Philosophy Public The philosophy of the American Public School System can be traced back to its origins. One of the main beliefs is that all children should have access to an education and that attending school is essential to becoming a contributing member of society. Individuals have a duty to themselves and others to build a better life and to accomplish this specific knowledge and information must be learned, even if it holds no individual interest. Public schools also emphasize the value of democracy and the importance of the work that is necessary to maintain it. There is also a belief that everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed, which mirrors the idea of the “American dream”. Students are seen as beginning on a level playing field …show more content…
It is agreed that reading is an absolutely integral skill for success and without a strong foundation, students face difficulties throughout their academic career. There two dominant schools of thought when it comes to reading and literacy development in public schools: phonics and whole language. Phonics focuses on the importance of understanding the relationship between letters and the sounds they make, claiming this is essential for comprehension. It emphasizes skills such as decoding and spelling so students can move smoothly and quickly through passages. This structured approach to reading tends to play to the strengths of analytical and auditory learners who find deconstructing and decoding new words logical and easy. Whole language, on the other hand, tends to be beneficial for tactile and visual learners. Meaning is constructed through the written word and expressed through writing. Advocates of whole language claim that phonics is simply word recognition and the meaning of words is left to chance. Though both methods have seen success throughout the years, choosing just one to use in the classroom will nearly always leave some students behind, which is why a third method has been coming into favor over the last few years: balanced literacy instruction. Balanced literacy, as the name implies, attempts to strike a balance between whole language and phonics, …show more content…
This is accomplished with five basic components: (1) the read aloud, (2) guided reading, (3) shared reading, (4) independent reading, and (5) word study. The first four components are focused on helping students gain the skills necessary for reading as well as showing them that reading can be an enjoyable, fulfilling experience. The fifth aspect, or word study, gives children the opportunity to work with words through engaging activities and helps them learn essential skills such as letter and sound identification, root words, suffixes and prefixes, and decoding. Balanced literacy attempts to approach reading and language from multiple, giving all students the opportunity to learn and succeed (“Balanced literacy instruction”,