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AUTHOR Strickland, Dorothy S., Ed.; Morrow, Lesley Mandel, Ed.TITLE Beginning Reading and Writing. Language and Literacy Series.INSTITUTION International Reading Association, Newark, DE.ISBN ISBN-0-8077-3976-6PUB DATE 2000-00-00NOTE 215p.; Foreword by Alan Farstrup.AVAILABLE FROM Order Department, International Reading Association, 800

Barksdale Road, P.O. Box 8139, Newark, DE 19714-8139($24.95). Web site: http://www.reading.org.

PUB TYPE Collected Works General (020) Guides ClassroomTeacher (052)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC09 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS *Beginning Reading; *Beginning Writing; Childrens Writing;

*Classroom Techniques; Early Childhood Education; *EmergentLiteracy; Instructional Effectiveness; Phonics; ReadingComprehension; *Reading Instruction; *Writing Instruction

IDENTIFIERS Teaching Perspectives

ABSTRACTIn this essay collection, scholars in the area of early

literacy provide concrete strategies for achieving excellence in literacy.instrucion. The collection presents current, research-based information onthe advances and refinements in the area of emerging literacy.and the earlystages of formal instruction in reading and writing. Following a foreword(Alan Farstrup) and an introduction (Dorothy S. Strickland and Lesley MandelMorrow), chapters in the collection are: (1) "Beginning Reading and Writing:Perspectives on Instruction" (William H. Teale and Junko Yokota); (2)

"Becoming a Reader: A Developmentally Appropriate Approach" (Susan B. Neumanand Sue Bredekamp); (3) "Literacy Instruction for Young Children of DiverseBackgrounds" (Kathryn H. Au); (4) "Enhancing Literacy Growth throughHome-School Connections" (Diana H. Tracey); (5) "Children's Pretend Play andLiteracy" (Anthony D. Pellegrini and Lee Galda); (6) "Talking Their Way intoPrint: English Language Learners in a Prekindergarten Classroom" (CeliaGenishi, Donna Yung-Chan, and Susan Stires); (7) "Organizing and Managing aLanguage Arts Block" (Lesley Mandel Morrow); (8) "Classroom InterventionStrategies: Supporting the Literacy Development of Young Learners at Risk".(Dorothy S. Strickland); (9) "Teaching Young Children to Be Writers" (KarenBromley); (10) "Phonics Instruction" (Margaret Moustafa); (11) "Reading Aloudfrom Culturally Diverse Literature" (Lee Galda and Bernice E. Cullinan); (12)

"Fostering Reading Comprehension" (Linda B. Gambrell and Ann Dromsky); (13)

"Assessing Reading and Writing in the Early Years" (Bill Harp and Jo AnnBrewer); (14) "Sign of the Times: Technology and Early Literacy Learning"(Shelley B. Wepner and Lucinda C. Ray); and (15) "Still Standing: TimelessStrategies for Teaching the Language Arts" (Diane Lapp, James Flood, andNancy Roser). (NKA)

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This document has been reproduced asreceived from the person or organizationoriginating it.

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ENID) BY Dorothy S. StricklandAND Lesley Mandel Morrow

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READING andWRITING

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY SERIES

Dorothy S. Strickland and Celia Genishi, SERIES EDITORSADVISORY BOARD: RICHARD ALLINGTON, DONNA ALVERMANN, KATHRYN Au, EDWARD CHITTENDON, BERNICE CULLINAN, COLETTE DAIUTE,

ANNE HAAS DYSON, CAROLE EDELSKY, JANET EMIG, SHIRLEY BRICE HEATH, CONNIE DUEL, SUSAN LYTLE

Beginning Reading and WritingDOROTHY S. STRICKLAND andLESLEY MANDEL MORROW, Editors

What Counts as Literacy: Challenging the School StandardMARGARET GALLEGO and SANDRA HOLLINGSWORTH, Editors

Critical Encounters in High School English:Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents

DEBORAH APPLEMAN

Reading for Meaning:Fostering Comprehension in the Middle Grades

BARBARA M. TAYLOR, MICHAEL F GRAVES,PAUL van den BROEK, Editors

Writing in the Real World:Making the Transition from School to Work

ANNE BEAUFORT

Young Adult Literature and the New Literary Theories:Developing Critical Readers in Middle School

ANNA 0. SOTER

Literacy Matters: Writing and Reading the Social SelfROBERT P. YAGELSKI

Building Family Literacy in an Urban CommunityRUTH D. HANDEL

Children's Inquiry:Using Language to Make Sense of the World

JUDITH WELLS LINDFORS

Engaged Reading:Processes, Practices, and Policy Implications

JOHN T. GUTHRIE and DONNA E. ALVERMANN, Editors

Learning to Read: Beyond Phonics and Whole LanguageG. BRIAN THOMPSON and TOM NICHOLSON, Editors

So Much to Say: Adolescents, Bilingualism, and ESL in theSecondary School

CHRISTIAN J. FALTIS and PAULA WOLFE, Editors

Close to Home: Oral and Literate Practices in aTransnational Mexicano Community

JUAN C. GUERRA

Authorizing Readers: Resistance and Respect in theTeaching of Literature

PETER J. RABINOWITZ and MICHAEL W. SMITH

On the Brink:Negotiating Literature and Life with Adolescents

SUSAN HYNDS

Life at the Margins:Literacy, Language, and Technology in Everyday Life

JULIET MERRIFIELD, MARY BETH BINGMAN,DAVID HEMPHILL, and KATHLEEN P. BENNETT DeMARRAIS

One Child, Many Worlds:Early Learning in Multicultural Communities

EVE GREGORY, Editor

Literacy for Life: Adult Learners, New PracticesHANNA ARLENE FINGERET and CASSANDRA DRENNON

Children's Literature and the Politics of EqualityPAT PINSENT

The Book Club Connection:Literacy Learning and Classroom Talk

SUSAN I. MCMAHON and TAFFY E. RAPHAEL, Editors,with VIRGINIA J. GOATLEY and LAURA S. PARDO

Until We Are Strong Together:Women Writers in the Tenderloin

CAROLINE E. HELLER

Restructuring Schools for Linguistic Diversity:Linking Decision Making to Effective Programs

OFELIA B. MIRAMONTES, ADEL NADEAU,and NANCY L. COMMINS

Writing Superheroes: Contemporary Childhood, PopularCulture, and Classroom Literacy

ANNE HAAS DYSON

Opening Dialogue: Understanding the Dynamics ofLanguage andLearning in the English Classroom

MARTIN NYSTRAND with ADAM GAMORAN, ROBERT KACHUR,and CATHERINE PRENDERGAST

Reading Across Cultures:Teaching Literature in a Diverse Society

THERESA ROGERS and ANNA 0. SOTER, Editors

"You Gotta Be the Book": Teaching Engaged and ReflectiveReading with Adolescents

JEFFREY D. WILHELM

Just Girls: Hidden Literacies and Life in Junior HighMARGARET J. FINDERS

The First R: Every Child's Right to ReadMICHAEL F. GRAVES, PAUL van den BROEK, andBARBARA M. TAYLOR, Editors

Exploring Blue Highways: Literacy Reform, School Change,and the Creation of Learning Communities

JOBETH ALLEN, MARILYNN CARY, andLISA DELGADO, Coordinators

Envisioning Literature: Literary Understanding andLiterature Instruction

JUDITH A. LANGER

Teaching Writing as Reflective PracticeGEORGE HILLOCKS, JR.

Talking Their Way into Science: Hearing Children'sQuestions and Theories, Responding with Curricula

KAREN GALLAS

Whole Language Across the Curriculum: Grades 1, 2, 3SHIRLEY C. RAINES, Editor

The Administration and Supervision of Reading Programs,Second Edition

SHELLEY B. WEPNER, JOAN T. FEELEY, andDOROTHY S. STRICKLAND, Editors

No Quick Fix: Rethinking Literacy Programs in America'sElementary Schools

RICHARD L. ALLINGTON and SEAN A. WALMSLEY, Editors

Unequal Opportunity: Learning to Read in the U.S.A.JILL SUNDAY BARTOLI

(continued)

3

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY SERIES, continued

Nonfiction for the Classroom: Milton Meltzer on Writing,History, and Social Responsibility

Edited and with an Introduction by E. WENDY SAUL

When Children Write:Critical Re-Visions of the Writing Workshop

TIMOTHY LENSMIRE

Dramatizing Literature in Whole Language Classrooms,Second Edition

JOHN WARREN STEWIG and CAROL BUEGE

The Languages of Learning: How Children Talk, Write,Dance, Draw, and Sing Their Understanding of the World

KAREN GALLAS

Partners in Learning:Teachers and Children in Reading Recovery

CAROL A. LYONS, GAY SU PINNELL, and DIANE E. DEFORD

Social Worlds of Children Learning to Write in an UrbanPrimary School

ANNE HAAS DYSON

The Politics of Workplace Literacy: A Case StudySHERYL GREENWOOD GOWEN

Inside/Outside: Teacher Research and KnowledgeMARILYN COCHRAN-SMITH and SUSAN L. LYTLE

Literacy Events in a Community of Young WritersYETTA M. GOODMAN and SANDRA WILDE, Editors

4

Whole Language Plus: Essays on Literacy in the UnitedStates and New Zealand

COURTNEY B. CAZDEN

Process Reading and Writing: A Literature-Based ApproachJOAN T. FEELEY, DOROTHY S. STRICKLAND,and SHELLEY B. WEPNER, Editors

The Child as Critic: Teaching Literature in Elementary andMiddle Schools, Third Edition

GLENNA DAVIS SLOAN

The Triumph of Literature/The Fate of Literacy:English in the Secondary School Curriculum

JOHN WILLINSKY

The Child's Developing Sense of Theme:Responses to Literature

SUSAN S. LEHR

Literacy for a Diverse Society:Perspectives, Practices, and Policies

ELFRIEDA H. HIEBERT, Editor

The Complete Theory-to-Practice Handbook of AdultLiteracy: Curriculum Design and Teaching Approaches

RENA SOIFER, MARTHA IRWIN,BARBARA CRUMRINE, EMO HONZAKI,BLAIR SIMMONS, and DEBORAH YOUNG

BeginningReading and

Writing

InternationalReading

Association

EDITED BY

Dorothy S. Strickland

AND

Lesley Mandel Morrow

FOREWORD BY Alan Farstrup

5

TEACHERSCOLLEGE

PRESS

Teachers CollegeColumbia University

New York and London

Published simultaneously by Teachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027and the International Reading Association, 800 Barksdale Road, Newark, DE 19714

Copyright © 2000 by Teachers College, Columbia University

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form orby any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, or any information storage andretrieval system, without permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Beginning reading and writing / edited by Dorothy S. Stri&land and Lesley M. Morrow.p. cm. (Language and literacy series)

Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 0-8077-3976-6 (alk. paper) ISBN 0-8077-397-4 (alk. paper)1. Language arts (Early childhood). I. Strickland, Dorothy S. II. Morrow,

Lesley Mandel. III. Series.

LB1139.5.L35 B44 2000

372.6dc21

ISBN 0-8077-3976-6 (paper)ISBN 0-8077-3977-4 (cloth)IRA Inventory Number 9150

Printed on acid-free paper

Manufactured in the United States of America

07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

00-044335

CONTENTS

Foreword vii

Alan Farstrup

Introduction ix

Dorothy S. Strickland and Lesley Mandel Morrow

PART ONE

Foundations for the Early Literacy Curriculum

CHAPTER 1 Beginning Reading and Writing: Perspectives on Instruction 3

William H. Tea le and Junko Yokota

CHAPTER 2 Becoming a Reader: A Developmentally Appropriate Approach 22Susan B. Neuman and Sue Bredekamp

CHAPTER 3 Literacy Instruction for Young Children of Diverse Backgrounds 35Kathryn H. Au

CHAPTER 4 Enhancing Literacy Growth Through Home-School Connections 46Diane H. Tracey

CHAPTER 5 Children's Pretend Play and Literacy 58Anthony D. Pellegrini and Lee Galda

CHAPTER 6 Talking Their Way Into Print: English Language Learnersin a Prekindergarten Classroom

66

Celia Genishi, Donna Yung-Chan, and Susan Stires

7

vi Contents

PART TWO

Instructional Strategies for Beginning Readers and Writers

CHAPTER 7 Organizing and Managing a Language Arts Block 83


CHAPTER 8 Classroom Intervention Strategies: Supporting the 99Literacy Development of Young Learners at Risk


CHAPTER 9 Teaching Young Children to Be Writers 111

Karen Bromley

CHAPTER 10 Phonics Instruction 121

Margaret Moustafa

CHAPTER 11 Reading Aloud from Culturally Diverse Literature 134

Lee Galda and Bernice E. Cullinan

CHAPTER 12 Fostering Reading Comprehension 143

Linda B. Gambrell and Ann Dromsky

CHAPTER 13 Assessing Reading and Writing in the Early Years 154

Bill Harp and Jo Ann Brewer

CHAPTER 14 Sign of the Times: Technology and Early Literacy Learning 168

Shelley B. Wepner and Lucinda C. Ray

CHAPTER 15 Still Standing: Timeless Strategies for Teaching the 183

Language ArtsDiane Lapp, James Flood, and Nancy Roser

About the Editors and Contributors 195

IndexesAuthor Index 199

Subject Index 201

Index to Children's Literature 205

Index to Computer Software 206

FOREWORD

Early reading is receiving intense public andprofessional attention owing to its criticalimportance in laying a foundation for life-

long reading success. This volume, BeginningReading and Writing, builds on the solid founda-tion of an earlier volume by the same authors,Emerging Literacy: Young Children Learn to Readand Write (International Reading Association,1989). In this new volume the authors focus oninstruction and research topics of key concern.The editors, Dorothy Strickland and Lesley Mor-row, have recruited superb authors whose expe-rience and expertise in reading research andinstruction are brought to bear on key topics inthe field.

The book provides a comprehensive treat-ment of subjects ranging from historical per-spectives on emerging literacy to develop-mentally appropriate practices, inclusion anddiversity issues, and home-school connections.In addition, Beginning Reading and Writing in-cludes an extensive treatment of child devel-opment and language development issues. Itis an excellent resource for beginning as wellas experienced teachers as they strive to pro-vide well-organized and appropriately selectedinstruction to support the individual needs ofchildren.

vii

Consistent with current research findings, thediscussions pay particular attention to the ele-ments of language essential to reading success.Strategies to support such traditional approach-es as phonemic awareness, however, are but apart of a much larger range of instructionalstrategies appropriate for beginning readers andwriters. Also addressed are techniques to fostercomprehension and writing in the early years;some fairly simple ways to use computers andother technology to aid writing and, more gen-erally, representation and communication; andthe value of including high-quality literature inthe curriculum.

Beginning Reading and Writing is an invaluableresource for teacher educators working with pre-service students and for experienced teachersworking in advanced professional developmentprograms throughout their career. This bookshould be on the shelf of every reading profes-sional, and it should be placed in the hands ofteachers in every community and school district.It is a fine contribution both to the discipline'sknowledge base and to classroom practicespromoting effective early reading and writinginstruction.

Alan FarstrupExecutive Director of IRA

INTRODUCTION

More than a decade ago, we collaboratedwith some of the top researchers andscholars in the field of early literacy to

produce Emerging Literacy: Young Children Learnto Read and Write. The impetus for that book wasan abundance of new research on how youngchildren attain literacy and what teachers can doto stimulate and support their learning. The in-fluence of the early years, before formal school-ing is begun, had emerged as an important andintriguing topic for teachers, administrators, andparents. The book was an immediate successand continues to be used for pre-service and in-service professional development throughoutthe United States and beyond.

Now, more than 10 years later, we return tothe topic of early literacy with the goal of extend-ing our earlier work to acknowledge the newresearch carried out during the past decade. Withthe help of many of the best scholars in the field,this new volume updates our readers on ad-vances and refinements in the area of emergingliteracy. It also provides current, research-basedinformation regarding policy and practice forbeginning formal instruction.

We expect Beginning Reading and Writing to beuseful at the pre-service and in-service levels ofprofessional development. We also believe it willbe a resource for policy makers, administrators,and supervisors as they plan and implementstate and local early literacy initiatives. Such ini-tiatives often set goals for every child to becomea reader by third or fourth grade, suggesting aneed for continuity in philosophy, policy, andpractice from the prekindergarten years throughthe primary grades. This book provides theframework for that to happen.

ixta 10

Beginning Reading and Writing is divided intotwo parts. Part One, Foundations for the EarlyLiteracy Curriculum, covers topics that arc acrossall aspects of the early litericy curriculum.William Tea le and Junko Yokota (Chapter 1)begin this section with a historical review and anupdate on early literacy, thus providing an excel-lent frame for all that follows. In Chapter 2, SusanNeuman and Sue Bredekamp craft vignettes thatafford insight into working with the very youngchild, before formal instruction is begun. Theyemphasize the need to consider what is botheffective and developmentally appropriate.

