# data[].attributes.body
As a future literacy teacher I plan to differentiate student learning and to support diverse learners by differentiating the content for my students who need help developing different skills than those prescribed as "on target" or "on grade-level." This will be done through using various materials such as text sets with leveled reading books. I also plan to differentiate the product for my students. In looking through Bloom's Taxonomy, there are a variety of ways to expand student understanding and have them think at a variety of levels, but by differentiating the product of their learning, students are given the opportunity to excel through a mode in which they are likely to be most successful. Ways that I plan to implement differentiating the product are allowing students to choose their own projects to exhibit their learning. The students will be asked to meet certain criteria from a rubric, but the mode through which they will share their knowledge, will be different and individualized for each student based on their ability level.

Allowing students to have options in their literacy centers and giving them the opportunity to choose where they may need additional support is important to student self-efficacy and self-regulation. I also incorporate various jobs into literature circles so that students have the opportunity to a variety of jobs, but can also expound upon information that they find while using a particular job that students are most interested in.

Gifted students will be supported in my class by having a variety of options from which they can determine their own academically rigorous avenues through a differentiated product. Using a variety of texts within text sets will also benefit my gifted learners because they will learn the same information as everyone else, but will continue to expand their vocabulary and will read at a level that is most appropriate for them. This will make it so that everything they complete is not too easy, and the students are still continuing to grow academically.

ELL students will be supported in my class by using books that are published in their native language. For example, I will use books that have been translated into multiple languages to do literature circles, and the students will have the option to read the story in either English or their native language. I will also do my best to incorporate the vocabulary of their native language in my classroom by allowing them to share a word or two with the class for each spelling/vocabulary test each week that can be used as the week's bonus spelling words. This will help the students to feel as though their language and culture is important, but will also hopefully help their fellow students to have the opportunity and ability to communicate with their classmate who may need to communicate in different ways using their native language from time to time.

Special needs students will likely need significant additional support. I will use adaptive technology to help these students so they will likely do a lot of their reading on iPads or Kindle devices. I will also have any students with special needs read materials that are more applicable to their individual interests so that they will have a greater ability to comprehend the material since they will have an interest in the material and will likely already have a developed vocabulary on the topic.

# data[].attributes.body
15 Minutes- Spelling/Vocabulary Work: Students will practice their spelling words or new vocabulary with a partner. Each week students will have a bingo chart where they attempt to fill in at least 4 blocks on their chart during this class time, completing one block each day during the week, and concluding with spelling tests on Fridays. On Mondays students will also be given their spelling/vocabulary pre-test.

30 Minutes- Literacy Centers: During this time students will go to areas where they need additional support or development, while I work with students who need specific attention in certain areas based on assessments that have been administered throughout the week on new skills that the students are practicing. Some of the center options for students will include independent reading and comprehension work, skills and strategies, and vocabulary or poetry, among others. Literacy centers for older students can function in more of a Daily 5 or Reading Workshop fashion.

15 Minutes- Mini Lesson: Based on curricular standards and objectives, I will teach students a mini-lesson each day on new skills, strategies, or content that will help my students to be better readers. Some examples of mini-lessons include looking at the author's purpose, breaking down the story on a plot map, or even looking at new types of words like homonyms and homographs.

30 Minutes- Literature Circles: Students will be reading and working on certain stories independently during free time and at home during their reading time each night, but will discuss their reading with their peers to further their comprehension skills and get a glimpse of different perspectives as they interact more with each text.

# data[].attributes.body
1. Literacy Centers: Even though my students are older, literacy centers are great way to incorporate a variety of learning styles and curricular goals into the school day to help each individual student. This also allows students to reflect on areas where they need improvement, and allows them extra time in those areas. A few centers that I would like to include are a technology center, listening center, library center, and recording center, among others.

2. Interactive Read-Alouds: Reading with all students builds a sense of community and unites students rather than dividing all of them for the leveled reading groups that they may be in throughout the day. This also allows students the opportunity to have someone model fluent reading for them to aspire to achieve. Through interactive read-alouds, as the teacher I can gauge student comprehension by asking questions as we read stories together. Working with older students, this is a great way to support a thematic unit, or share a longer chapter book with students that they may not otherwise have finished on their own.

