Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Chelsie Lambert
Teaching Philosophy
LCRT 6915
University of Colorado
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY 2
Introduction
Growing up, I was never sure what career would be a good fit for me. My mom works as
a Deli Manager in a local grocery store and my dad is a self-employed builder. Neither of them
went to college and because of this, I didn’t have a clear picture of the purpose of college. I did,
however, have an opportunity to play softball at the collegiate level which opened the door to
college for me. I attended a junior college where I took the required courses to get my associates
degree before transferring to a four-year university. When I arrived on campus, I had to quickly
declare my major before I could sign up for classes. I decided upon psychology because I had
previously taken a few courses and found it to be interesting, but I wasn’t sure if I would like it
enough as a career. I took a child development class the next semester that sparked my interest in
education. I switched majors and began my journey towards a teaching degree. With each class I
had the desire to learn more and become as knowledgeable as I could within education. I soon
There were several professors that truly shaped my love for teaching and Dr. Barbara
Hong is the biggest influence on my education. She came into class one day to announce that she
was starting up a special education certification and to contact her if interested. In high school I
worked as a peer tutor to several students with special needs and thought that this may be a good
route for me to take. The first day in her class was fast-paced, intimidating, overwhelming, and
the standards were set extremely high. This woman was clearly a power-house. She was and still
to this day is an accomplished woman that I look up to. Dr. Hong is the type of professor that
saw potential within me before I saw it in myself and she was not afraid to push me to the limits.
During our conversations she would say, “You aren’t stopping here,” or “Just wait until you get
your PhD, which you will.” She made these comments often, as if she had seen the future and
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knew that there was more in store for me than I had ever considered. She planted the seed that
made being the first college graduate in my family, simply not enough.
The desire to continue on with my education had taken root and I started looking into
programs that were of interest. I was reminded of my final undergraduate class, an elective on
teaching writing given by Dr. Carol Bennett. Her class was engaging, hands-on, and practical. It
ignited a love of writing that I didn’t know I had. It is because of her that my mindset about
reading and writing transformed from a negative to a very positive light. Everyday she had us
write, refine, share, and discuss our writings and how to implement writing within our future
classrooms. She read us rich literature where I could literally feel her love of reading. I left class
feeling excited to teach writing and this feeling has transferred into my classroom today. My
writing block is not only my favorite time of the day, but my students as well. My students love
writing about things that matter to them, and they eagerly wait for me to make my way around
the room so they can read to me what they wrote. They also love to share their writing with the
class, and I attribute that to Dr. Bennett because when I shared in her class, she praised me in a
way that was genuine, and I felt my writing was not only decent but valued. Her class put into
perspective that writing is enjoyable. After reflecting on Dr. Bennett’s class, I knew that reading
and writing was exactly what I wanted to learn more about. I decided to apply for graduate
programs in reading and writing as well as teaching positions. The same week I accepted a
I had heard that the first-year of teaching was going to be the hardest year, but I was
determined to thrive and not just survive. The first few weeks of teaching and taking online
classes was something I wasn’t fully prepared for but was exactly what I needed to better my
teaching of literacy. It was helpful to delve into literacy theories and practices and have a
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With my second-year of teaching and my reading and writing curriculum and instruction
program coming to an end, I can reflect on all that I have learned the past two years. The
information and applications of practices that I have gained has transformed me into the teacher
that I am today. As a final task of the program, I have the opportunity to write my philosophy of
literacy. These beliefs have shaped and developed throughout my experiences in this program
Beliefs
I believe that read alouds and mentor texts are powerful tools for reading and writing
A read aloud is when a teacher or an adult reads a story out loud to students in an
engaging way. During this process students are exposed to many different skills and strategies of
reading. Students learn how to track words from left to right, how to read with expression, and
are exposed to a wide range of vocabulary and content knowledge, to name a few. Text selection
is a very important aspect of effective read alouds. Burkins and Yaris (2016) states, “Generally,
the text for read-aloud is significantly above grade level, meaning that most students would find
it very difficult, or even too difficult, to read the text on their own. However, difficult should not
be synonymous with boring or ridiculously hard” (p. 30). Teachers can read texts above their
student’s reading abilities because the teacher is the one doing the cognitive load of reading, and
this frees students to comprehend through listening rather than decoding words as they try to
construct meaning. When texts are too easy or too hard, they don’t provide students with rich
opportunities to engage in literature. My students love when I read them chapter books such as
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Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. Chapter books are above my kindergarteners’ reading level. My
students enjoy listening as the story unfolds in front of them and they learn several new words
each chapter. At the beginning of the year this chapter books is a little too challenging for some
of the students that still struggle to sit still and listen to stories, but after a few months my
Text selection should also be based on what topics will be engaging for students and what
specific reading skills are being taught. I incorporate literature that goes along with our weekly
themes such as fairy tales, apples, rhymes, force in motion, etc. When selecting books for these
themes I must make sure that they are engaging for the content being taught. If the texts are too
complex for my students, I’ve taken the fun out of the learning about the theme during the read
alouds. The texts also serve as mentor texts as they help teach a specific reading or writing skill.
