Creating a Literate

EnvironmentBy: Lisette VargasWalden University

Dr. Bernice GregoryEDUC6706-3: The Beginning Reader PreK-3rd

Getting to Know Your Literacy Learners (P-3)

O In creating a literate environment there are three perspectives to keep in mind: interactive, critical, and responsive.

O A better purpose for literacy education today would be to look at implementing instruction with fidelity to making students better, “ readers, writers, thinkers, and speakers,” not teaching specific program or text with fidelity(Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).

O As a professional teacher, or as I tell my children-a professional learner, collaboration between families, colleagues, administration and our community in order to make sure that my students achieve the highest literacy potential (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998).

O The more you know about your students, the better you will be able to connect them with texts that can have a profound impact upon them (Laureate Education, 2010b).

O Everyone has experiences that helped shape how they perceive themselves as literate beings (Laureate Education, 2010a).

CREATE A SENSE OF ERGENCY FOR LEARNING AND READING!!

O Through non-cognitive assessments, teachers can learn about a student’s motivations, self-concept, interests, and attitudes (Afflerbach, 2007).

O • Some Non-cognitive assessments include:

• Interest Surveys • Elementary Reading Attitude Surveys or ERAS

(McKenna & Kear, 1990).• Multiple Intelligence Survey

• Interest Games • “Me Stew” (Laureate Education, 2010b).

• Student interviews and conferences• Teacher Observations• Literacy Autobiographies

Getting to Know Your Literacy Learners (P-3)

O Cognitive assessments focus on the skills and strategies used by a student as they develop as a reader (Afflerbach, 2007).

O Some Cognitive assessments include:• Reading inventories• Developmental Reading Assessments (DRA)• NWEA• Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literary Skills tests

(DIBLES) or AIMS Web • Running Records• Checklists

Getting to Know Your Literacy Learners (P-3)

Selecting Texts

The Literary Matrix

O The matrix is intended to help educators ensure that they have a balance among the texts they use in the classroom (Laureate Education, 2010c).

O As an instructional decision maker, the matrix helps you to see the landscape of texts that you are using in the classroom … It gives you a “big picture” that is often times missed and helps keep goals ever-present in your mind (Laureate Education, 2010c).

Narrative Texts

From printed books to digital media, today’s texts come in a variety of forms, all of which should reside in the literacy classroom (Laureate Education, 2010c).

Semiotic Texts(picture orientated)

Informational Texts

Linguistic Texts(word orientated)

Difficulty considerations also to consider when choosing a book are…• Readability

• Sentence length• Number of syllables • Concept density

• Text Length• Text Structure

• Informative• Descriptive• Cause/Effect• Problem/Solution• Compare/Contrast• Poetic

O Size of PrintO Visual support

(Laureate Education, 2010c)

Selecting Texts

Text difficulty should be considered when analyzing texts from different dimensions (Laureate Education,

2010c).

Literacy Lesson: Interactive Perspective

O The primary goal of the Interactive Perspective is to teach children how to be literate learners who can independently navigate through the textual world (Laureate Education, 2010d).

O When approaching literacy instruction from the Interactive Perspective, teachers are to help students become strategic processors (Laureate Education, 2010d).

O Strategic processing should be threaded through all Five Pillars: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension (Laureate Education, 2010d).

Strategic Processing means

• Being metacognitive about the strategy use like…• Choosing the

best/most efficient strategy

• Deciding on the different strategies for narrative and informational texts

• Setting purposes for the lesson, making decisions, visualizing, and making sense of texts

• Being reflective and self-regulating

(Laureate Education, 2010d)

Literacy Lesson: Interactive Perspective

O Tools used for strengthening the Interactive Perspective:

• K-W-L charts• Learning logs• Word walls• Grand discussions• Hot Seat• Interactive Reading

Logs

Literacy Lesson: Critical and Responsive

Perspectives

The Critical and Responsive

Perspectives provide opportunities for students

to think analytically about

texts and respond to texts

through personal connections and reflections

upon their feelings (Laureate Education, 2010e).

O The ability to think critically about a text is essential given the abundance of information in this digital age (Laureate Education, 2010e).

O Components of the Critical

O Perspective include the ability to:

• Examine a text from multiple perspectives

• Critically evaluate text• Judge validity and/or

veracity of text• Think deeply about a text• Evaluate websites for

credibility

(Laureate Education, 2010e)

Feedback• What insights did you gain about literacy

and literacy instruction from viewing this presentation?

• How might the information presented change your literacy practices and/or your literacy interactions 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?

ReferencesO Afflerbach, P. (2007). Understanding and using reading assessment.

Newark, DE: International Reading Association, Inc. O 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. Reading Teacher, 59(7), 714-728. doi:10.1598/RT.59.7.12

O Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010b). Getting To Know Your Students. [Webcast]. The Beginning Reader, PreK-3. Baltimore: Author

O Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010a). Literacy Autobiographies. [Webcast]. The Beginning Reader, PreK-3. Baltimore: Author.

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

O Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010d). Strategic Processing. [Webcast]. The Beginning Reader, PreK-3. Baltimore: Author.

O Laureate Education Inc., (Executive Producer). (2010e). Critical Perspective {Webcast}. The beginning reader, PreK-3. Baltimore, MD: Author.

O Laureate Education Inc., (Executive Producer). (2010f). Response Perspective {Webcast}. The beginning reader, PreK-3. Baltimore, MD: Author.

O Tompkins, G. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach. Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing.