How do Morning Message, Shared Reading, Interactive Writing and Word Walls, when used in a balanced literacy program, assist English Language Learners?

Essay by acuragirl13University, Bachelor'sA+, March 2003

download word file, 3 pages 4.5

Many educators use a balanced literacy approach to teach reading, writing, speaking and listening. Balanced literacy instruction can be characterized by meaningful literacy activities that provide the children with the skill and desire to become proficient in these four areas as well as making lifelong learners out of them! Research indicates that strategies such as Morning Message, Shared Reading, Interactive Writing and Word Walls when used in a balanced literacy program assist English Language Learners greatly. Hence, many teachers are using these strategies to enhance their classroom instruction while inadvertently making the children's day more exciting and pleasurable.

Morning Message is a text dialogue that a teacher writes to their students on a daily basis. The messages are written before the students arrive and are read by the whole class at the start of that session. The morning message may contain an overview of the day's activities, be a current events topic or even a short letter from the teacher to the children.

The teacher then follows up with a lesson pertaining to this message. This strategy starts the class off with some excitement as well as motivating the students to learn and actively participate.

Morning Message is a form of teacher demonstration that emphasizes the use of context clues. It is useful in enhancing the concepts of print; including identifying letters, words, sentences, and phonics (chunking words). Morning Message teaches and reiterates the understanding of punctuation and format including: spacing, indenting, and capitalization. The teacher can use Morning Message to teach the children what is occurring in the world outside their classroom and homes. Morning Message is an aide that arouses interest while the children are learning new vocabulary words. It promotes thought process and stimulates class discussions. Morning Message is a great way to start the day...