BY ALYSSA KRISHER

Literate Environment Analysis

Getting to Know Literacy Learners

It is important to learn student strengths and weaknesses so that one is able to create lessons, differentiated activities, and centers that will help students become readers who understand and comprehend what they are reading.

Through cognitive and noncognitive assessment, the teacher is able to create a detailed portrait of the reader (Afferbach, 2007).

Using students’ interests to help plan reading materials and reading events can be a positive influence on student reading (Afferbach, 2007).

CognitiveCognitive NoncognitiveNoncognitive

Fluency FolderDRA

Literacy Autobiography

Me StewAttitude Survey

Activities for Getting to Know Literacy Learners

Selecting Texts

To meet the needs of diverse learners, it is important that teachers enhance student learning by providing them with opportunities to read a variety of texts and genres.

Students need to be exposed to a variety of texts so that they have a better understanding of story elements, vocabulary, and ways to enhance their writing.

Exposing students to fiction and nonfiction texts will make them more effective readers and improve comprehension (Tompkins, 2011).

Selecting Text

It is important for teachers to choose books that are not too difficult or easy for students to read.

Selecting text is a crucial part of reading. If text is too difficult, it can frustrate students. If a text is too easy, it can lose the readers attention (Laureate, Education, Inc., 2011)

Literacy Matrix Linguistic The literacy matrix helps teachers choose texts that interest student on their reading level and takes into account the t type of text and whether the text is more Narrative Informational word driven, or contains more pictures.

Semiotic

Interactive Perspectives

Teaching students how to become strategic thinkers and literate learners who can navigate through the text world independently is the ultimate goal of the interactive perspective (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011b).

It is important that students are given the opportunity to practice expanding upon phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension so that they can be successful in their learning

Activities for Teaching Interactive Perspective

Story MapsRead AloudsMaking PredictionsDecoding Activities

Critical and Response Perspective

Teaching students to think critically encourages readers to be active participants in the reading process: to question, dispute, and examine power relations (Moden, 2007).

When students question their reading, they are able to gain a deeper understanding of the author’s message and what the text is about.

Students need to be able to respond to reading since it allows them to make connections to real world experiences, and understand concepts that they were unaware they knew about (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011c).

Activities for Critical & Responsive Perspective

Journal EntriesConnection StemsAuthor’s Purpose

Resources

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011a). Analyzing and selecting text [Webcast]. The beginning reader PreK-3. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011a). Interactive Perspective: Strategic Processing. [Webcast]. The beginning reader PreK-3. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011c). Critical Perspective. [Webcast]. Baltimore: MD

Molden, K. (2007). Critical literacy, the right answer for the reading classroom: Strategies to move beyond comprehension for reading improvement. Reading Improvement, 44(1), 50–56.

Tomkins, G.E., (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.