A mentor text is any piece of literature that teachers use to explicitly teach their reading or
writing skill. A mentor text can be a small piece of the literature such as a sentence or a
paragraph, or it can be larger pieces including a few pages or an entire book. Teachers instruct
students through read alouds and mini lessons using mentor texts to illustrate how students can
implement a concept within their own reading or writing. The mentor text is used to show
examples to students that they can transfer to their own literacy development. Bambrick, Settles,
and Worrell (2013) states, “The first step of planning your read-aloud lesson is to identify the
single reading skill you most urgently need to teach your students—and to select a text that
includes the richest opportunities possible for readers to use this skill” (p.109). Through reading
aloud mentor texts, teachers can model what good reading looks like, sounds like, and feels like.
A kindergarten favorite for this is any of Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggy books. When my
students start reading, I use Mo Willems’ books to demonstrate what good reading sounds like. I
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read one of his books all the way through in a slow-paced monotone voice. My students don’t
laugh at all during this first read aloud. Then we talk about how that read aloud was boring and it
wasn’t the book, it was because of how I read it. My students start to agree and want to give me
suggestions on how to make it more fun such as, using different voices for Elephant and Piggy,
saying some phrases loud and some quiet, etc. I decide to give it another go and give it my
normal read aloud style, complete with all my student suggestions. They laugh at all the right
moments and their eyes are glued to the book. We then talk about how the second time I read the
book I was reading it as a good reader would and they can make their own reading sound just as
good. This is only one example of how a mentor text can expose my students to how they can
Mentor texts can be used for more than just modeling what a good reader does as they
read, they can also be used to show what good readers think about as they read. This is known as
a think aloud. Burkins and Yaris states that, “Teachers may also think aloud, modeling the often
times messy process of piecing together bits of information to reach a deep understanding of
text” (p. 30). When a teacher conducts a think aloud, they serve as the example of what good
readers think about while reading. The best way to illustrate this is that, you cannot teach how to
wrap a present by showing an already wrapped present. Teachers use mentor texts to
demonstrate through modeling the steps taken or strategies to use to better construct meaning
while reading rather than simply showing them a good reader. I use think alouds to model what
strategies I could use when I come to a word I don’t know or what I should do if I’m reading and
things aren’t making sense anymore. I love to use think alouds from mentor texts to guide my
student’s writing. Often I’ll be reading and point out by saying “Hey did you notice how the
author… I think we could do something similar in our writing.” By pointing these moments out,
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my students are being exposed to the process of why authors choose to write a specific way. By
pointing out concepts such as these during think alouds, it gets students thinking like authors and
A final benefit on read alouds, is that it has the power to foster a love of reading. Mem
Fox (2008) states, “Children who have been endlessly entertained by wonderful stories have a
joyful attitude toward learning to read” (p. 63). For students, read alouds are an authentic way to
learn. Teachers must show their enthusiasm when it’s time to read a good book. When teachers
are excited for a read aloud, the enjoyment of reading is shared among all that listen. I try to read
three books a day to my students. Two of my read aloud books are meant to be enjoyed and they
are usually the students’ favorite books that they beg for me to read again. The other text selected
for a read aloud is a mentor text that I use to teach the targeted need for my students. Teachers
can do several things to make read alouds enjoyable. Fox mentions, “The more expressively we
read, the more fantastic the experience will be. The more fantastic the experience, the more our
kids will love books… so reading aloud is not quite enough—we need to read aloud well” (p.
