Strengthening Student Literacy Reflection

Reflection on School-wide Literacy

This course on education has provided me with significant insights regarding teaching and learning in the classroom environment. One of the major insights I have obtained from this course relates to strengthening student literacy. An important aspect of enhancing student achievement and improving graduation rates at a school is strengthening student literacy (Irvin, Meltzer & Dukes, 2007). This essentially means that students’ literacy skills have huge impact on their achievement as well as a school’s graduation rates. This paper provides a reflection of what I have learned in this course on student literacy as an important factor in promoting and enhancing student achievement. The reflection covers various issues including how the course has modified my self-knowledge, observation of the school’s literacy program, and the role of collaboration, technology and instructional leaders in enhancing school-wide literacy.
Impact of the Course on my Self-knowledge
As part of learning about school literacy and other important aspects of promoting student achievement, I completed an analysis assignment that involved reflection on self-knowledge of my beliefs and attitudes regarding language, culture, and literacy. Learning in this course has modified my self-knowledge on these different aspects and their role in the educational environment. I have learned that language skills play an important role in a student’s understanding of learning concepts, particularly those relating to reading and writing. For a student to demonstrate the desired language skills, he/she needs to enhance reading and writing skills. Without appropriate reading and writing, language development becomes a major challenge for many students.
I have also learned that students’ language development is affected by culture, which also affects students’ learning styles and preferred teaching techniques. For teachers, culture affects the teaching techniques or approaches while it affects students’ learning styles and language development skills. This impact is primarily based on the influence of culture on beliefs and philosophies about teaching and learning. In this regard, I have learned that my philosophy about teaching and learning as well as teaching approaches/techniques are influenced by my culture. Through this course, I have also discovered that my perceptions about literacy are influenced by cultural factors. Based on these cultural factors, I have always viewed literacy as an individual component that can only be strengthened when students take responsibility for their own learning or become active learners.
Choice of Literacy Program Improvement Target
The course has shaped my understanding of the need for collaboration and involvement of other stakeholders in strengthening literacy and enhancing student achievement. The application assignments demonstrated the significance of collaboration in school-wide literacy program. As a result, my self-knowledge influenced my choice of collaboration between different stakeholders as a literacy program improvement target. Prior to undertaking this course and the application assignments, I did not realize that parents and other external stakeholders have a role to play in strengthening student literacy.
However, the course has changed my perspective regarding the role parents and other stakeholders play in this process. The role of parents in helping strengthen student literacy originates from the fact that they act as their children’s first teachers in life. Therefore, through engaging them in school-wide literacy program, teachers provide parents with the opportunity to continue being active and involved in their children’s learning (Mansuetti, 2009).
Observations of the School’s Literacy Program
In Module 1 of this course, I conducted analyses on the school’s literacy program, which correlated with previous observations. Based on the observations and analyses, I found that the school has established a suitable literacy infrastructure that is centered on effective instructional strategies i.e. culturally-appropriate pedagogy. These instructional strategies and practices meet the different needs of students in the classroom environment. However, I was surprised that despite the suitable infrastructure, the school has failed to establish appropriate mechanisms for the involvement of external stakeholders like parents in strengthening student literacy. Despite recognizing the need for shared leadership in student literacy, collaboration is a major issue.
Applying Knowledge to Strengthen School-wide Literacy
I will utilize the knowledge from the application assignments to help strengthen school-wide literacy through promoting the establishment of a mechanism for collaboration between internal and external stakeholders to improve student literacy. I will work with the different stakeholders and integrate the concepts of shared leadership to address the current problem in the school’s literacy program. I will also integrate technology and digital tools in instructional strategies targeting literacy skills. This will entail designing the curriculum in a manner that promotes the use of visual presentations and other technological tools in the classroom. Moreover, I will use technology and digital tools to provide a framework with which parents are involved in their students learning to enhance their literacy.
In light of the insights I have obtained from this course, it is important for instructional leaders to have the knowledge and skills to evaluate school-wide literacy. As previously indicated, school-wide literacy is critical toward improving student achievement and graduation rates. Through knowledge and skills for evaluating school-wide literacy, instructional leaders identify how to improve student achievement and school graduation rates. Moreover, these skills enable instructional leaders to establish appropriate instructional practices and framework for collaboration with other stakeholders in enhancing student achievement.
In conclusion, this course has played a major role in my growth and development as an educator. One of the most important knowledge I have obtained from this course relates to developing school-wide literacy program as a means of enhancing student achievement and school graduation rates. Prior to this course, I did not understand the importance of establishing literacy programs to strengthen student literacy. After undertaking this course and completing the relevant assignments in each module, I have learned about the significance of school-wide literacy programs. I have also identified an area of greatest need in my school’s literacy program and developed measures to help address this need.



References
Irvin, J.L., Meltzer, J. & Dukes, M.S. (2007). Chapter 5 – Develop and Implement a Schoolwide Literacy Action Plan. In Taking action on adolescent literacy. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/107034/chapters/Develop-and-Implement-a-Schoolwide-Literacy-Action-Plan.aspx
Mansuetti, S. (2009). Intentional Literacy-based Parenting Education: Can Parents with Low Literacy Skill Increase Academic Achievement of Their Children? PAACE Journal of Lifelong Learning, 18, 1-16.