literate environment analysis presentation

DR. GENE PEASE

EDUC 6706: THE BEGINNING READER, PREK–3

JUNE 20, 2013

Literate Environment Analysis Presentation Travis Volk

Walden University

Creating a Literate Environment

Tompkins (2010) states, “Reading is a constructive process of creating meaning that involves the reader, the text and the purpose within social and cultural contexts” (p. 42). Ensuring that all students have equal access to learning is essential to create a literate environment. The learners, texts and instructional need to be aligned and match the cognitive demand that is appropriate for students.

Getting to Know Literacy Learners

There are a multitude of reading assessments that allow educators to understand student strengths and needs.

Afflerbach (2012) explains, “Our assessments should reflect, at minimum, those things that we believe to be vital to growth and development in early reading” (p. 141).

Getting to Know Literacy Learners: Cognitive Assessments

Cognitive Assessments indentify students’ specific abilities in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

Assessment results provide specific information so that educators can align instruction to students’ needs.

Afflerbach (2007) states, “A key feature of most inventories is the means to identify a student’s independent, instructional, and frustration reading levels” (p. 28).

Getting to Know Literacy Learners: Noncognitive Assessments

Noncognitive assessments, such as McKenna and Kear’s (1990) Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (p. 630) allow teachers to further understand students’ literacy development

Afflerbach (2013) states, “Factors such as motivation and self-esteem are possible outcomes of becoming a better reader” (p. 174).

Teachers can adjust grouping and activities based upon students’ interests and attitudes.

Selecting Texts

“The better you know your students, the better you can connect them with texts that will impact them in profound ways” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010a)

Using both cognitive assessments and noncognitive assessments allow teachers to select texts that match their needs.

Being intentional with text selection results in choosing books that connect to students’ interest and expand their thinking

Selecting Texts

Tompkins (2010) states, “Comprehension involves more than just reader factors: It involves text factors” (p. 290).

The format of text depends upon the text’s genre.Text structure varies depending on the important ideas

the author wants to emphasize. Depending upon the effect an author wants to achieve,

various text features are used.Online text can be used to demonstrate the variety of

text factors, engage students and help English language learners attain new information and comprehend text.

Tompkins explains that when students understand how authors present and organize ideas, students can greater comprehend and scaffold their learning (p. 290).

Selecting Texts

To help identify whether or not my approach to selecting text is balanced, I use the literacy matrix discussed in Analyzing and Selecting Texts (Laureate Education Inc., 2010b) to determine if my approach is balanced.

Linguistic

Informational

Semiotic

Narrative

Selecting Texts

Considering different aspects of literature on the literacy continuum can aid in a teacher’s work of helping students arrive at a particular goal. The implication of selecting text with intention can lead to greater student understanding and engagement.

Literacy Lesson: Interactive Perspective

Tompkins (2010) states, “Students assume an increasingly important role in interactive reading and writing” (p. 22).

In order for students to interact with text independently, instructional practices need to match their cognitive and noncognitive needs.

The interactive promotes students’ use of metacognitive strategies and strategic processing.

Tompkins (2010) explains that metacognition inolves students thinking about their own thinking (p. 12).


Strategic processing involves the dymanics addressed in cognitive reading assessments: phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, comprehension and vocabulary.

To demonstrate how the interactive perspective is addressed in a first grade literate environment.


I worked with three students to focus on comprehension in a reading lesson focused on first grade social studies standards. (A student reading far above grade level, an English Language Learner and a student with little interest in reading)

I utilized three different texts to meet the cognitive and noncogntive needs outlined by their assessment results.

For my student who is reading at a third grade level I chose The Relatives Came (Rylant, 1993), which is leveled at a 3.7

For my ELL student, I chose My Very Own Room (Pérez, 2000) an online, bilingual, interactive text.

For my student who is often disengaged, I chose a pattern book at his level with engaging illustrations, The Family Book (Parr, 2010).


I promoted students’ use of metacogntive strategies through the lesson.

Students engaged in a discussion prior to the lesson to active background knowledge and scaffold new learning.

Students work on a comprehension strategies specific to their needs and the text their were working with to promote independent use of strategic processing and metacognitve strategies.


The lesson effectively allowed students to interact with the text appropriately as their interest and instructional needs were taken into account.

Effectiveness was demonstrated by students’ ability to complete their comprehension activity after interacting with the text.

Tompkins (2010) states, “To match students’ needs, teachers create several tiered or related activities that focus on the same essential knowledge but vary in complexity” (p. 367).

The new learning in each group was synthesized as students shared out during the lesson closure. This activity allow students to reflect on their own learning and the learning of others as it related to our lesson objective.

Literacy Lesson: Critical and Response Perspectives

Durrand, Howell, Schumacher and Sutton (2008) explains that when students are encouraged to read analytically they uncover hidden values in the text.

The critical perspective teaches students how to judge, evaluate and think critically about text.

Tompkins (2010) states, “Students use literacy to challenge social injustices and inequities. Critical literacy emphasizes students’ potential to become thoughtful, active citizens” (p. 10).


The response perspective provides students with the opportunity to read, react and engage in a personal response to the text.

The critical and response perspectives are both enhanced through the selection of text that not only connects to students’ interests and identities, but evokes a personal or emotional response.


I implemented a reading lesson to address the critical and response perspectives.

I worked with the three students in focus from the previous lesson.

I chose a specific book, Fly Away Home (Bunting, 1991) to allow students to connect to the text personally and emotionally.

Students had time to reflect and respond as they formulated a response to the character’s experience in the story.


Students evaluated the text to think critically about the character’s life of being homeless. The text provided many examples of positives and negatives about being homeless and living in airport.

Students were able to examine their own thoughts and reflect on their own thinking as students shared their responses in the synthesis of the lesson.


Molden (2007) explains that books can be just as powerful as unpowerful depending on how much one questions the text (p. 50).

These perspectives allow students to develop their own thinking, connect to text and build upon their prior knowledge.

Literature can expose students to new ideas and help them examine their world when critical thinking is taught and reinforced.

References

Afflerbach, P. (2007). Understanding and using reading assessments, K-12. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Durand, C., Howell, R., Schumacher, L., & Sutton, J. (2008). Using interactive read-alouds and reader resonse to shape students’ concepts of care. Illinois Reading Council Journal, 36(1), 22-29.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010a). Getting to know your students [Webcast]. The Beginning Reader, PreK-3. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010b). Analyzing and selecting text[Webcast]. The Beginning Reader, PreK-3. Baltimore, MD: Author.

McKenna, M. C., & Kear, D. J. (1990). Measuring attitude toward reading: A new tool for teachers. The Reading Teacher, 43(9), 626--639.

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

Parr, T. (2010). The Family Book. New York: Little Brown.

Pérez, A. (2000). My Very Own Room. Children’s Book Press. Retrieved from: http://www.childrenslibrary.org/icdl/BookPreview?bookid=pervery_00030024&route=simple_0_0_family_English_0&lang=English&msg=&ilang=English

Rylant, C. (1993). The Relatives Came. New York: Bradbury Press.

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

literate environment analysis presentation

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