Classroom Literacy Environment

Context:

The Classroom Literacy Environment assignment, for Language and Literacy: Birth through Grade 2, was designed to help us as educators identify and create a physical environment that supports reading and writing. For this assignment, I analyzed a second grade classroom. To highlight the areas where literacy was occurring and where it was lacking, I constructed a floor plan of the current classroom environment. Utilizing evidence based research and professional texts, I created a second floor plan to showcase the changes that should be made to provide an "ideal literacy environment" for all learners. 

Reflection:

At the time of this assignment, I was a 1:1 Special Education Teaching Assistant in a second grade classroom. The classroom I worked in contained many of the necessary components of a positive literacy environment. However, if it were my own classroom, there are many things I would have changed in order to make it an effective and engaging environment. If you were to walk into my collegue's classroom, you would immediately notice a few things; it's lacking color, student work, and organization. An organized classroom is the key to fostering an enjoyable and independent environment (Fountas & Pinnell, 2011). I also felt that the classroom could have used more texts and a literacy center where kids felt excited and comfortable reading. Now that I have my own classroom, I've taken a lot of what I learned from this assignment into consideration when creating my own classroom environment. After reading professional texts, conducting research, and completing this assignment, I was able to take what I learned to create a classroom that would promote literacy development.