Isolate Each Component of Literacy

     In order for students to become exceptional learners in both reading and writing, the learning process needs to be divided into several parts. It is important for students to learn literacy, in which daily lessons are focused. This way, students can take each component of literacy and develop clear connections to each other. In relation to Debbie Rickards and Shirl Hawes' article, "Connecting Reading and Writing Through Author's Craft" discusses, "Classroom teachers can link the isolated components of balanced literacy by helping students make focused connections in reading and writing through out the day" (370). As a future teacher, I think it's important to develop lessons that have specific objectives and goals. Furthermore, I think it's important for lessons to connect and relate to one another. Learning how to become a better reader and writer is a step by step process. In previous fieldwork, I noticed that students became more distracted during  the literacy block when they were overwhelmed with tasks. However, when the students were asked to do one specific assignment, such as to underline the main ideas in a story, they were focused and able to complete the work.
     Rickards and Hawes' article states four points in relation to the focus on one strategy across literacy components. The four points are:

• set a purpose for listening and reading;
• use exemplar texts to affect specific parts of their own writing;
• begin to read like writers; and
• realize that certain concepts are in the repertoire of all good writers. 

     This article includes several in-class activities that could help break down the components of literacy so that students can gain a better understanding. One example from this article included Ms. Tran's lesson, in which the students worked together to replace verbs to fix the way a character sounds in the story. The students located the verbs, and developed ideas together as a class. For example, Ms. Tran demonstrated to her students that a character's sound could be expressed by replacing the verb "said" with "shouted." As a future teacher, I find small lessons such as Ms. Tran's to be effective. Even as a current college student, it is easier for me to store knowledge when lectures are broken down, and each lesson can be connected to the overall topic. I would like to incorporate mini-lessons or focused lessons into my classroom's literacy block. I want my students to become better readers and writers, and to enjoy the process of reading and writing. I personally believe that focused lessons that connect to literacy as a whole is the most effective way to go.