Part 1 Guided reading is one strategy used in a balanced literacy program that allows the teacher to work with each child in small, flexible groups at their level. As you likely noted while reviewing the Learning Resources and the VFE, teachers use guided reading differently based on their own styles and the strengths and needs of the children. Understanding the goals of guided-reading strategies and recognizing ways of increasing effectiveness leads to better instruction for you as a teacher of literacy. Review the Week 2 Learning Resources and the Virtual Field ExperienceTM video. Focus on the small-group guided reading section of the video. Reflect upon what you saw in the video. Think about what the teachers do well and how they can improve. Post an analysis of the following points: Share at least one positive aspect of the teacher’s approach to guided reading considering the principals of effective teaching from Chapter 1 of the course text, “Becoming an Effective Literacy Teacher.” Suggest at least one improvement the teacher could make in this segment to better address student needs. Describe a segment from the Virtual Field ExperienceTM that meets one of the topics in this week’s readings. Use time codes to note the start and end time of the segment you choose. Explain what you learned from a video that was in a language other than English. How might this impact how you teach students who are not proficient in English? Ask questions you have about guided reading as a result of the readings and the Virtual Field ExperienceTM. Include citations from the resources that support your analysis in the post. Part2 You have examined the components of a balanced literacy program and are beginning to explore what this really means in terms of how teachers design activities for effective literacy instruction. You are also learning that the components of a balanced literacy program translate into different types of instruction for different age and ability levels. For example, an independent reading lesson for kindergarteners is very different from an independent reading lesson for third graders. Understanding this idea is especially important for teachers of young children because many of the components of early literacy are not as directly apparent. This Assignment helps you recognize the various concepts associated with balanced reading instruction used in most schools, and particularly what these concepts mean in classrooms for young children. Review this week’s Learning Resources to explore the components of a balanced literacy program. Pay particular attention to how these components are characterized in settings for young children and emergent readers and writers. Create a PowerPoint or Adobe Spark presentation for first grade families describing early literacy concepts. Use the PowerPoint resource to create an effective presentation with details in the notes section. Include the following in the presentation: Explanation each of the following concepts related to first-grade students: Fluency Sight words Concepts of print Alphabetic principle Phonics Phonemic awareness Explanation of the difference between phonics and phonemic awareness Description of one original example of a multisensory activity for phonics instruction and one example of a multisensory activity for phonemic awareness that families can do at home. Description of at least one original way to provide additional support to the following subgroups of learners in phonics instruction: English-language learners Struggling readers Advanced readers Remote learners All of the information in the presentation should be clearly cited and documented in APA format.
