Building a Literate

Environment

Greta GiglioWalden UniversityAugust 10, 2012

Getting to Know Literacy Learners

Who are my students?

Investigate your students’ interests, motivations, and feelings about themselves as readers.

Recent research supports the notion that successful student readers are motivated, have a positive attitude, a good self-concept, and possess the ability to make accurate attributions for their performances (Afflerbach, 2012).

How do students perceive the importance of reading?

Find out how confident children are as readers and how useful they feel reading is in their daily lives.

“Current theories suggest that self-perceived competence and task value are major determinations of motivation and task engagement” (Gambrell, Palmer, Codling, & Mazzoni, 1996, p. 318).

What do I assess? Get to know students (and their parents and caregivers) in a

personal way. This is essential to understanding their motivations, interests, and attitudes surrounding literacy development.

In addition to cognitive assessments that help reveal students academic strengths and weaknesses, assessments that survey students attitudes and motivation toward reading can help teachers plan for more effective and individualized literacy instruction.

Knowing Your Learners Strategy in Practice

Researching my student’s interests, motivations, and attitudes about reading

• enabled me to choose engaging texts that peaked their interest and were motivating for each individual child.

• gave me insight into their thinking, so that I could plan authentic and meaningful lessons that would help show them how literacy can play an important role in their lives.

• Allowed me to choose strategies strategically with the purpose of scaffolding individual students, in order to promote the maximum student growth.

Selecting Texts

Why do I need additional texts? Teachers should use information gathered in motivational

surveys to supplement basal programs with additional reading materials including trade books (both fiction and non-fiction) that match student interest, giving students important opportunities to interact with text that is not provided by the basal series.

Tompkins (2010) contends that it is unrealistic to assume a basal reading series alone could constitute a complete reading program.

How do I choose these texts? Choose a variety of texts using

the literacy matrix as described by Hartman (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011c). This matrix helps teachers to strike a balance in the classroom between narrative and informational texts and linguistic and semiotic texts. The matrix addresses the level of text difficulty as well, making it possible to tailor lessons for individual students and their diverse interests.

Being intentional about the texts we choose helps to ensure a balance of literature in the classroom.

Is technology an important source of text?

Use the internet and other technology to supplement current reading materials, increase student motivation, give access to current information, and to give students practice with the “new literacies” as described by Castek, Bevans-Mangelson, and Goldstone,(2006).

“When we use the internet in our classrooms for teaching and learning, we extend opportunities for all students to acquire [new literacy] skills and strategies” (Castek, et al., 2006, p. 715).

Leu, Leu and Coiro (2004) suggest that “these skills increase opportunities for all students to participate in a growing high-tech work force” (as cited in Castek, et al., pp.721-722).

Are non-fiction texts important in the early years?Use text sets (paired fiction and non-fiction texts that explore a common element), to enrich students literacy experiences and to teach multiple subjects. The strategic mix of informational and narrative text is an effective and efficient way to get students motivated, excited about learning, and thinking critically and responsively about text. This practice also prepares students for the heavy reliance on informational text they will experience in the later grades.

“Teachers who use fiction and nonfiction trade books together may be rewarded with students who are excited about learning” (Camp,

2000, p. 400).

The Text Selection Strategy in PracticeThe strategic selecting of texts has

• positively affected my ability to make strategic decisions about supplemental reading materials and how to strike a balance using the literacy matrix model.

• helped me to increase student motivation and given meaning and purpose to the lessons I designed for specific students.

• helped me to understand the importance of the “new literacies” and has been beneficial in facilitating student’s use of technology as a 21st century source of text and motivation.

• increased my understanding of the importance of non-fiction and informational texts. These texts are instrumental in assisting even very young children in building interest and essential background knowledge where very little may exist.

Interactive Perspective:How do I teach children to be strategic processors and thinkers?

Teaching students “how to be literate learners who can navigate the textual world independently” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011d) is the ultimate goal of literacy instruction.

Strickland (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011d) states that literacy is cultivated and nurtured by responsive adults. This statement is at the heart of the interactive perspective.

Teachers must scaffold students in their attempts to read and write accurately, fluently, and with comprehension by using instructional methods such as guided reading, that address those students individual cognitive and affective needs and help them to become metacognitive thinkers as well as independent, skilled users of an assortment of reading strategies.

