Studies have shown that developing early literacy skills contributes to student’s success in education. Literacy is the heart of education. My plan focuses on helping teachers to provide early literacy skills to students that are pre-K to kindergarten. My idea was inspired by an experience that I had as a parent. My daughter entered first grade from kindergarten without the literary skills to be successful at that grade level. Her first-grade teacher asked me if I knew that she was considered an “at risk student” because of this. After she explained to me the areas she was deficient in, I began to work with her at home regularly. At this time, my children had been transferred there because of overcrowding at our zoned school. I found out this was a Title 1 school because the majority of the students at the school were low-income students, and were already at risk because of their social conditions. Being a parent that was not knowledgeable about the public-school system, after that experience, I started to volunteer there that year. Later, I had a chance to talk to the principal and ask some questions. He explained to me some of the challenges that they were facing as a school and what they were doing to solve them. He explained to me that every school had a yearly report card and gave me a copy of theirs. That is how I learned about the Title 1 status of the school. The average experience of the teachers at that school was 25 years and the school had an exemplary rating because 91% of the students passed the TAKS. The administrators and the teachers there worked to provide education for the students to be successful. As a result, I became more engaged as a parent with my daughter’s education from that experience. By the end of the year, she was reading at her grade level. For about 15 years, I have worked at an early childhood learning center in a low-income area. My passion has been to provide literacy skills to the students that I teach. After my personal experience as a parent, I encourage the parents of the young children I teach to be involved in the education of their children while they are there, therefore when they transition to elementary school they are prepared. My innovation plan will provide educators with professional development that is focused on bridging the gap in childhood literacy.
My technology skills, in the production of media, are limited but through the exercise of collaboration with a fellow classmate I was able to compose this promotional video of my professional development plan using an app called Biteable. The app had templates that could be customized and the clips are synchronized with the music from their music library. To use the app is free and you would sign up with an email. I personally liked it because it helped me keep it concise and still be creative.
References
National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2012). Developing kindergarten readiness and other large-scale assessment systems. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/resources/research/kreadinessassessment
Empowering Others With Knowledge 