40). Teachers must pay attention to the authors’ intentions within a text. Authors write in specific
ways for different purposes. For example, authors may use different style fonts, different sized
fonts, additional spacing, or words that are all capitalized. When reading aloud with these
various styles, I make sure to be engaging in my voice. This means that I fluctuate between a
high and low pitch, change pace from fast to slow, or I may drag words out for dramatic or
emotional experiences. Executing a good read aloud is an art that does take practice, preparation
and a love of reading from the reader. For students to enjoy read alouds the experience needs to
be fun. There is no need to stop on every page to ask questions or start discussions. Students can
follow along with a story easier when there are only a few stopping points and the experience of
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the read aloud is still intact. Even when my purpose for reading a text is to teach a skill, I always
make the read aloud as engaging as possible. I have a strong belief that my attitude about reading
and writing will greatly impact my students’ attitudes. If I want them to love reading and writing,
then there can be no doubt within them that I too love to read and write.
I believe that shared reading, guiding reading, and independent reading are crucial
Read alouds are a great start to developing reading, however they cannot be the only
that stretches from read alouds to independent reading. To make this process gradual, students
must engage in read alouds, shared reading, guided reading, and independent reading.
The first important component, after read alouds, is shared reading. During shared
reading, students are given a text that is above their independent reading ability and they read
aloud in unison with peers and usually the teacher. This is something that I do often within my
kindergarten classroom because students are attentive to the text and get practice reading
fluently. Burkins and Yaris (2016) state that shared reading opportunities allow students to see
“How print works and how meaning is constructed, often creating anchor charts for reference
during guided or independent reading” (p. 54). They go on to say that “The work of shared
reading is matching the voice of the teacher to the text, which embodies the very heart of the
reading process and requires students to really read and actively self-monitor” (p. 65). With our
phonics program every two weeks or so we get a decodable reader book that is perfect for shared
reading. As we read, I pose open-ended questions that forces them to think deeply to
comprehend, they look closely at illustrations, and think about useful strategies to solve difficult
words. We keep these decodable readers and reread them weekly in shared reading with partners
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or small groups. These readings are successful because they are books that all students are
capable of reading which leads to a boost in their confidence. This shared reading component is
the bridge from read alouds to guided reading and builds students’ confidence as they progress in
Before guided reading can begin, assessments must be given to gauge students’ reading
levels. Jan Richardson (2016) states that students’ “…make errors, and the errors tell you how
the student is processing text. Running records determine a student’s instructional text level and
show which strategic actions a student uses and which ones he or she needs to learn” (p. 108).
After analyzing the data, students are organized into small groups based on their specific needs.
The purpose of guided reading is to apply what they have learned through the facilitation of a
teacher. Bambrick et al., compared guided reading to that of a GPS. They said that road maps are
not used often because a GPS is a more efficient and effective tool being that it guides your
direction in that exact moment. In guided reading the teacher serves as the GPS (p. 189-190).
Burkins and Yaris further explain that, “Teachers do not offer a summary of the text or preteach
vocabulary. The work of figuring out how to approach the text or noticing unknown words must
fall on the students, and the teacher wants to see up close how students recognize and puzzle
through such challenges” (p. 80). When I conduct guided reading lessons, I am the facilitator that
simply observes what my students’ needs are and then assists them to better develop their skills,
however my students are the ones doing most of the cognitive load. As my students engage in the
guided reading lesson I look for where they are and then think what I can do instructionally to
Before I start a guided reading lesson, I spend a good amount of time planning. The first
thing I need to do, after assessing and grouping, is select texts that are appropriate for the
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students’ level and the skill being practiced. When selecting a text, I always keep in mind their
interests so that they have a desire to read and as Burkins and Yaris put it, “Select a text that will
present some problems for students to solve but not so many that it will compromise their
reading processes when reading” (p. 87). Students should be doing most of the cognitive load as
they read the text and as the facilitator, I can provide a quick interaction of support. Once I have
selected the book, it is important for me to script prompts that focus on the particular skill. The
next step is to quickly introduce the book so that students are excited to read. Richardson advises
to, “Encourage [students] to ask questions and make predictions from the illustrations or table of
contents” or even the title. (p.123). After a quick preview we get straight to reading. With limited
time it is important to spend most of the time actually reading. As students read quietly or
silently on the book, I select one student from the group to read aloud to me. As they read, I take
notes on what I notice. After a minute or so I switch to the next student who starts reading aloud
right where they are in the text. This process continues until we reach our stopping point and it is
time for our discussion. Bambrick et al., states to “Begin with a fast retell of what was just read”
(p. 208). I have found this to be most appropriate for my kindergarteners. We have recently
began using the “Five-Finger Retell” (p. 245) as Richardson describes as students using their
fingers to retell the character, setting, problem, events, and ending. The visual of using their
fingers has served as a great anchor chart that is used during read alouds, shared reading, guided
reading and independent reading. The question I ask most often throughout the guided reading
process is from Burkins and Yaris, which is, “What do you notice?” (p. 100). I have found this
question to be the most telling in how students construct meaning. The guided reading process is
the bridge from shared reading to independent reading. Bambrick et al., described guided reading
as coaching and practicing before the big game which is independent reading (p. 244).
