Q: What are your values and beliefs about literacy practices in your own classroom?

Here are two values that reflect the presence of literacy in a classroom, which I have
identified in my teaching philosophy.
Learning needs to reflect students
Every student has a unique learning process that is a combination of auditory, visual,
kinesthetic, and tactile learning styles. No student should be denied learning because of material
presentation. I will ensure that students have multiple options across multimedia mediums when
learning in my classroom. My instruction has a dual coding approach. Objectives taught in my
classroom will be current issues that are discussed in modern formats.
This reflects literacy because it shows that learning is unique. Gone are the days that all
students are expected to learn from taking notes out of a textbook; here are the days that a
teacher must create a classroom which meets the fundamentals of literacy. Thinking ink back to
the aforementioned definition of literacy, one will remember that literacy is defined as ANY
interaction in an individuals life with and without technology. The value of teaching students
through a combination of auditory, visual, kinesthetic, and tactile styles is explicit when related
to literacy. By instructing students that literacy incorporates all of these learning styles, a teacher
is changing the conversation about literacy. The teacher is redefining literacy. Students come to
understand literacy in a functional and purposeful manner, which they can transfer to their real
lives.
In the same way, it is my belief that literacy must utilize technology (aka multimedia
mediums). Students are growing up in an era in which technology is a necessity for a functional
life. Students must learn the importance of sources, typing, and properly communicating on the
internet as these are all aspects of literacy. A study conducted by 6 S Marketing found that 80%
of Canadians are online (Chris Breikss, 2012). Evidently, a majority of Canadians are using
technology, and teaching students how to become technologically literate is a demand in todays
society. This approach will create a classroom that addresses the nine essential skills of literacy
as defined by iae. The skills are; oral communication, continuous learning, working with others,
document use, reading, numeracy, writing, computer use, and thinking (Government of Alberta,
2014).

Canadians usage of
technology devices is
portrayed in this infographic.
Students have growing access
to online information and
videos. Students are relying
on the internet more and more
conduct research. Teaching
students how to be literate on
the internet, on mobile
devices, and on social media
is imperative. (Breikss, 2012).

By focusing on literacy as a
fundamental aspect of learning, it is
viewed as being of primary importance to
all learning (Alberta Education, 2010b).
The Government of Alberta has outlined
the importance of developing literacy
skills across the curriculum in a variety
of contexts to transfer knowledge
(Alberta Education, 2010b). In fact,

Biancarosa and Snow (2006) state that most high school drop outs occur because students lack
literacy skills to understand the content in high school classrooms. A literacy focused classroom
has been shown to create ethical citizens, entrepreneurial spirit, and engaged thinkers (Alberta
Education, 2010b).

In todays classroom,
literacy needs to be a priority of all
educators. Education Alberta writes
the assumption that literacy skills
are taught in the English Langauge
Arts classroom is prevalent;
however, studies show that literacy
is best developed in a variety of
content areas (Alberta Education,
2008). In other words, every teacher
is expected to teach student literacy
21st Century Learner with a focus of literacy and numeracy to
become and ethical citizen, have entrepreneurial spirit, and
be an engaged thinker (Alberta Education, 2010a).

skills, regardless the subject and content matter. Shelley Stagg Petersons article Teaching
Content with the Help of Writing Across the Curriculum discusses the effectiveness and ease of
using writing in across the curriculum: content area classrooms are ideal places for helping
students to develop as writers, as well as content learners (Stagg, 2007). She goes on to state
that students can learn about good writing from reading any material which also discusses the
content in specific subject areas (Stagg, 2007). The inclusion of reading is important because
students can read a variety of formats while simultaneously learning about content. Not only is
literacy being reinforced in a content class with this approach, but students are also discovering
content in creative and engaging ways. Students are able to direct their learning through
mediums they find enjoyable, transferable, and meaningful.

