The “Why” for a Blog

I was recruited from Cleveland, Ohio to Fayetteville, North Carolina to teach third grade. This was my first year teaching my own classroom. On the ride to North Carolina I picked up a huge professional book by Fountas and Pinnell. I wanted to learn to teach students how to read.

Fayetteville School District provided professional development.  However, it was usually after a long school day.  A day in which it was mandated that I  eat lunch with the students.  By the time the bell rang after dismissal professional development was the last thing I could manage to grasp my brain around.  The professional workshops in Fayetteville never focused on the foundational skills in reading.  Which to me was the essential component to instruct any of the other content areas in third grade.

I was then recruited to Fort Lauderdale, Florida Broward County Schools.  The district had a systematic approach to developing teachers professional practice.  My principal sent me to numerous literacy workshops.  I learned a gazillion strategies but none equipped me to teach students how to read.

I was driven to find professional resources that would guide me to teaching students how to read in third grade.  I was accountable for third grade students success on the state assessment.  Majority of the students couldn’t read grade level text proficiently.  In order for students to be promoted to fourth grade they are required to read third grade level text proficiently.  Teaching students to read was the most challenging subject to teach as a third grade teacher.  Students in third grade were missing foundational skills which interfered with their ability to read grade level text.

I’ve learned that there are five components to reading; phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.   How could I instruct students in comprehension if they aren’t fluent?  How could I guide students to build their rate, accuracy and expression as fluent readers if they are struggling with decoding?

Welcome to Jozelia’s Love of Literacy.  I want to share the key components of teaching students how to read.