Other topics affecting all aspects of the cur-riculum are those of diversity, home-school link-ages, the role of play in the literacy curriculum,and oral language development. In Chapter 3,Kathryn Au offers critical understandings alongwith many recommendations related to the chal-lenging issues that emerge as our school-agepopulation becomes more and more diverse.

Few topics are as well established in the liter-ature as the need for supportive home environ-ments and strong home:school partnerships tosupport young children's literacy learning. Theseissues of family literacy are addressed by DianeTracey in Chapter 4.

The ever greater pressure to produce readersand writers at the earliest levels possible hasraised concern over conflict with children's nat-ural inclinations toward joy and playfulnesswhile learning. In Chapter 5, Anthony Pelligriniand Lee Galda address the role of play as basicto children's well-being and as a mechanismthrough which literacy is achieved.

Concluding Part One, Celia Genishi, DonnaYung-Chan, and Susan Stires in Chapter 6 offer

x Introduction

strategies to support oral language development,with a focus on English language learners. Theydescribe sound classroom practices to help be-ginning readers and writers whose first languageis other than English.

Part Two, Instructional Strategies for Begin-ning Readers and Writers, addresses specific cur-ricular issues related to learning and teaching.Lesley Morrow launches this section with achapter outlining the research evidence for andpractical implications of providing a print-richenvironment for learning (Chapter 7). An abun-dance of specific suggestions for organizing andmanaging the classroom are provided. In Chap-ter 8, Dorothy Strickland urges teachers to usewhat is known about successful interventionprograms to focus more effectively on the strug-gling reader and writer in the regular classroom.

Karen Bromley in Chapter 9 addresses factorsrelated to young children's writing development,a topic that received extraordinary attention inthe 1990s and is still unfolding as a relatively newarea of research. One topic that is highly linkedto young children's writing development isphonics. A perspective on the controversial andsometimes confusing issues surrounding phone-mic awareness and phonics is given by MargaretMoustafa in Chapter 10, with many vivid exam-ples from the classroom included. In Chapter 11,Lee Galda and Bernice Cullinan address the useof literature in the curriculum. They place par-ticular emphasis on including multicultural lit-erature and on the importance of reading aloudto children. Understanding the literature that isread to one and the materials one reads inde-pendently is the essence of being a reader. LindaGambrell and Ann Dromsky in Chapter 12describe appropriate methods for assisting chil-dren to think with and reflect on the texts theyencounter to help enhance their comprehension.

The final chapters in Part Two deal with as-sessment, technology, and the kinds of strategiesthat tie everything together in a successful liter-acy learning environment. Bill Harp and Jo AnnBrewer in Chapter 13 offer numerous strategiesfor assessing children's reading and writingdevelopment to inform instruction. The ideasoffered in this chapter are integral to instruction

and provide a sense of accountability for bothstudent and teacher. The ever expanding andchanging world of technology is addressed byShelley Wepner and Lucinda Ray in Chapter 14.The 15th and final chapter is a gold mine of use-ful ideas. Diane Lapp, James Flood, and NancyRoser offer a rich collection of strategies thattruly exemplify the goal of this book: putting intoaction what is known about how young childrenlearn literacy and how we can best teach them.

In addition to the thoughtful discussions pre-pared by the contributors to this book, we haveoffered a series of "good ideas" straight frompractitioners in schools. These teacher-generated,classroom-tested ideas make the material pre-sented even more concrete and useful to ourreaders.

We are extremely proud of this new volume.We know that it deals with a topic that is wide-ly discussed among educators, parents, and pol-icy makers, and we are confident it will make animportant contribution to the conversation.

Publication of this book would not have beenpossible without the help of many individuals.We thank the respective chapter authors for theirlively contributions to the ongoing discipline-wide discussion of early literacy development. Inaddition, we are grateful to the teachers whocontributed the wonderful classroom ideas thatappear at the end of each chapter, and we thankMelissa Marley for editing these sections. CarolCollins, our editor at Teachers College Press, pro-vided guidance and supervised production ofthis book with meticulous concern for quality atevery step. Danielle Lynch, Stephanie Adams,Mary Jane Kurabinski, and Deborah Hanna gra-ciously allowed us to photograph children intheir classrooms, and very kindly put at our dis-posal photographs they themselves had taken.We could not have done without the editorialhelp of Rebecca Brittain, Cristina Ferrone, andTieka Harris and the secretarial assistance ofVeena Shastri. To each of these individuals, andto many others, we are indebted.

11

Dorothy S. StricklandLesley Mandel Morrow

PART ONE

Foundations for the EarlyLiteracy Curriculum

part One deals with foundational understandings related to the context inwhich learning and teaching take place. The contents of the chapters in thissection should be viewed as interrelated and interdependent. Each chapter

deals with teaching and learning as dynamic processes. Children are viewed asactive learners and their teachers as active, informed decision makers. Because chil-dren are multifaceted learners, their teachers must consider the social, emotional,intellectual, and physical environment so that successful learning can take place.

We believe that all learners, including adults, learn best when they are activelyengaged in the process. With that in mind, we suggest that you support your read-ing and thinking by keeping a response log in which you react to various ideas asthey are presented. No doubt there will be many times when you heartily agree withthe information set forth, so much so that you feel compelled to comment on it.Now and then you may disagree with a particular point, or at least feel the needfor some clarification. You may find an idea to be somewhat perplexing or confus-ing in terms of your own experience. Some information may simply be surprisingor new to you, and you may want to note your thoughts on that as well. Writtenresponses of this type make excellent points for discussion with others. The notesrepresent your personal interactions with the text. They also provide the basis forinteractions with others by acting as a catalyst for clarifying and extending your ownunderstandings and the understandings of others.

12

CHAPTER ONE

Beginning Reading and Writing:Perspectives on Instruction

William H. Tea le and Junko Yokota

4 Where Is 071{?

L

6.

,..410. d 4

William Teale and Junko Yokota provide a his-torical overview and update of the research andpractice related to beginning reading and writing.

.133

For Reflection and Action: Consider thechanges and the complexities involved inthe way beginning reading instruction isdiscussed here. How does it fit with yourpersonal experiences and observations ofclassrooms familiar to you? Describe andanalyze the differences you find.

Likely no area of American education hasbeen as fraught with controversy, confu-sion, fads, and politics as the teaching of

beginning reading and writing. And, as ourwork in schools and teacher education alsoshows us, likely no other area has generated suchpassionate and creative teaching, as well as somany substantive instructional innovations, asearly literacy instruction. Perhaps this is becausethere is no more exciting or more important edu-cational endeavor than helping child learn toread and write. In this chapter, which offers abig-picture look at literacy in the first years ofschool, we have attempted to capture the excite-ment, the frustrations, the wrangling, the intel-lectual energy, and the wonders that envelop theteaching of beginning literacy. The discussion isdivided into three topics:

Contentions: A short historical look at theissues and controversies that have existedwith respect to early literacy instruction overthe past 25 years.

4 William H. Tea le and Junko Yokota

Conclusions from Research: General agree-ments about what constitutes effective earlyliteracy instruction, drawn from a thoroughreview of research literature and observationsof the urban, suburban, and rural classroomsin which we have worked over the past twodecades.Continuing Challenges: A discussion of un-resolved issues and questions that representthe major challenges facing early literacyteachers and researchers today.

Our intention is to help readers become familiarwith critical concerns in the area and to identifywhat we know and what we still need to find outabout the job of ushering primary grade childreninto the community of readers and writers.

ContentionsTheoretical and pedagogical discussions relatedto school literacy instruction for 5- to 8-year-oldsin the United States have gone on for centuries.We have chosen to report on these discussions interms of contentions, not because the field is fail-ing to move forward but because so much aboutit can be characterized as a debate among com-peting perspectives.

A detailed historical treatment of discussionsabout early literacy instruction as they unfoldedin the course of the twentieth century in theUnited States can be found in Tea le (1995). Herewe provide an abbreviated version of that histo-ry, focusing specifically on developments in thepast 25 years and examining three issues of con-tinuing concern in early literacy:

1. How to provide the best foundation for begin-ning literacy instruction

2. When to begin formal literacy instruction3. The nature of beginning literacy instruction

The Foundation for BeginningLiteracy Instruction

For virtually all of the twentieth century in theUnited States, formal (i.e., deliberate) instructionin reading began in first grade (at about age 6).Kindergarten historically had the role of provid-

ing a period of preparation for the rest of school-ing. Until the late 1980s, reading readiness was theapproach used by most kindergartens to providethe foundation for formal reading instruction.

But during the reading readiness era, the issueof how children became prepared mentally forreading was pursued along two different paths.Down one path went educators who were con-vinced that reading readiness was essentially theresult of maturation, or "neural ripeness." Downthe other went those who believed that appro-priate experiences created readiness or couldaccelerate it.

The implications of the maturation perspec-tive for kindergarten instruction were straight-forward: children who had sufficient "neuralripening" (as measured by their mental age ona cognitive or IQ test) were ready for readinginstruction; others were not. Therefore, thekindergarten teacher was to let the first-gradeteacher know which children had "passed" thereadiness threshold and which would needadditional time in the first-grade reading readi-ness program. The first-grade teacher in turnclosely monitored the children's mental growthuntil the requisite stage of development hadbeen reached, and only then began actual read-ing instruction.

Educators who held the alternative viewnamely, that reading readiness was a product ofexperiencefocused on getting children readyto read as soon as possible rather than merelysitting back and waiting. They implementedreading readiness programs in which childrenparticipated in activities (especially workbookactivities) designed to foster visual and audito-ry discrimination skills, adequate speaking andlistening skills, recognition of the letters of thealphabet, and the association of some letters withsounds. However, children were not taught toread or write until they had completed such areadiness program.

By the late 1980s the view that reading readi-ness was requisite to beginning literacy instruc-tion was seriously challenged. Researchers andteachers moved toward the concept of emergentliteracy (Strickland & Morrow, 1989; Tea le & Su lz-by, 1986), a revolution in thinking about earlywritten language development that rejected both

4

Beginning Reading and Writing: Perspectives on Instruction 5

the maturation theory and the experiential readi-ness view. Emergent literacy turned many of thetenets of reading readiness around, proposinginstead that

Learning to read and write begins very earlyin life for virtually all children in a literatesociety, rather than at age 5 or 6.Literacy development is the more appropriateway to describe what was called reading readi-ness: the child develops not merely in readingbut as a writer/reader. Reading, writing, andoral language develop concurrently and inter-relatedly rather than sequentially.Literacy develops within the framework ofreal-life activities in order to "get thingsdone." Therefore, the meaningful or purpose-ful bases of early literacy are a critical part oflearning to read and write and must beemphasized in the curriculum.Children learn written language through ac-tive engagement with their world, not mere-ly by completing workbook activities or othertypes of academic exercises.A much broader range of knowledge, dispo-sitions, and strategies is involved in youngchildren's becoming literate than is empha-sized in reading readiness programs.Although children's acquisition of literacy canbe described in general stages, children be-come literate at different rates and take a va-riety of paths to conventional reading andwriting. Attempts to "scope and sequence" in-struction, such as those typical of readingreadiness programs, do not take this devel-opmental variation into account.

Emergent literacy is the lens through whichthe majority of current teacher educators, re-searchers, educational policy makers, and majorpublishers of curriculum materials prefer toview prekindergarten and kindergarten literacydevelopment. Also, many early childhood class-rooms have moved to an emergent literacy per-spective. However, the overall degree to whichone would find more traditional reading readi-ness approaches or an emergent literacy ap-proach predominating were one to visit kinder-garten classrooms around the country remainsunclear.

:

When to Begin FormalLiteracy Instruction

The age at which children should begin formalreading and writing instruction was hotly debat-ed in early childhood education and literacy edu-cation for many, many years. Educators cau-tioned that starting reading instruction too earlycould have negative effects. As a result, duringthe first three-quarters of the twentieth century,first gradeage 6was generally accepted asthe year to begin teaching reading.

In the 1970s, however, kindergartens increas-ingly incorporated reading instruction into theirprograms by including certain concepts andskills that previously had been covered in firstgrade. Many early childhood educators decriedthe "pushing down" of the first-grade curricu-lum into the kindergarten, but by the 1980s mostkindergartens were providing reading instruc-tion to 5-year-olds.

With the advent of an emergent literacy para-digm in kindergartens, the issue of when tobegin formal instruction has become moot,because emergent literacy holds that reading andwriting development begins long before childreneven reach kindergarten. Certainly an emergentliteracy kindergarten would make reading andwriting part of the curriculum. The difference,however, lies with how one defines instruction.A traditional beginning reading program con-sists largely of formal instruction in reading anddecoding, reading in groups, and the use of basalreaders. An emergent literacy kindergarten is notcharacterized by such activities. Instead, readingand writing instruction are embedded in thedaily activities of the classroom, in shared read-ing and teacher read-alouds, in children's play,and in learning center activities (Labbo & Tea le,1997). Thus, with virtually all kindergartens pro-fessing that instruction in reading and writing ispart of their mission, there is little argumentabout when to begin. The question now is how.

The Nature of BeginningLiteracy Instruction

How to teach beginning reading is the flashpoint of all the contentions related to early

1 5


literacy instruction. Perhaps the reason for thevehemence of the controversy is that so much ofschool success hinges on reading. In any case,the battles have been extended and hard fought,and the voices have been loud. For the past threedecades these discussions have been termed the"great debate" (Chall, 1967, 1996).

Shortly after Rudolph Flesch published WhyJohnny Can't Read, in 1955, there was widespreadconcern about the state of education in the Unit-ed States, because the Soviets had been the firstto put a satellite in space. The problem with read-ing, Flesch stated in unequivocal terms (usingsuspicious logic and distorted statistics), was thatfirst- and second-grade teachers were not teach-ing phonics. The public popularity of Flesch'sbook was enormous, and many people askedwhy phonics was not emphasized more in school.During the following decade, a nationwide studyof the best way to teach beginning reading wasfunded by the federal government (Bond & Dyk-stra, 1967). In 1967 Challis scholarly review, Learn-ing to Read: The Great Debate, appeared, and itsfindings paralleled those of the nationwide study:"code-emphasis" approaches to beginning read-ing were more effective than "meaning-empha-sis" approaches. As a result, basal readingprograms that stressed phonics in the primarygrades became popular instructional materials.

Phonics remained the predominant approachto beginning reading until the 1980s, when wholelanguage emerged as a grass-roots movement. Awhole language perspective holds that readingand writing are learned best by actually engag-ing in reading and writing (not through readingand writing exercises), that literacy instructionshould be rich in content, and that children'sinterests and purposes are paramount in learningto read and write. As a result, the whole languageapproach focuses on comprehension, uses "real"children's literature rather than texts designed toreflect phonics patterns, and teaches skills in con-text rather than in isolation. Primary grade wholelanguage teachers teach phonics, but they do soas the need arises for individuals or small groupsof children and in the context of more holistic les-sons rather than as isolated, systematic phonicsinstruction for the entire class.

Through whole language, teachers had initiat-ed a way of moving themselves forward as pro-fessionals. Whole language got a big boost inCalifornia in the late 1980s when a statewide "lit-erature-based" framework was adopted for all ofits elementary schools. This state-level action sup-plemented the work of teacher groups to get theattention of other states and publishers. The pop-ularity of the whole language approach reachedits zenith in the mid-1980s, when a new wave of"literature-based" basal readers made its wayinto elementary schools across the country. Buteven as whole language appeared to be widelyaccepted, a reaction against whole languageapproaches that had begun in the early 1990s wasgathering steam. This reaction was spurred inpart by the observation that although experi-enced, knowledgeable teachers were empoweredto create strong programs by applying whole lan-guage concepts, many other teachers misinter-preted its principles and practices and had littledirection in their classrooms. It was also prompt-ed by factors such as the publication MarilynAdams's Beginning to Read: Thinking and LearningAbout Print (1990), a book written in response tocongressional inquiries about phonics that madea case for systematically teaching young childrenabout phonemic awareness and decoding; thepublication of a series of research studies con-ducted by the National Institute of Child Healthand Human Development arguing that scientif-ic research established the need for systematicinstruction in phonological awareness and phon-ics in beginning reading (Lyon, 1998); and publi-cation of the results from the 1994 NationalAssessment of Educational Progress that showedCalifornia students to be second to last in read-ing achievement in the country, a finding thatpoliticians, the public, and even the former statesuperintendent of education (who was responsi-ble for implementing California's literature-basedcurriculum a decade earlier) argued was the faultof whole language approaches.