How can I support the interactive perspective?

Afflerbach, Pearson, and Paris (2010) report that guided reading “provide[s] opportunities for teachers to assess students’ strategies” (p. 371).

Scaffold students in their attempt to read and write accurately, fluently, and with comprehension by using instructional methods such as guided reading, that address those students needs and help them to become metacognitive thinkers and independent users of reading strategies and skills.

“I thought about it and I think that since snakes are cold blooded, it would be easier to catch one in the winter, because it would be slower!”

How does guided reading support students metacognitive and independent use of strategies?

There are many effective, research based strategies that can be used to help students become critical thinkers, including teachers use of higher order thinking questions, think-a-louds, read-a-louds, guided reading, and graphic organizers. The strategies that I have found to be most helpful are guided reading and graphic organizers. Guided reading requires students to read texts at their instructional level on their own in a small group. This method scaffolds students as they try out strategies independently while the teacher is there to support their efforts and monitor independent use of specific strategies and skills.

How do I monitor students as they interact with the text?

It is not enough to simply teach strategies, but teachers must assess whether the students are able to use those strategies appropriately and independently. Along with questioning and informal observation, the use of graphic organizers such as Thinking Maps (Hyerle & Yeager, 2007) can facilitate students metacognitive growth as they explain their thinking out loud.

Tompkins (2011) contends that it is important for students to be metacognitive, explaining their thinking during or after reading in order for teachers to be able to get an insight into what is going on inside their heads.

“I am thinking that frog and dog rhyme, so frog would end with /og/ too!”

The Interactive Strategy in PracticeTeaching with the interactive perspective in mind

has taught me that

• teachers need to be strategic as they select texts that will motivate their students in a meaningful way and are at the students appropriate difficulty level.

• students need opportunities to practice specific skills and strategies in context so that they become automatic and fluent in their use.

• teachers must guide students to be metacognitive about the strategies that they choose while becoming more fluent readers who are able to understand and the whole of what they read.

• teachers need to develop a variety of assessment methods in order to find out what their students comprehend about what they read and how they know they know it, as well as to use for planning of future instruction to address areas of need.

The Critical and Responsive Perspectives

How do I teach children to be critical thinkers and responders to text in a meaningful way?

Choose teaching techniques that help unlock students ability to see text in a unique way; using student’s background knowledge as a foundation upon which to build understanding. Give students the opportunity to make judgments about the author’s

purpose and to think about and evaluate the text in a critical manner.

Almasi (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011b) describes student’s interaction with text at this level as a transaction” between reader and text in which the text, as well as the reader, are marked by the experience in such a way that both are permanently transformed by the event., like clay billiard balls that collide are changed forever.

How can I facilitate student’s transaction with the text?

The very effective subtext strategy (Clyde, 2003) helps students step inside a character in the text, feel what they feel, say what they would say, and articulate aloud the thoughts of a given character, thus revealing student’s under-standing of the story and making it possible for them to think more critically and responsively about the text. Through this strategy, students are given an authentic opportunity to explore the text and the author’s purpose in telling the story.

Clyde (2003) reveals that, “Drama activities

help transform school from a place where we tell students what to think to a place where we help them experience thinking” (p. 152).

After playing Ruby Bridges, one student remarked, “When I was being Ruby, I felt like I was her, and I didn’t like people yelling at me. I wanted them to stop but, I couldn’t do anything. I was kind of mad and scared.”

How can I support the critical and responsive perspectives?

Teach students to read to determine the authors purpose. “When children are encouraged to read analytically,

they uncover hidden values in the stories they read” (Lamme, as cited in Durand, Howell, Schumacher, Sutton, 2008, p. 24).

Explore key vocabulary in order to help students make sense of a text and use metacognitive strategies like graphic organizers to scaffold students efforts to do so.

How can I support the critical and responsive perspectives?

Use the read-a-loud and think-a-loud strategies to model cognitive strategies and ask a variety of higher level questions.

“Read-a-louds give students a vehicle for talking and

thinking about the literature and helps students bring their own meaning to the text”(Newton, Stegemeire,& Padak, as cited in Durand, et. al., 2008, p. 25).