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY 11
The last component in learning to read is independent reading. For independent reading
to be successful, students need to spend the entire time actually reading. There are two things
that Burkins and Yaris have outlined to combat this, the first is to build stamina. They stated,
“The trick to building stamina, particularly for those struggling to maintain focus, is to stop
independent reading while it is still engaging” (p. 115). Within my own classroom I set a timer
each day and increased it by 30 seconds to 1 minute until my students had built that stamina. I
always stopped independent reading when all students were engaged because it left them
wanting to go longer, which made the start of independent reading the next day very exciting.
The second thing to help combat engagement during independent reading is having a rich
selection of literature that is of interest to the students. If a student struggles to select a book
quickly and start reading, they waste time that should be put towards practicing the skills they
have learned. To avoid this, books of interest need to be easily accessible to the students.
Bambrick et al., advises teachers that, “As you build your library, there is great benefit to picking
books that reflect the diverse interests and aspirations of your students, making sure that
everyone in your class can find multiple books to love” (p. 251). My school’s population has a
high number of English Language Learners, so I have many books that are in both Spanish and
English. When we go to the library my students over the years have looked for books on
snowboarding, skiing, sea creatures, animals, cowboys, dragons, Disney princesses, etcetera, so
any time I am at a thrift store or a yard sale I look for books in these categories.
I have two main goals with independent reading. The first is for my students to
implement the skills they have learned thus far. Independent reading provides students with time
to put things into practice. When students come to words they don’t know or a section that is
difficult, they have the chance to use the strategies they have learned over the course of read
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alouds, shared reading, and guided reading experiences. Burkins and Yaris state, “Such problem-
solving opportunities not only reinforce the teaching and learning happening at other times of the
school day but also serve to help students become stronger and increasingly independent as
readers” (p. 110). It is always a focus for students to put into practice the skills they have
My second goal is for students to fall in love with reading. To further this idea, Burkins
and Yaris said it best by saying, “It means… that reading a lot of authentic texts for meaning and
pleasure is emphasized above all, and there is a contagious energy about books and the things
students are discovering in them” (p. 106). I found this to be the most beneficial concept as I
planned independent reading into my own classroom because it constantly brought my attention
back to the idea of the students learning to love reading. Later in the chapter it states, “Positive
associations with reading make the job of teaching reading much easier… Such positive
associations with reading lay the groundwork for students to adopt reading as a lifelong habit in
addition to leaning in to increasingly difficult text” (p. 109). This is my ultimate desire for my
kindergarteners. At this young age I hope to instill within them a love of reading and a desire to
I believe that teaching writing is a complex yet crucial component in literacy development.
There are many elements to effectively teach writing. With my kindergarten students, we
always start writing by learning how to identify, build, and write their name. Richardson (2016)
illustrated the use of name puzzles, where students each get an envelop containing a postcard
sized paper with their name written on it. Their name starts off by being cut into two pieces and
the students must piece together their name. As students master this their name gets cut into
more pieces (p. 35). Another name writing tool that I used along with the name puzzle is their
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name template in a sheet protector. In previous years I have solely utilized name templates,
however this year with the assistance of both, my students learned to write their name in half the
amount of time as my students from last year. After seeing how successful the name templates
were, I started “sight word puzzles” where my students practice this same process the entire
week with a sight word that they specifically are working on.