It has been disconcerting to watch the politi-cizing of the whole language versus phonics con-troversy, but perhaps the most troubling aspectof the past decade of the great debate is thatschools, states, and reading educators have

16


lurched back and forth between paradigms andpractices, searching for a single program that willsolve the beginning reading puzzle. A major rea-son for these wild swings is that phonics ap-proaches and meaning-based approaches areoften characterized as two diametrically op-posed ways of teaching reading. This perceptionis fueled by the popular pressnewspapers,magazines such as Time and Newsweek, and tele-vision news showsand sometimes even byeducation journals, which talk about the issue interms of "reading wars" (see, e.g., Lemann, 1997;Rubin, 1997). Such stories take a strictly argu-mentative slant, depicting phonics and wholelanguage as polar opposites, either/or choicesfor schools, teachers, and parents.

It is fortunate that primary grade literacyinstruction has received unprecedented atten-tion over the past decade, and unfortunate thatmany state reading initiatives and local policydecisions seem to have been sucked into the A-versus-B approach to beginning reading instruc-tion. Others have called for a "balanced ap-proach" that would incorporate systematicattention to phonics while also maintaining afocus on good literature and comprehensioninstruction from the start. Perhaps the mostinfluential report from this perspective is thework of the National Academy of Education,which issued the research report PreventingReading Difficulties in Young Children (Snow,Burns, & Griffin, 1998) and an accompanyingvolume aimed at parents, entitled Starting OutRight: A Guide to Promoting Children's ReadingSuccess (Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999).

Because the reaction to whole language hasbeen so severe in states such as California andTexas, it is unclear just what message localschools are actually implementing at the class-room level. Current patterns suggest there maybe a "knee-jerk reaction" in which instructionbecomes overly focused on phonemic awarenessand phonics activities as the long-missing solu-tion. As we write this chapter, approaches thatstress systematic instruction in phonemic aware-ness and phonics have clearly captured the atten-tion of educational policy makers and schoolboards in most parts of the country, to the extent

that they are being promoted and even legislat-ed as the way to conduct beginning literacyinstruction, perhaps because they seem to offera way of teaching that is formulated and tangi-ble rather than one that depends on teacher deci-sion making and must be constructed in the day-to-day interaction in the classroom.

Conclusions from Research

Although contentions and controversies havebeen a notable characteristic of the field of begin-ning literacy instruction for the past quarter cen-tury, and although political squabbles continue,research has produced a number of substantialadvances in knowledge about early literacylearning and teaching. These studies, combinedwith classic reading research from the earlierdecades of the twentieth century, have not pro-vided the answer, but they have yielded unprece-dented insight into how young children learn toread and write and what a good instructionalprogram needs to contain. Sometimesbecauseof politics or ignorance, or because no one uni-fying vision of how we can best develop youngchildren's literacy has emergedthis knowledgeis not well used by school districts or states formaking policy and curriculum decisions. Nev-ertheless, strong evidence exists. We have iden-tified seven points that, according to our readingof the research evidence and our experience inclassrooms, are robust enough to be consideredconclusions about what is needed to have a suc-cessful early literacy program:

1. An emergent literacy approach provides thefoundation.

2. Comprehension instruction is a core feature.3. A multifaceted word study program is essen-

tial4. Writingintegrated and separatedis cen-

tral.5. Reading fluency must be developed.6. Children need to practice by reading connect-

ed text.7. The early literacy program is conceptualized

as developmental.

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An Emergent Literacy ApproachProvides the Foundation

This first point applies mainly to kindergartenprograms but also has relevance for interventionprograms for first graders who are experiencingliteracy difficulties. An emergent literacy pro-gram provides literacy learning opportunitiesthat accommodate the wide range of knowledgeand experiences children bring with them asthey enter school. Some 5-year-olds have had lit-tle interaction with written language; others areon the verge of or actually reading and writingconventionally. Because emergent literacy class-rooms embed literacy in children's everydayactivities, view children as active constructors oftheir own literacy knowledge and strategies,support different developmental paths into lit-eracy, and offer integrated language arts experi-ences, it is possible for all children, no matterwhat their literacy needs, to benefit from anemergent literacy program as they begin school.Labbo and Tea le (1997) provide a portrait of theprinciples and instructional practices of an emer-gent literacy kindergarten. This discussion is notthe place to detail the ins and outs of an emer-gent literacy classroom, but we encourage read-ers to examine emergent literacy as the modelfor prekindergarten and kindergarten programs.As Stahl and colleagues (Stahl, McKenna, & Pag-nucco, 1994; Stahl & Miller, 1989) concludedfrom their quantitative reviews of literacy in-struction in kindergarten and first grade, and asthe recent joint position statement from the Inter-national Reading Association and the NationalAssociation for the Education of Young Children(1998) entitled "Learning to Read and Write:Developmentally Appropriate Practices for YoungChildren" suggests, an emergent literacy ap-proach provides the broad range of literacy con-cepts and strategies that young children need toget off to the right start in reading and writing.

Comprehension InstructionIs a Core Feature

Comprehensionunderstanding what one readsis the essence of reading. Comprehensioninstruction should be a central part of teaching

young children how to read from the beginning,not something emphasized in the curriculumonly after young children have learned how todecode.

At firsttypically in kindergartenbeforechildren can read conventionally from print,comprehension instruction actually revolvesaround children's understanding of written lan-guage that is read to them. Children experiencestories, informational texts, and poems that areread aloud by the teacher. In conjunction withhearing such materials, children also tap theirprior knowledge and discuss the texts, respondto them through art, music, or dramatic activi-ties, and learn from lessons about comprehen-sion strategies such as predicting or inferencingthat are embedded as part of read-alouds. Inthese ways, children become more skilled at pro-cessing written language and learning from it,becoming familiar with its syntactic patterns andvocabulary, with talking about information, withdifferent informational text structures (listing,cause-effect, comparison-contrast, and so on),and with responding to literary texts. By the endof kindergarten, children should be able to retellstories on their own, write or create art work thatshows comprehension of a text that has beenread to them, and make sensible predictions asa story is being read aloud.

Once a child becomes able to read on his orher own, typically in first grade, comprehensionstrategies can also be taught in the context ofreading. With such instruction, we can expectthat by the end of first grade, children willdemonstrate their understanding of books theyread independently or with a partner, be able tosummarize a book, and be able to describe intheir own words what they learned from a text.Comprehension goals for second graders in-clude being able to summarize what has beenread; answering pertinent comprehension ques-tions; inferring cause-effect relationships; dis-cussing how, why, and what-if questions aboutinformational texts; responding to thematicissues in literature; and following characters,plot connections, and cause-effect relationshipsacross earlier and later parts of stories. Foster-ing comprehension abilities like these in grades1 and 2 takes place by having children read and

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discuss texts, and through comprehension strat-egy lessons.

It is also important to note that teachersshould still read aloud to children during firstand second grades because this practice fostersvocabulary learning and comprehension skills.At these ages, children typically are able tounderstand more complex concepts and lan-guage from texts that are read aloud than fromwhat they can read themselves. Thus, thehigher-level comprehension skills and wordmeanings can profitably be developed throughread-aloud experiences throughout the primarygrades.

Comprehension is not something to be left tochance or relegated to secondary importance justbecause children are young. It is critically impor-tant that early instruction systematically focuson helping children learn to process the contentof the written language they hear and read.

A Multifaceted Word Study ProgramIs Essential

To become capable, mature readers and writers,students need to have a well-developed readingvocabulary (know the meanings of lots ofwords), be able to decode or figure out throughstructural analysis (analysis of words parts)words they have not seen before, recognize "bysight" a large number of words, and spell cor-rectly most of the words they write. The earlyyears are the time when children acquire thefoundational knowledge and habits that allowall of these areasvocabulary, decoding, sightword recognition, and spellingto develop fully.Thus, a quality early literacy program establish-es benchmarks for achievement in all of thesefacets of word study.

Decoding is the most talked-about part ofword learning for primary-grade children. Un-derstanding the alphabetic principlehow let-ters, letter combinations, and sounds relate toeach other in a systematic wayis indispensa-ble to becoming literate in an alphabetic lan-guage. Some children seem to pick up the alpha-betic principle and decoding strategies almoston their own, with only minimal instruction inphonics, and with these children the teacher

should concentrate on other important aspectsof literacy. However, most young children needsystematic attention to learning about words.This does not mean they must contend withmindless drill and endless worksheets, andgrunt and groan out sounds. On the contrary, itmeans that they should learn about words with-in the realm of literacy as a goal-directed activ-ity. There is a need for specific attention to letter-sound relations, but such instruction should becouched in a meaning-based curriculum. Re-cently, several fine publications have detailedideas for teaching phonics and other aspectsof word study to primary grade children inthoughtful and meaningful ways. Good sug-gestions can be found in Cunningham (1995),Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, and Johnston (1995),Gaskins (1996), and various chapters in PartTwo of this book.

It should be kept in mind that an importantpart of learning to decode actually begins beforechildren can master letter-sound relationships,with what is called phonemic awareness. Phone-mic awareness refers to the ability to hear theconstituent sounds (phonemes) that make upwords. It is abundantly clear from research thatphonemic awareness is essential for learning todecode as a reader (Snow et al., 1998). Phonemicawareness instruction has become a hot issue inearly literacy teaching. We believe that payingspecific attention to children's phonemic aware-ness is a key aspect of word study in kinder-garten and grade 1. However, as we discuss inmore detail later in this chapter, how to teachphonemic awareness is one of the major chal-lenges educators face, because not enoughresearch has been conducted in classrooms toindicate how phonemic awareness instruction isbest integrated into a developmentally appro-priate kindergarten or grade 1 program.

Because vocabulary development is the sin-gle biggest factor in a child's reading compre-hension skill (Blachowicz & Fisher, 1996), pri-mary grade reading programs also seek todevelop children's knowledge of word meaningsthrough rich oral language activities, such asclass discussions and read-alouds, as well asthrough written language experiences. Class-rooms that immerse children in words by using

19


words in meaningful, varied ways and throughword play succeed best in building rich vocab-ularies. Wide reading by children (as well asreading to children) is important because whenchildren encounter words in context, they canincrease their vocabularies significantly. But de-liberate vocabulary instruction is also an essen-tial part of a word study program for beginningliteracy. Activities that help children learn impor-tant words from stories, content vocabulary fromscience and social studies, and vocabulary-broadening words in a variety of contexts havea much more lasting impact than merely havingchildren write definitions for 10 to 20 new wordseach week and then take a test at the end of theweek.

Thus, primary grade classrooms need to be"word-rich" places. The aim is to establish anenvironment that builds rich and varied con-nections among words for children. The morewords children understand and the deeper theirknowledge of those words, the bigger the pay-off as they go through both elementary and sec-ondary school.

WritingIntegrated and SeparatedIs Central

Fifteen years ago, the idea of having prekinder-garten, kindergarten, or first-grade childrenwrite was positively radical. Today, in the vastmajority of primary grade classrooms, childrenwrite on a daily basis. Why the change? Every-oneteachers, researchers, parentssaw thepositive results of inviting kindergarten childrento write in their own ways. We also saw that firstand second graders were capable of great thingswhen they were encouraged and expected towrite on a daily basis.

In kindergarten, the approach is to provide avariety of writing materials (often in a writingcenter and in the dramatic play area), modelwriting, stimulate writing in conjunction withdramatic play, make writing part of everydayclassroom activities (by creating room signs,making invitations to classroom events, and soforth), and devise many opportunities for chil-dren to write in conjunction with read-alouds,science and social studies activities, and other

instructional experiences. Noticing, celebrating,and sharing kindergartners' writing with a vari-ety of audiences in and out of school is also ben-eficial. Teachers accept the various forms of writ-ing that kindergartners typically use (scribble,random letters, invented spelling) and, as appro-priate for individual children, scaffold their writ-ing attempts, thereby moving them toward moreconventional writing systems.

The most widely accepted way of approach-ing writing instruction for first and secondgraders is known as process writing (see, e.g.,Graves, 1983). Through writing workshop(Calkins, 1994), children are taught all phases ofthe writing process, and their creations are sup-ported at each step along the way. They areinvolved in prewriting (brainstorming, free writ-ing), drafting, revising (first and second graderstypically make minimal revisions, but the con-cept is introduced to them), editing and proof-reading, and, finally, publishingeither infor-mally, by sharing writing during author's chair(Graves & Hansen, 1983) or posting pieces in theroom, or more formally, by creating a boundbook for the classroom or school library or put-ting a piece in the grade-level's or school's liter-ary magazine.

Writing facilitates young children's literacydevelopment in two broad ways. On the onehand, teaching writing develops composingknowledge and strategies that are critical for suc-cess in school and life. Composing involves cre-ating stories, descriptions, and various types ofexpository text, thereby giving children experi-ence with putting ideas together in a variety ofways. On the other hand, research into reading-writing relationships indicates that there aregood reasons to integrate the teaching of writingwith the teaching of reading because of theirstrong connections. Shanahan (1984), for exam-ple, found that for second graders, reading andwriting mutually interacted with each other,with a particularly high relationship betweenphonics knowledge in reading and spellingknowledge. Thus, there are also good reasons tointegrate writing instruction and reading instruc-tion in the primary grades. As we encourageyoung children to write using invented spelling,to "write the sounds you can hear" or "write the

20 -


way you think it's spelled," we are helping thembuild a concept of word and learn about sound-symbol relations. In other words, if teachers real-ly want to provide high-quality phonics instruc-tion for primary grade children, they will includea great deal of writing in their school experi-ences.

During the early years, then, we integratereading and writing instruction because weknow that having children write makes it easierfor them to learn to read. But we also pay spe-cific attention to writing, giving it its own iden-tity and time in the classroom so that the uniqueaspects of writing are addressed separately. Inshort, making writing part of the primary gradecurriculum is both an end in itself and a meansof supporting the development of other literacyskills.

Reading Fluency Must Be Developed

Rate, accuracy, phrasing, and prosody (melodyand expression) are all parts of fluent reading(Strecker, Roser, & Martinez, 1998). The abilityto read fluently is a critically important part ofbecoming a capable reader (La Berge & Samuels,1974; Reutzel & Hollingsworth, 1993), and a sig-nificant fluency-comprehension link was foundin analysis of data from the National Assessmentof Educational Progress, which monitors nation-wide literacy achievement in the United States(Pinnell et al., 1995). The research suggests thatfluency and reading comprehension have areciprocal relationship, with each fostering theother.

Although fostering fluency is significantthroughout the elementary and secondary years,the beginnings of fluency occur during the pri-mary grades, once children are reading conven-tionally on their own. For most children, grade2 is an especially important year for reading flu-ency development.

Recently, attention to fluency instruction haspicked up significantly. The National ReadingPanel established by the U.S. Congress consid-ered fluency as a primary learning area in read-ing as it examines research-based knowledgethat can lead to improved reading instructionand greater learning (National Reading Panel,

2000), and a number of publications have de-tailed promising ways of teaching fluency (see,e.g., Opitz, Rasinski, & Bird, 1998; Rasinski,1996).

Fluency instruction should be an integral partof a beginning literacy program. Methods foundto be helpful for enhancing fluency include thefollowing:

Teacher modeling (through read-alouds andin the context of instructional techniques suchas guided reading that, among other things,help build fluency)Ensuring that children have many chancesto "practice" with texts they can read witheaseRepeated readings (Rasinski, 1996; Samuels,1979/1997)Other instructional formats designed to in-crease fluency, such as Hoffman's (1987) oralrecitation lesson

In general, it is best to employ a variety ofactivities so that children will not end up boredwith a repetitive format that becomes drill-like.It is particularly important to create situations inwhich young children can see legitimate pur-poses, or motivation, for reading texts over andover to increase accuracy and speed and to readwith more expression. We have found it espe-cially helpful to have children practice in prepa-ration to read to real audiences, which may con-sist of peers (e.g., buddy reading or readers'theatre [Wolf, 1993]), younger or older children(e.g., cross-age reading [Labbo & Teale, 1990]),parents, other adults, stuffed animals (a Read-to-Me Bear), or any other listeners who motivatethem to develop a fluent rendering of the text.Additional details on incorporating reading flu-ency instruction into the curriculum can befound in the references cited above.

Children Need to Practice byReading Connected Text

One more activity is necessary for children tobecome readers during the primary grades: get-ting enough experience reading. There is a pos-itive correlation between children's readingcompetency and the time they spend reading


connected text, extended fiction or nonfictionpassages such as selections from novels, biogra-phies, informational books, magazines, newspa-per articles, and so forth (Anderson, Wilson, &Fielding, 1988; Applebee, Langer, & Mullis,1988). In fact, data from Anderson et al. (1988)suggest that if children spend at least 15 minutesa day reading, it makes a significant difference intheir reading ability.

