Reflection for Balanced Literacy in
the Reading Program EDUC 640
Artifact Description
This artifact was for an
Interdisciplinary Thematic Unit completed in the fall of 2012. I created a
graphic organizer and a power point presentation for an interdisciplinary
thematic unit on the State Fair. The thematic unit includes the following balanced
literacy aspects: visuals, technology, writing, social studies, viewing,
listening, speaking, and reading.
Professional Growth
I learned the importance of a balanced
literacy program and how it encompasses all content areas. More specifically, I
learned to incorporate literacy into a social studies unit. The unit I
presented was called The State Fair. I incorporated several literacy objectives
in my unit.
This unit study helped me to gain growth
and understand that literacy flows over into other content areas and reading can
be instructed even during a social studies unit. It also leads me to consider this
in other content areas. I feel better prepared to teach literacy in other
content areas. I can also take this thematic unit and bring it back to my
school and share the balanced literacy presented in the project with my peers.
Understanding and
Application of WI State Standards
Standard #3: The teacher understands how students differ
in their approaches to learning and creates instructional opportunities that
are adapted to diverse learners.
Through this unit, students can be
creative in their approach to presenting their projects and it allows for individualization
and differentiation among students. I am a firm believer in choice and giving
creative freedom and this theme unit provides this opportunity for students. It
allowed for different learning styles and performance modes. It challenged
students to think at higher levels and allowed for diversity. It
also challenged students to research cultural and community norms.
Standard #5 The teacher
uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create
a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active
engagement in learning and self-motivation.
I believe that through choice
students become intrinsically motivated and this is a life skill I want all my
students to learn. This project allowed choice in many areas. It allowed students to learn from each other
and take responsibility for their own learning.
I learned to organize, monitor, and allocate time so students could
progress productively through the course of the project. Lastly, I created a classroom environment
that was set up for openness, mutual respect, support and inquiry.
Impact on Student Learning
During this project, students
learned to do research in a content area, create a visual using
technology,
read content related books and other resources, write an outline, take written
notes, write a
speech, write a research paper, and create a bibliography. They also had to present their project to an
audience in a three to five minute speech, listen to others to gain
information, and create a poster board of
their state along with using
technology as a presentation tool.
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