Literacy Experience in the Classroom

I am in a fourth grade class at Forest View Elementary School in Durham. We have been using Reading Street by Scott Foresman which is a scripted literacy program. I believe this program is based on the industrial model of learning mentioned in Chapter 1. Luckily I have had the chance to attend PLC meetings every Wednesday and have been able to look at Reading Street and listen to the discussions that my teachers have had about reading street during their meetings. For the most part it seems like many teachers disagree with it. They believe that it leaves no room to be flexible. There is a set schedule with set lesson plans and set book selection choices. So far reading street has been okay, but my CT and the other teachers on my team are still adjusting to it. Part of the reason Forest View has Scott Foresman is due to NCLB.
My class has been doing really well with the reading aspect of literacy and the students are trying to get as much writing in as possible. Most of the writing occurs through readers response's. From the few samples of writing that I have seen, I can tell that many of my students are below grade level. One of the most important things that I am going to need to do to be able to help my students is to figure out how to effectively use Scott Foresman and to know where I can be flexible with the program.