Reading, Writing, and Oral Language

Candidates demonstrate a high level of competence in use of English language arts and they know, understand,
and use concepts from reading, language, and child development to teach reading, writing, speaking, viewing,
listening, and thinking skills to help students successfully apply their developing skills to many different
situations, materials, and ideas.
Literacy is the goal for all students, but the paths and strategies that can and must be used are many. My

philosophy for literacy is similar to my philosophy for teaching in general. We must meet children where they

are, provide a safe and inviting learning environment, and use multiple strategies in order to meet the needs of

every child. Meeting children where they are stems from the idea “that all children can learn.”[ CITATION

Lac11 \l 1033 ] As a teacher, it is our job to find out where a child is in their learning, in order to get them

where they need to be. Implementing strategies that meet the needs of every child and having high expectations

for every student. How I wish there were one tried and true method for teaching children, so that every child’s

needs were met and their learning profound. Unfortunately there is not, and so we meet (this is a partnership

between student and teacher) each child where they are and do our best to show them just how capable they are

and where they can go. A safe and inviting learning environment is also as unique as the child. Not every

student will have the same definition of safe or inviting and so again, as intentional teachers we must make

every effort to incorporate every definition. For some students safe may be the structure of school and its

routine, for others it may mean they feel safe to be creative or fail without judgment. Finally, as I stated before

there is no one true method for teaching so I must make it my personal mission to use every strategic tool

available to engage each student, always taking into account the needs of students and how to help them do their

best work.

At its core my definition of literacy is somewhat simplistic, the ability to gain meaning from text.

However, this is no simple feat. A student must be able to not only find meaning but understand the meaning of

the text. This includes the ability to decode or decipher unfamiliar words (phonetically and contextually), build

on previous knowledge, and connect personally to the text.

I believe children best learn from a comprehensive literacy approach. The use of texts that are familiar

to students or predictable in order to provide examples of reading strategies. It is important to teach students to
use “phonics knowledge as part of effective reading strategies, not only to identify words but to construct

meaning.”[ CITATION Wea09 \l 1033 ] Teaching with a comprehensive literacy approach helps provide

context and relevance to students in the moment, as they are learning or struggling with meaning. It is an

effective way to demonstrate to students the effectiveness of a reading strategy and help them develop literacy.

Successful readers and writers attend schools that “offer experiences that help them understand and use reading

to make meaning with print; give them frequent and intensive opportunities to read and write; and help them

learn about the nature of our alphabetic writing system, the structure of spoken and written words, and the joys

of literature.”[ CITATION Str02 \l 1033 ] The power of involving students through experience and opportunity

is limitless.

Reading Constance Weaver’s Reading Process provided me with many moments of introspection and

reflection on the kind of teacher I hope to be. “Children are influenced more by how teachers teach reading

than by what they say about the purpose of reading.”[ CITATION Wea09 \l 1033 ] This particular quote has had

a profound effect on my views of instructional design. Along with class discussions on the subject, I have come

to the conclusion that no one basal reader can meet the needs of children and their quest for literacy. Students

need instruction that is as diverse as they are. Using methods such as Read Aloud, Turn and Talk, guided

reading, modeling, Think Aloud, and group instruction are key to demonstrating for students the power and joy

of literacy.

Effective teaching means using many strategies in order to meet the needs of every student, I very much

believe the same principal needs to be used when talking about effective assessment. There is no one correct

way to teach students and there is no one way to assess them. While I do believe it is necessary to create, as

Slavin described it, a type of map in order to realize when teaching strategies are effective and when they are

not, it needs to be flexible and open to modification as the teacher sees fit.[ CITATION Sla12 \l 1033 ] I no

longer see evaluation and assessment as being stifling or overly critical but instead a way of monitoring

progress and the effectiveness of my teaching strategies. Standards and assessments need to be seen as more of
a resource, one more opportunity to help meet the needs of all students. It is important that from a very young

age we instill in students that assessment is a chance for them to show us what they have learned, not what they

haven’t and as Perrone so eloquently states “that our ongoing interest is in students’ best work.” [ CITATION

Per91 \l 1033 ]

I have spent the last seven years teaching in a multi grade classroom, I am responsible for students in

grades K-5. As a result, I can potentially have a student for six years and while this, in my opinion, is a highly

positive learning environment for a child, I am aware that there are some negatives for the student and teacher.

