RICA Competency 4, Concepts about Print, Letter Recognition, and the Alphabetic

Principle is to help students learn the basic principles of how letter, words, and sentences are
represented in written language (Zarrillo, 2011, pg. 31). These basic principles set the foundation
for students ability to learn to read.
Three experiences I have had with this competency include encounters with my tutees,
observations in the classroom, and witnessing it being modeled. In week three of my tutoring, we
were working on long syllable words, but we had to take a bathroom break. On the way back
from the bathroom I realized we were provided with halls that promoted a print-rich
environment. There was academic posters on every corner, and to use the bathroom break to our
advantage we referred to the environmental print that the tutees encounter in their daily lives
walking around their campus. (Zarrillo, 2011, pg. 33). Observations in the classroom that I have
seen most would be reading aloud to the students. My master teacher does not simply just turn
pages and read words, but instead she brings meaning to not only the pages and words, but to the
story. She asks questions that involve the students and allow them to make connections with the
words on the pages. Modeling has been ingrained in my brain as a crucial part of teaching
because it gives the students a clear picture of what is expected of them. Seeing concepts of print
being modeled is an effective way for students to learn the basic principles of how letter, words,
and sentences are represented in written language. For example I have been able to see a lesson
on writing both uppercase and lowercase letters and the teacher did not just instruct the students
verbally, but also visually. This teacher made sure to tell the students that when writing words,
spelling was not what she was interested in, but instead she was interested in how they wrote
their uppercase and lowercase letters. (Zarrillo, 2011, pg. 35).

In TPE 1.3 it states, Candidates create a print-rich environment where students learn to
read and write (California Teaching Performance Expectations, 2013). My encounter with my
tutees listed above shows the importance of creating a print-rich environment, learning does not
just take place inside the classroom, but outside as well. If we model the ways in which we can
use the environment to help us learn and grow, students will soon use the environment to practice
the concepts of print by reading the milk carton, bumper stickers, candy wrappers, toy boxes,
cereal boxes, billboards, menus, and T-shirts. (Zarrillo, 2011, pg. 33). Reading to children will
help them appreciate the gift of literature, develop and enrich their own language, and build
implicit concepts about reading and writing. It is critical for vocabulary development and builds
concepts of print (Vacca, et al., 2015, pp. 102-103) Reading to a child holds such importance in
their learning, when it becomes time for them to learn to read, what you have done by just
reading to them helps them gain the ability to read. TPE 9.7, Candidates understand the
purposes, strengths, and limitations of a variety of instructional strategies (California Teaching
Performance Expectations, 2013). As listed above modeling is one of the best tools a teacher can
hold. Knowing that students need to understand how letter, words, and sentences are represented
in written language before they can fully learn to read, one of the best things a teacher can do is
model these things for their students.
I can apply RICA Competency 4, Concepts about Print, Letter Recognition, and the
Alphabetic Principle to help my students learn the basic principles of how letter, words, and
sentences are represented in written language (Zarrillo, 2011, pg. 31) in order to set the
foundation for my students to gain the ability to learn to read. I plan on doing this by creating a
classroom environment that is print-rich. I plan to do this by labeling what I have set out in the
classroom, such as desks, chairs, clock, and windows. I plan to write in large letters what each

day holds, and I plan to have students create at least one piece of writing each day, and stress that
I am not looking to correct their spelling but enrich their concepts about print. I also plan to
provide multiple opportunities to read to my students, to have my students read with me, and to
have my students read to me, their peers, or themselves. I plan to model what is expected of them
for each activity, in order for them to fully grasp what is being taught and what is being learned.

Works Cited
Commission on Teacher Credentialing. (2013). California teaching performance
Expectations. Retrieved from http://www.ctc.ca.gov/educatorprep/TPA-files/TPEs-Full Version.pdf
Vacca, J. A., Vacca, R. T., Gove, M. K., Burkey, L. C., Lenhart, L. A., & McKeon, C. A.
(2015). Reading & Learning to Read. Upper Saddle River : Pearson .
Zarrillo, J. J. (2011). Third Edition Ready for Revised RICA. Boston : Pearson .