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My Literacy Learners…and our activities
My Presentation
Literate Environment Analysis Presentation
Janet Smith
Walden University
Instructor Williams
The Beginning Reader, PreK-3, EDUC-670G
February 13, 2012
Getting to know your literacy learners
Literacy is the ability to use reading and writing for a variety of tasks both inside and outside of school (Tompkins, 2010). Reading is the main learning activity undertaken by children in their first years of school.
In order to create a literate environment, teachers must get to know students in their classroom. The better a teacher knows the students, the better he or she can effectively teach them.
How do I learn about my students?
1. Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (ERAS)
ERAS are a researched tool to estimate the attitude levels of students to find out the role attitude plays in the development of readers (McKenna, 1990). Using ERAS, I discovered that my students enjoy books about animals. Also, most of my students prefer to read in partners instead of alone.
How do I learn about my students?
2. Developmental Reading Assessment
Students should be assessed at regular intervals to determine their reading levels and progress (Tompkins, 2010).
Selecting Texts
To build students’ literacy development, a teacher should choose texts that engage them in literacy learning (Laureate Education, 2010).
Three such texts are:
Informational
Narrative
Websites
Selecting texts
In our quest to gather information about cats, we read Charlie Anderson (narrative), Baby Animals (informational), and http://kids.cfa.org. Much to my delight, I discovered that my students thoroughly enjoyed the informational book. At least half of all books read in the classroom should be informational (Laureate Education, 2010c).
Selecting Texts
All texts can be measured by the Literacy Matrix (Laureate Education, 2010b). The Literacy Matrix helps to balance reading material presented to students (2010b). Students need to be introduced to a variety of text and text structures.
Three aspects measured by the Literacy Matrix are:
Easy or difficult?
Informational or narrative?
Linguistic or semiotic?
Interactive Perspective
The ultimate goal of the interactive perspective is to teach students to be literary learners who can navigate through a text independently (Laureate Education, 2010f). Read-alouds give teachers a wonderful opportunity to engage learners in the interactive perspective. The focus is on enhancing students’ comprehension by engaging them in the reading process before, during, and after reading (Tompkins, 2010).
Interactive Perspective
Read-alouds conducted in small groups are the most effective. This allows students an opportunity to connect to the story by responding to the text and asking questions in a small setting (Laureate Education, 2010c).
Steps to an interactive read-aloud
1. Pick a book.
2. Prepare to share the book.
3. Introduce the book.
4. Read the book interactively.
5. Involve students in after-reading activities.
The most important element is how teachers engage students while they are reading aloud (Tompkins, 2010).
My students and I read Charlie Anderson in small groups. First, we activated our background knowledge about cats. I initiated their meta-cognition by recording their knowledge about cats on chart paper. Next, the students were engaged during reading through conversation (Tompkins, 2010). Students who actively engage in these strategies are more likely to understand and recall more of what they read (Stahl, 2004).
Interactive writing
An interactive read-aloud can be followed up with an interactive writing. The text is composed by the group, and the teacher guides students as they write it word by word (Tompkins, 2010). It is an important instructional procedure to use with English learners (2010).
Critical perspective
The critical perspective allows students to think critically to examine text from multiple perspectives (Laureate Education, 2010d).
Critical Perspective
After reading Charlie Anderson in our small groups, we completed a writing activity. My students used a technique called “switching”. Switching is a component of critical literacy that can help show biases in the text as well as make the reader more aware of the author’s intention (Molden, 2007).
Critical Perspective
In the story of Charlie Anderson, the main characters were two sisters. I asked my students to switch the gender of the main characters to boys. Then they rewrote the story from that perspective.
The students had a fantastic time manipulating the story. They told me they felt like real authors! My English language learners completed this activity with me in an interactive writing.
Response perspective
The response perspective supports students as they engage with text in life changing ways (Laureate Education, 2010e). Teachers need to find out about students’ interests and identities and select texts that connect to them (Tompkins, 2010).
Response Perspective
o They ERAS I gave to my students provided me valuable information. I discovered that most of my students enjoy stories about animals. This topic should engage my learners and keep them interested in the lesson.
References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010a). 1: Getting to know your students
[DVD]. The beginning reader, PreK–3. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010b). 1: Analyzing and selecting text
[DVD]. The beginning reader, PreK–3. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010c). 1: Developing language and literacy
[DVD]. The beginning reader, PreK–3. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010d). 1: Critical perspective
[DVD]. The beginning reader, PreK–3. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010e). 1: Response perspective
[DVD]. The beginning reader, PreK–3. Baltimore, MD: Author.
References (cont’d)
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010f). 1: Interactive perspective
[DVD]. The beginning reader, PreK–3. Baltimore, MD: Author.
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.
McKenna, M. C., & Kear, D. J. (1990). Measuring attitude toward reading: A new tool for
teachers. Reading Teacher, 43(9), 626-639.
Stahl, K. (2004). Proof, practice, and promise: Comprehension strategy instruction in the
primary grades. Reading Teacher, 57(7), 598-609.
Tompkins, G. E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.