As my students are learning to recognize and write their name, we dive into letter names
and sounds with our phonics program and our reading groups. We also start writing by drawing
illustrations. For the first few weeks our illustrations contain only a character and that character
is themselves. I have chosen them to be the character because “I” is an easy sentence starter and
their stories usually revolve around themselves anyway. Drawing a character takes weeks
because I model what shapes create a person and how characters resemble what real people look
like. I continue modeling but soon allow students time to practice drawing the character in their
story. After we have mastered our character, we conduct the same process as we learn how to
illustrate a setting and event. Now my students have illustrations that look accurate and contain
In the phonics program, decodable readers are introduced which allows us opportunities
for shared reading experiences that introduce concepts of print. As students learn more letters
and sounds and are exposed to more decodable readers, I get to introduce students to writing
sharing the marker as students assist the teacher to write a simple sentence (p. 41). I have taken
her six steps to interactive writing and made an explicit pattern for students to do as they write.
The first step is to have students say a simple sentence aloud with me. We say it aloud together,
then we clap one clap for each word as we repeat the sentence again. Next, we say the sentence
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aloud once more as we count on our fingers one finger per word. After counting we say how
many words were in the sentence and then I draw that many lines on the board. If my sentence
was “I sat on a log,” we would say it, clap it, count it, verbalize that there are five words in my
sentence, and then I would draw one line for each word, making five total lines. Then we go
through and break down each word into letters based on their sounds. I usually draw student
names from sticks to come up to the board and write the letter they hear. My students eagerly
wait for a chance to come write on the board. Richardson shared a brilliant idea that I have
started implementing this year in my writing. She advised, “While one student is writing on the
sentence strip, the others should practice writing the letter on their alphabet chart” (p. 41). This
has helped keep all my students engaged in interactive writing when only one student is coming
up to the board.
white boards. We do the same process: say it, clap it, count it, write the lines and then start
writing the sounds. When all the lines are written, we repeat the sentence as we point to each line
to demonstrate how every word gets its own line. Richardson said, “The lines will help children
remember to space between words” (p. 89). Once students have mastered writing all the letters in
a word together, they no longer need to clap it, count it, write it and instead they can just start
writing.
Once students have a good grasp on the format of writing, they need plenty of practice
writing. Effective writing instruction does not just require students to practice writing, they
continually are guided as they learn more about what makes good writing. My favorite quote
from Richardson is “Struggling writers need more teaching, not just more practice” (p. 242).
This leads me to one of the most important aspects of teaching writing, conferencing.
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questions, making comments and suggestions, and sometimes showing how” (p. 151). In my
classroom, students sit at their desks and write while I circulate the room to have brief side-by-
side interactions with students. During these conferences, I always start by having my students
read me what they wrote because they need practice reading what they have written. Ray and
Glover state, “Just because children have written something doesn’t mean the words are easy for
them to read” (p. 172). I have kept this in mind during conferences and it has helped my students
see the need for spaces, punctuation, and complete thoughts. After they read their writing to me,
I make a note in my conference log book of what strengths the student is showing, and I name a
few areas the student stands in need of. Then I select one of the areas to focus on for the
remainder of the conference. As I confer, I carry an extra copy of their writing paper inside a
sheet protector so I can easily reuse it for all students I converse with that day. I model one skill
or concept to the student that I think is more important and have them practice on my paper if
that is necessary. In the beginning stages we do interactive writing using their sentences and as
my students’ progress, I teach these skills in mini lessons and then have students show me the
concept from the mini lesson in their writing. Ray and Glover make an important point when
they said, “But remember that the goal is to teach the writer, not the writing…” (p. 179). This
conference. Conferences are not for me to correct student spelling, it’s a time for me to teach
them additional tools to keep in their toolbox that guides them to becoming better writers.
The last aspect of effective writing instruction is to allow students time to share their
writing. When students have a chance to read their writing aloud to peers it gives them a chance
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to build their confidence and it serves as another teaching opportunity throughout the writing
block. In my classroom, students love to share their writing. We usually share one at a time, but
we have done partner shares where students rotate between several partners. Ray and Glover
state “When books are made public, children’s identities as writers are nurtured” (p. 195). When
we share one at a time, I like to point out positives in students’ writing that serves as an
additional opportunity to praise by pointing out what students have done to better their writing.
