Philosophy Statement
My earliest memory of how I learned to read and write took place at home
with my mother. I was five years old
when I attended Kindergarten for the first time. However, a year earlier at four years of age,
I recall how my mother worked with me preparing me for that first year of
school. Although she had no
understanding of the English language, she worked with me as best she could in
Spanish.
My literacy development started at home where I learned how to construct
meaning from print. It was my mother who
taught me about print awareness. She
taught me that letters can form words and words can carry a message. At four, my mother was teaching me how to put
letters together to spell my name. I was
not only learning how to write my name, I was also learning about the
relationship between written and oral language. Nonetheless, it was through
learning how to write my first name that I received my first reading
instruction.
I became more aware of these letters whenever I encountered them. For example, if I was sitting at the table
having breakfast and I saw the letters of my name on the cereal box, I would
quickly point them out to my mother. If
I was on the train and saw a sign that had any of these letters, I would call them
out to my mother or whomever I was with.
Some believe that children do not learn to read until they are in a
classroom receiving literacy instruction from a teacher. However, I disagree and believe that in my
case I demonstrated signs of reading at four when I was noticing and
interacting with these letters.
My native language is Spanish. I
was raised in a household where both my parents communicated with me in
Spanish. My older sister and brother
spoke English, so the little English I knew, I learned from them. Although my mother did not speak English, she
did contribute to my literacy development.
She gave me a head start by exposing me to print and books. When I was young, my mother read books to me
in Spanish. This was beneficial to me
because it helped develop my curiosity for reading. Every night she would read to me and for each
book she read, she pointed to the words and the pictures on each page. As I am reflecting back to that time, I
realize now how much I gained from those readings. She was not just reading stories to entertain
me, she was also teaching me about books.
I learned about directionality, how to turn pages, how to identify the
front and back of a book, how to use the pictures to read, etc. Therefore, having books read to me further
developed my print awareness, which in turn, influenced my literacy
skills.
My earliest memory of learning to read and write in school is learning
the sounds of the letters. My teacher used a phonics approach to teach
reading. I remember it was all about
sounding out words in order to figure out the new or challenging words. Every afternoon, we would work from a thick
red phonics book and we would have to match pictures with words or cut and
paste pictures with letter sounds. As an
ESL student, matching these pictures with the correct letter sounds was
sometimes the hardest thing for me to do because my vocabulary was somewhat
limited. For example, I did not know the
English word for well, so if I had to match the short e sound to a picture of a
well, I would struggle with that. Back
in those days, there were no computers in the classrooms, no special services
or classes for students like me. So it was after increasing my vocabulary
through reading and repeated exposure of these words, that I was able to
improve my literacy skills.
Vocabulary is key to the reading success of any student. To comprehend a text, one must understand the
words found in that text. The more words
a student knows, the better he is able to comprehend what he reads. Hence, this has caused me to believe that
reading alone increases vocabulary.
Moreover, aside from vocabulary instruction, increasing the amount of
time a student reads can increase vocabulary.
When students read, they are being exposed to a lot of vocabulary, just
from the mere fact that there are more words used in written language than in
spoken language.
As a 21st century teacher, I understand the value that
technology has in and out of the classroom.
Technology is a valuable tool that can also build vocabulary and assist
in developing and improving students’ literacy skills. Different applications
that use audiobooks, dictionaries, games, etc. can assist in helping students
improve their reading skills. Technology
can also provide teachers with a great means of differentiation as it can teach
and present text in various reading levels and pace students’ work according to
their abilities. Furthermore, technology
has the potential to appeal to all learning styles as it can present
information in the best mode of learning for each individual student. Students who are taught with the use of
technology are more likely to experience reading success than students who are
taught without the technology. Sadly,
that was my case growing up.
My earliest memory of writing in school involves tracing letters and
sentences from worksheets. I remember
having the hardest time with leaving spaces between words. My teacher had to constantly remind me of
putting a finger between words to guide my spacing. Writing in the elementary
grades was an arduous task for me. As an
ESL student, I wasn’t always able to relate to the topics assigned for
writing. However, I found that when the teacher
assigned topics that were interesting to me, my writing improved significantly.
This continues to be the case in my adult life.
As a teacher, mother, student and business owner, I have to write for
many reasons. However, my best writing
can be found in persuasive pieces, where I am writing about something that I am
passionate about or if I am trying to change someone’s opinion. Therefore, I
try to keep this in mind as I teach my students.
I always offer my students choices when completing writing
assignments. I believe that students
need that personal connection to the assignment whether it’s through something
they find interesting or connecting it to something they already know. In my experience, when students write about
something that has value to them, they become more vested in completing the
task and produce better writing pieces. As a teacher, I strive to design lessons and
activities that are relatable to the students.
This is important because it helps to increase student engagement and
motivation, two factors which facilitate learning and improve retention levels.
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