Literacy in Action Assignment

Education 4735

Sydney Milligan
 Observing Ms. Campmans grade 4 class was very interesting and engaging. I

noticed that in the classroom, there was a plethora of resources available including

multiple bookshelves, a computer station, a craft station, individual cubbies for student’s

work and supplies. I was very intrigued throughout the entire morning with how well she

executed learning and how well her students reacted and fell into their delegated roles as

the day unraveled. Elements of the classroom that I have included on my diagram of Ms.

Campmans classroom are key components that I hope to have in my future classroom one

day, and are components I believe are crucial to have in a classroom full of early learners.

The classroom was bursting with literacy rich posters, student work, prompts, charts,

lists, and resources. Each student had a nametag on their desk, and any materials they

needed for any lesson throughout the day.

Ms. Campmans classroom was arranged in a distinct order that allowed the

students to learn to the best of their ability, allowing space for movement and transition.

At the front of her classroom, she had an agenda written on the white board, and

supplementary, had a job board in which students were listed for the week and had

responsibilities that were engaging and purposeful. In the morning, when the first bell

rang, one student came up to the front and immediately read the agenda out loud in front

of the entire class. I found this not only helpful for the development of the student

reading, and speaking out loud in front of his peers, but also useful for the students

listening. “The classroom community should be inviting, supportive, and safe so learners

will actively participate in reading and writing experiences” (Tompkins, 2015 pg. 14).

Ms. Campmans clearly set her classroom climate and allowed each of her students to feel

comfortable speaking in front of their peers. It was evident, that students were
comfortable with one another, and that they trusted each other. The students listening to

the agenda, had their eyes on the student and were paying attention to catch any

questions, or mistakes listed. “Teachers are classroom managers: They set expectations

and clearly explain to children what’s expected of them and what’s valued in the

classroom” (Tompkins, 2015 pg. 16). I noticed immediately that the classroom had a

poster at the back of the room that stated the classroom expectations, and the poster had

each of the students named signed. This strategy is great for not only the students, but

also for the teacher for accountability and to create a trusting and wholesome classroom

climate.

Alongside the classroom expectations called “4C Class Rules” were additional

posters that listed comprehension strategies, reading and writing strategies, punctuation

strategies as well as the outcomes for each subject area that was taught in the classroom.

The daily exposure to this type of literacy contributes to children’s learning through

memory, sight, words, meaning and the use of phonics. There were no surprises in Ms.

Campmans room; each poster, sign and prompt gave students confidence and

encouragement. Each piece of literacy on the walls had meaning, and informed each

student that they were in a rich environment full of learning and love.

A literacy rich moment that I noticed in Ms. Campmans classroom was the use

book clubs. Students were placed in reading level groups, and sent off around the school

to read with a group of peers. “Teachers must match children with books at appropriate

levels of difficulty because children are more likely to be successful when they’re reading

books that are not too easy or too difficult” (Tompkins, 2015 pg. 81). I was fortunate to

be a part of one of the book club groups, and I sat and asked questions, immersed myself
in the literature and listened to pick up on any vocabulary that may have stumped a

student or might have led to a question. “Through the experience of reading and

discussing a book together, children learn more about how to respond to books and

develop responsibility for completing assignments” (Tompkins, 2015 pg. 24). Through

engaging in the reading, and the conversation that followed, I truly believe in what

Tompkins mentioned. Students developed responsibility as they read one after the other

in order, and would hold each other accountable if one was reading too fast, or if one

skipped a group member. Students also were able to verbalize what was occurring in the

literature, which made the story line make more sense, which allowed them to further

reflect once they returned back to the classroom. “Effective teachers adjust and

personalize their instruction because children vary in their levels of development,

academic achievement, and ability” (Tompkins, 2015 pg. 25). When returning to the

classroom, Ms. Campmans had her students record a summary of what they read, and

questions relating to what they read in accordance to their thoughts. I found this quite

effective as it helped the students understand the material they read, and comprehend the

story line, characters, and events effectively.