Research has shown that while multi-grade classrooms are no better for a student when it comes to academic

achievement, it also is no worse. [ CITATION Vee95 \l 1033 ] While I feel like I could make a strong case as

to why this is inaccurate, I’d like to instead focus on one of the struggles I face as a teacher of a multi grade

classroom: creating engaging lesson plans that can be used for multiple years and supplement basal literacy

materials. As an intentional teacher, I see my purpose as creating an environment and curriculum that promotes

learning achievement and this is difficult when you have a student for one calendar school year, and

exponentially so when you have them for three or four. Lesson plans, like this one on idioms, demonstrate my

goal in a multi grade classroom to be able to use a literacy lesson plan once a year and not lose the interest or

focus of my students that have already participated in the lesson.

In the lesson plan below my goal is to familiarize students with the literary concept of idioms. First, I

would like to point out that this lesson is based on Social Learning Theory and uses the methodologies of

Guided and Group Instruction. In a multi grade classroom, I have found that it is imperative to create group

learning opportunities for students, as a significant amount of content is delivered individually based on student

ability. As a result, I try to produce lesson plans in literacy that focus on literary concepts and devices that can

be delivered to the class as a whole, using scaffolding and differentiation to make it an inclusive learning

environment. Group lesson plans also provide my emerging students, who are just being introduced to a skill,

to learn from their developing and proficient peers, who may have participated in the lesson plan a couple of
times before. This coming from Vygotsky’s belief that, “What the child can do in cooperation today he can do

alone tomorrow.” [ CITATION Vyg62 \l 1033 ]

Another component of this lesson is to address the issue of vocabulary acquisition in rural Alaska.

Research has shown that Native American and Alaska Native children fall behind their peers in vocabulary and

comprehension test scores. [ CITATION Rid05 \l 1033 ] Idioms can be a confusing literary device as they are

expressions that cannot be understood from the meanings of its separate words, but that has a separate meaning

all of its own. I was inspired by Nancie Atwell to create minilessons for my students that highlight different

concepts, literary devices, and information. This minilessons on idioms follows Atwell’s design that some

lessons can be “a forum for students to share what they know and for us to figure out collaboratively what we

know—to think and produce knowledge together and lay claim to it as a community.”[ CITATION Atw98 \l

1033 ]

In the following lesson I attempted to use humor and absurdity to demonstrate idioms, while then

allowing students to produce their own in whatever tone they choose. The lesson uses the book Amelia Bedelia

for students to see idioms at work, but thanks to websites like Pinterest, I have been able to change the book

each year to ensure student interest in a new text.

Lesson Plan Template: MAT/Certification Elementary

Candidate Name: Molly Lashier Host Teacher Name: Julie Plummer

School Adak School Grade Level: 2-5 # of Students: 5
:
Date & Time of Lesson: October 3 Length of Lesson: 45 minutes
Topic of Lesson: Idioms Content Area: Language Arts
Materials: Include all Amelia Bedelia, whiteboard, list of idioms, plain paper, pencils, crayons,
materials including Idioms worksheet
technology

Standard: Standard 1: Writing (4): Student writes and revises stories using developmentally
 appropriate skills from the six writing traits.
Methodology: Guided and Group Instruction
Learning Theory Social Learning

STAGE ONE STAGE TWO:

Objective(s): Student Assessment:

Students will be able to recognize and understand Completion of worksheet that demonstrates the student
the meaning of idioms. recognizes and understands the meaning of idioms.

STAGE THREE: Learning Plan

Activities: What will the teacher and children do to address the objectives?
Introduction
Read Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish.

Learning Activities Differentiation

Point out idiom phrases in the book without using the Allow students to look at the book to help recall
word. Ask did Mrs. Rogers really want Amelia to answers.
draw the curtains? Ask for other examples.
Make a list on the whiteboard and discuss what they
really mean.