A quality early literacy program places prior-ity on involving children in reading plenty ofstories, informational books, magazines, and avariety of other appropriate texts. Teachers helpchildren make reading a regular part of their out-of-school time by promoting reading as a funand interesting way to spend time and by reach-ing out to parents to involve them in supportingtheir children's at-home reading habits.

There is no magic formula or program for get-ting young children into the habit of reading.Some teachers and schools have tried readingincentive programs connected to communitybusinesses (e.g., Book-It), creating a "caterpillar"that grows around the walls of the classroom aschildren add a segment for each book they com-plete reading, or responding to a challenge fromthe principal, who agrees to eat fried worms orsit on the roof of the school overnight if the chil-dren read a certain number of books. Othershave implemented sustained silent reading(DEAR, SQUIRT, and so forth), in which 15 to 30minutes a day is set aside for both students andteacher to read self-selected material. Such pro-grams may appear to offer a good solution togetting children to read, but they are not with-out controversy. The idea of promoting readingthrough extrinsic rewards such as pizza or theprincipal's suffering dire consequences has beenquestioned, and research on traditional sus-tained silent reading programs shows that theydo not have a significant positive impact on read-ing achievement or attitudes toward reading(Tea le & Bean, submitted for publication).

We encourage teachers to think broadly abouthow to design an early literacy program that willget children enthusiastic about reading for pleas-ure. Good materials are essential; classroom andschool libraries stocked with interesting booksthat cover a full range of genres, varying levels of

readability, and the many diverse cultures of ourworld make a difference. The importance of theteacher as a model is also critical. Teachers seen bytheir children as readers are much more likely tofoster readers in their classrooms. But teachersalso need to do more than provide good readingmaterials and be good models. There is no par-ticular list of activities to be implemented. Rather,it is better to think of ways in which reading canbe made "a way of being" in the classroom.

To make this happen, teachers develop a goodbackground in knowing children and children'sliterature. They read widely, knowing whom andwhat to consult when they want to identify par-ticular titles for children to read. Teachers alsoobserve carefully what individual children in theclass are reading and suggest specific titles thatmatch or extend their current reading interests.Many teachers encourage children to do booktalks about what they are reading or to developother responses to share with classmates. Theypromote conversations among the children aboutwhat they are reading not only during readinglessons, but also at lunchtime, after school, dur-ing social studies, at recess, and at other times. Inthese and other ways, teachers go well beyondthe traditional concept of sustained silent readingby embedding reading in a variety of school andhome contexts and activities, thus creating plen-ty of opportunities for children to respond active-ly to what they are reading. As a result, readingbecomes such a habit of mind that children feelthe day is incomplete unless they have had anopportunity to read for pleasure.

The Early Literacy Program IsConceptualized as Developmental

The preceding six points have offered conclu-sions about content matters in early literacyinstruction. Our final conclusion addresses themore general issue of the theoretical perspectivethat best befits successful literacy programs.Developmental is an idea that is at the heart ofearly childhood education, and conceptualizingliteracy learning and literacy instruction asdevelopmental helps ensure that all childrenbenefit maximally from their school literacyexperiences.

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It should also be noted, however, that devel-opmental is a dangerous word to apply to anydiscussion of early literacy instruction. It is dan-gerous because the term has been used in somany ways that it means significantly differentthings to different educators. By using develop-mental in conjunction with early literacy learningand teaching, we imply the following:

The changes that occur across years as chil-dren grow toward literacy occur in generallypredictable ways.Children's concepts of, and strategies for,reading and writing are qualitatively differ-ent from those of adults, yet they grow towardadult modes.Children become better at reading and writingas a result of internal developments and learn-ing opportunities.Different children have different patterns andtiming in their literacy learning. Such a rangein the rate and manner in which children learnto read and write is to be expected and there-fore is considered normal development.

With such a developmental perspective, liter-acy instruction is enhanced because teachers(1) have a framework and associated benchmarksfor progress, which helps with both assessmentand instruction, (2) are able to note patterns inyoung children's literacy learning but also main-tain a "set for diversity" (they see a continuumbut no rigid "assembly line" sequence), (3) seekto understand children's changing concepts andstrategies from the children's perspective (ratherthan seeing them as miniature adults), and (4)understand that not all children will attain liter-acy benchmarks at same time or in the same way.In all, teachers seek to provide developmentallyappropriate literacy instruction, standards, andbenchmarks that, as the IRA/NAEYC's 1998 jointposition statement notes, should be "challengingbut achievable."

This perspective also implies that the literacyprogram is seen as developmental not only foreach grade level but also across the preschoolthrough grade 2 years. Teachers and adminis-trators create a program that monitors and sup-ports growth across the age levels and also pro-vides alternative routes by which children from

different backgrounds and patterns of experiencecan realize the goal of being able to read andwrite.

Finally, a developmental perspective on liter-acy learning clearly implies that reading andwriting instruction do not end with second orthird grade. We are troubled by a popular say-ing that during the primary grades, childrenlearn to read, and after that, they read to learn.We have tried to make a case for conceptualiz-ing the early literacy curriculum as develop-mental, but we also want it to be understoodthat, in the larger picture, literacy instructionshould be seen as developmental from kinder-garten through grade 12. At no grade level shouldreading or writing instruction stop; rather, liter-acy learning and literacy teaching should be seenas lifelong processes.

About the Research Conclusions

Taken together, the seven conclusions just dis-cussed represent the broad brush strokes of asuccessful beginning literacy program in aschool, district, or state. We offer such a frame-work rather than identify specific teaching tech-niques because we believe that decisions aboutinstructional activities are best made by the indi-vidual teacher. The key to building successfulearly literacy programs lies in formulating clearnotions about the components necessary to facil-itate young children's learningan emergent lit-eracy approach for kindergarten, developingtheir word knowledge, systematic attention tocomprehension and decoding strategies, foster-ing reading habits, teaching writing, and build-ing reading fluency, all within a developmentalperspective. Being thoughtful about the variousdimensions of literacy knowledge and literacystrategies children need is the foundation forsuccess, and it is this foundation that we haveattempted to elucidate.

Continuing Challenges

The seven conclusions strongly suggest direc-tions indicated as promising by research andexcellent practice in early literacy. But by no

23


means are there answers to all the importantquestions about how to teach reading and writ-ing in the early grades. We have identified fiveissues as especially important challenges for edu-cators to address through research and practiceand thereby gain greater insight into how to con-duct classroom instruction. We urge educatorsto think carefully about them.

1. The how of phonemic awareness instruction2. The role of reading aloud in the curriculum3. The texts primary grade children should be

reading4. Student diversity5. Use of computers

The How of Phonemic AwarenessInstruction

Research has clearly established phonemic aware-ness as significant in early reading development(e.g., Adams, 1990) and in literacy achievementthroughout the elementary school years (e.g.,Juel, Griffith, & Gough, 1986). Researchers havealso determined that it is possible to teachphonemic awareness to children as young as 5and thereby positively affect their early readingdevelopment (e.g., Ball & Blachman, 1991; Lund-berg, Frost, & Petersen, 1988; Torgeson, Morgan,& Davis, 1992). As a result, phonemic awarenessinstruction is now widely touted as necessary forkindergarten and first-grade programs.

As was indicated earlier in this chapter, wealso advocate including phonemic awarenessinstruction as an essential part of early literacyprograms. But, by the same token, we recognizethat how to do so is far from clear. This is becausethe research on phonemic awareness instructionhas been conducted under controlled conditions(as it should be for research purposes) ratherthan in regular classrooms (as it also needs to beto draw instructional implications). These con-trolled conditions included the use of scriptedor semiscripted lessons that were almost exclu-sively whole-group instruction and programsthat were "stand alone" or "add-ons," com-pletely divorced from the regular curriculum(Tea le, Patterson, Lieb, & Bean,, 1999). Such anapproach is not in keeping with the develop-

mentally appropriate instruction model thatmost early childhood teachers are attempting toimplement.

Thus, much remains to be determined abouthow phonemic awareness instruction can effec-tively be conducted within the context of a qual-ity primary grade literacy program. As Labboand Tea le (1997) pointed out, the teacher's objec-tive "is not to involve children in isolated skill-and-drill phonemic awareness activities, but tocreate activities that allow children to exploresounds in meaningful and playful ways" (p.257).

Many teachers and classroom-based researchersare concerned about providing phonemic aware-ness instruction within the larger realm of liter-acy as a goal-directed activity. Such work on thistopic promises to help us see a variety of waysin which phonemic awareness can be deliber-ately and systematically integrated into the con-text of a good kindergarten or first-grade pro-gram.

The Role of Reading Aloudin the Curriculum

We, like many other early childhood educators,have touted the importance of reading aloud tochildren as an instructional activity in kinder-garten and first-grade classrooms (e.g., Sulzby &Tea le, 1991). But we have also expressed reser-vations about the overuse and misuse of readingaloud (Teale, 1998). Abuses connected with read-ing aloud stem from what appears to be a beliefamong some educators that reading to primarygrade children is a silver bullet, a singularlypowerful key in teaching children to read. Findhigh-quality literature, read it in engaging ways,get children's active participation, and the resultswill be significant, they contend. But this isattributing too much to reading aloud. In fact,one study found negative correlations betweenachievement and the amount of time adultsspent reading to children in kindergarten class-es, and no significant relationship in first-gradeclassrooms (Meyer, Wardrop, Stahl, & Linn,1994).

We continue to believe that reading aloud inprimary grade classrooms is a key instructional

24


activity for helping children learn important lit-eracy concepts and skills. To ensure that readingaloud is an effective element in instruction, how-ever, we recommend paying attention both towhat is being read and to how the reading isdone.

What Is Being Read: There are many high-quality books appropriate for young children;to include anything less than excellent selec-tions in what is read aloud lowers the qualityof literacy instruction. Teachers can keepaware of high-quality children's literature byreading reviews of children's book in profes-sional journals like Book Links, Language Arts,The Reading Teacher, and Horn Book. In addi-tion, it is extremely important to make multi-cultural literature integral to read-alouds.Children need to see themselves and othersin our diverse society reflected in the selec-tions read by the teacher. Furthermore, wehighly recommend reading a variety of texttypes. Stories, informational books, poetry,alphabet and counting books, and books thatfeature word play all are important as read-alouds for primary grade children. Finally,connecting read-alouds to the classroom unitsof study benefits both children's literacy learn-ing and their subject area understandings.How the Reading Is Done: There are signif-icant variations in the ways teachers read tochildren. Martinez and Tea le (1993) found thateven though a group of six teachers all readthe same stories, what they had the childrendiscuss during the readings and how it wasdiscussed varied considerably. Furthermore,variations in storybook-reading style affecthow children approach books as well as howmuch they comprehend and learn from beingread to (Dickinson, Hao, & He, 1993; Dickin-son & Smith, 1994; Ninio, 1980; Tea le & Mar-tinez, 1997). This is not to say that there is onebest way to read aloud to children, but thesestudies suggest that the way the teacher con-ducts read-alouds significantly affects chil-dren's literacy learning. Hoffman, Roser, andBattle (1993) have offered suggestions for howto read to primary grade children in lively,engaging, and thought-provoking ways. Ad-

ditional teacher research and reflection in thisarea will help us understand better how read-alouds can be as beneficial as possible aninstructional activity for young children.

Thus, the practice of reading aloud to childrenoffers important challenges to consider. Weknow that reading to primary grade children canbe a powerful force in their literacy learning. Butit can also end up being little more than a timefiller. There is even such a thing as reading tochildren too much, if it takes the place of otherimportant activities. Done thoughtfully, howev-er, reading to children becomes a critically im-portant means of teaching background knowl-edge, vocabulary, comprehension strategies, andknowledge of written language so crucial tobecoming skilled and willing readers during theprimary years and beyond.

The Texts Primary Grade ChildrenShould Be Reading

One of the most discussed topics in early litera-cy instruction during the initial years of thetwenty-first century promises to be what kindsof texts primary grade children should be read-ing in order to make learning to read most effec-tive. The 1990s saw considerable use of authen-tic children's literature in kindergarten and firstgrade for reading instruction, in part owing todissatisfaction with the "primerese" (e.g., "Lookat me, Dick. Look at me. Oh, Dick. Come here.Run, Dick, run," or "A man had a ham. A manhad a fat ham. A man had a gas can. Sad mannpreviously used widely in beginning readingmaterials. Although authentic literature includesrich vocabulary, it is often "undecodable." "Pre-dictable" books like Brown Bear, Brown Bear, WhatDo You See? (Martin, 1967), Mrs. Wishy-Washy(Cowley & Melser, 1980), or The Chick and theDuckling (Ginsburg, 1972) became popular read-ing material. Characterized by rhyme, rhythm, aclose picture-text match, and repetitive wordsand phrases, such books enabled all children toparticipate successfully in meaningful "reading"experiences from the beginning. It was assumedthat having children interact with such textswould foster the development of their word

25


recognition skills. But with a steady diet of pre-dictable texts, many children relied too much onmemory and picture cues and, as a result, didnot pay enough attention to the words they weresupposed to be reading to develop much of areading vocabulary.

Recently, a number of educators have pro-posed that children be given "decodable text"instead of literary text or predictable booksbecause decodable text allows practice in apply-ing the consistent letter-sound patterns taughtin phonics lessons. What is meant by decodabletext varies: some say that 70% to 80% of thewords in what children read should be commonletter-sound patterns, while others contend thatdecodable texts should consist of the particularletter-sound patterns taught in the curriculumup to that point. But all definitions focus on thecentral feature of phonetically regular texts.

Probably neither of these perspectives is ade-quate. Instead, children need a varied diet oftexts to learn to read most successfully. Any onetype of text has features that can prove useful ina child's literacy development, and it also hasinherent limitations. Predictable texts do make itmore likely that children will successfully com-plete the book; however, children often focus lit-tle of their attention on individual words orsound-symbol cues when reading such books.Decodable texts (controlled vocabulary texts) dis-pose children to use and practice what theyknow about sound-symbol relations, but theyhave two disadvantages. Many are so uninter-esting that children choose not to read them, andtherefore their potential benefits are lost; andtheir language is frequently so stilted that itundermines semantic and syntactic processingand thereby distorts the reading process. Literarytexts appeal to children who have a well-devel-oped understanding of story structure that canpropel their reading; however, the rich and var-ied vocabulary in such books may be very diffi-cult for beginners to recognize or decode. Ofcourse, high interest and high motivation leadsome children to persevere in making sense ofvery difficult stories or informational books, yetsuch challenges do not serve the purpose of pro-viding children with material they can use topractice their reading on an everyday basis. In

addition, there are texts based on high-frequencywords. They offer beginning readers the oppor-tunity to learn a relatively small number ofwords that make up a high percentage of all thetexts that exist in the language, but these wordsalso represent the most irregular spelling pat-terns and therefore impede a child's use of let-ter-sound knowledge. We can even think of envi-ronmental print (signs, labels, and so forth foundin the home and community) as a type of text tobe read by young children. Such print should bepart of prekindergarten through first-grade class-rooms because it helps children understand thefunctions and uses of the written language sur-rounding them every day, but its overall useful-ness for learning to read is constrained by thereal-life context in which it appears.

Thus, each type of text has features that rec-ommend it as well as shortcomings. There is nomagic formula for the mix of what types of textsa teacher should use with beginning readers. Thenext few years will almost certainly see a numberof research studies examining this topic, and theresults should help us understand the issue bet-ter. Yet the challenge for teachers will always beto keep in mind the individual child's prior expe-riences, needs, interests, and abilities in deter-mining appropriate texts for given situations.

Student Diversity

Student diversity of all kinds is on the increasein our schools, but the teaching force as a wholeis not very diverse. In addition, our record ofhelping children from nonmainstream cultural,ethnic, linguistic, or socioeconomic backgroundslearn to read and write is not particularly good;African-American and Latino students are sig-nificantly behind their Caucasian peers (Don-ahue, Voekl, Campbell, & Mazzeo, 1999).

To help improve early literacy instruction fordiverse students, it is useful to keep in mindthree characteristics of successful programs inschools and school districts with high percent-ages of such students. In these programs, teach-ers (1) become informed about issues faced bystudents of diversity, (2) recognize that differ-ences are not necessarily a roadblock to literacysuccess, and (3) provide support and instruction


relevant and appropriate to children of diversi-ty as well as to mainstream populations.

Informed Teachers: A first step is committingoneself to becoming informed about issues thatface diverse students. This means recognizingand validating the language and literacy experi-ences that children bring to school from theirhomes and communities, experiences often dif-ferent from those of mainstream children in theclassroom and even from those of the teacher. Italso necessitates assessing students' strengthsand weaknesses in ways that are culturally sen-sitive.

