Creating a Literate EnvironmentBy Melissa Zielezinski

EDUC 6706The Beginning Reader-PreK-3

Walden UniversityDecember 15, 2013

A Literate Environment• In order to have a literate environment in a classroom, the

most important goal needs to be commitment to the students and not to the program, which includes having their best interests at heart and making decisions that will help them succeed and be successful readers, writers, speakers, and thinkers (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011)

• Having students’ best interests at heart means getting to know the students better- allowing an enhanced connection to texts that will impact them in profound ways.

• An effective literate environment will also have literacy instruction which includes the interactive, critical, and response perspectives.

LearnersAffective and cognitive aspects of

literacy learning

TextsText structures, types, genres, and difficulty levels matched to literacy

learners and literacy goals and objectives

Instructional PracticesDevelopmentally appropriate

research-based practices used with appropriate texts to facilitate

affective and cognitive aspects of literacy development in all learners

Interactive PerspectiveReading and writing accurately,

fluently, and with comprehensionBeing strategic and metacognitive

readers and writers

Use a variety of informal and formal assessments to

determine areas of strength and need in literacy

development.

Determine texts of the appropriate types and levels of difficulty to meet literacy goals

and objectives for students.

Use instructional methods that address the cognitive and

affective needs of students and the demands of the particular

text.Promote students' independent use of reading strategies and

skills.

Critical PerspectiveJudging, evaluating, and thinking

critically about text

Find out about ideas, issues, and problems that matter to

students.Understand the learner as a

unique individual.

Select texts that provide opportunities for students to judge, evaluate, and think

critically.

Foster a critical stance by teaching students how to judge, evaluate, and think

critically about texts.

Response PerspectiveReading, reacting, and responding

to text in a variety of meaningful ways

Find out about students' interests and identities.

Understand what matters to students and who they are as

individuals.

Select texts that connect to students' identities and/or interests and that have the

potential to evoke an emotional or personal response.

Provide opportunities for students to read, react, and

formulate a personal response to text.

Framework for Literacy Instruction

I. Getting to Know Literacy Learners (PreK-3)

All people have experiences that shape themselves as literate beings.

Analysis• Getting to know readers includes discovering what kind of

background knowledge they bring with them to the classroom and identifying students as readers, writers, and speakers, rather than running into preconceived ideas.

• The information can be obtained in many ways- students each bring in [five] objects from home and talk with the class about them, Reading Inventories, etc.

• Conducting activities to get to know students better also helps with instruction and creates a positive rapport between teacher and student- which lets the student know they are important.

Research

• Reading Inventories– Part of instruction: observations, anecdotal

notes, conferences, checklists, rubrics, running records

– Published: Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI), Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA), Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (ERAS)

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Literacy autobiographies [Video webcast]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_4067480_1%26url%3D

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Getting to know your students [Video webcast]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_4067480_1%26url%3D

Research-Based Practices

II. Selecting Texts• Analysis

– A Literacy Matrix is a tool that allows teachers to take texts they are using with their students and map them on the matrix, in order to ensure a full balance of the kinds of materials students are engaging with.

– Consider the difficulty of the text: readability, text length, text structure, size of print, and visual support.

– The matrix is helpful in connecting what is being done with other things in the classroom and in student learning; it keeps the goals of the teacher in focus.

• Research– Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011).

Analyzing and selecting texts [Video webcast]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_4067480_1%26url%3D

Narrative-Linguistic

Informational-Linguistic

Narrative-Semiotic

Informational-Semiotic

III. Literacy Lesson: Interactive PerspectiveThe ultimate goal of the Interactive Perspective is to teach children how to be literate learners who

can navigate the textual world independently.

• Research-Based Practices– Read-alouds

– Shared Reading

– Provides opportunities for the teacher to promote students’ literacy development across the five pillars: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension

– Great opportunity for teacher to model the reading process

– Word Study

• Analysis– The Interactive Perspective involves not only

teaching children how to read but also how to become strategic thinkers.

– Strategic Processing is strung through the five pillars and includes being metacognitive about strategy use and being reflective and self-regulating.

– Developing a child’s language and literacy:

– Reading aloud to children

– Read aloud in small groups

– Provide fiction and non-fiction books

– Extend children’s vocabularies

– Engage in ‘extended discourse’ with children

– Use direct instruction when appropriate

– Teach alphabet and sounds of letters

– Provide a print-rich environment

– Infuse literacy throughout the curriculum

IV. Literacy Lesson: Critical and Response Perspective

Critical Perspective:• Being able to look at text and:

– Examine it from multiple perspectives

– Critically evaluate the text

• “Critical literacy is defined as not only a teaching method but a way of thinking and a way of being that challenges texts and life” (Molden, 2007, p. 50).

Research Strategies:

• Response and character journals, using problem posing questions, story mapping, mind portraits, cloze exercises

Response Perspective:

• Provides literacy experiences that will affect students on a personal and emotional level

• Reader Response Theory

– Interaction with Text: reader and text interact with each other, no impression made, but a path is created

– Transaction with Text: reader and text interact with each other; the paths are changed and the reader is changed by the experience and transformed by the text

• The Reader Response Perspective is all about TRANSFORMATION

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Analyzing and selecting texts [Video webcast]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flaunche r%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_4067480_1%26url%3D

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011) Critical literacy [Video webcast]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_4067480_1%26url%3D

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Getting to know your students [Video webcast]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_4067480_1%26url%3D

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Literacy autobiographies [Video webcast]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_4067480_1%26url%3D

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Response perspective [Video webcast]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_4067480_1%26url%3D

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 comprehension for reading improvement. Reading Improvement, 44(1), 50-56.

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

Walden University. (2013). Framework for literacy instruction. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_4067480_1%26url%3D#global-nav-flyout

References

Feedback from Colleagues and Family Members of Students

~What insights did you gain about literacy and literacy instruction from viewing the 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?