Assignment Task: Teachers need to understand and demonstrate the key components of reading, writing, listening, and speaking instruction. For all students to be successful in an inclusive classroom, teachers must provide explicit, structured reading instruction that includes specific engagement and differentiation strategies.
While the assignments for this program are generally K-12 or a chosen grade range, the clinical field experiences in this course are focused on the K-5 inclusive classroom. These grade levels explicitly teach literacy and focus on important inclusive aspects of reading and writing instruction.
Allocate at least 3 hours in a K-5 inclusive language arts classroom to support this field experience.
Observe a certified teacher instructing a language arts lesson and take note of the following:
- What language processing components of reading and writing did you observe (i.e., phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension)?
- How was listening and speaking incorporated? If it was not, how could it have been included?
- What engagement strategies did you use?
- What differentiated instruction strategies did you use?
- What assessments were included in the lesson?
After your observation, interview the mentor teacher about the lesson:
- What reading and writing curriculum did you use? Did you supplement the curriculum? If so, how?
- How did you incorporate writing into your curriculum (English and/or other subjects)?
- What type of data do you collect regarding your students' reading and writing abilities?
- What strategies/activities have you found to be most effective in teaching reading and writing in the inclusive classroom? Do you use any technology-based resources or activities to promote literacy?
- Do you have any students that use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices either now or in the past? Can you explain how that affected your classroom?
- How do you incorporate homework and/or family support with teaching reading and writing?
- What is your biggest struggle in teaching reading and writing? How do you work to overcome it?
Discuss the lesson and strategies the teacher used for engagement, differentiation, and assessment. Describe how incorporates supplemental reading and writing into their curriculum and the data they collect to determine student ability. Include the strategies, technology, and family support systems used to promote literacy in the inclusive classroom. Define a specific goal you would like to work on to be prepared for teaching reading and/or writing and how you plan to meet this goal.