Differences, Not Deficits: Differences becomea roadblock when we regard them as deficits tobe overcome. But when variations in backgroundexperiences and in language and literacy use aresensitively considered as natural differences andprejudiced attitudes toward such differences areeliminated, it becomes much more likely thatchildren will see themselves as readers and writ-ers. In other words, being a student of diversebackground does not necessarily imply difficul-ty in acquiring literacy. But because diversity isoften part of a profile of students experiencingdifficulty in literacy learning, the challenge is tofind out how to eliminate the roadblocks thatcurrently exist.

Relevant and Appropriate Instruction: Whatcan teachers do to have the greatest chance ofsucceeding with diverse students? The practicesalready outlined in this chapter are importantfor all children. In being culturally sensitive,teachers can also follow the guidelines adaptedfrom those offered by Yokota (1995):

Create a culturally responsive language andliteracy environment in the classroom andconnect literacy instruction to students' back-grounds.Ensure that children see themselves and theirfamilies in the literacy curriculum. A goodway is to include multicultural literature asreading material in classroom libraries andlessons and use the literature as a catalyst fordiscussions of diversity.

Establish strong home-school-communityconnections. Parents from diverse back-grounds have much to contribute to the edu-cation of all children in the classroom. Theyalso need to feel included in the entire spec-trum of classroom activities, not just as con-tributors of cultural information. It may takeextra effort and support for parents to under-stand the expectations of the school if thoseexpectations differ from their own schoolexperiences.Participate in staff development and seek sup-port from others on issues related to ethnic,cultural, and linguistic diversity.

There has been comparatively little researchinto the issues related to teaching culturally orlinguistically diverse primary grade children toread and write, and certainly no proven modelsfor instruction have been developed. Thus, oneof the biggest challenges facing early childhoodteachers today is achieving greater success withliteracy instruction for diverse students.

Use of Computers

Computers have become an essential aspect ofdaily life in our society. As a result, making suchtechnology part of young children's educationhas received great attention. Because of this,many early childhood teachers are interested inintegrating computers into reading and writinginstruction in developmentally appropriate ways.Computers have the potential to enhance earlyliteracy instruction. For example, some CD-ROMs offer books in interactive format thatenable children to participate in innovative choralreading and echo reading activities (Labbo,Reinking, & McKenna, 1999) or provide sup-ported practice that would not be possible with-out the expense of teacher aides or a highly devel-oped volunteer program. Or, as another example,some teachers use a large-screen computer dis-play to conduct morning message (Crowell,Kawakami, & Wong, 1986) and thereby enhancea well-established instructional activity.

Computers also are creating new kinds oftexts for reading and writing and perhaps new"reading" and "writing" processes as well. Such

27

18 William H. Teale and Junko Yokota

AN IDEA FROM A TEACHER

Using a Message Board to Encourage Reading, Writing, and Oral Language

I decided to try keeping a message board in the classroom for the children to communicatewith one another in writing. I placed the corkboard in a prominent spot where the childrencan see it as they enter the room in the morning, and I put each child's name as well as mineon the board so that there is a place to leave and get messages. The children helped me dec-orate the board with self-portraits to accompany their names. Every day I leave a new mes-sage on the corkboard for the entire class. This note may be about holidays, themes we arestudying, special events at school, or interesting current events. In addition, I leave a note forone or more individual children. I make sure that in a two-week period, I have left everyoneone note. Notes can be about a special event in their lives, some good work they have done,or just a happy greeting. All messages are written so that they require a reply. A morningactivity for my students is to check the message board and leave a message for someone. Thechildren eagerly approach the message board each day and can be heard talking about mes-sages and collaboratively reading messages to and with each other. They also leave messagesthey write themselves that are sparked by the message to everyone, their individual message,or something they just want to say. The message board is surrounded by children talking toeach other, reading, and writing on a daily basis.

Bonnie Smith, First/Second-Grade Combination Class Teacher

"electronic literacy" (Reinking, 1995), or "digitalliteracy" (Labbo et al., 1999), is leading creativeearly childhood teachers and their students toexplore frontiers in this area, discovering possi-bilities for activities like multimedia composing,shared viewings, sociodramatic play enhancedwith technology, and so forth. Computers havealso shown considerable promise for helpingchildren who have great difficulty learning toread through regular instruction. These innova-tive uses of computers are called assistive tech-nology; they help special-needs children whorequire alternative or multimodal/multisensoryways of processing to become literate.

Finding appropriate uses of technology fordeveloping literacy is a great challenge. Many ofthe reading and writing computer applicationsaimed at young children are little more than elec-tronic worksheets. They may be effective forkeeping records of the answers children get right

and wrong, and they may amuse and engagechildren, but they teach little of what childrenneed to become capable readers and writers.What is needed instead are computer-relatedactivities that (1) provide authentic and mean-ingful literacy experiences and (2) are woven intothe fabric of the curriculum, connected to the-matic units and to the curriculum areas outlinedabove.

From the work of Sulzby and her colleaguescome two additional important points to keep inmind as we think about how to integrate com-puters into the early literacy program. First, com-puter uses for reading and writing are only asstrong as the off-computer reading and writingenvironment in the classroom (Sulzby, 1996). Inother words, computer technology cannot sub-stitute for a good early literacy program, it canonly complement it. Second, computers con-tribute most to children's literacy development

28'


when children are able to create with them,rather than just "use" or "consume" ready-madeprograms. (Nicholson, Lomangino, Young, &Sulzby, 1998). Open-ended programs such aschild-friendly word processors and databasesoffer more learning opportunities than programswith predetermined ends.

In summary, the intersection of technologyand early literacy is ripe with possibilities andchallenges, but it is also fraught with hype andabuses. There is perhaps as much misinforma-tion about computers in early literacy instruc-tion as there is information, and for that reasonwe should all have reservations about them. Inaddition, we should always remember that theissue is not computer use but literacy. The com-puter is a tool that can help children achieve lit-eracy, but it is not the end in itself. The primarygrades are certainly the time for children to begintheir journey into the literacy of the twenty-firstcentury. It remains for us as teachers to under-stand better how computers and computer-relat-ed technology can be integrated into early liter-acy learning and teaching.

The Future of Early LiteracyInstruction: Some ChallengesWe have presented five significant challenges inthe area of early literacy instruction, but it wouldnot be difficult to discuss others. We have too lit-tle insight, for example, into what happens aschildren shift from emergent to conventionalways of reading and writing and how teacherscan best support this shift. These days, writinginstruction is more frequently a part of primarygrade classrooms, but we could benefit from acloser look at a process approach to writinginstruction to guard against its being imple-mented in superficial ways. We still know toolittle about spelling instruction in primary gradeclassrooms. And what of literature study?Should primary grade children be taking part inliterature circles or book clubs, or is that some-thing better left to students in grade 3 andabove? Finally, many unresolved questionsremain about appropriate phonics instruction foryoung children.

c" 2A

In short, this chapter could go on and on withissues that deserve attention. But we also shouldreflect on our successes in early literacy instruc-tion. We discussed six conclusions that provid-ed strong direction for building quality early lit-eracy programs. In addition, the most recentinternational study of reading literacy (El ley,1994) found that, among the 32 countries stud-ied, U.S. 9-year-olds ranked second in the worldin overall reading achievement. This figure sug-gests that we are doing a great deal right in pri-mary grade literacy instruction.

It is an exciting time for the field of early lit-eracy. Amid the controversies, literacy in kinder-garten through grade 2 is receiving significantattention and funding. Curriculum developmentand research activities are abundant. There aremore high-quality books being published foryoung children than ever before. Teachers arecommitted and enthusiastic in their teaching. Butwe have room to improve, and that is what isexciting about this area of education and thisbook on early literacy. We are not afraid to chal-lenge ourselves to get better at beginning litera-cy instruction, and that means even better daysare ahead for young children, their families, andtheir teachers.

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Graves, D. H. (1983). Writing: Teachers and children atwork. Exeter, NH: Heinemann.

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Hoffman, J. V. (1987). Rethinking the role of oral read-ing in basal instruction. The Elementary School Jour-nal, 87, 367-374.

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[International Reading Association and NationalAssociation for the Education of Young Children].(1998). Learning to read and write: Developmen-tally appropriate practices for young children.Young Children, 53,30-46.

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Labbo, L. D., Reinking, D., & McKenna, M. C. (1999).The use of technology in literacy programs. In L.Gambrell, L. M. Morrow, S. B. Neuman, & M.Pressley (Eds.), Best practices in literacy instruction(pp. 311-327). New York: Guilford Press.

Labbo, L. D., & Teale, W. H. (1990). Cross-age reading:A strategy for helping poor readers. The ReadingTeacher, 43, 362-369.

Labbo, L. D., & Teale, W. H. (1997). Emergent literacyas a model of reading instruction. In S. A. Stahl &D. A. Hayes (Eds.), Instructional models in reading(pp. 249-281). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

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Ninio, A. (1980). Picture-book reading in mother-infant dyads belonging to two subgroups in Israel.Child Development, 51,587-590.

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Pinnell, G. S., Pikulski, J. J., Wixson, K. K., Campbell,J. R., Gough, P. B., & Beatty, A. S. (1995). Listeningto children read aloud: Oral fluency. Washington, DC:U.S. Department of Education, National Center forEducational Statistics.

Rasinski, T. V. (1996). Holistic reading strategies: Teach-ing children who find reading difficult. EnglewoodCliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Reinking, D. (1995). Reading and writing with com-puters: Literacy research in a post-typographicworld. National Reading Conference Yearbook, 44,17-33.

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Stahl, S. A., McKenna, M. C., & Pagnucco, J. R. (1994).The effects of whole language instruction: Anupdate and a reappraisal. Educational Psychologist,9,178-186.

Stahl, S. A., & Miller, P. D. (1989). Whole language andlanguage experience approaches for beginningreading: A qualitative research synthesis. Review ofEducational Research, 59,87-119.

Strecker, S. K., Roser, N. L., & Martinez, M. G. (1998).Toward understanding oral reading fluency. Na-tional Reading Conference Yearbook, 47, 295-310.

Strickland, D. S., & Morrow. L. M. (Eds.). (1989).Emerging literacy: Young children learn to read and

write. Newark, DE: International Reading Associa-tion.

Sulzby, E. (1996, May). Multimedia and multiple litera-cies in elementary and middle school classrooms. Paperpresented at the Preconference for the NationalReading Research Center, International ReadingAssociation, Anaheim, CA.

Sulzby, E., & Teale, W. H. (1991). Emergent literacy. InR. Barr, M. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, & P. D. Pearson(Eds.), Handbook of Reading Research (Vol. 2, pp.727-757). New York: Longman.

Teale, W. H. (1995). Young children and reading:Trends across the 20th century. Journal of Education,/ 77,95-125.

Teale, W. H. (1998, February). Early literacy instruction:Rights, wrongs, and continuing challenges. Paper pre-sented at the 30th Annual Colorado Council of theInternational Reading Association Conference onLiteracy, Denver, CO.

Teale, W. H., & Bean, K. (2000). SSR: What's a teacherto thinkAnd do? Manuscript submitted for pub-lication.

Teale, W. H., & Martinez, M. G. (1997). Teachers' story-book reading styles and kindergartners' story compre-hension. Unpublished manuscript.

Teale, W. H., Patterson, J., & Lieb, E., & Bean, K. (1999,April). Phonemic awareness instruction: From researchfindings to classroom practice. Paper presented at theAmerican Educational Research Association 1999Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada.

Teale, W. H., & Sulzby, E. (Eds.). (1986). Emergent lit-eracy: Writing and reading. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Torgeson, J., Morgan, S., & Davis, C. (1992). The effectsof two types of phonological awareness trainingon word learning in kindergarten children. Journalof Educational Psychology, 84, 364-370.

Wolf, S. A. (1993). What's in a name? Labels and lit-eracy in readers theatre. The Reading Teacher, 46,540-545.

Yokota, J. (1995). Literacy development for students ofdiverse populations. In S. B. Wepner, J. T. Feeley, &D. S. Strickland (Eds.), The administration and super-vision of reading programs (2nd ed.). New York andNewark, DE: Teachers College Press and Interna-tional Reading Association.

CHAPTER TWO

Becoming a Reader:A Developmentally Appropriate

ApproachSusan B. Neuman and Sue Bredekamp

Susan Neuman and Sue Bredekamp describestrategies of literacy instruction in early child-hood classrooms that support developmentallyappropriate practice.

32

For Reflection and Action:Review your own early litera-cy development before firstgrade and consider how yourexperience might have beenregarded and supported bytoday's educators. Compareand contrast your historicalexperience with contempo-rary classroom methods ofsupporting early literacy.

Although many activities contribute toearly reading and writing development,none is more powerful than young chil-

dren's interactions with books. Close observa-tions of young children learning to read suggestthat they thrive on the richness and diversity ofreading materials and on being read to aloud. Infact, these early experiences feature prominently

Becoming a Reader: A Developmentally Appropriate Approach 23

in the histories of successful readers, those chil-dren who not only know how to read but chooseto read for learning and pleasure.

Children do not learn to read by magic.Rather, they learn by engaging with other, moreaccomplished readers around print. Caregiversand teachers play a critical role in promotingchildren's participation with books. They explainimportant concepts, encourage children's atten-tion to meaningful events in stories, and involvethem in using the information they are learningin dynamic ways that build connections beyondthe printed page. Through assisted instruction,caregivers and teachers teach children that writ-ten words have meaning and power, keeping inmind the goal of creating independent readersand lifelong learners.

In 1998 the International Reading Associationand the National Association for the Educationof Young Children developed a joint positionpaper on developmentally appropriate practicesfor helping young children learn to read andwrite (IRA /NAEYC, 1998). This paper high-lighted the importance of carefully mediatedinstruction that is sensitive to the social and cul-tural context of learning, the developmental pat-terns that may be universal to all children, andchildren's unique interests and needs. In thischapter we illustrate the importance of devel-opmentally appropriate instruction, describeinteractions that support children's experienceswith books, and highlight some effective teach-ing strategies that enhance aloud and inde-pendent reading. The major topics discussedare:

Age-appropriate engagement with printStrategies for reading aloud to young childrenStory-stretching projects for young learnersAssisted instruction techniquesThe content and physical structure of a class-room libraryScaffolding toward independent reading

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Storybook Reading in theBeginning Years (BirthThrough Preschool)

At age 21/2, Christopher can't read yet, and hehasn't shown much interest in letters. But he isalways eager to listen to books. When he and histwo friends at his child care center listen to TheThree Little Pigs, they shout, "And I'll huff and I'llpuff and I'll blow your house in." As Ms. Helenreads on, they wait for the next episode, only torepeat the lines even louder this time. While theyare enjoying the story, they are probably notaware that the little black squiggles on the pageare telling a story and that the words in the bookare always the same. Nevertheless, they arelearning important features of written knowl-edge, its rhythms and cadences, and displayingtheir knowledge of language structure. They arelearning to participate in book-reading activitiesand to "talk like a book," which will have impor-tant consequences in successful reading later on(Snow, Tabors, Nicholson, & Kurland, 1995).

Even though their attention spans may beshort, babies and toddlers benefit from hearingstories and being read to (Senechal, Le Fevre,Thomas, & Daley, 1998; Whitehurst et al., 1988).They learn to focus their attention on the wordsand the pictures. Storybook reading by care-givers for very young children is highly social;interactions remain playful or gamelike, whileinstructional. Many caregivers do not just showthe pictures to children but instead talk aboutthem, asking questions like "What's that?" ormaking comments like "That's a lion. Rememberwhen we went to the zoo?" Ms. Darlene, forexample, finds that the clear photographs ofeveryday objects and animals in Tana Hoban'sboard book series, such as Black on White, Whiteon Black (Hoban, 1993), fascinate 10-month-oldDevon for about 5 minutes as he focuses all of hisattention on one particular page. Later she findshim intently looking at the pictures by himself,holding the book and turning the pages.

Certain types of books are especially intrigu-ing to babies and toddlers. Books with photo-graphs or drawings of animals, people, and sin-gle, brightly colored objects draw children's

24 Susan B. Neuman and Sue Bredekamp

attention and interest. Easy-to-hold board booksthat can stand hard wear enable toddlers to"read" by themselves. Interactive books, likeSpot's lift-the-flap stories (also available in Span-ish), playfully reinforce children's efforts to mas-ter the basics of book handling (even though thebooks are not likely to last long in the hands oftoddlers). Books that take children though famil-iar routines or through a recitation of repeatedquestions and answers, such as Dr. Seuss's Mar-vin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now! (Gesell,1972), help the young child become part of thestory because of their predictable patterns andrepetitive language. Teachers find that childrentend to chime in, saying the last words of thephrase, "will you please go now." Such chimingin is a positive feature of early engagement: itprovides for all sorts of language play, allowingthe young child to say and use words that mightbe new and unfamiliar, and it keeps the child'sattention from wandering. Nursery rhymes arewell loved at this age as well, with childrenwanting to hear the same stories over and overagain.