Ms. Campmans was very adamant that her students wrote perfectly, as she

preaches, practice makes perfect. Her philosophy with reading and writing is that an adult

must be keeping track of student’s work throughout the day, and individually must check

student’s work before they continue on. She believes it is very important that students are

learning the correct punctuation, spelling, grammar etc. as without being firm on these

principles, students will continue doing their work wrong. When the students were done
their summarizing and their questions, they had to visit an adult in the room before they

moved onto the next activity.

Additional to the book clubs, in the classroom were many shelves full of

textbooks, and novels appropriate for the grade 4 students. I found this to be a very key

component in the classroom, as it plays a huge role in how much students participate in

reading, and how much they develop a love for reading. The more exposure to literacy

and reading, the more likely they are to develop a desire for it. Each student also had a

book in their desk, and at any point they finished their work, they were able to pull out

their book, and read until further instructed. The day did move fairly fast, as the students

were moving from activity to activity every twenty minutes to a half hour. I found the

schedule very effective, because it allowed students to keep moving and never become

lethargic or uninterested in the activity they were focusing on. Students were able to stay

on task for the short amount of time, especially knowing the routine and having a

reminder on the board at the front of the classroom to help them adjust between activities.

The transitions were efficient and allowed student’s to get to work quickly once the next

activity was introduced.

The next activity Ms. Campmans had her students work on in the morning was

writing persuasive paragraphs. Students were given a prompt and watched a short video,

specifically on making assumptions about other human beings. I found this mini lesson

quite effective, as it both taught the students that making assumptions could be bad, and

also introduced writing with a purpose. Thinking about what exactly you are writing

helps develop meaning and correct transfer of thought to written language. Ms.

Campmans addressed to the class, possible topic sentence’s to prompt her students, which
I also found effective, as some students were struggling with the concept. “Teachers

develop young children’s concepts about written language as they demonstrate how

reading and writing work and involve children in shared and interactive reading and

writing activities” (Tompkins, 2015 pg. 51). As I walked around the room, observing

students writing, I noticed that each had indented their first paragraph, were paying

attention to proper grammar, using capitals and punctuation and were able to create

sentences for themselves. Once again, Ms. Campmans told her students to recognize if

they were making mistakes, as if they had any when they were done writing an adult

would go through their work with them and ask, “do you have any mistakes, and where

are they?” I found this concept interesting, but not very surprising in a grade 4 class. It

was great to see that students were held accountable for their writing. I even noticed some

students writing their persuasive paragraphs with handwriting, and I asked why they

chose handwriting as opposed to printing, and many answered because they wanted to

challenge themselves.

Children’s literacy development is argued to occur in three stages, and within this

activity in particular, I noticed that most of Ms. Campmans students were in the fluent

stage of their literacy development. Most could identify words automatically, write with

compositions of a proper paragraph, spell most words right, use sophisticated vocabulary,

use capitalization, and use correct punctuation (Tompkins, 2015 pg. 55). There was only

one student in the class that was working on a different level than the rest of the students.

He had an educational assistant prompt him throughout each exercise, and was

developing between the emergent and beginning stages. Ms. Campmans made sure that
he was participating in all of the same activities, but just within a different way, which I

thought was a very crucial component within this student’s development.

This experience was very rewarding and worthwhile for me. I was introduced to

teaching techniques and activities I was unaware of and gathered a ton of information on

how to differentiate in the classroom, and how to immerse children in literacy. The

classroom was a safe and rich environment, that I found students learned very well in.

Each student was immersed in literacy, not only when reading and writing but also when

speaking, listening, viewing, and visually representing throughout the day. The purpose

of language development was evident, and Ms. Campmans did a very good job of making

it obvious that developing literacy is the main goal in her classroom.

 References

Tompkins, G. (2015). Literacy in the Early Grades: A successful start for preK-4

readers and writers. (4th ed.).California State University, Freno: Pearson Education.

Education 4735. (2018). Class notes and discussion.

 FRONT OF CLASSROOM

Job Board & Agenda Whiteboard Recycle Station Microwave

Smart Board

Carpet
Filing Cabinet
Bulletin Board (Class Photos, Fire Drill Procedure etc.

Hand-in table

Book Shelf Ledge

Windows
Student Cubbies

Teacher
Desk

Desks Desks Desks

Storage Room Craft Corner

Computer Station

Outcome Board (All Subjects) 4C Class Rules Student artwork displayed

BACK OF CLASSROOM