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Literacy is important as more than a hobby. Parents are told reading begins in the crib and that reading as a child is important. Many people misunderstand why it is an essential part of a balanced education. Yes, literacy means reading and writing, but it also aids in and is crucial for many areas of cognitive development and communication skills. Reading and writing are all a part of literacy, but Meredith Alvaro also points out that people may not realize that it also influences students' speech. When students communicate in small or large groups, they practice informal conversation. By utilizing their oral skills, students process new ideas to share with others. Writing is a large part of this process because students have to think before they write. Meredith Alvaro uses different strategies to encourage students to write and improve upon their writing. Not every student possesses the same level of literacy skills. Such is the importance of language arts in schools that students who struggle with literacy have a marked gap in their educational achievements compared to their peers. Meredith Alvaro provides teachers with tools to help develop students individually by better assessing students. As a literary consultant, Meredith Alvaro provides the skills to help students from all grade levels. Many upper level teachers see the lower grades as the time to build and develop students' literary skills. However, Meredith Alvaro sees all 12 years of school as the time to build upon literacy. In her goal to improve the literacy skills of students across America, Meredith Alvaro helps teachers with assessment. In many cases, assessing students' literacy skills has turned away from using multiple choice questions to examining student writing. In an innovative new approach to improving the work of students, Meredith Alvaro works concurrently by examining teachers. Meredith Alvaro runs workshops to equip teachers with different teaching strategies. She also takes time to coach in-classroom modeling the latest advances for raising literacy achievement for teachers right in their own classrooms. This helps build teachers' confidence in their teaching as they see Meredith Alvaro act out what she teaches. She provides teachers with new materials and allows teachers to view each other as valuable resources. Meredith Alvaro knows literacy is a process. It starts out with real experiences. Children and even young adults develop their ability to read, write, listen, speak and think. By integrating each part effectively, students' writing will develop. Not every writing assignment has to be formal, there are a number of writing exercises that may encourage students to write because it will seem relevant and even "fun." For more information on why literacy is important, Meredith Alvaro encourages people to read about its importance online at sites like:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/literacy-instruction-across-curriculum-importance
http://teachingasleadership.org/sites/default/files/Related-Readings/SL_Intro_2011.pdf
http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/res/literacy/
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