Mrs Tipton Beliefs

Knowledge and beliefs about reading is something that influences many aspects of a teacher’s instructional decisions and practices. A majority of teachers believe that the main goal of reading instruction is to teach children to become independent readers and learners. It is clear that Mrs. Tipton wants all of her students to become independent readers and learners and her beliefs on how to accomplish this is displayed through her reading instruction. Through observing Mrs. Tipton during reading instruction I have learned many things about her knowledge and beliefs about literacy. One of the beliefs that Mrs. Tipton focuses on is differentiation. In her reading instruction she has separated her class into four different groups. These groups are set by certain literary testing done at the beginning of the year to asses the level the students are on. Each group reads a book each day, but depending on their level she has different activities to help each student in the way that they need it. Mrs. Tipton made sure during instruction that she reached all her different types of learners. During reading instruction she has each student read aloud (whisper read), while using his or her pointer finger under the words. This reaches the visual, auditory, and tactile
Tipton has is using a bottom-up model of reading. This model assumes that the process of translating print to meaning begins with the print. This model has a lot to do with phonics, learning features of letters, and spelling patterns. Mrs. Tipton incorporates letters into every reading instruction. She uses white boards and magnetic letters to spell out tricky words that the students might see in their reading. Mrs. Tipton believes that the student needs to learn the mechanics first before they can begin to read. She is constantly encouraging practice with letters and sounds. Once her students can master the mechanics they then can move onto becoming advanced readers and