EDUC 681 Emergent Literacy Artifact

Artifact Description
To demonstrate professional growth gained from participating in the EDUC 681 Emergent
Literacy course, I uploaded assessment data completed during coursework. This class focused
on teaching emergent readers through reading and studying, Literacy in the Early Grades, by
Gail E. Tompkins, watching videos on emergent reader skill sets, and discussing learning with
other professionals. This learning is documented within the assessments of the kindergarten
students and the analysis of that data to provide the best instructional plans for each of the
learners. Goals of these assessments were as follows:
1. Apply knowledge gained from studying educational research and learning gained from
reading Gail Tompkins work.
2. Reflection on professional practices within my own teaching setting, specifically how I
will/am implement(ing) gained knowledge.
3. Improvement of instructional assessment and practices through data research and
analysis.
4. Improvement of assessment driven mini-lessons.
Gaining knowledge of the developmental stages of reading is to be an area that I want to
continue to grow in throughout my career. As an intermediate age teacher, conducting
assessments on students that were early readers was a new experience and caused me to grow as
an educator.
Professional Growth and Development
I am beginning my 5th year of teaching. I will be working as a 6th grade teacher for the Fox C-6
School District. Prior to this position, I taught 3-5 interventions and 3rd and 4th grades in different
locations. Gaining expertise in reading instruction is something that has been a goal of mine
since starting my career. Before taking this course I had little understanding of emergent readers
and how to teach them appropriately. Taking this course has given me knowledge of what
emergent reading instruction should look like and how to implement many emergent reading
instructional strategies such as developmentally appropriate approaches to teach phonemic
awareness, phonological awareness, and phonics. I was also able to grow in my use of emergent
reading assessments such as appropriately scoring and evaluating running records and checklists.
I would feel comfortable if I was asked to teach and assess within the realms of emergent
readers. This instructor and class provided many opportunities for growth. Some of the gained
knowledge is as follows:
1. New knowledge in emergent literacy instructional strategies throughout reading Gail
Tompkins Literacy in the Early Grades. Throughout reading Tompkins work, I gained
new knowledge about emergent readers, the stages they move through and how to
support their continued growth. I also improved my own academic vocabulary so that I

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could effectively communicate with parents and other staff about a students reading
strengths and areas for growth using the appropriate literacy development language.
Understanding of the different stages and developmental skills, concepts, and strategies
that emergent readers gain throughout the developing reading process through readings,
videos, and discussions.
Practices to better support English Language Learners through reading and research
projects. Within each chapter of text, Tompkins gives suggestions of how to best support
English learning students with each area of literacy. Much of what she suggests goes
right along with being culturally responsive and understanding where the students are at
in their language development, supporting their continued growth, while respecting their
native language. Within the class we also were given the opportunity to research a
cultural group and their language development to better support our students within that
group. After completing the research, we were able to share our findings and compile our
work to apply to our current students and have for use for our students to come.
Practice assessing, analyzing, and writing instructional plans for emergent readers.
Within the course we were given opportunity to practice assessing students within the
emergent reading stage through running records and checklists. This allowed me to
synthesize my learning and connect it to the classroom. This experience stretched my
teaching abilities and caused me to become more comfortable out of the intermediate age
range.
Optimizing individualized mini-lessons based on student running record analysis. Within
the class, we were able to analyze running records, write instructional plans, and then use
leveled text to practice how we would implement a one minute mini-lesson to address
student needs found within our data. This experience refined my own teaching. It caused
me to reflect on my own assessing and evaluating and how I am using that data to drive
my own instruction. This transfer greatly improved my teaching methodology.

