Rising from poverty

This capstone on children living in poverty was written to expose the challenges children, families and schools face. My question was How can I increase my effectiveness as an early literacy educator and therefore help students of poverty achieve academic success in my classroom? I addressed Barton\u27s factors in my capstone (p.4) and in my classroom through implementation of the America\u27s Choice model and Reading First literacy models. I monitored children\u27s learning continuously using several varied methods. I monitored my growth as an effective teacher through keeping a reflective journal and participating in weekly meetings with colleagues. Through my quest to answer my capstone question I learned instruction must be differentiated, interactive, meaningful, and contain higher level thinking questions so students are challenged and use prior knowledge to make connections