Story times for young children work bestwhen they are relatively brief (about 5 to 10 min-utes) and conversational. With the reader sittingwith one or two children on each side, the chil-dren are able to follow the text and picturesclosely, ask questions, and point to their favoritecharacters. It really doesn't matter whether thestory is completed or not. Rather, the point ofstory time for very young listeners is for theinteraction to be enjoyable and to be filled withlanguage. Caregivers can choose "readablemoments" throughout the daytime betweenactivities, quiet times, or moments when storiescan bring the day to a fulfilling close.

Assisted Instruction

It is the end of the day at Tiny Tots, a busy timewhen parents are picking up their children andgathering their many things. The attention of31/2-year-old Edward and his 4-year-old cousinKa lief is riveted, however, not on the door buton the short book, Peek-a-Boo (Ahlberg & Ahl-berg, 1981), about houses, being read by Ms.Kimberly:

Ms. Kimberly: Do you see the plumber,Kalief?

Edward: I see the plumber.Kalief: He's working on the pipes. I be

working on the pipes.Edward: Here go the ladder.Kalief: There go the lights.Edward: Who's in the house?Kalief: A worker man?Ms. Kimberly: The workers are painting

and putting up the doors and the windows.Edward: Turn it back [the page], turn it

back, turn it back! I want to see the workerman.

(Ms. Kimberly turns back the page.)Ms. Kimberly: Here's the workers. The

workers leave. That means they go home.You know, like when you leave here withyour mommy. They go home.

No doubt, Ms. Kimberly would consider thisinformal conversation rather typical anduneventful. But there are a number of strikingfeatures in this book-reading activity. For one,Ms. Kimberly has selected a book that is chal-lenging but understandable for the children(IRA /NAEYC, 1998; Lidz, 1991; Rogoff, Mosier,Mistry, & Goncu, 1993). Although the story con-tains many new words, the topic is a familiar oneand interesting to the boys. Here the children arelabeling words that are related to their everydaylives.

Notice that Ms. Kimberly begins by recruitingtheir attention, asking them to focus on a page.Once the children become involved, she stepsback a bit as they give meaning to the pictures.She then helps the children define "workers"and extends the description beyond the printedpage, bridging what is seen in the picture towhat they can relate to in their own lives. In thisrespect, Ms. Kimberly provides metacognitivesupport, controlling and taking primary respon-sibility for higher-level goals while the childrenengage at a level they are capable of at the time(Diaz, Neal, & Vachio, 1991).

Within the context of a book-reading activity,caregivers may accentuate the relevance andmeaningfulness of some features more thanothers. Through this process, children learn the

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names of common objects and the relationshipsamong objects and events. Once the context andmeaningfulness of an activity are conveyed, care-givers may extend children's understanding bylinking the activity to something that is eitherwithin or beyond the children's own experiences.For example, Ms. Kimberly defines what it meansfor the workers to leave, then compares it withthe children's own leaving for the day. This taskhelping children make sense of present experi-ences by relating them to the pastis seen asessential for intellectual growth. It may also facil-itate children's understanding of events that can-not actually be perceived, by encouraging them toemploy their imaginations to anticipate furtheractivities. Sigel and his colleagues, for example,have described this concept as "distancing" andhave documented an association of distancingwith the cognitive development of preschoolers(McGillicuddy-De Lisi, Sigel, & Johnson, 1979;Sigel & McGillicuddy-De Lisi, 1984).

Not seen in this particular interaction but a crit-ical feature of assisted instruction is the transferof responsibility from caregiver to child (Rogoff,1990; Tharp & Gallimore, 1988). Teachers need tocarefully gauge their support to see when chil-dren are able to move beyond their current levelsof ability. They may encourage and prompt thechild to turn the pages, to ask questions, and topredict what might come next, so that the childcan work toward independence and self-regula-tion. For example, the next day Ms. Kimberly willplace the now familiar and well-loved book abouthouses in the block area or the classroom libraryso that Edward and Ka lief can "read it by them-selves." They may sit in the corner and reread thestory. Or they may use blocks in the block cornerto construct a house, with ladders, pipes, andlights, and pretend to be "worker men." In sodoing they will be making the book their own,retelling parts of the book in their own language.In the course of their pretend play, they willengage in "decontextualized language," or lan-guage used (accurately) apart from the actual con-text in which it was crafted, which is predictive ofacademic success.

We have defined these critical steps in assist-ed instruction as (1) get set, (2) give meaning, (3)build bridges, and (4) step back (Neuman, 1995).

Get set focuses on the importance of attentiongetting, such as recruiting children's interest byasking predictive questions, as well as structur-ing the physical setting (providing comfortablechairs that allow the children to see and point tothe pictures) so that children can effectively par-ticipate. Give meaning helps children understandthe story by focusing on the illustrations, de-scribing new words, adding affect to the voice("meeeow") to make the words or pictures moreunderstandable to the children, and talkingabout and elaborating on the actions in a story.Build bridges highlights the importance of extend-ing children's understanding by linking what isread to something that is either within or beyondtheir own experiences. Teachers might build con-nections between what is going on now in theclassroom and other experiences, either past orpresent, to move the story experience beyond thepages. Finally, step back encourages caregivers togive children increasing responsibility, letting thechildren take turns and ask questions, and pro-viding elaborated feedback to encourage theirstrategic thinking.

Essentially, assisted instruction reminds allcaregivers and teachers that good instruction issensitive to children's development and thatteaching plays an important role in helping chil-dren develop higher-order thinking. Edward andKalief 's conversational turns, for example,would not have been as rich had Ms. Kimberlysimply placed the book in the play center with-out first reading and discussing it. It was her sen-sitivity to careful book selection and interactionthat supported their language and thinking.

Reading Aloud to Groupsof Preschoolers

Even though children might not seem ready forsustained listening, most teachers will begin toinvolve children in daily group storybook-read-ing activity when they are about 3 years old.Starting the day with a story is a powerful learn-ing technique, for several reasons. It builds asense of community among children as they cre-ate a common knowledge base together. In addi-tion, storybook reading is a primary way to buildnew vocabulary. Children learn many new


words by listening to stories (El ley, 1989; Leung& Pikulski, 1990). Reading books can also serveas a source of learning throughout the day. Inone class, for example, Ms. Wright read The Car-rot Seed (Krauss, 1945), a story about a rathertenacious young boy who believed (against allodds) that his carrot seed would grow. She firstused the story in an inquiry lesson to set thestage for a unit on growing things. She encour-aged the children to describe some of the things(water, sunlight) plants need to grow and someof the dispositions that young gardeners musthave (hope and determination) to be successful..With its strong predictable element and positivemessage, the children loved hearing the storyagain and again and used its lessons throughoutthe unit.

Not all children will be equally prepared forgroup storybook reading. Children with few pre-vious experiences with storybook reading willprobably be restless. For such young listeners,teachers should not try to engage the wholegroup at once in reading a complete story. It willprobably be more effective to build up children'sattention spans and ability to listen over time.Teachers need to help children develop theseskills because they are essential for literacydevelopment. But these skills are not developedby forcing children to sit still for long periods oftime, punishing or removing children who donot conform, or spending group time correctingchildren's behavior rather than actually reading.

Children, like adults, thrive on routines andexpectations. To build children's attention spans,particularly in the beginning, it is important toensure that all children are seated comfortablyon a rug or carpet square and have the opportu-nity to hear, see, and listen to stories. Smallergroups will be more effective at first. Having aturn in the group can become a special treat.

For children not accustomed to hearing sto-ries read aloud, it is especially important to makesure that the classroom is quiet and not bustlingwith other, competing activity. In some centers,all teachers in classrooms hold storybook read-ing at the same time in the morning to maximizechildren's learning. Inviting assistant teachers orvolunteers to help allows everyone, teacher andchildren, to concentrate better on the story and

not be disrupted. Very restless children should begiven an alternative, while some children mayneed to hold a book in their hands to capturetheir attention.

It is best to start with simple, predictable sto-ries, such as counting or alphabet books, to elic-it children's attention for short periods of time.It is more important to have a pleasant 10-minutestory time than a 20-minute struggle for chil-dren's attention. Many teachers use books withonly a few lines on a page and lively, interestingpictures, since long books with lots of dialoguemight be difficult for children to follow. After afew successful story times, children will be readyfor richer stories and information books. In somecases teachers introduce these stories over sev-eral days. For example, on the first day of read-ing a new story, Ms. Michaels uses the book totake a "picture walk." She shows the childrenthe pictures in Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?(Carlstrom, 1986) and points out some thingsabout Jesse Bearwhat he is wearing and doing.The next day she shows the same pictures andreads more of the text (or tells the story in herown words) and asks the children to help hername some of the prominent colors, like the colorof Jesse's shirt. On the third day she reads moreof the text, naming some of the foods that Jesseeats for lunch. By the fourth day the 3- and4-year-olds are sitting in rapt attention as shereads the full text and shows them the nowfamiliar pictures.

Many experienced teachers and caregivershave developed a pattern for storybook-readingsessions. They hold the story session in a specialspace or corner that makes the children feel cozyand protected. The teacher might begin with aspecial opening song, setting the mood for thesession, and bring the session to a close with adifferent song or an action poem. Depending onthe books selected and the interesting conversa-tions that evolve, many children after a while areable to sit through a 25- to 30-minute activity ses-sion. For those with shorter attention spans,however, some teachers hold two or three short-er sessions a day, each 10 to 15 minutes long.

A Read-Aloud Session: The 3- and 4-year-oldsin the Building Blocks Child-Care Center are just

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beginning their year and are new to the story-book-reading routine. Ms. Fernanda begins theday by gathering the children around her andspeaking in a very soft voice, which makes thechildren use softer voices too. "I want to giveyou a seat, that is your magic carpet. When yousit on it, you can ride to a special place calledstoryland."

Once the children are seated, Ms. Fernandashows the children her bag. "This is my magicbag. Some of the things in this bag are for youto keep forever and some are just for you toenjoy today." She then pulls out of her bagGoldilocks and the Three Bears (Miles, 1998) andreads it to the children. She adds words to makeit interesting and uses a number of differentvoices and facial expressions to make the storycome alive for the children. The children aremesmerized.

Next, Ms. Fernanda takes a stuffed spider outof her bag. She recites the nursery rhyme "LittleMiss Muffet" for the children, using the spiderto help illustrate the motions. The children recitethe nursery rhyme three times together whileMs. Fernanda acts it out. She walks around toevery child, and each one has a turn at touchingthe spider as they recite "Itsy Bitsy Spider.""Remember we did this before. Don't forget thehand motions." The children recite the poem twotimes with hand motions.

Ms. Fernanda now takes out of her bag a bigbook, The Little Red Hen. She tells the childrenthat she needs help with reading the story. "I amgoing to read you a story about a little red hen.This story was written by Paul Galdone." Somechildren repeat, "He's the author!" Ms. Fernan-da responds, "That's right. You guys remem-bered that the person who writes the story iscalled the author. That's great." She reads thestory, using her finger to point to the words andstopping the reading just before she gets to "NotI." The children quickly realize what Ms. Fer-nanda wants them to do even though she doesnot explicitly tell them to repeat "Not I." Theyparticipate with great enthusiasm. After shereads the story, Ms. Fernanda asks, "Why would-n't the red hen share her bread? What did youlike most about the story?" The children engagein a lively discussion.

r.

"Now storybook reading is about over. Butbefore we end, we're going to sing a song youcan sing to your mommy before you leave yourhouse in the morning." She teaches them a songabout having a clean body and clean clothes.She then sings another song, "My Rhythm SticksGo Click Click Click" (on another day she willhave them use sticks and follow the beat). Afterthe singing she thanks the children for beinggood listeners, and they get ready for activitytime.

A number of features make Ms. Fernanda'sstorybook-reading sessions special. Ms. Fernan-da is sensitive to children's developmentalneeds. She helps children "get set" by clearlydefining her expectations for acceptable behav-ior. She provides a high level of interactivity (sheengages children's voices, hands, and images)and moves seamlessly from one activity toanother. Books, action poems, and songs are allincluded in this session in an engaging format,one that is especially helpful for children whomay need to release excess energy. A routine isestablished, with a beginning, stories, and anending, that will help children define storytime's boundaries.

Ms. Fernanda is also providing excellent lan-guage and literacy instruction. Throughout thesession, the children are learning basic conceptsof print (e.g., that stories are written by authors),the sounds of language (poems and rhymes havesimilar sounds and are recited and repeated,which enhances their recall), and vocabulary(representations of objects like spiders are shown;this is particularly important for children withlimited background knowledge). The childrensee demonstrations of what a word looks like asMs. Fernanda uses her finger to follow the print(sometimes referred to as "tracking print"). Theyare developing a sense of story format (intro-duction, episodes, and resolution). Ms. Fernan-da is leading children to identify the theme andto add their own interpretations to the story. (Inthis case she does not interrupt the flow of thestory with questions but waits until the endbefore engaging children in conversation). Final-ly, they are learning, through Ms. Fernanda'sactions and animation, the sheer joy of sharingstories.

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Stretching Children's Understanding: Some-times it is useful to explore certain aspects of thestory with children. Activities for this purpose,often called "story stretchers," help create greatermeaning for children by stretching their under-standing of the story. Some teachers combine art,science, and math activities as a natural out-growth of reading a book. For example, the bookMouse Paint (Walsh, 1989), with its beautifullyvivid colors, lends itself to an art activity wherechildren mix colors and see what their mixturesbring.

Story stretchers work best when they relatedirectly to the story. For example, activities thatengage children in retelling a story using pup-pets or a flannel board (with visual representa-tions of words) encourage children to use theirlanguage to recall the sequence and events of thestory from their perspective. Puppets, whethermade of sticks, paper bags, or socks, are partic-ularly helpful for involving reticent children orthose who feel they do not have the languageskills needed to retell the story. Creative dra-matics also allow children to interpret stories intheir unique fashion. After providing some guid-ance, teachers can "step back," giving childrenincreasing responsibility for retelling the storiestheir way.

These types of story stretchers can be com-pared with the ones more typical of teacher activ-ity books. For example, one resource book rec-ommended that after reading The GingerbreadBoy (Galdone, 1973), teachers and children couldmake gingerbread cookies or use colored gluefor icing on a gingerbread boy pattern. Ginger-bread cookies make wonderful snacks, and gin-gerbread boy patterns may liven up a classroombulletin board. But these activities are not realstory stretchers. Neither engages children inunderstanding the essential lesson that the gin-gerbread boy, unfortunately, learned too late.Story stretchers that involve children in askingquestions, retelling, making predictions, and dis-cussing the story, possibly connecting it to otherexperiences in their lives, are far more instruc-tional and meaningful to young children.

Ms. Olna regularly uses story stretchers forher group of very active 21/2- through 4-year-olds. Today she reads Freight Train (Crews, 1978),

to the group's delight. After reading, she reviewsthe details of the story: "How many cars werethere on the train? Let's count." Then she asks,"What color was each train? Let's check." Theyreturn to the beginning of the book and recalleach color of the cars on the train. Next, to stretchchildren's ideas about the story, Ms. Olna asks,"What would you look like if you were a car onthe train? What might you carry?" (Here she isbuilding bridges and stepping back.) Childrenget in a line (sometimes winding, sometimesstraight), placing the right hand on the rightshoulder of the child in front. Slowly they beginto move, reciting "Chuga, chuga, chuga, chuga,toot, toot," first softly, then loudly; quickly, thenslowly. The children love the activity and ask todo it again. Through this story-stretching activ-ity, Ms. Olna has helped them visualize themotion and the words associated with freighttrains.

Creating a Classroom Library

Classroom libraries complement and extend chil-dren's learning from books. The library need notbe large or fancy but it should feel cozy, and it isbest set apart from the main part of the roomwith bookshelves or semifixed structures. Thelibrary should include about five quality booksper child (changed regularly), and the booksshould be attractive-looking, not tattered andworn. Familiar titles, such as books that havebeen recently read by the teacher, will draw chil-dren's attention; multiple copies of these favoritebooks will encourage children to read to oneanother. Some critical features of a classroomlibrary are the following:

An accessible arrangement of books (open-faced shelves allow children to look at the pic-tures and titles at their eye level)A variety of materials, including magazinesand information, alphabet, counting, and pic-ture booksStuffed animals and comfortable seating(bean-bag chairs, mattress and pillows)Good lightingLively displays (book covers) and posters, toadd color and dimension to the walls of the

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library, and a catchy name, like "Cozy CornerLibrary"

Before encouraging wide use, however, teach-ers should help children learn how to handle andcare for books in their library. In some centers,teachers use old books to talk about a book's del-icate spine and the importance of not rippingpages. Ms. Fernanda gives children lessons onturning pages. Giving them each a book, sheguides their hands in a group lesson to go"across the top, down to the corner, and flipover." Ms. Fernanda also makes sure that thelibrary includes a "book hospital"an old dairybox"where books go to get better." The bookhospital contains torn books and invisible tape,eraser, scissors, and glue. Ms. Fernanda regular-ly invites children to a fix-it lesson, during whichthey watch while she repairs a well-loved book.