Tell students that these types of phrases are idioms or

expressions that have hidden meanings. The phrases
do not mean exactly what the words say.

As a group create a list of idioms students have heard

before and what they really mean.
Give each student two idioms and two pieces of paper.
Students fold the paper in half (like a hamburger), on
the inside they write the idiom and what it really
means in their own words, and on the outside they
draw a picture of the idiom. Students will then guess
the idiom by looking at the drawing.
Students may reference the list on the whiteboard and
Amelia Bedelia book.
Selective assignments of idioms to make sure students
are able to read and draw idioms successfully.
Students may glue their idiom inside instead of
rewriting it.
When looking at students’ drawings of idioms I
provided a checklist of all the phrases passed out and
students could refer to the list when guessing and
 check off the ones that had already been identified.

Closure
Complete idiom worksheet.

How is this lesson sensitive to cultural and language issues?

I tried to choose idioms that students were familiar with or that were so literal they were easily
identifiable. Some of the idiom phrases were not ones my students were familiar with, but providing context of
their usage and examples, they were able to make informed guesses about their meaning. I was also intentional
about my choices of phrases and the level of reading difficulty, providing students with idioms that were
readable and the focus of the lesson remained on idioms.

Attachments: 3 artifacts of student work

It’s raining cats and dogs.

Idiom worksheet
I’m in a pickle.
You’re pulling my leg.

Reflection
This lesson was incredibly fun and students were actively engaged for the entire 45 minutes. Reading Amelia
Bedelia really helped students to see idiom phrases in a silly light and made the rest of the lesson a real joy. I
believe students met the objectives I had set for them. They all competently completed the assessment
worksheet at the end of the lesson and even more proof has been their use of idioms in writings after the lesson.
I’ve also heard them make comments to each other outside of class that a phrase was an idiom and some of their
younger siblings have mentioned to me they know what an idiom phrase is! This means they have talked about
it outside of school and that is exciting! I believe this lesson lent itself to effective differentiation. I did not
have any students that fell short of my expectations. I have one student who speaks Spanish in her home and
for her there were a few phrases that she had never seen or heard before, but brilliantly a peer was always there
to explain to her a situation when the idiom phrase might be said and she was able to deduce its meaning. One
student who really excelled is a sixth grader who currently reads at a third grade level. He has developmental
and physical impairments and often needs one on one help. He is very smart and extremely creative and this
lesson spoke his language. He truly enjoyed the opportunity to draw the literal meaning of the idiom phrases
and was helpful in making suggestions for other students. He laughed often during this lesson and that was
music to my ears.
I’m not sure there are many changes I would make to this lesson. The fact students enjoyed it so much I
would consider looking for other ways to creatively incorporate it into future lessons. I think it could also be
used for revision instruction. Ask students while revising to find a place where they could include an idiom
phrase to replace what may be a tired or boring sentence.
I believe this lesson reflected my teaching philosophy because it used humor to engage students. Finding
creative and engaging ways to not only instruct students, but motivate and inspire them is a constant goal.
Bibliography
Atwell, N. (1998). In the Middle: New Understandings About Writing, Reading, and Learning. Pourtsmouth:
Boynton/Cook Publishers, Inc.

Lacina, J., & Silva, C. (2011). Cases of Successful Literacy Teachers. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.

Perrone, V. (1991). A Letter to Teachers. Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Riddle Buly, M. (2005). Leaving No American Indian/Alaska Native Behind: Identifying Reading Strengths and Needs.
Journal of American Indian Education , 29-53.

Slavin, R. E. (2012). Educational Psychology-Theory and Practice. Pearson Education, Inc.

Strickland, D. S., Ganske, K., & Monroe, J. K. (2002). Supporting Struggling Readers and Writers. Portland: Stenhouse
Publishers.

Veeman, S. (1995). Cognitive and non-cognitive effects of multigrade and multi-age classes: A best-evidence synthesis.
Review of Educational Research , 319-381.

Vygotsky, L. (1962). Thought and Language. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Weaver, C. (2009). Reading Process. Portsmouth: Heinemann.