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Morgan Lasota
Erin Wilder
ED 463A
Oct. 17, 2014
Literacy Observation
Through completing my literacy observation assignment I
learned about the Eight Principles of Effective Teaching in a much
deeper way. Being able to participate in the classroom and experience
the different teaching strategies first hand was very helpful in
deepening my understanding of literacy as a whole. It was interesting
to connect my reading and my experiences on this subject and I was
very pleased by the different strategies that took place in my
practicum setting.
The first principle that I observed in this classroom was Principle
3; Effective Teachers Create a Community of Learners. This was
exemplified in ample ways throughout my observation, however two
that stood out to me were collaboration and giving students a choice.
This is a first grade classroom and throughout the day my supervising
teacher provides her students with a ton of opportunity to collaborate
with their peers, and as a whole class. The children spend a lot of time
on the carpet in the classroom and whether they are doing math or
reading they work together to come up with the answer. Also, while
they are at their seats the children have time to read the class story

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that was already read aloud to them, and as I walk around I notice that
the children do an excellent job of collaborating with each other about
what they are reading and working on. For example one day the
children were working on cause and effect from a story they had read
and if a student needed help the others were eager to help. Choice
time is also a really big part of their day on Fridays and it is really cool
to be able to see what each student decides to spend their time on.
Many of the students chose to read a book of their choice with a
partner in the class, partly because my supervising teacher puts a very
strong emphasis on reading and literacy in general. A community of
learners is one of the most important principles, in my opinion,
because if there is a strong sense of community the children feel a
deeper connection with their peers and their teacher as well and
ultimately, are more willing to engage when it comes to reading and
learning in general.
The second principle that stood out to me was Principle 4;
Effective Teachers Adopt a Balanced Approach to Instruction. This was
clear to me because every week the class reads a different story from
their class set of literacy books and from that book they get their
spelling words. This helps the students to be able to see how the words
work in a sentence and also they are able to comprehend the story on
a deeper level. From this one story a week students get to do many
different types of reading (Shared, Popcorn, and Modeled) and they

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also learn the meanings of new words and how to spell them. Another
example of a balanced approach that I noticed in this classroom was
that when students do popcorn reading the teacher will help them to
figure out a word by sounding it out. This is helpful because while they
are reading by themselves I see the students sounding letters and they
are able to eventually understand the word they are trying to read.
This principle of a balanced approach is important in a literacy
classroom because if a teacher simply reads a book to a class and that
is all the exposure they get, it will not help them in any aspects of their
learning. However if a teacher applies a balanced approach, the
reading and the spelling and the comprehension and the oral literacy
will come together nicely and it will make more sense in the students
minds.
The third principle that was evident in the class was Principle 6,
Effective Teachers Organize for Literacy Instruction. The students in
this classroom have literature textbooks with multiple grade-level
stories that they read from throughout the week. There is a structured
weekly assignment for these stories at home as well as in class. While
in class, the teacher has a teachers guide of the same textbook and
this helps draw out comprehension questions and spelling and
vocabulary words as well. This is a good way to keep the stories
organized and be able to have everything in one place and have a
distinct plan for the literacy work as well. Another example was that

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there are literature focus units on the other books that are read to
them in the classroom. The teacher reads the books that are not out of
the literacy textbook, and everyone in the class does the same
activities and responds to the same questions. There is also very
explicit instruction from the teacher because there are a few ELL and
resource students in the class that really benefit from the extra
instruction. This principle is very important as well because having an
organized and well thought out plan and having books that correspond
aid in making not only the student successful in learning the material
but also helps the teachers to be successful in teaching it.
The final principle that I observed was the eighth principle,
Effective Teachers Link Instruction and Assessment. I was able to
observe this through the weekly spelling tests. The words from the
students spelling tests come out of their textbooks and are given to
them throughout the week for them to study. These words are defined,
spelled, and sounded out many times everyday to make sure that the
students have a really solid knowledge of how to spell them and also
what they mean. The explicit instruction that is given corresponds with
the material on the assessments, which is very helpful for the students.
Another way that my supervising teacher links her instruction to her
assessment is deciding which things to assess. For example the last
time I was working in my practicum class, I was in charge of taking one
child aside at a time and doing a quick little math activity with them to

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see where they were at in their learning process. Although this wasnt
a formal assessment, it was helpful for the teacher to see exactly
where her students were although she already had an idea. This
principle is important for many reasons, but I believe that with all of
the pressure put on students and teachers for higher test scores,
students should be assessed fairly and reasonably. This is also
important because if teachers decide to assess something separate
from their instruction the students will become frustrated and
discouraged.
Of the eight principles I truly believe that all eight were being
implemented in this classroom, but if there was a principle that was
not as noticeable as the others it would be Principle 2, Effective
Teachers Support the Use of the Cueing System. This was not actively
being talked about and exemplified, however I know that through the
reading and the spelling/grammar work, the student were getting this
principle from their teacher. It is possible that if this was more explicit
in the activities it would be more successful although my supervising
teacher does make sure to sound things out and is very focused on
spelling and vocabulary words, which is the majority of what this
principle encompasses.
Overall, I was very interested to see the different strategies that
took place in my practicum setting and it was beneficial to see the
literacy topics that I had read about in the textbook come to life. I

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believe that my supervising teacher does an excellent job of
incorporating all eight principles into her work everyday and I know
that by doing that her students are going to be very successful in their
lives and with their reading and writing in the future.