I believe that effective assessments require thoughtful planning, a purpose, are frequent,
I have come to learn that effective assessments take proper planning and preparation.
During my undergrad teacher education program, I was instructed that selecting the standard and
aligning that to the desired goals, or assessments, is the first step to thoughtful and efficient
planning. Bambrick et al., stated, “If you don’t know your final destination, you cannot draw a
map to get there. Therefore, assessment is the starting point for instruction, not the end” (p. 89).
When I align the standards and assessment goals before I plan instruction, there is a clear map of
where I need to go with my instruction. If I don’t make proper preparations before I teach my
lessons, I could get to the end and administer an assessment realizing that the skills were never
developed, and content was never learned. Bambrick et al., further shares their belief by stating
that, “Assessment can tell you not only the destination but also how to make the journey” (p.
172). By planning these assessments before I develop the instruction, I have a clear picture of
what materials or activities can get my students to reach that final destination.
Effective assessments need more than proper planning, they also need a purpose. Rona
R. Flippo (2014) states it perfectly, “When we know what our purpose is, we know where we are
going; we know when we get there; and we know what to do and what not to do with the
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findings” (p. 12). Within the field of education, everything from materials, activities,
assessments, and our attitudes have a hidden message of what is important. A teacher that spends
more time assessing reading comprehension than the ability to read nonsense words sends the
message that it is more important for students to construct meaning. Assessments specifically
sends these messages of what is most important (Flippo, 2014, p. 207). This is why teachers need
to be intentional with what skills or content they use because the skills and content send the
message of what is most important. Flippo (2014) states, “The term assessment includes all
observations, samplings, and other informal and formal, written, oral, or performance-type
testing that a teacher might do in order to gather information about a child’s abilities, interests,
considerations” (p. 4). Because assessments range in their delivery, length, question types, way
of administering, and more, it is important that these assessments have a clear purpose and the
results lead to action. The purpose of assessment is not to simply assign a number or a score to a
student and then move onto the next outlined goal. Ultimately, the purpose of an assessment is to
see what students learned, and what is next in terms of instruction. Flippo adds clarity to this
purpose by stating, “Test results must be qualitatively analyzed as well, in order to get as much
information as possible from the results” (p. 35). If a test is administered and scores are assigned
but that is all, then the most valuable aspect of assessment is lost, that is the analysis that leads to
most often because I can assess at any moment during instruction which gives me a quick and
frequent understanding of my students’ learning. Herrera, Perez, and Escamilla (2015) states,
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“Formative assessments are tools and strategies that educators use to determine what and how
students are processing the information they are being taught” (p. 253). This type of assessment
becomes very efficient as teachers can gain an understanding during a lesson as they observe
students, rather than waiting to test students’ understanding at the end of a unit. Herrera et al.,
states, “Such observation then allows [the] teacher to modify the lesson while students are still
actively engaged in learning” (p. 253). I taught a writing lesson this year on speech bubbles. I
introduced their purpose, modeled what a speech bubble looks like, and had students practice on
white boards. When students were practicing, I noticed that many of them didn’t grasp the
purpose of a speech bubble. I stopped instruction right then, and pulled out a Mo Willems,
Elephant and Piggy book to provide an additional support. Then we practiced again on our white
boards and the concept of a speech bubble was now understood by all students. If students
weren’t given an opportunity to practice on white boards, I wouldn’t have observed that the
students were struggling. After seeing that they didn’t understand I was able to quickly provide
them with more guidance before continuing with instruction. This is an example of how
One of the most valuable assessments that I have used is a miscue analysis. Constance
Weaver (2009) states that a, “Miscue analysis requires an understanding of the reading process
and the ability to apply that knowledge and understanding to make inferences, to look for and see
patterns, and to draw tentative conclusions to guide instruction” (p. 121). Before I conduct a
miscue analysis, I begin by sitting down with a student to interview them. I ask a variety of
questions about their likes, dislikes, opinions about reading and writing, their favorite book, who
they look up to as a good reader or writer, etc. These questions give me an insight into the
After conducting this profile interview, we sit side by side and begin the miscue analysis.
