Entry #11 The Final Post

    I thought I knew quite a bit about literacy prior to taking LTED601. This class has enlightened me to the fact that I did not know everything about literacy, and I am still working towards gaining a deeper understanding of the topic. On the first night of class I wrote, “Literacy consists of being able to read and write. Literacy assumes the individual has some understanding of their reading and writing as well.” It seems as though I was trying to define literacy in terms of fluency and comprehension. While these are two important aspects of literacy, I have learned throughout this semester that literacy goes beyond this definition. 

    Tomkins describes literacy as “a process that begins in infancy and continues into adulthood, if not throughout life” (Tompkins, 2017, p. 110). I like this definition because it allows individuals to have an understanding of literacy as something more than kindergarteners learning how to read and write. Literacy does encompass young children learning how to read and write, but that is not the end of literacy development. In fact, that is only the beginning. Literacy is a skill that is developed and perfected throughout one’s entire life. 

    The deeper dive discussion that I led myself helped me build knowledge on a topic that I thought I was already an expert in. I thought I was an expert about the youngest readers and writers because I had experience teaching pre-kindergartners in a classroom setting. As I prepared to lead the discussion by reading Building Preschool Children's Language and Literacy One Storybook at a Time, I quickly realized that there was a lot of information on the topic that was new to me (Beauchat et al.). I learned that experiencing a shared storybook reading is the most valuable activity for early readers and writers. Shared storybook reading is achieved when teachers allow children to notice and make comments about a text that is being read aloud to the whole class. Shared storybook reading allows children to build new vocabulary, sentence structures, and more. I know that shared storybook reading is something that I will do in my future classroom as I am now aware of its many benefits on building children’s literacy skills.

    I find it interesting and helpful that each week of this class built off of information from the previous week. For example, shared storybook reading facilitates children’s vocabulary development. As we learned from reading Tompkins chapter 7: Expanding Academic Vocabulary, building vocabulary is connected with students having increased reading comprehension. This chapter was extremely helpful in highlighting strategies for teachers to use with their students that develop vocabulary. I know that I will create a word wall in my classroom to create word familiarity for my students and embrace their love of riddles and word games.

    Keeping a blog this semester allowed me to track my progress in understanding literacy as the semester went on. I enjoy reading my previous entries as they are evidence of my growth. I feel happy that I was able to articulate my ideas each week and that I have created a resource for myself (and others) that I will continue to reference throughout my graduate studies and my career as a teacher! I want to thank Dr. Jones, my classmates, Kucer, Tompkins, and Muhammad for influencing my literacy learning journey for the better. I will be an educator who seeks to be a meaning maker, plan DEI lessons, and understand the inner-workings of my students when teaching. 

Beauchat, K. A., Blamey, K. L., & Walpole, S. (2009). Building preschool children's language and 

     literacy one storybook at a time. The Reading Teacher.

Muhammad, G. (2020).  Cultivating genius:  An equity framework for culturally and 

     historically responsive literacy.  New York, NY:  Scholastic. 

Kucer, S.B. (2015).  Literacy:  Varied, dynamic and multidimensional.  Journal of Family 

     Strengths, 15(2), 1-35.

Tompkins, G.E. (2017). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (7th ed.). Boston, MA: 

     Pearson