“Substantial evidence indicates that teacher

questioning can play a key role in enhancing student comprehension” (Stahl, 2004, p. 599).

“What is the author trying to tell us here?”

How can I support the critical and responsive perspectives?

Use reading logs to record students’ responses to literature in writing, as a source of reference, and to build schema about a theme.

Vacca (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011e) reminds us that writing helps us learn more about what we read and offers students a unique interpretation of the text.

Use strategies like think-pair-share to get students thinking critically about the text and talking about their feelings with others.

The Critical and Response Perspective Strategy in Practice

Teaching with the critical and response perspective has required me to

• choose socially and culturally provocative literature that provides an opportunity to think critically about a topic and that evokes a strong response.

• ask well thought out probing questions that require students to use cognitive and metacognitive skills.

• consider students schema and help them build background knowledge about the text and the vocabulary involved.

• use and teach strategies such as subtext, think-pair-share, read-a-loud, think-a-loud, and reading logs in order to get students to think deeply and critically about the text and to respond to it in a personal way.

Summary Three essential instructional components prove vital in

teaching students to think metacognitively, critically, and affectively about text that teachers need to keep in mind when planning for instruction:

1. Know your students and develop assessments to help you do that.2. Be able to select a variety of quality literature based on what you

have learned about your students academically as well as non-cognitively.

3. Teach with the interactive, critical, and responsive perspectives in mind, so that students are taught to think deeply, analyze, judge, and respond to text in a meaningful and authentic way.

“Teachers therefore do not lead classes carefully along to foreseen conclusions, sustained by critical authority, about literary works. Instead, they face the difficult but interesting task of acknowledging the differences, and crafting out of that material, significant discussion” (Probst, 1987, p. 2).

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

Newark, DE: International Reading Association. • Afflerbach, P., Pearson, P. D., & Paris, S. G. (2008). Clarifying differences between

reading skills and reading strategies. Reading Teacher, 61(5), 364–373.• Bridges, R. (2003). Ruby Bridges goes to school: my true story. New York, NY:

Scholastic Press.• Camp, D. (2000). It takes two: teaching with twin texts. The Reading Teacher, 53(5),

400-409.• Castek, J., Bevans-Mangelson, J., & Goldstone, B. (2006). Reading adventures

online: Five ways to introduce the new literacies of the Internet through children's literature. The Reading Teacher, 59(7), 714–728.

• Clyde, J. A. (2003). Stepping inside the story world: The subtext strategy—a tool for connecting and comprehending. The Reading Teacher, 57(2), 150–160.

• Durand, C., Howell, R., Schumacher, L. A., & Sutton, J. (2008). Using interactive read-alouds and reader response to shape students' concept of care. Illinois Reading Council Journal, 36(1), 22–29.

• Gambrell, L. B., Palmer, B. M., Codling, R. M., & Mazzoni, S. A. (1996). Assessing motivation to read. The ReadingTeacher, 49(7), 518--533.

• Hyerle, D., & Yeager, C., (2007). Thinking Maps: A language for learning. Retrieved from http://www.thinkingmaps.com

References, cont.• Tompkins, G. E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th

ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.• LaLaureate Education, Inc. (Almasi, J.) (2011a). Critical perspective. [DVD]. The

Beginning Reader. Baltimore, MD: Almasi.• Laureate Education, Inc. (Almasi, J.) (2011b). Responsive perspective. [DVD]. The

Beginning Reader. Baltimore, MD: Almasi.• Laureate Education, Inc. (Hartman, D., & Almasi, J.) (2011c). Analyzing and

selecting text. [DVD]. The Beginning Reader. Baltimore, MD: Hartman & Almasi.

• Laureate Education, Inc. (Strickland, D.) (2011d). Perspectives on Early Literacy. [DVD]. The Beginning Reader. Baltimore, MD: Strickland.

• Laureate Education, Inc. (Vacca, R.) (2011e). Responsive perspective: reading-writing connection. [DVD]. The Beginning Reader. Baltimore, MD: Almasi.

• Probst, R. E. (1987). Transactional theory in the teaching of literature. Resources in Education, 22(12).

• Stahl, K. (2004). Proof, practice, and promise: comprehension strategy instruction in the primary grades. International Reading Association, 57(7), 598-609.