I select a text for the student to read and as they do, I code their reading on a preprinted paper.
As I code, I am marking all the student’s miscues. Weaver explains, “… the term miscue
indicates that the reader has missed one or more language cues: graphic (word, letter pattern, and
letter cues), syntactic (grammar cues), and/or semantic (meaning cues)” (p. 120). After finishing
the text, I ask several comprehension questions before finishing the assessment. I now have
documentation of what miscues were performed during their reading and how they
comprehended what was read. After analyzing the data, I can determine which areas of language
cues that student needs assistance with. Bambrick et al., states, “The [assessment] must also be
able to provide you with clear data on where, specifically, student skills break down. If it can,
you’ll be able to analyze student work deeply, and that is the key to tailoring your instruction to
meet your students’ needs” (p. 91). A miscue analysis assessment guides my instruction based on
student needs.
Here is an example from this year. I conducted a miscue analysis and the data outlined
that my student was a proficient reader with very little miscues and read the text fluently. After
asking him the comprehension questions I realized that he struggled greatly to construct meaning
from the text. I took this data and formed a small group of students for a guided reading group
and we learned several strategies and tried metacognitive ways to gain that meaning while we
read. Had I not conducted a miscue analysis, this student could have gone months without me
being aware of this need. Assessments take time to plan and administer, they take time to analyze
and select skills based on data. The most important aspect of assessment is that it must guide my
instruction. Conducting assessments mean nothing if I don’t take the data, analyze it, and then
I believe that the type of questions asked and both full class and partner discussions are
classroom discussions. When I plan a lesson, I write down questions that I have preplanned for
the reading material that guide our learning. By preplanning questions, I can visually see the
variety in higher order thinking questions. After reading Bambrick et al., types of comprehension
questions I now label the questions I create as “factual thinking”, “inferential think”, or “critical
thinking” Factual thinking questions requires students to think about the facts from the text.
Inferential thinking questions is when students will have to infer from the text using context
clues and background knowledge. Lastly, critical thinking questions require students to interpret
the text based on what clues they use as they infer (p. 213). As I label the created questions, I can
be sure that I have a good mix of the three different categories, this ensures that our discussion
helps me to think ahead and preplan prompts to continue guiding the student if needed.
Bambrick et al., goes on to say that after getting a response it is important to prompt further,
“Diving deep into a student answer isn’t just for guiding the reader on the right path when he or
she is incorrect; it’s also a tool to reveal the student’s thinking” (213). Anticipating student
responses has been helpful because then I’ve thought about all possible responses, and it has
Not only are the question types important, but it is crucial that students can discuss their
responses to the questions in organized ways. The National Governors Association Center for
Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers (2010) state, “To build a foundation for
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY 21
college and career readiness, students must have ample opportunities to take part in a variety of
rich, structured conversations” (Speaking and Listening: Introduction). When I first read this, I
thought there is no way my five and six-year-old students can conduct “rich and structured
conversations”. But after implementing what Bambrick et al., instructs, I am shocked at what my
students can do. Bambrick et al., starts by saying that teachers need to prompt in an open-ended
manner to take away the idea that the teacher is the only one to validate answers and that there is
only one correct answer. Some prompts I have used in my classroom are, “Tell me more”, “What
in the story makes you think that?”, “Why is that important?”, etc. (p. 53). These prompts are
open-ended which allows for my students to continue thinking even after one response has
Bambrick et al., further identifies four goals for the classroom that I have focused a great
deal on implementing this year. These are; maximize student thinking in answering questions,
maximize peer support, minimize teacher talk, and lastly, teach self-monitoring and thinking
metacognitively (p. 54). For discussions to be more effective, students need to learn what aspects
make a conversation good. We learn that when someone is talking, we listen and don’t speak.
We look at the person talking and stay away from distractions. When making a comment
everyone in class needs to hear what the speaker is saying or its difficult for the audience to pay
attention.
