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.

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.

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.

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.

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.