Literacy is all around us; we need it to succeed in life. The foundation of literacy is based off of reading, writing, listening, speaking, representing and viewing the understanding behind each form of text. When I took on the task of teaching lessons to grade six I knew that the focus is mainly on preparing them for their p.a.t.'s. I knew that their would be challenges towards getting the students to understand why is it important to learn some of the topics I was teaching them, but I took it as my task to make sure they would complete their assignments on time and have fun doing so! I did have to modify some ways of getting the information handed in because some students struggled with spelling, but understand what they wanted to say so we used the google chrome extension of speech to text. 

​

I believe that students need to have the opportunity to listen to a children's book that will relate to the topic that is important at the time. At the time when I read my book of choice to my class I choose a book that was all about feelings; this corresponded with the mental health talk we had. When choosing a book for your class it is important to choose a book that will have all the students intrigued. 

​

A challenge that arose in my practicum was giving the students a big wide variety of topic choice. I found that this was a mental block for a majority of students because they were scared that they were going to pick the wrong thing. I adapted this circumstance by going to each individual student to ask what they were going to compose their story about and if they were stuck I would give random prompts to try to help their creativity flow. Once they have started I would circle around and come back to make sure that they did not feel defeated and just stop. 

​

Since being in a six classroom I see the variety of students that excel and some that are lacking towards learning proper components of literacy. I have noticed that you have to plan the lesson for the middle playing field of students and adapt it for the students that excel and the students that struggle. This is sometimes challenging because you want to be able to make it exciting and want every student to have a good time while doing it. I want to be able to keep each student engage and want them to learn about the key components of literacy!