My students picked up on these quickly, which made for a good transition into teaching
them how to support each other in conversations. Bambrick et al., gave the visual of a classroom
discussion that looks similar to ping-pong. This is a conversation that the bounces from the
teacher to one student, back to the teacher to another student, and back to the teacher. A more
effective conversation involves peers. The visual they gave was that of volleyball where the
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY 22
teacher poses a question, one student responds which leads to another student response and
another student response and another student response. (p. 57) A volleyball discussion allows
more students the chance to actively participate all while supporting each other. After months of
practice, my students now can demonstrate a peer lead conversation that looks similar to that of
volleyball. This also helped with metacognitive thinking because my students learned that there
isn’t only one response and they can comment directly to their peer rather than taking that
response as the only possible answer and waiting for the teacher’s next question. My students
have grasped the concept that they can ask questions or comment directly to the previous
response. By doing this, I have also minimized the amount of talk that I do as the teacher.
When the teacher asks a question and students raise their hand to answer, the teacher has
it structured so one or maybe two students get a chance to respond, this does not maximize
student’s thinking or peer support, it instead keeps the teacher doing most of the talking. Herrera
et al., states, “To move toward effective questioning, teachers should minimize hands-up
questioning…” (p. 255). In my classroom I often pose a question and then say, “Think about it”
while I cue them visually by keeping my hand pressed to my head as if I were thinking. I have
trained my students to cue me visually by placing their hand on their head when they have an
answer to my question. When I am ready for my students to answer I have them all say their
response aloud at the same time by cuing them with taking my hand off my head and laying it
out in front of me so my students can see my palm. This type of choral response is great when I
have factual questions because their answers are usually only one to three words. When I ask
inferential or critical thinking questions, I use very similar cues however instead of shouting out
an answer I’ll have them turn and talk to their partner. All my students have an assigned partner
at their desks and at the rug and one partner is A and the other is B. I rotate these so if A starts
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY 23
then B will give their response immediately following A. When my students participate in
partner talks such as these it allows both students a chance to share their response and I can walk
around the room listening to responses. I usually call on three students after a partner talk so a
few students get the chance to share aloud to me as well. These took a good amount of planning
and practicing for me to be consistent with my cuing and for my students to become automatic.
The preparation to plan a variety of question types and structure rich discussions has impacted
my classroom tremendously.
Conclusion
I may not have known from a young age that I wanted to be a teacher, but after my first
few education courses I was excited to get out in the field. After completing my first-year
teaching, I knew that teaching was my calling in life. Not only am I in a career that I enjoy but
because I had made the decision early on to pursue a master’s degree my knowledge and abilities
within teaching reading and writing have made me a more effective teacher.
The journey here would have been impossible without the impact of two influential
professors. Reflecting on why they made such an impact, I realized it is because of the passion
they illuminated while teaching. Their influence struck a chord within me which ignited my love
no surprise that I have continued to feel and in turn feed off every professor’s passion throughout
this program. My love for reading and writing has grown as I have continued learning about
reading and writing development, language acquisition, appropriate assessments, how to create a
community of life-long learners, how to utilize partner talk and discussions, and more. I have
learned that my English Language Learners will only thrive with proper guidance and resources,
which I now have the tools to do. From read alouds to independent reading, this master’s
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY 24
program has fully prepared me to effectively teach reading and writing. The teaching beliefs I
have outlined reflect the core concepts that I have learned through this program and these
examples illustrate the positive impact that this program has made on my teaching abilities and
has only just begun. The knowledge I have gained over the past two years will continue to
Reference List
Bambrick-Santoyo, P., Settles, A., & Worrell, J. (2013). Great habits great readers: A practical
guide for k-4 reading in the light of common core. San Francisco, CA. Jossey-Bass.
Burkins, J. & Yaris, K. (2016). Who’s doing the work? How to say less so readers can do more.
Flippo, R. F. (2014). Assessing readers: Qualitative diagnosis and instruction, second edition.
Routledge.
Fox, M. (2008). Reading Magic: Why reading aloud to our children will change their lives
Herrera, S. G., Perez, D. R., & Escamilla, K. (2015). Teaching reading to English langue
National Governors Associations Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School
Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English language Arts & Literacy in
Ray, K. W. & Glover, M. (2008). Already ready: Nurturing writers in preschool and
framework for supporting every reader. Grades k-8. New York, NY. Scholastic.
Weaver, C. (2009). Reading Process: A brief edition of reading process and practice, third