The library is not the only area to place books,however. Some teachers decentralize the class-room library, by placing books about fishes nearthe fish tank, books about cooking in the kitchen,and books and magazines in the "doctor's office"dramatic play center. Teachers find that it is com-mon to observe children referring to these mate-rials in their play and in project activities. Inaddition, placing books in different activity cen-ters sends the important message that books areuseful sources of information that can be turnedto on all sorts of occasions.

Equally as important as the classroom librarydesign and placement of reading materials is thetime apportioned for children to use theseresources. Giving children time to use the class-room library before circle time, during naptime,and before dismissal is good for transition butnot good enough for learning. Children need asolid block of time during the day to browse,read silently on their own, read one on one witha parent, teacher, or aide, or read with theirfriends or teddy bears. Sometimes children willpretend to read, such as Clarissa, who opens abook and says, "Once upon a time, once upon atime, once upon a time. There, I readed it."Clarissa is demonstrating her motivation andinterest in reading, which might lead thethoughtful teacher to ask a key question: "Wouldyou like me to read it to you?"

k.-It

Storybook Reading inKindergartenClassrooms built around the instructional tech-niques developed for preschool children helpchildren begin to read on their own in kinder-garten. Many kindergarten teachers extend theirlanguage and literacy curriculum to includereading aloud, shared reading, and independentreading activities.

Studies suggest that reading probably ac-counts for about one-third of a child's annualvocabulary growth, and that regular wide read-ing may result in substantial and permanentlearning and school achievement (Anderson,1995; Nagy & Herman, 1987). Reading aloud isthe primary means of enriching children's vocab-ulary in these early years. Even if children canread a bit on their own, their oral vocabulary stillfar exceeds their knowledge of written words. Itis especially important, therefore, for teachers toread quality books that contain some words thatare not necessarily familiar to the children.

Before reading the book, a brief discussionabout a few new vocabulary words is particu-larly effective for kindergarten children. Someteachers, like Ms. Theresa, use physical props tohelp children focus on the specific vocabulary tobe encountered in the story. One day, as a "getset" activity before reading Snow White, sheholds up a mirror and says, "Mirror, mirror onthe wall, who's the fairest of them all?" She asksthe group, "What does this mirror help us todo?" Sarah answers, "It lets me look at myself."Hoping to extend the children's understandingof words, Ms. Theresa then asks, "Well, what doyou think she means by 'fairest'?" Showing thepicture of the wicked old queen, Jenniferanswers, "She just wants to be pretty." "Aaah, soin this case, fairest means being the prettiest,"says Ms. Theresa.

Of course, it is not necessary to use props forevery story or information book. Some teachersmight use a flannel board, others might engagein casual conversation about the topic. Butregardless of the particular strategies used, somevocabulary discussion before reading helps chil-dren better understand and enjoy the story. It isalso a far more enriching activity than simply

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asking children to regurgitate the title of the bookand the author's name. During the reading, itmay be beneficial to stop at various junctures,show the pictures in the book, and ask questionsthat help children guess what might happennext. (Asking too many questions, however, canbe distracting, since children's answers often arenot brief or to the point.) After the story is anopportune time to take another look at thevocabulary and illustrations and talk about thestory in ways that personalize it for children,bridging the experience from the known to theunknown. Whitehurst and his colleagues havefound that asking open-ended what and whyquestions fosters richer conversations (White-hurst, Arnold, Epstein, Angell, Smith, & Fischel,1994). Asking "Why do you think Eeyore isdoing that?" instead of "Is Eeyore playing ornot?" encourages children to take increasingresponsibility for their own learning.

During the kindergarten year, children maybegin to retell stories in their own words. This isan important skill, for several reasons. Retellinghelps children put various details of the storytogether and sequence events. It also aids indeveloping a sense of storythe concept that,stories have settings, characters, problems,events, and resolutions. This is an insight thatwill help children come to anticipate how sto-ries work, how plot events relate to the overallstructure of a story. In addition, the retelling itselfbecomes a metacognitive activity for children,allowing them to assess their understanding byusing their own words to analyze and synthesizewhat they have learned from the story.

All of these insights are further developedwhen children have the opportunity to hear thestory read again. Elley (1989), for example, foundthat 7- and 8-year-olds who heard the same storyread three times in the classroom demonstratedsome gain in identifying the correct meanings ofwords. Children with weaker vocabularies maybenefit from one-on-one rereadings, with some-one providing more explicit instruction in vocab-ulary. Teachers can also use multiple rereadingsof good books to focus on different categories ofwords. For example, Ms. Theresa uses EricCarle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1984) to focuson "food words" one day and "days of the

week" another day. Quality children's literatureprovides opportunities to read the same bookfrom multiple perspectives.

Shared reading often follows the read-aloudactivity. For shared reading, teachers often use abig book that has limited text per page and arecurring theme. With Mrs. Wishy-Washy (Cow-ley, 1999), the children observe and participate asMs. Peterman opens up the book and glides herhand under the words as she reads. She andthe children repeat the refrain, "wishy-washy,wishy-washy" many times and recall, "in wentthe pig, in went the cow, in went the duck" as theanimals are marched into the tub by Mrs. Wishy-Washy. As she reads, and without specificallystating to the kindergartners what she is doing,she demonstrates many concepts of print: thatwriting moves from left to right, that print (notthe illustrations) carries the message, and thatthe black marks on the page have meaning. Gen-erally, Ms. Peterman will first read a text ratherquickly to give children a sense of the story, thenreread it, pausing where commas occur, makinga full stop for periods, and tracking the print.She is modeling the message that print is a reli-able conveyor of the text's message.

Big books are useful for a number of purpos-es. With their lively illustrations and predictabletext, they are easily remembered. After severalrereadings, children will act as if they were read-ers, fluently "reading" the text. The very act offluent reading helps children develop a sense ofwhat good readers do. In addition, once chil-dren have memorized the text, teachers can iso-late various words and help the children beginto develop a sight vocabulary of new wordswords that are quickly recognized without hav-ing to be sounded out. For Ms. Peterman's class,for example, the word "wishy-washy" leads herto ask, "Does anyone know any other words thatbegin like 'wishy-washy'?" Together the chil-dren generate some new words, which Ms.Peterman will write down and use in develop-ing a word wall. Knowing some words mayhelp children learn new words, through rhym-ing patterns and word families. Later Ms. Peter-man will use the predictable features of anoth-er story (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do YouSee?) to involve children in making their own

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big book story ("Trash Truck, Trash Truck, WhatDo You Do?").

Although big books have an important placein helping children learn to read, they shouldnot be used exclusively in the instructional pro-gram. These books are not great literature. Theyare simple texts, designed for instructional pur-poses. Moreover, giving too much attention tomemorized text may lead children to rely toomuch on sight vocabulary and picture illustra-tions as they develop as readers, rather than onalternative cue systems such as graphophone-mic, syntactical, or semantic cue systems. Bigbooks are best used in conjunction with goodnarrative and expository books to achieve a bal-ance of reading activities, word learning, anddaily writing practice.

Last but certainly not least, teachers need toset aside a time every day to ensure that all chil-dren spend a minimum of 15 to 20 minutes inindependent reading (somewhat more time maybe allotted in a full-day kindergarten). Duringthis time children can choose what to read ontheir own, use the library area, and share booksthat have been read aloud before. Some teachersinclude a listening center, specially enhancedwith read-alouds from their favorite stories. (Par-ents can be asked to make these tapes for theteachers.) Reading independently or with friendsgives children a chance to develop interests andself-direction. In one project, for example, we cre-ated a buddy system in which children readdaily in pairs (Neuman & Soundy, 1991). Someof the children were beginning to actually read,while others were still talking about the pictures.But in almost all cases, children were talkingabout books!

It is also essential to include at least one liter-acy-related play center in the classroom (Neu-man & Roskos, 1997). If space is at a premium,teachers can enhance an already popular areasuch as the housekeeping corner with literacy byincluding cookbooks, magazines, Post-it notes,a chef's hat, a telephone and telephone book,message pads, and environmental print. Unliketheme-based centers (e.g., an apple orchard or ashoe store), children are highly familiar withactivities in this area and are likely to engage inlots of conversations around this topic. Some

teachers find that this area becomes more pop-ular as new literacy-related materials, such astake-out menus, recipes, and coupons, areadded.

After independent reading time, a brief classmeeting is a wonderful way to tie the readingevents of the day together and to let childrenshare with others what they have read. Generalconversations about books give life to new titles.

Storybook Reading in thePrimary Grades

During independent reading time in Ms. Panet-ta's first-grade classroom, Christopher and hisfriends, Tyree and David, are in the science areaworking on a project about animal habitats. Theyare trying to figure out how some animals pro-tect themselves throughout the winter. Each hasa different book, but their focus is the same: theyare scanning for pictures and words that mighthelp them become experts on the topic. Words onanimals and their homes are written on indexcards to become part of a word wall as well aspart of their increasing sight vocabulary. As theyglance through the books, however, they are notreading every sentence; rather, their focus is ongetting answers to some of the questions theyhave posed together with their teacher. Ms.Panetta held a discussion the day before to helpthem develop their ideas through a KWL chart:what do you know, what do you want to learn,and what have you learned).

Earlier in the day, these children participatedin a much more structured and teacher-support-ed small-group instruction emphasizing guidedreading. In the primary grades, guided reading isthe foundation of the literacy curriculum. Guid-ed reading focuses on children's instructional lev-els, the levels at which children can read with theteacher's assistance. Many teachers use a basalreading program that provides an anthology ofselections for children to read on their own withguidance and teaching support.

The essentials of guided reading include theteacher's first engaging the children in talkingabout the topic, calling up relevant backgroundknowledge, and predicting what might be in the

41


story or selection. In most cases the teacher willfocus on some new vocabulary. Then the childrensilently read part of the selection. (Silent readingin the primary grades often sounds like quiet oralreading, as children try to figure out new words.)At various stopping points the teacher involvesthe children in drawing conclusions and infer-ences about the reading, summarizing the storyand listening to them read aloud. As they read,the teacher jots down information, recording theaccuracy and fluency of each child's reading andhis or her meaning-making strategies. Thesenotes will help to inform further instruction andaid the teacher in ascertaining when some chil-dren may need additional small-group or one-on-one instruction.

Whether or not to use a basal series has be-come a source of controversy in the past decade.Basal readers have been severely criticized bywhole language critics for their abridged anduninteresting stories and for "vocabulary con-trol" the practice of repeating certain words toestablish a criterion of frequency (e.g., "'Look,look, look,' said Jane"). In response to these andother concerns, basal readers published in recentyears have moved to more "authentic" text,including longer, unabridged stories and in-formational texts with richer vocabulary in theanthologies.

The fact is, however, longer texts with moreinteresting words are more difficult for childrento read, especially first graders and strugglingreaders. A comparable situation would be tohand adults a copy of the Iliad in Greek and say,"Now read it." Young children lack the facility todecipher unknown words. Consequently, teach-ers and publishers have chosen different instruc-tional routes. Some have created reading pro-grams using "leveled books." In this approach,children's literature books are categorizedaccording to a set of criteria (e.g., links acrosscollection, content, length, format, amount ofprint on a page) and placed on a continuum ofdifficulty. With guided reading instruction, chil-dren move from one level of text to another.

Another approach is to use decodable text forat least 6 months but not more than 12 monthsof instruction. These books exemplify certain

letter-sound patterns that the children havelearned through instruction. Although the sto-ries are less interesting, they are systematicallydesigned to allow children to use their decodingskills (developed thus far) to read new stories.Some teachers hesitate to use these books, claim-ing that children will be unmotivated to read.Others argue that, on the contrary, decodabletexts enable children to practice what they havelearned and to develop independence in read-ing. Whatever approach is used, reading selec-tions should be comprehensible (so that childrenwill be able to understand them) and instruc-tive (so that children will learn from them). Theultimate goal is to help them become inde-pendent readers.

Grouping for instruction is important in theprimary grades because it allows teachers tofocus on children's strengths and weaknesses.However, inflexible ability grouping can bedetrimental to children's self-confidence andself-esteem. No matter what teachers might callthese groups, children are not blind to ability dis-tinctions. Just ask the children: they will quicklytell you the difference between the "bluebirds"and the "squirrels." Some teachers apply "dy-namic grouping techniques" that allow them tofocus on children's particular instructional needs,such as more help with vocabulary, with thegroups reformed on the basis of ongoing evalu-ation. Still others convene groups around inter-ests, establish book clubs, or use peer tutoring-learning pairs.

Guided reading is a critical part of the read-ing program in the primary grades. But it is notthe whole program. In addition to independentreading, for example, during the rest of the daythe children might participate in a lively read-aloud session. As Ms. Panetta reads from a chap-ter book, children draw pictures of their favoritecharacters. After a read-aloud she spends a fewminutes holding a book chat, so that children canshare their interpretations of the story. Thesechats enable her to see how the children haveconstructed meaning from the story and howwell they are able to express their ideas verbal-ly. Ms. Panetta will also spend some time onshared reading with big books, today emphasiz-

42



A Developmentally Appropriate Way to Extend Learning

The children in my classroom begin each day by sharing some personal items from theirspecial treasure chest. At the beginning of the year I provide a shoe box for each child, andI encourage each of them to decorate the box in a way that will help others know him or herbetter. Children can place special objectsa rabbit's foot, a favorite stuffed animalin thebox. Throughout the year they are encouraged to add or take away objects, according to theirinterests, the reading and language arts themes we are studying, and special times of year.For example, after our visit to the zoo in the fall many children brought in a picture of theirfavorite animal to share with others. A special holiday greeting card or family mementoplaced in the box may be especially comforting and personally gratifying at different timesthroughout the year.

During our morning share time, children take turns talking about their items. They maytell a story or give a personal account of why they like the object. Or they may describe the

object, using favorite adjectives and richly detailed language, or explain how it relates to whatwe have read or learned in class. In any case, they are able to make connections to themeswe are studying, convey their personal feelings, and help the class and me get to know thema little bit better.

Tonya Beck, Kindergarten Teacher

frig how dialogue is written down. As the chil-dren's skills in guided reading are increasing,however, she is slowly reducing the amount oftime spent on this portion of her instructionalprogram.

Early reading instruction should feature a del-icate balance of carefully scaffolded experiences.Reading aloud to children pushes their devel-opment as readers, moving them beyond theircurrent vocabulary and experiences to otherworlds. Shared reading provides explicit demon-strations of early reading strategies in enjoyableand purposeful ways. Guided reading chal-lenges children to stretch their abilities to learnnew skills and understandings. Independentreading gives children choice and helps guidethem toward self-regulation. None of these expe-riences alone is adequate. All are necessary com-ponents in learning to read.

Children's Books Cited

Ahlberg, J., & Ahlberg, A. (1981). Peek-a-boo. NewYork: Viking.

Carle, E. (1984). The very hungry caterpillar. New York:Putnam.

Carlstrom, N. W. (1986). Jesse Bear, what will you wear?New York: Simon & Schuster.

Cowley, J. (1999). Mrs. Wishy-Washy. New York:Philomel.

Crews, D. (1978). Freight train. New York: Greenwil-low.

Galdone, P. (1973). The little red hen. Boston: HoughtonMifflin.

Galdone, P. (1993). The gingerbread boy. Boston:Houghton Mifflin.

Gesell, T. (Dr. Seuss). (1972). Marvin K. Mooney, willyou please go now! New York: Random House.

Hoban, T. (1993). Black on white, white on black. NewYork: Greenwillow.

- 43


Krauss, R. (1945). The carrot seed. New York: Harper &Row.

Martin, B. (1992). Brown bear, brown bear, what do yousee? New York: Holt.

Miles, B. (1998). Goldilocks and the three bears. NewYork: Simon & Schuster.

Walsh, E. (1989). Mouse paint. New York: Harcourt,Brace.

ReferencesAnderson, R. C. (1995). Research foundations for wide

reading. Urbana, IL: Center for the Study of Reading.Diaz, R., Neal, C., & Vachio, A. (1991). Maternal teach-

ing in the zone of proximal development: A com-parison of low- and high-risk dyads. Merrill-PalmerQuarterly, 37,83-108.

