My Literacy Rich Classroom

This semester, I have been surprised by the literacy levels of my students.  They are able to verbally express their ideas and participate in classroom discussions.  They are also able to express their ideas by writing in their composition books and answering daily warm-up questions.  I have noticed some of my students have trouble with answering some of the warm-up questions without guidance.  Students sometimes still struggle when I tell them the answers are in their notes from the following day.  When students do find the correct answers, generally they do not write them in complete sentences.

September 30, 2013
My literacy rich classroom looks like students are beginning to feel comfortable discussing content with their peers.  Students will be required to write in composition books on a daily basis and they're writing will continue to improve.  Often times, I give stamps for points for correct answers.  When I have my own classroom am I going to begin correcting grammatical errors to improve student writing.  My students will be actively engaged in classroom discussions and be required to answer open-ended questions on a daily basis.  My students will be reading and presenting weekly articles to be discussed with the class.

December 15, 2013
My literacy rich classroom looks like students are now comfortable with classroom debates and discussions.  Students have improved their writing skills and are not making as many grammatical mistakes.  I have now implemented a classroom blog where students will be required to answer questions and comment on each other's blogs.  Each week students will be selected to ask their classmates a question to promote critical thinking in regards to the content.  A few students will be assigned each week to pick out a few questions from the content that will be discussed in a forum.  Students will continue to pick out news articles that will be discussed in class.  Daily warm-up questions will also continue as the school year progresses.

May 30, 2014
My literacy classroom looks like students are now leading classroom debates and discussions.  Students are making less and less grammatical errors and they're writing every answer in complete sentences.  The classroom blog is being used on a daily basis to comment and interact with other students on a variety of science topics.  Students are able to connect content from the beginning of the year to the content towards the end.  Classroom discussions are being led by the students and each day students choose a question from the content to be discussed by the entire class.  Students are able to write a research paper and present their material as a presentation to the entire class.  The class continues to use a classroom blog to offer feedback to one another and discuss various science topics.  Students are able to independently write and read content on their own and are able to come up with their own ideas by critically thinking about the material.