Impact on the PK-12 Learner

During and following participating in the Emergent Literacy course, student learning has
improved through better assessment data and refined instructional strategies. Student fluency
and comprehension levels have improved through the use of a mix of choral, whisper reading,
and rereading. Students are beginning to acknowledge what they already know before learning,
asking questions throughout reading and then clarify learning when prompted. My students are
now showing more significant growth. For example, a student who had been struggling to make
gains in comprehension and reading engagement went from scoring a 6/9 (limited
comprehension) to 8/9 (satisfactory comprehension) and from 38 wpm to 55 wpm on the
AIMSweb RCBM probe. The following practices to impact my learners have been
implemented:
1. Better use of reading time-student reading instructional time has been optimized. Before
taking the course, students would reread parts of books somewhat but without a set
purpose, now students are rereading more frequently, with a focus on building fluency or
thinking about a passage or section in a different way. This practice I found having
extreme significance after reading chapter 8 of Literacy in the early grades. Fluency is of
upmost importance for students to comprehend. children need to recognize words
automatically so that they can concentrate their attention on comprehending what they are

reading. (Samuels 2002, p. 218) This practice will build my students reading fluency,
while also allowing them to completely focus on reading for understanding.
2. Stronger questioning-students are able to respond to critical thinking questions more
successfully. Students are also able to ask their own critical thinking questions and
respond to each others questions. Giving students time to ask their own questions was
addressed in chapter 8 of the text. Giving students the ability to be the questioners
increases student engagement and builds their overall understanding. This I have found
within my own students as well. Allowing them to become questioners has taken my
students that were uninterested in reading 80% of the time to become students that are
now engaged and excited to find the answers to their questions. Through use of the think
aloud and modeling, questioning practices have greatly improved.
3. Instructional Strategies-student engagement has improved through use of engaging
instructional strategies, such as interactive word wall activities and literacy center
activities.
Alignment to WI Teaching Standards
Standard 2-Teachers know how children grow
Throughout reading Gail Tompkins Literacy in the Early Years I have gained expertise in
understanding childrens literacy development as emergent readers. Within the course and
the reading for the class, my understanding of teaching phonetic concepts, building students
word knowledge and how to scaffold students reading and writing and greatly improved. I
also gained knowledge in the stages of development of each of these literacy elements.
Through taking this class I could confidently teach an emergent reader using researched
based methods and developmentally appropriate activities.
Standard 3-Teachers understand that children learn differently
During coursework of Emergent Literacy, my ability to differentiate has improved. Within
each class meeting, several approaches and activities were discussed that would reach all
learning styles. We also practice teaching mini-lessons catered to each students individual
needs. Learning different approaches and practicing pinpointed mini-lessons has improved
my ability to reach all learners.
Standard 5-Teachers know how to manage a classroom
Throughout coursework and reading Literacy in the Early Grades, my knowledge of how to
better manage a literacy program has greatly improved. Within chapters 10 and 11 of text,
organizing for literacy instruction was addressed. Tompkins gave an overview of guided
reading and writing, basal reading and writing programs, literature focus units, literature
circles, and reading and writing workshop. She addressed how each organization can be used
successfully and pointed out that not one of these programs can stand alone to successfully
produce independent readers. Having worked in several districts I have seen all of these
approaches, but gaining understanding of each one helped me to see how they all can fit
together to better support students reading development.
Standard 8-Teachers know how to test for student growth

Within the course, I was given opportunity to practice assessing and evaluating emergent
readers. This was a worthwhile experience that grew my ability to successfully find where
students are at, diagnostically look at approaches and strategies to facilitate growth, and how
to measure progress along the way. Also in the chapter 3 of the courses text I learned best
practices in assessment procedures and appropriate ways to measure progress. While taking
the course I have improved my own progress monitoring approaches and therefore have seen
positive growth within my students.
Alignment to Viterbo Standards
-Integrity-as we strive for honesty in everything we say and do
Within the emergent literacy course, I was able to reflect on my own practices and the integrity
of my teaching and assessing. Throughout taking the course, being honest when I wasnt
confident in using certain assessments was a good reminder that as a teacher you must have the
integrity to admit when you need to grow in an area. You must also have enough grit to take the
initiative to grow. Through the evaluative process we discussed within the class that as educators
we must have the integrity to do what is right. No matter the political policies and confinements,
as teachers we have the duty to be people of integrity and not to conform to the status quo.