EDSS 521 - What will your literacy-rich classroom look like?

This semester, I have been surprised by the literacy levels of my students. They are able to collaborate with peers and generally stay on-task, explain concepts to other students clearly and patiently, and make effective use of technology by interacting with multiple apps on their iPads. Unfortunately, they are not able to use academic language to articulate themselves in the math concepts we’ve covered or use effective study skills to practice and retain the information they’ve learned.


Journal Sept 30, 2013

My literacy rich classroom looks like a warm, welcoming environment where students are free to express themselves and ask questions without fear of embarrassment. My students are engaged in introductory activities that refresh their learning from the prior year’s subject matter. They are reading the textbook and supplementary materials that cover the concepts we are learning in class.


Diary Dec 15, 2013

My literacy rich classroom still looks like one which is inviting for students. They are comfortable with the classroom atmosphere, they have worked together with their peers on assignments and they gladly help explain concepts to each other. My students are engaged in activities that harbor their creativity and encourage their self-driven learning in my content area. They are reading articles that pertain to mathematics that they can use to practice and reinforce the current content we are covering. They are writing reports on historical mathematical figures they’ve chosen and are teaching a key concept linked to that figure in oral presentations to the class. They are discussing different applications for the math content we are learning and coming up with their own approaches to problem-solving using algebraic thinking.


Diary May 30, 2013

My literacy rich classroom looks like one in which the majority of the students are able to express themselves mathematically using academic language. My students are engaged in group activities that allow them to solve larger, more complex problems than they would be able to do on their own in the same amount of time. My students are capable of independent learning in the following areas: doing research and checking reliability of resources, and finding key concepts, formulas and vocabulary in their books or online when they need to reference them.