more like a recipe for
success. (pp. 154)!

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FAMILY

The family is the best ally when it comes to

teaching each one of my students. They
know their child better than I do and therefore
I will need to have open communication with
the family. Learning from the families will
help insure growth from the
student, but more importantly a
bond of trust. I will earn trust from
the family by being fair,
honest, and attentive
to whatever their
needs are. My logic is
that if I attend the families
activities, as my artifact shows
(weddings) the parents or
guardians will most likely feel comfortable to
attend functions at school with myself and
other families. I will ensure that I have a
home/school connection by regularly sending
positive notes home plus provide a weekly
newsletter of happening events with our
school family. I will have an open door policy
so that the adults can come in anytime to
watch their child learn.!

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Books and More
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I envision my literature classroom as a

calming place to learn and grow. I will
incorporate learning and
listening centers, books at

everyones
level, a comfortable place
to read, while teaching standards with crosscurriculum best practices. !
One example, would be to read the book
Flying Squirrel at Acorn Place, by Batbara
Gaines Winkelman and Illustrated by Kristin
Kest. I would first do a
picture walk, then I would
intentionally teach the
vocabulary words (have
each table group either

draw it, pronounce it, write the definition,

spell it, or act it out) that would then be
placed on our class word wall. Next, I would
discuss with my students about the seasons
and what squirrels do for each of them. Plus,
I would help them contrast squirrels from
other locations around the world. I also
would have them measure how far they can
glide as I will teach them outside with the
idea that flying/gliding is just a term for falling
gracefully. !
I will teach my students through modeling of
what the expectations are daily with routines
and responsibilities. My students will help
with the classroom library as it is important to
have student buy-in with what is being read
in my classroom. If the student has an
interest, they are more likely to become
engaged in literacy. I will incorporate
cooperation lessons through games and
activities. This will, in
my opinion, help
students in my
classroom to get
along, no matter what
background my
students have. As my
artifact, students from different ethnic
backgrounds are working together in a small
group. I do this intentionally so that they
build their communication in English to each
other.!

!TESTS/ASSESSMENTS
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I value formal and non

formal assessments
for children in my
classroom. Formal
assessments only
reveal a tiny amount of what the child is
capable of doing academically. Informal data
can tell me a little more
about the students
academics but really give
me an insight to their
behavior which is valuable.!

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MY TIMELESS EDUCATION

I enlighten students to continue

to grow in academics because
I am constantly learning
myself with college classes. I
practice being a life long
learner with attending
trainings, mandatory or not.
This is recommended for best practices as I
am dedicated to teaching literacy across the
curriculum.!

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Cited Work:!
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Vacca, J., & Vacca, R. (2012). Reading

and learning to read (8th ed.). Boston:
Pearson.

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