Does my Reading Philosphy Relate to Yours?

Teaching literacy and reading has truly been a process for me as an evolving teacher. This is a subject that I have learned to love and continue to grow through studying new ways to teach effective reading to students of all elementary ages. I first began shaping my own philosophy of teaching reading when I was a junior in college. It was then, that I saw how important literacy is to a child and the many parts that attribute to the reading process. There are many points that I deem necessary to seeing what type of reading teacher that will be presented through me. Interaction through games, participation through literacy focus units, and talking in group activities are just a few of the feature tools that help to outline the type of viewpoints that I have towards teaching reading. Phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension guide these activities and are at the top of my reading priority list. These are some of the most important sections for students to engage in during reading class time. As a teacher, I not only want to teach reading, but also give my students motivation to and desire to read. . Building an appreciation and a love for reading in my students will help them tremendously in their future education endeavors and in life.
As a teacher, I feel that it is my role to make sure that students understand that literacy is more than just reading. It takes spelling, comprehension, fluency and more for the reading process to advance. These are all key components and have to come together to make sure that literacy is understood by the child. I believe that in order for reading to be effective, a teacher has to teach literacy through a variety of ways. Just simply having students read aloud or having the teacher read aloud to the students can be effective, however may not very enjoyable for some. Most of the lesson plans that I create for literacy entail literacy and reading activities somewhere during the day. This could include phonics games, scramble spelling competitions, and even group discussions in literacy focus units.
Although my role as a reading teacher has evolved over time, I hope that it is never fully shaped and that I continue to grow and learn new great ways to teach reading. Struggling in reading can cause frustration and humiliation on students and I believe that it is my responsibility as a teacher to take as many steps necessary to help everyone succeed in reading. I know this may not be possible every year however; I have gained the knowledge to at least help everyone in my class improve. I want my students to be familiarized with all steps of literacy. This will ultimately help them with reading and writing. It is my goal to evaluate each of my students in regards to their reading skills. I believe I can start to achieve this goal by assessing my students as quickly as possible even from the first day of school. I also believe that I can use the appropriate areas of phonemics awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension to better guide my students. By developing and implementing this philosophy of reading, I feel that I will be better prepared when teaching reading to my elementary students.