Artifact 4

Artifact Four: Beginning Reading & Writing: These artifacts focus on the early developmental stages of learning to read and write.

Context: I created these artifacts at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in CUI 615, Reading and Writing in the Early Years. This course provided an abundance of information about the Stages of Reading and spelling development. The course reflected on Invented Spelling and how it can be used as a window in which you can view the stage of writing development a child is in, and how Shared Reading and Read Alouds can enhance fluency and aid in constructing meaning from the text. As I began to research the stages of reading and writing development, I began to fully understand that each child passes through a series of developmental stages when learning to read and write. The first stage, called the emergent stage is where children begin to use pictures and scribbles to form letters. During this early stage, students also begin to pretend to read text by making up a story from the picture clues. The final stage, called the derivational stage is where students have mastered words used most frequently and begin to read and spell them correctly in their reading and writing.

Alignment:

Standard A: Instructional Expertise This standard reflects my knowledge of the best practices that have emerged from current educational research on spelling development.

Standard B: Knowledge of Learners This shows my understanding of developmental stages and how instruction can be enhanced to meet the needs of individual students within each stage.

Standard C: Research This shows my knowledge of the latest research on stages of spelling development. My understanding of each child's developmental level enables me to plan the appropriate level of instruction.

Standard D: Content Knowledge This standard reflects my understanding of current knowledge and trends in education.

Standard E: Professional Development and Leadership: This standard is evidence of professional development and inquiry, reflection, and research that enables me to provide the appropriate instruction in spelling development to my students.