Learning as a lifestyle
My goal is to teach students the how and why of learning. Students will have a clear
understanding of how they most effectively learn, and how they do not learn. Students will able
to describe the importance of lifelong learning and the importance of the topics covered under
programs of studies.
As the aforementioned definition of literacy clarifies, literacy is a lifelong journey. By
participating in a class that has a goal of lifelong learning, students will come to see literacy and
continuous learning as synonymous. To further illustrate how deeply literacy effects students
long after they leave a classroom, Education Alberta has stated that high literacy leads to
individuals who have higher incomes, better health, and greater social and civic engagements
(Alberta Education, 2010b). On the other hand, IAE states, typically, adults with low literacy
are not aware of their limited skills and therefore do not see a need to invest in raising their
literacy level (Government of Alberta, 2014).It is clear that literacy promotes more than
intelligence, it promotes citizenship. Furthermore, the lack of literacy skill development has a
strong impact throughout individuals lives. Instructing students with a recognition of the
demands of a 21st century society enables them to establish the four pillars of lifelong learning
identified by CMEC. The pillars are; early childhood learning and development, adult learning
and skills development, postsecondary education, and elementary to high school systems
(Councils of minister, 2010). As the four pillars of lifelong learning portray, the impact literacy
has on learning is not confined to the classroom. Moreover, Education Alberta has listed
educators, school authorities, parents, communities, and students as responsible for literacy
development (Alberta Education, 2010b). By including the entire community in promoting
students literacy, the entire community is also engaged in developing literacy. Individuals in a
literacy focused community are able to develop literacy skills that are transferable in all aspects
of life.
Since students know literacy is a skill needed in all aspects of their lives, they will be able
to build and strengthen their literacy skills anywhere they are. IAE finds that acquiring and
developing literacy skills at home, school, work, and in the community [are] imperative to
address (Government of Alberta, 2014). Students are more than well-equipped to function in

society if literacy skills are taught explicitly in schools and communicated with parents from
early on in their lives. Furthermore, since all students have varied interests and talents,
promoting literacy outside of the classroom allows students to explore literacy in a way that they
find purposeful. Education Alberta addresses the importance of considering individual learner
needs in literacy first: the diversity of Alberta learners illustrates the need for a broad, inclusive
approach to literacy that addresses individual learners needs (Alberta Education, 2010b).
Q: How can you demonstrate your understanding of your role in teaching literacy across
the curriculum?
Even though literacy is expected to be taught in all subjects, which is modelled later,
most of the focus on developing literacy skills still remains in the English Language Arts (ELA)
Program of Studies. It is not say that other subjects do not align with the ELA Program of
Studies by requiring explicit instruction of literacy in specific subject content areas, rather it is to
say that the main purpose of ELA is to address all forms of literacy in order to provide students
with access to a literacy hub. That is, students will be able to develop, create, and expand on
their literacy skills in ELA, after which, they are able to transfer the knowledge from ELA across
the curriculum. The term literacy hub refers to the environment of strictly developing literacy in
a cross-curricular manner. Students are able to refine literacy skills learned in content subjects as
well as develop new literacy skills that they can apply to other content subjects in ELA. This
transfer of skills happens without any teacher intervention as all classes rely on some aspect of
reading, writing, or conversing/communicating.
ELA can be considered a literacy hub in that it is a place for students to reflect on their
literacy skills without any outside content to learn. In ELA students develop six strands of
literacy in all outcomes. The strands are as follows; listen, speak, read, write, view, and represent
(Alberta learning, 2000). In this way, students have ample opportunity to directly develop
literacy skills explicitly in ELA. This is a great way to have students work with literacy as other
content teachers may feel inadequate or feel as if they have no time to work with the students by
explicitly teaching literacy skills. Even though content teachers may feel that explicitly teaching
literacy in their classroom detracts time from valuable learning, Shelley Stagg Peterson alludes to
the success content teachers have by using class time to create a meaningful activity for students
(2007).

