Literate Environment AnalysisValerie Robinson

June 21, 2015Instructor: Dr. Napholz

EDUC 6706: The Beginning Reader, Pre K-3

What is a literate environment

A setting that encourages and supports speaking , listening, reading, and writing in a variety of authentic ways- through print & digital. In the following presentation I will demonstrate how I used research based practices to create a literate environment in my classroom while teaching the leaner, texts and instructional practices along with three key perspectives used from Framework for Literacy Instruction.

3 Essentials of a Literate Environment

• Getting to Know Literacy Learners• Selecting Texts• Literacy Instruction (Interactive Perspective, Critical

Perspective, and Response Perspective).

Getting to Know Literacy Learners: K -3

What is Literacy ?• Literacy is the ability to use

reading and writing for a variety of tasks at school (Tompkins, 2010).

• Literacy is a way to provide the opportunities to students to create and make meaning through exploring their lives (Thompkins, 2010).

1. Getting to Know Literacy Learners: K - 3 Analysis :By using the following assessments: cognitive and non-cognitive I can gain a better understand of my students abilities, skills, attitudes, and motivation toward literacy development and what instructional strategies are needed. This information will guide me as I develop the most effective literacy environment for my students.

• Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (ERAS); a This provides a quick indication of my students attitudes toward reading and

the emotional state from very positive to very negative.

• Dynamic Indicators of Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) This will target my students ability to apply phonics concepts to read two and

three letter nonsense words. And it helps me to monitor my students progress throughout the year.

1. Getting to Know Literacy Learners Research:

• I used the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (ERAS) as my non-cognitive assessment because it has a unique use of facial expressions through the character Garfield, which is fun and engaging for the students (McKenna & Kear, 1990).

• I used Dynamic Indicators of Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) as my cognitive form of assessment in order to measure if my students are on track for reading success. And I am able to monitor the progress as well.

• Researchers say “a system of frequent assessment, coupled with strong content standards and effective reading instruction, helps ensure that teachers’ approaches are appropriate to each students needs” (Kame’ennui, Simmons, & Cornachione, 2000).

2. Selecting TextsAnalysis :In my classroom I make the best effort to select text that are age appropriate which will peek the interest of my students.

Having narrative and informational genres that are in aligned with the standards, that engage my students and match their literacy skills, will allow in depth discussions with my students as well.

I had to realized that selecting a good text is a crucial decision that impacts may students’ literacy development.

2. Selecting TextsResearch : Dr. Hartman has a literacy matrix that gave me different text options (Laureate Education, Inc, 2010).

* The literacy matrix for text are placed in quadrants based on narrative or informational text and from linguistic text (more words) to semiotic text (more pictures than words). The matrix permits me to see the full scope of the text, so that I can relate my daily objective to the text I choose. When we provide a variety of texts choices, we are teaching our students about importance of reading (Duke, 2004).

3.iteracy Lesson: Interactive Perspective

Analysis:* My goal, as a teacher is to specific my learning objectives, or goals, and emphasize important literacy elements. These elements include concept of comprehension, word recognition, vocabulary, and fluency which will help them master this concepts.

• Teaching my students to be strategic, metacognitive learners can be a challenge at the Pre-K level due to their development level. Meanwhile, I must continue to model and use scaffolding to increase their higher order of thinking when reading and writing.

* Also, I need to provide my students with a safe environment where everyone feels comfortable and part of a team so they want hesitate to participate or ask for help.

3. Literacy Lesson: Interactive Perspective

Research :The interactive perspective of reading teaches students how to read and teaches to be strategic thinkers (Laureate Education, 2010c).

When children begin to read they begin by identifying letters and the sounds that each letter can make. As they continue to read, they are taught to interpret what they have read, instead of reading the words. In my class I use daily journals to guide my students thinking so they can have a discussion on what we have read. Teachers need to assess their students’ strength in order to teach lessons that address the cognitive needs of the students (Framework, 2011). Dr. Janice Almasi describes how we as teachers should not just teach students how to read but how to become strategic, metacognitive thinkers in terms of how they will approach the text.

4. Literacy Lesson: Critical & Response Perspectives

Analysis :Critical Perspectives – Thinking critical about reading will teach students how to examine texts critically and analytically (Laureate Education, 2010).

I will encourage my students to think out the box when listening or reading a story. I always remind them to think about schema, reasoning and the motivation of the author. In the text “Rumble in the Jungle, my students were able to determine the author’s purpose for writing about Frank. This book brought up some profound issues that sparked the interest of my students. The earlier that we start teaching our students to think critically about a story, the easier it will be for them, as they begin reading more difficult texts.

4. Literacy Lesson: Interactive Perspective

Analysis: Response Perceptive - The response perspective of reading will teach students to respond to and share their experiences relating to the text(Laureate Education, 2010). I feel my students need to connect to each text that they read. While using the response perspective to examine a text, there should be a response provoked in each student, as a result of a activity. Some examples to encourage a response in students are: ^ Journaling – Now after each book we read in class my students have a chance to response in their journal with drawing, writing etc.^Dramatic play – With this response perspective after reading “Rumble in the Jungle” it gave me an opportunity to use one of the compendium instructional procedure “Hot Seat”. My students were able to role play Frank and some of the other characters in the story. This helps to build comprehension and it allows them to step into the shoes of the character and get a feel for what the author wanted them to learn about the text

4. Literacy Lesson: Interactive Perspective

Research :Critical Perspective – In the video Critical Perspective Dr. Janice Almasi explains that by teaching our students to examine texts critically then they will be able to see multiple perspective, evaluate their validity, and find the author’s intent or purpose. (Laureate Education, n.d.). Yes, this is true because my students has (Grand Conversation) about "Rumble in the Jungle, Frank was missing his old friend, but he had to develop a new friendship with the new neighbor. My students explored the idea and reflected on the feeling. (Instructional Procedure)Response Perspectives – In the video Response Perspective Dr. Janice Almasi discusses how teachers should allow a transaction with a text rather than a reaction. There is a need for our students to be transformed by a text. The goal is for the students to personally and emotionally respond to each text they encounter. That is why I thought this book was great because the students were able to make exchanges in discussion and then in small groups they had to draw a diagram (Sketch-to-Stretch) of what the story meant to them. (Instructional Procedure).

Closing

It is very important that all teachers consider all the components of Framework for Literacy Instruction with the three perspectives in mind; interactive, critical, and response as well as the main components; the learner, the text, and the instructional practices. At the beginning of this course everything was new to me and I had to work hard at managing my class as well as my lessons on a daily bases. I have truly gained a lot of information that I will surly carry with me throughout my career. I now feel a little bit better with incorporating all these literacy components in order to create and effective literacy environment for my students.

5. Questions To think about• What insights did you gain about literacy and literacy

instruction from viewing this presentation?• How might the information presented change your

practices and/ or your literacy interaction with students?• In what ways can I support you in the literacy

development of your students or children? How might you support me in my work with students or your children?

• What questions do you have?

References• Afflerbach, P. (2012). Understanding and using reading assessment K–12 (2nd ed.). Newark, DE:

International Reading Association.• McKenna, M. C., & Kear, D. J. (1990). Measuring attitude toward reading: A new tool for teachers.

The Reading Teacher, 43(9), 626--639.•

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

• Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.) A. Critical perspective. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

• Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.) B. Response perspective. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

• Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Virtual field experience™: Strategic processing [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

• Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Perspectives on literacy learning. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

• 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.