3. Word Walls: Having student vocabulary visible at all times during the day helps the students to recall and use their vocabulary in various content areas. The word wall can include basic words, academic vocabulary, and specialized terms that I want students to have mastered by the end of their time with me. Although this again may seem like a strategy more appropriately used with younger students, I feel that the more often students can see and work with their vocabulary, the more easily they can master the terms and the information and the more readily they will use the terms that they are practicing.

4. Literature Circles: Within groups, students will read various types of literature and will discuss the books they are reading with one another, while having specific jobs to enhance individual and whole group comprehension. This will also allow students to have peer interaction that is so valuable to their learning. They will gain new insight and will vicariously learn from one another as each shares their perspective.

5. Assessment Driven Instruction: I will constantly use a variety of assessments in order to determine how to best structure my lessons for students so that they can achieve the most growth possible individually. Through running records and observing students in their discussions, among other observations, I will determine what students need most, and then will appropriately plan my instruction. Formal and informal assessments will guide my instruction and help me to discover if any of my students need reteaching, or if the whole class is comprehending the content and the students are capable of implementing the skills and strategies that we have been learning and practicing. If students do need some remediation, the opportunity for me to work with small groups will come as I use literacy centers.

# data[].attributes.body
1. I believe that children learn best in a supportive environment. I have come up with a model representative of a house to share how children can be supported in their learning. In this way the bottom of the house will have a firm foundation that the children will build upon each year they are in school. On either side of the foundation will be two outside walls that are the "Parental support" and the "Teacher support." This support on top of the foundation then holds up the roof of the house which is comprised of the "want to" learn from the student and the "know how" which involves implementing the strategies they learn in class in order to become successful learners and students.

2. I believe that teacher's should use a variety of instructional practices to make learning meaningful for each student. By using a variety of practices, the teacher is catering to various learning styles, but also allows students to have different experiences with the information and to some, different experiences will be more memorable than others. It is also important to use various instructional practices in order to differentiate instruction. If there are higher-level learners in the class who are not being challenged, they will not continue to grow. In order to ensure their growth, it is important that they are given meaningful extension activities and that their instruction reflects the additional material that they are learning, or challenges them to think critically.

3. My literacy classroom will be a place where students will reach their full potentials. I intend to ensure this by assessing and learning about each student as early as possible in the school year. Based on this information I will then differentiate instruction as needed for each student to help them learn as much as they can. I will also do all that I can to set the bar high for my students so that they strive to reach that expectation, all the while reaching the potentials that they did not know they had the capacity to achieve. By believing in my students and helping them to develop confidence and the belief that they can achieve, they will far surpass what they believed their potentials to be.

# data[].attributes.headline
Impact of Literary Experiences on My Beliefs

# data[].attributes.subject
Impact of Literary Experiences on My Beliefs

# data[].attributes.body
As a child I was considered to be an advanced student. Because of this, my literary experiences were often challenging but allowed for great implementation of creativity and social experiences with other children who had a similar ability level to me. My parents also read to me each night before bed, until I could read on my own and read stories like the Harry Potter series to them and my younger sister before she could read. I constantly read independently as a young child. I participated in events such as the Summer Reading Program at my local library, and would ask for books for Christmas and birthdays. I was thirsty for new stories and would spend hours at Borders, when it was still in business, and would browse for new books to read and spend my allowance and birthday money on.

One of my favorite things as a student was when I was in the third grade and my teacher read to us each day after lunch. I always looked forward to that because I would usually try to find my own copy of the book, and would follow along as my teacher read aloud to the class. This helped me to develop my vocabulary, but also enhancing my spelling and reading fluency. Since I enjoyed this experience so much and feel that I learned significantly from this experience, I plan to also incorporate interactive read alouds into my future literacy classroom during times other than just our literacy block. As a student this was a fun way for my fellow classmates and me to bond over a story that we all read together, when at other times we were divided into our own reading groups.