7

Strategies to Literacy
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7 Strategies to Literacy

Guadalupe Perez

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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Abstract

As I began my first year teaching I was afraid that I was not providing my students with

the necessary skills to be successful readers and writers. Thus, I developed an online resource

that I could refer to in order to develop my students reading, writing, comprehension, fluency,

phonic/word study, and vocabulary. My drive and determination to create an online resource

derived from the low literacy levels in my classroom. I have done some research and have found

seven literacy-related instructional strategies that can be used across content areas to ensure

academic growth. I will assess one student in my class at the beginning, middle, and end of the

semester to determine if these strategies help develop literacy skills.

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My name is Guadalupe Perez. I am a first year teacher in the Clark County District.

As an elementary teacher the pressure to provide students with the building blocks of literacy has

been an overwhelming concern. As I began my first year teaching I was afraid that I was not

providing my students with the necessary skills to be successful readers and writers. Thus, I

wanted to develop an online resource that I could refer to in order to develop my students

reading, writing, comprehension, fluency, phonic/word study, and vocabulary. My drive and

determination to create an online resource derived from the low literacy levels in my classroom.

As the year began I noticed that my students lacked grade level reading and writing skills.

Unfortunately, my understanding of literacy was limited and confined to the subjects of

Reading and Writing. As the weeks progressed I became aware that literacy is everywhere.

Literacy should never be confined to two academic subjects but is actively used throughout all

content areas. Thus, I have done some research and have found seven literacy-related

instructional strategies that can be used across content areas to ensure academic growth. I will

assess one student in my class at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester to determine if

these strategies help develop literacy skills. When I first began the semester I thought I could

assess the whole class but it became very evident that was a lot of work in this short semester

time frame. Thus, I decided to focus on one student.

Lucila is a first grade student that has been working with me one on one with the 7

strategies to enrich literacy. I assessed her in the classroom and worked in a small group format.

Throughout the semester I guided her through a series of steps. First, I assessed her on the

reading fluency passage, Bear Cubs. Then, practiced two literacy strategies with her after or

before every reading. Lastly, I would assess her comprehension of the article with guided

questions.
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On the first assessment day she was very eager to participate. Ideally I wanted to begin

the reading fluency passage first but I decided to use the List Group- Label strategy (strategy 6)

to get her thinking about the unit focus of this reading. We came up with some great vocabulary

words and were able to break them down into two different columns. We were able to have

dialogue about vocabulary that is used to describe how animals change and vocabulary that is

used to identify change. After, I assessed her on the reading fluency passage. The first read was

difficult and I noticed she was a little frustrated. Thus, I decided to stop and read the passage to

her.

Shortly after, I asked her to write a reading response (strategy 2) to the passage I read to

her. I chose this strategy to clarify any ideas, confusion points, and deepen the understanding of

her reading. I asked her, Was the title of the book a good one? Why? She instinctively shouted

her answer. I thought it was a great strategy to develop her cognitive skills. Since her focus was

intact I completed the second part of my assessment, the comprehension questions. As Lara

Pardo states, comprehension is a complex process that process of simultaneously extracting and

constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language (Pardo, 2004,

p.272). Lucilas responses were short and lacked detail. She received a 9/20. Since it was her

first assessment It was hard to gather much evidence if the strategies helped her.

The second assessment period in November began with the K-W-L Chart (strategy 1).

The K-W-L chart guides students thinking as they begin reading and involves them in each

step of the reading process (Ogle, 1920, p. 580). Students begin by identifying what they

already know about the subject of the assigned reading topic, what they want to know about the

topic and finally, after they have read the material, what they have learned as a result of

reading. I noticed that at first she didnt recall the passage. Once she began reading the passage
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she was able to recall information and was able to retain more information. Her reading fluency

score improved, she was able to read 75/124 words. She noticed key vocabulary concepts and

made connections by mentioning, little bears are called cubs. The second strategy I used was

the Semantic Map. A semantic map (strategy 4) is a visual presentation of a persons knowledge

of and experiences with an identified concept. Lucila was able to develop higher level thinking

due to the K-W-L chart that pushed her thinking. Her responses demonstrated that she was

activating prior knowledge on the topic at hand. This strategy was clear for her to understand and

follow.

The second part of the assessment demonstrated improvement. Lucila had most of

her answers categorized in the satisfactory level. She provided just enough to answer the

questions but did not yet reach higher-level thinking. I have been able to notice through

this assessment time period that the strategies implemented have emphasized

comprehension skills and vocabulary recognition.

The final assessment in December began with reading fluency. Lucila strengthened

her skills drastically. She improved over a minute and began having more self-corrections

through out her reading. She can now fluently read 91 words in 4 minutes and 10 seconds.

After the reading I had her focus on the Visualizing Strategy (strategy 3) used to help

enhance the readers comprehension and memory of text. I had her visualize what a cave

would look like and if it would be warm or cold? I asked her what colors it might be inside

and outside. I asked her if the tent reminded her of anything she had seen before. All these

strategies helped guide her thinking while enforcing vocabulary.

After, this strategy I used the Word Concept Map (strategy 5) that emphasizes

vocabulary by having students dig deep into their thinking. Since the previous strategy we
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were visualizing vocabulary I asked to focus on cave. I had her describe what its, what it is

not, she made a drawing of what it represented and came up examples of what it is.

Through her examples I was able to see that she understood the vocabulary word because

she compared it to a house, tent, and nest. All of the terms allude to safety and security like

a cave provides for bears.

The second part of the assessment demonstrated improvement in areas she was

weak in the beginning of the assessment window. Her vocabulary reached an above level

response because she could make connections to the use of the term and mentioned

additional key information. Her recollection of the text was direct to the point and

demonstrated an understanding of sequencing. She began asking deeper level questions

that she wanted answered. Her overall score was a 17/20. She improved drastically.

In conclusion, the results of my assessments demonstrate that these literacy

strategies work to facilitate student learning through various means of instruction.

Although I was not permitted to give precise demonstrations of how these strategies can be

used across content areas. As you can see through my example all that needs to be changed

is the content base of the subject matter but all these strategies can be used to improve

literacy. Based on the evidence in my research, these strategies are effective and should be

implemented whole group as soon as possible.

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Reference

Blachowicz, C., & Fisher, P. J. (2002). Teaching vocabulary in all classrooms (2nd
ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice-Hall.

Ogle, D. M. (1986). K-W-L: A teaching model that develops active reading of

expository text. Reading Teacher, 39, 564570.

Pardo. L. (2004). What every teacher needs to know about comprehension. International Reading
Association, Vol. 58, No. 3 November 2004, 272-280

Shelly A. (1997) Revisiting the K-W-L: What we Knew; What we Wanted to Know; What we
Learned, Volume 37, Issue 3. Retrieved from
http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1290&context=reading