Oral Language and Reading

According to the text, oral language is the foundation on which reading and writing are built, it is the base (Gibbons, 2002).  Children hear oral language long before they read words.  So technically oral language is the first step to learning to read and write.  Next, children learn that letters correspond with sounds (phonemic awareness).  Even after children learn how to sound out words, oral language still is continues to be related to the comprehension piece of reading,   the semantics for words heard and read are the same, for example, the word c a r, whether read or heard, will evoke similar though varying meanings (Gibbons, 2002). 

Writing Instruction

Working in special education I have taken many classes on teaching writing; however, I still feel that there is so much curriculum available and that I am still learning how to differentiate for each of my student’s needs, one program does not fit all.  However, I have also learned that writing and reading go hand in hand and must reinforce each other. 

In Freeman and Freeman (2004), there are two views of writing that are discussed first, Learning View and second, Acquisition View. 

1^st- Learning View is considered traditional and the students goal should be able to produce a good piece of writing by being taught each piece of the writing and finally working up to teaching how to bring it all together.    For instance, first students learn how to sound out and form the letters, next combining sounds to produce words, next how to combine words into sentences, and finally putting sentences together to form paragraphs.   Many of the curriculum's I use are modeled after the Learning View Model. 

 2^nd- The Acquisition View model’s goal is to produce a quality piece of writing by knowing the writing process.   I think of this method similar to backward planning, you start with the message and develop the skills needed to produce the writing.

When looking at both methods I feel that I have been exposed and exposed my students to both.  However, I know that I really need to look at which method works best for each of my students but teach them both.

Sources

Freeman, D.E., and Freeman, Y.S. (2004) Essential Linguistics: What you need to know to teach reading, spelling, phonics, and grammar. Heinemann.

Philosophy on Teaching

The teacher I spoke with is someone that I currently met this year but seems to have her classroom in order and when I go by her students are engaged.  Mrs. J. teaches reading intervention, tier 2.  I asked her about what her philosophies on teaching literacy were and honestly I was waiting for this very intense, explicit, probably an above my head answer.  However, she simply stated that she knows that all students learn differently, she gets to know them and how they learn and adjusts her lessons accordingly and that she lets them know that they are important, and consistency is key.  After hearing this I know I feel the same way but I had to look at my way of teaching to make sure I made them feel that they were important in my class as well.  It was not the answer from her I expected but it definitely was one I needed. 

Intro

Hello,
Just testing out, got to love technology.
Tracy