Improve Student Literacy Achievement

Question: Discuss about the Improve Student Literacy Achievement. Answer: Introduction: Determining the extend to which diverse students in class have challenges with their reading comprehension, can be achieved by keenly observing the students comprehension knowledge in three stages namely; before reading, during reading and after reading the comprehension. It is important that all these factors are considered because the knowledge of the student e.g. summarizing the comprehension, understanding the difficult words and so forth must be accessed in all the three stages. At each stage Ill provide instructional knowledge to correct the challenges that I have noted with individual students at the end of each stage. I will seek to know what challenges students have before they start reading the compression. Do they seek first to understand the main points of the story or what the rough idea of the comprehension is? Learning tends to be effective when the learners have an idea of what they are trying to understand. I will then ask them to read a short comprehension within reasonable short time and provide a rough idea of what the comprehension is all about. If they get it right Ill know they have enough skills to peruse through a reading. If not I will teach them ways of skimming a comprehension such as reading the first two to three lines of every paragraph and the conclusion of the reading. During the reading are the students able to extract direct answers to the questions? I will ask random questions from the comprehension that have direct answers from the reading and see if the students can effectively answer. If not I will teach them how pick direct answers by identifying key words in the questions and locating them in the comprehension. I will also ask questions that need synthesis of the comprehension to provide the answers. I will ask the students to summaries the comprehension in their own words and see if they would be able to highlight main points of the reading without changing the meaning of the reading. This will enable me to know if the students have the skills to fully understand the comprehension. Those students which show tendencies of not being able to summarize the reading well can be easily picked from they way they provide their answers missing major points of the reading. ("Beyond early literacy: a balanced approach to developing the whole child", 2011) Most important text factors for a literacy teacher The teacher must understand genres very well. This is because the students may encounter them in the reading and they may not understand it, therefore the teacher should be on hand to help the students understand the use of various genres in the text for better comprehension of the reading. The teacher should also have a good understanding of the text structures such that where the comprehension contains a complicated sentence structure, the teacher can assist the students understand the right meaning contained in the sentence. This way the students will focus on understanding the whole compression as well as understanding various text structures as used in the reading for future use. (Bitter, O'Day, Gubbins, Socias, 2009). The teacher should also understand various text features so that he can assist the students to apply the conventional knowledge regarding various literacy devices used in the text. This will further help the students understand the reading. Critique the American 'balanced literacy approach' outlined in the subject text by comparing it to Australian 'balanced literacy approaches'. How are they different? Which ones seem to resonate most with what you believe about literacy instruction? How do they differ? The Australian system or approach in delivery of balanced literacy is based more on the needs of the students as depicted by research or pre examination. The examinations will highlight major areas of literacy delivery that needs focus. The system is learner centered as opposed to teacher centered. The instructional objectives will be dictated by the learners needs. (Bitter, O'Day, Gubbins, Socias, 2009). In contrary, American system is more of teacher centered as opposed to the learner. The teacher will come up with the learning objectives based on what he/she thinks the students needs. If the teacher doesnt conduct pre examination so that it can guide him or her on the areas of focus then he/she will be at liberty to decide what the students needs based on the he has. (Bitter, O'Day, Gubbins, Socias, 2009). In America definition of Individual with disability which is used for funding excludes external causes such as cultural, environmental or economic disadvantage. According to this definition difficulty in learning is considered to be intrinsic to the learner as opposed to Australia where classification of difficulties in learning covers external factors such as those from non-English speaking background and others with learning challenges due to unclear reasons. For these reasons the Australian System resonate better with may view of most balanced literacy approach. (Keengwe Onchwari, n.d.) Australian system resonates well with me because the teaching objectives should always be learner centered as opposed to teacher centered. When the instruction materials resonate well with the students needs there is high chances of success in the process of knowledge dissemination. References Beyond early literacy: a balanced approach to developing the whole child. (2011). Choice Reviews Online, 48(12), 48-7055-48-7055. https://dx.doi.org/10.5860/choice.48-7055 Bitter, C., O'Day, J., Gubbins, P., Socias, M. (2009). What Works to Improve Student Literacy Achievement? An Examination of Instructional Practices in a Balanced Literacy Approach. Journal Of Education For Students Placed At Risk (JESPAR), 14(1), 17-44. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10824660802715403 Bitter, C., O'Day, J., Gubbins, P., Socias, M. (2009). What Works to Improve Student Literacy Achievement? An Examination of Instructional Practices in a Balanced Literacy Approach. Journal Of Education For Students Placed At Risk (JESPAR), 14(1), 17-44. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10824660802715403 Johnson, H., Watson, P., Delahunty, T., McSwiggen, P., Smith, T. (2011). What It Is They Do: Differentiating Knowledge and Literacy Practices Across Content Disciplines. Journal Of Adolescent Adult Literacy, 55(2), 100-109. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jaal.00013 Keengwe, J. Onchwari, G. Handbook of research on active learning and the flipped classroom model in the digital age.