Furthermore, the General Learner Outcomes (GLOs) of the ELA Program of Studies are
quite broad, so as to enable teachers to develop lessons that suit all learner needs and also teach
literacy through a variety of experiences. One such way to teach literacy through a variety of
experiences (besides referring to the six strands of the ELA Program of Studies), is to integrate
some ELA general outcomes in content subjects. Discussion of Specific Learner Outcomes will
not be conducted because they are merely aspects of GLOs. It is worthwhile to note that alL ELA
GLOs refer to the six strands of English. The five ELA GLOs are as follows:
GLO 1 explore thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences
GLO 2 comprehend and respond personally and critically to oral, print, and other media texts
GLO 3 manage ideas and information
GLO 4 enhance the clarity and artistry of communication
GLO 5 respect, support, and collaborate with others
(Alberta learning, 2000).
Exploring, comprehending, managing, enhancing communication, and respecting are
very fundamental outcomes. In fact, it would be impossible to conduct a worthwhile course in
any subject that does not involve these outcomes. In this way, the Alberta Government has
broadened the scope of the ELA Program of Studies. Literacy is no longer confined to one class,
one teacher, and one block of the day. Instead, ELA outcomes, in essence literacy, are being met
and introduced to students in every facet of their school careers. To provide an example of how
fluid the ELA Program of Studies is, an analysis of how the Mathematics and ELA
outcomes/philosophies align will be completed with a visual aid of a literacy mind map. Literacy
is at the center of the map because it is the fundamental outcome for both Mathematics and
English. As portrayed in the accompanying mind map, it is easy to see that the six strands of
literacy focused on in ELA all relate to the five GLOs. For instance, one can explore,
comprehend and respond, manage, and enhance communication in any of the ways expressed in
the map. What is more interesting is the relationship between the rationale, beliefs, expectations,
and nature of Mathematics with the English GLOs (Alberta learning, 2007). Albeit the ideas are
condensed, however, the ideas are still consistent with the ELA Program of Studies.
The ideas align perfectly with each strand of literacy. Now that a connection between the
ELA program and another subject area has been made, the question of how to implement this as
a teaching strategy becomes important. Education Alberta conducted a study in Fort McMurray

in order to address this gap in pedagogy. While Eudcation Alberta lists multiple teaching
strategies, which are not only recommended by teachers, but also created and used by teachers, I
will only highlight three specific teaching strategies that I find most effective in teaching literacy
in Mathematics. Perhaps one of the most effective strategies to incorporate literacy learning in a
Math class is to focus on collaboration, flexibility, small groups, one-on-one, and narrowing
focus (Alberta education, 2008). This includes allowing students to work together in a way that
allows them to demonstrate respect for one another, as well as explore and share ideas. When
students can professionally collaborate, they are able to have meaningful discussions which
potentially allow them to discover new ways to solving problems. Another effective way to
enhance literacy in the classroom is the use of pre- and post- assessments (Alberta education,
2008). Moreover, engaging students in the assessment process allows them to reflect on their
learning. At the end of a unit, having one-on-one consultations with students about their progress
in the class will help motivate the students. Furthermore, this will help establish healthy goal
setting for the students. This will create a classroom environment where students are curious
about math. Furthermore, students get to talk about math in a context outside of solving
problems. This opens up the explicit conversation about mathematical literacy and how it is
purposeful in each students life. Lastly, utilizing reciprocal reading balanced literacy, and
graphic organizers in a math class will truly enhance the presence of literacy in a math class
(Alberta education, 2008). While reciprocal reading may be difficult for some teachers to
incorporate, bringing in mathematical focused books, whether they be picture or chapter or
articles, is essential for lifelong literacy in math. Allowing students to see math represented in a
different way than worksheets, and word problems, they are able to transfer information.
The content in the literature helps students create context. Context is very valuable for
increasing student learning. The idea of balanced literacy, in my opinion, is ensuring that all six
strands of the ELA Program of Studies are being addressed, in any way that is meaningful to
students. Graphic organizers are a wonderful tool for math classes because they are not only
useful for sharing content information, but they are also a type of visualization for students. In
the end, incorporating literacy directly into any classroom does not need to be complex or
difficult.
Works Cited

Alberta Education. (2010a). [Graph illustration the 21st century learner]. Alberta
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https://education.alberta.ca/media/4970645/literacyfirst.pdf
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Alberta Education. (2008). Supporting the literacy learner: promoting literacy strategies
in Alberta. Alberta cataloguing in publication data. Retrieved from
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Alberta learning, Alberta, Canada. (2000). Enlgish Language Arts. Programs of study.
Retrieved from https://education.alberta.ca/media/450519/elak-9.pdf
Alberta

learning, Alberta, Canada. (2007). Mathematics kindergarten to grade 9.

Programs of study. Retrieved from

https://education.alberta.ca/teachers/program/math/educator/progstudy/
Breikss, Chris. (November 21, 2012). [Graph illustration the state of Canadian
connectedness: internet, usage, mobile, search, and social media]. Infographic: Canadian
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Council of ministers of education, Canada. (2010). Progress report on literacy 2009.
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Retrieved from http://www.iae.alberta.ca/media/453102/calp_guidelines_2015.pdf
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Peterson, Shelley S. (November 2007). Teaching Content with the Help of Writing
Across the Curriculum. Middle School Journal, 39 (2). Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.alu.talonline.ca/stable/23048336