Literacy Educators Utilize Critical Thinking Skills Identifying

¶ … literacy educators utilize critical thinking skills identifying students' strengths challenges. They rely sound reasoning identify issues presenting obstacles reading process formulate inferences diagnosing reading difficulties.

Education unit discussions

The 'clues' that identify Gianna's innately weak literacy skills are her poor word identification skills and limited vocabulary. If Gianna simply had problems reading aloud to the class, it might be assumed this was due to a lack of self-confidence. However, her skill deficits are manifest even in non-oral work, although both her oral and written comprehension seems to be well below grade level. Combined with an unsupportive environment at home, an intervention seems warranted to improve word recognition, vocabulary, and poor reading comprehension strategies. It is essential to address the components that affect reading fluency as well as the issue itself in a more holistic fashion.

Unit 7 discussion

Writing can often seem like an overwhelming process to a young child (or even to a not-young child). Having a focus before beginning a writing project is essential to provide clarity and direction to the assignment. Also, the teacher will want to ensure that certain critical skills are reinforced within the assignment structure, so providing a formal lecture conveys the seriousness of the assignment: it is not simply a 'fun' activity but has a clear purpose. Giving in-class writing time ensures that students take the time to brainstorm, revise a draft, and devote the necessary time to learning this critical skill. Finally, sharing reinforces the pleasures of writing and further sharpens the focus of students, given the knowledge that they have an audience which they must reach. Performing for classmates also acts as an additional incentive to do well, given the student's natural desire for peer approval. Reviewing the work of others is also an important component of the learning process for the other students, as it enables them to see what works and what does not work beyond the framework of their own efforts.

Unit 8 discussion

Although many students naturally assume that learning rote skills such as spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization are dull, it is possible to teach these subjects in a fun and engaging manner. For example, students can be given silly passages and asked to correct them to 'make sense' by correcting different grammatical mistakes. Subjects like spelling can be made to seem fun and engaging by asking students to create sentences using their favorite cartoon characters. Crossword puzzles, word finds, and other games can reinforce a vocabulary list. Collective social activities like spelling bees further reinforce the principle of 'fun learning' and also use social reinforcement to encourage enthusiasm about learning. The basics of all of these elements can be linked to stories in a manner that encourages students to see the connection between the joy of reading and writing and the basic mechanics that make up the process. Of course, perhaps the most effective technique of all is to assign challenging but age-appropriate reading passages to students and have them note different grammatical constructions within the text and to create a spelling unit based upon the core vocabulary words being used.

Unit 9 discussion