El ley, W. (1989). Vocabulary acquisition from listeningto stories. Reading Research Quarterly, 24, 174-187.

IRA /NAEYC. (1998). Learning to read and write:Developmentally appropriate practices for youngchildren. The Reading Teacher, 52,193-216.

Leung, C. B., & Pikulski, J. J. (1990). Incidental learn-ing of word meanings by kindergarten and firstgrade children through repeated read aloud events.In J. Zutell & S. McCormick (Eds.), Literacy theoryand research: Analyses from multiple paradigms (pp.231-240). Chicago: National Reading Conference.

Lidz, C. (1991). Practitioner's guide to dynamic assess-ment. New York: Guilford Press.

McGillicuddy-De Lisi, A., Sigel, I., & Johnson, J.(1979). The family as a system of mutual influences:Parental beliefs, distancing behaviors, and chil-dren's representational thinking. In M. Lewis & L.A. Rosenblum (Eds.), The child and its family (pp.91-106). New York: Plenum Press.

Nagy W., & Herman, P. (1987). Breadth and depth ofvocabulary knowledge: Implications for acquisi-tion and instruction. In M. G. McKeown & M. E.Curtis (Eds.), The nature of vocabulary acquisition.Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Neuman, S. B. (1995). Enhancing adolescent mothers'guided participation in literacy. In L. M. Morrow

(Ed.), Family literacy (pp. 104-114). Newark, DE:International Reading Association.

Neuman, S. B., & Roskos, K. (1997). Literacy knowl-edge in practice: Contexts of participation foryoung writers and readers. Reading Research Quar-terly, 32,10-32.

Neuman, S. B., & Soundy, C. (1991). The effects of sto-rybook partnerships on young children's concep-tions of story. In J. Zutell & S. McCormick (Eds.),Learner factors/teacher factors: Issues in literacyresearch and instruction (pp. 141-148). Chicago:National Reading Conference.

Rogoff, B. (1990). Apprenticeship in thinking: Cognitivedevelopment in social context. New York: Oxford Uni-versity Press.

Rogoff, B., Mosier, C., Misty, J., & Goncu, A. (1993).Toddlers' guided participation with their care-givers in cultural activity. In E. Forman, N. Minick,& A. Stone (Eds.), Contexts for learning: Sociocultur-al dynamics in children's development (pp. 230-253).New York: Oxford University Press.

Senechal, M., LeFevre, J., Thomas, E., & Daley, K.(1998). Differential effects of home literacy experi-ences on the development of oral and written lan-guage. Reading Research Quarterly, 33,96-116.

Sigel, I. E., & McGillicuddy-De Lisi, A. (1984). Parentsas teachers of their children: A distancing behaviormodel. In A. Pellegrini & T. Yawkey (Eds.), Thedevelopment of oral and written language in social con-texts (pp. 71-92). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Snow, C., Tabors, P., Nicholson, P., & Kurland, B.(1995). SHELL: Oral language and early literacyskills in kindergarten and first-grade children. Jour-nal of Research in Childhood Education, 10, 37-48.

Tharp, R., & Gallimore, R. (1988). Rousing minds to life.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Whitehurst, G., Arnold, D., Epstein, J., Angell, A.,Smith, M., & Fischel, J. (1994). A picture book read-ing intervention in day care and home for childrenfrom low-income families. Developmental Psycholo-gy, 30, 679-689.

Whitehurst, G. J., et al. (1988). Accelerating languagedevelopment through picture book reading. Devel-opmental Psychology, 24, 552-559.

44

CHAPTER THREE

Literacy Instruction for YoungChildren of Diverse Backgrounds

Kathryn H. Au

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Kathryn Au provides a thoughtful look at theincreasing diversity among our nation's school-children and the implications for policy andpractice.

For Reflection and Action: Discuss thechanging student demographics in schoolstoday in terms of increased linguistic andcultural diversity. Consider the challengesfaced by educators with respect to policyand practice. Compare examples of suc-cessful practices you have read about orheard about elsewhere.

A Classroom in Hawaii

One morning when I was in Jill Sakai's kinder-garten classroom, a child named Kaylee broughta letter she had written at home for Jill. Jillremarked to me that this was the first letter fromhome that she had received that year. When sheopened the envelope, Jill found a page of note-book paper densely covered with letterlike formsresembling Os, Ps, and Ds. Kaylee's name wassigned at the bottom.

"What does it say?" Jill asked Kaylee."It says I love you," Kaylee replied.After she gathered the children on the carpet

to begin morning business, Jill shared Kaylee'sletter and expressed her delight in havingreceived such a wonderful message. She told theclass she hoped others would follow Kaylee'sexample, and she posted the letter in a promi-nent spot on the message board. Not surpris-ingly, Jill received many letters in the days that

45

36 Kathryn H. Au

followed. "When they bring writing pieces fromhome, even just a word or a letter, I make a bigdeal out of it," Jill told me. She wants the chil-dren to understand that reading and writinghave a place at home as well as at school.

Jill is a teacher in a school in a low-incomearea of Hawaii in which about two-thirds of thestudents are of Native Hawaiian ancestry. About85% of the students at this school come fromlow-income families. Almost all students speakHawaii Creole English, a nonmainstream vari-ety of English, as their first language.

The increasing diversity of the population inthe United States (and elsewhere) poses a greatchallenge to teachers such as Jill, who wish tohelp the young children in their classrooms findsuccess as readers and writers. I will use the termchildren of diverse backgrounds, in the context ofthe United States, to refer to children who areAfrican American, Hispanic, Asian American,and Native American in ethnicity; who comefrom poor families; and who speak home lan-guages other than standard American English(Au, 1993). We have long known of a gap be-tween the literacy achievement of these childrenand their mainstream peers. According to thegrade 4 results of the 1998 National Assessmentof Educational Progress (Donahue, Voekl, Camp-bell, & Mazzeo, 1999, p. 456), 27% of white stu-dents scored below a basic level of proficiency inreading. In contrast, 64% of African-American stu-dents, 60% of Hispanic students, and 53% of Na-tive American students scored at this low level.

Addressing issues posed by the literacyachievement gap has become more urgent thanever before, because the number of children ofdiverse backgrounds in the United States issteadily increasing. Of the students enrolled inkindergarten through fifth grade, 38.8% are ofdiverse ethnic backgrounds: 16.4% are AfricanAmerican, 13.1% Hispanic, 3.4% Asian Ameri-can, and 1.0% Native American (Nettles & Perna,1997). Many of these children grow up in pover-ty. For example, over 40% of African-Americanpreschoolers live in households with incomesunder $10,000, at a time when $15,000 in incomeputs a family of four at the poverty line.

As educators, we must be aware of the largersocial conditions, such as poverty, that jeopar-

dize children's well-being. These social condi-tions can make the challenge of bringing chil-dren of diverse backgrounds to high levels of lit-eracy seem overwhelming, particularly to thebeginning teacher. At the same time, we canderive hope from the knowledge that there areclassrooms in which children of diverse back-grounds are learning to read and write well.

In this chapter we visit Jill Sakai's kinder-garten classroom, a setting in which children ofdiverse backgrounds are successfully learning toread and write. Each of the sections below beginswith a description of some aspect of the class-room's environment or instruction, then movesinto related literacy research and practical impli-cations. The descriptions are based on videotap-ing conducted in Jill's classroom in March dur-ing her second year as a teacher.

The year before this videotape was made,Jill participated in a research project to assessthe effects of instruction centered on writers'and readers' workshops on children's literacyachievement. The results of this study showedthat the approach was effective in helpingapproximately two-thirds of the children in allclassrooms meet grade-level benchmarks, espe-cially in writing (Au & Carroll, 1997). Au, Car-roll, and Scheu (1997) provide a full descriptionof the curriculum and instructional practicesused by Jill and other teachers in the project.

A Print-Rich KindergartenClassroom

A visitor to Jill's kindergarten classroom cannothelp but notice all the print around the room. Atthe front of the room is a pocket chart. It containsa card with each child's name printed in largeblack letters and also a card with each child'sphotograph. One of the children's favorite activ-ities during centers time is to mix the cards upand then match the names with the photographs.

A nearby chart lists topics the children mightwant to write about, such as family, the park, thebeach, and friends. A smaller chart shows wordsthe children frequently use in their writing,including is, and, the, it, I, go, because, and ten otherwords. Action words, such as planting, sleeping,

46

Literacy Instruction for Young Children of Diverse Backgrounds 37

raking, eating, swimming, and surfing, appear onanother chart. More charts hang from clotheslinesstrung across the room. The message "We Like ToRead!" stands out in bold letters on the front of alarge case displaying books. In the case are bigbooks, class books, picture storybooks, and bookspublished by individual children.

As this quick tour suggests, Jill's classroom isa print-rich environment designed to supportchildren's reading and writing. Research sug-gests that such an environment, rich in print andopportunities for reading and writing, is impor-tant to the literacy development of children ofdiverse backgrounds (e.g., Neuman & Roskos,1992). A few children, such as Donny, a whiteAppalachian child studied by Purcell-Gates(1995), grow up with little print in the environ-ment and few opportunities to engage withprint. However, many others, such as the youngAfrican-American children in urban families liv-ing in poverty studied by D. Taylor and Dorsey-Gaines (1988), grow up surrounded by print andsee adults reading and writing on a daily basis.The point is that most young children have someexperience with print that can be built on in aclassroom with a print-rich environment.

Uses of Literacy at Homeand at SchoolAlmost all young children, including those ofdiverse backgrounds, develop many under-standings of language and literacy before theyenter kindergarten and first grade. However,communities differ in the ways in which they usereading and writing. For example, Heath (1983)studied two working-class communities in thePiedmont CarolinasTrackton, a black commu-nity, and Roadville, a white community. Shefound that families in both communities usedreading to gain information to meet the practicalneeds of everyday life (e.g., labels on products),to gain information about other people or distantevents (e.g., the newspaper), to support beliefsalready held (e.g., the Bible), and to keep upsocial connections (e.g., greeting cards). Howev-er, the Roadville families also used reading forrecreational and educational purposes. Adults in

the Roadville families often read storybooks totheir young children at bedtime, a pattern notobserved in Trackton (Heath, 1982). When theyentered school, the Roadville children had priorknowledge of storybook reading that they couldbring to bear when the teacher read books aloudto the class. The children in Trackton did notshare this advantage, although they had knowl-edge of many other functions of literacy. Similar-ly, Guerra (1998) does not cite bedtime storybookreading as a common literacy practice in homesin the transnational Mexicano community hestudied. Children in these families experiencedliteracy in other ways. For example, they couldoften observe adults reading and writing per-sonal letters to relatives and friends.

Teachers should certainly provide opportuni-ties for children to listen to and read storybooks,whether or not children have experienced bed-time storybook reading at home. Yet, as thisresearch implies, teachers can go a step further tosupport children's progress as readers and writ-ers by including lessons on the functions of liter-acy already likely to be familiar. These lessonshelp young children see that the literacy knowl-edge they have gained in the home and commu-nity has a place in school and can contribute totheir becoming good readers. For example, teach-ers can create a classroom supermarket and havechildren read product labels (e.g., on cereal boxes)and write and draw labels of their own. Activitieswith environmental print, such as labels andsigns, appear to be most effective when childrenhave the opportunity not only to engage withprint themselves but also to interact with adultsaround print (Neuman & Roskos, 1993). Childrencan also be encouraged to read and write briefmessages or letters to classmates, family mem-bers, and the teacher. Jill introduces message writ-ing early in the school year and has a bulletinboard on which messages can be posted. As wesaw in the example of Kaylee's letter, Jill supportsmessage writing at home as well as at school.

Daily News

Jill starts the day with an activity called the dailynews or morning message (Crowell, Kawakami,

4 7

38 Kathryn H. Au

& Wong, 1986). It is March, and the childrenknow by now that the daily news will begin withthe sentence, "Today is [day of the week]." Jillasks the children how to spell today, and Tiaregoes to find the word on yesterday's daily newschart. The children know that the word startswith T, and Jill reminds them, "It's the very firstword that we always write on our daily news."Tiare uses a yardstick to point to the letters intoday. As the children call out the letters, Jillprints the word today on the chart. Jill modelshow she leaves a space after the word today. Sheasks the children where they can find the wordis. "On the word chart, on the daily news!" thechildren say. To spell the word Friday, the chil-dren look on the calendar, and Tyrone comes upto point to each letter. Jill prints as the childrencall out the letters in Friday. She follows the samecareful procedure, having the children find andsay the letters in each word, to compose a sen-tence about the weather:

Today is a cloudy day.

As this description suggests, Jill teaches inwhat she describes as a "routine and ritualistic"manner. During the first semester, the daily newsis used to teach the children what Clay (1991)calls concepts about print: for example, that youstart writing in the upper left-hand corner of thepage, that you write from left to right, that youput spaces between words, and that you put aperiod at the end of a sentence. Jill wants herstudents to understand that when you put letterstogether they make a word, when you put wordstogether they make a sentence, and when youput sentences together they make a story. Butthere is more. "The purpose also is to have themsee me model writing," she says. "Last year Iwould say, 'Okay, write. You know your soundsand your alphabet.' It never dawned on.me as afirst-year kindergarten teacher that I could notassume that they knew how to use the sounds."

Having gained this insight, Jill consistentlydemonstrates how the children can apply theirknowledge of letter-sound correspondences andhow they can use the resources around the room.She encourages children to use the word chartsand even to look in books to pick out the wordsthey need to write a story.

Today it is Tyrone's turn to tell the class astory. Jill reviews with the children the threethings that Tyrone must think about:

What is happening?Where is it happening?Who is in the story?

She selects volunteers to interview Tyrone byasking these questions. Then Jill writes downTyrone's story:

I am riding the roller-coaster at the carnivalwith Braden.

Jill has good reasons for making interviewingpart of the daily news. She believes that the chil-dren's thoughts need to be extended, to be morecomplete. At the beginning of the year, the chil-dren might simply state a topic, such as "thebus." By having the children talk about who isin the story, where the story is taking place, andwhat is happening, she can help them verbalizea sentence to be written later, during the writers'workshop. Jill does not necessarily use the termscharacter, setting, and events, but she helps thechildren understand these story elements, notonly for writing but for reading comprehension.When she reads storybooks to the children, shepoints out that the author had to think about thecharacter, setting, and events in the story. Thechildren learn that other authors think aboutthese things, just as they do.

As the daily news lesson nears its end, Jillprepares the children to write on their own inthe writers' workshop. She asks the childrenwhat Tyrone should think about when he goesback to his seat and wants to extend his story.

"What else happened when I was riding theroller-coaster with Braden," reply the children,on Tyrone's behalf.

"Very good," says Jill. "So when you go backto your seat, Tyrone, you can ask yourself that."

"It's a long story," observes one of the chil-dren.

"Do you know why it looks like a long story?"asks Jill, taking advantage of this teachablemoment. She turns to the chart and calls the chil-dren's attention to two words: carnival and roller-coaster. She notes that these big words make thestory look longer.

48


Jill tells the children it's time to think aboutwhat they will write. Several children point andsay, "Look at the topic chart!" to remind otherswhere they might get ideas. They sit quietly fora moment to think about their topics.

Jill says, "And I know today all of you aregoing to write"

"Really good stories," say the children, fin-ishing her sentence.

As these observations show, Jill follows thesame routine, day in and day out, when writingthe daily news with the children. She takes thetime to spell out every letter in every word, topoint out spaces between words, and to callthe children's attention to punctuation. Goingthrough this process day after day requires con-siderable discipline on the part of the teacher.Fortunately, at this point in the school year Jillcan see that her hard work is being rewarded.The children have learned the routine and knowhow to spell words, using their knowledge ofprint, including letter sounds, as well as re-sources around the room.

Much research on literacy learning empha-sizes what is called the gradual release ofresponsibility from teacher to child (Pearson &Gallagher, 1983). When children are first devel-oping new literacy knowledge, strategies, andskills, the teacher does much of the work of read-ing and writing for them, as Jill does during thedaily news. As children gain proficiency, theycan do more of the work on their own and theteacher can do less. Finally, the children gainindependence and need little teacher assistance.Au and Raphael (1998) describe the differentforms of instruction that teachers can use tomove children toward independence. Becauseshe is teaching kindergarten, Jill devotes much ofher time to the first three forms of instructiondescribed by Au and Raphael: explicit instruc-tion, modeling, and scaffolding. Jill providesexplicit instruction in the form of mini-lessons,in which she transmits knowledge to the chil-dren. Early in the year, she teaches many mini-lessons on letter-sound relationships and showsthe children how to form these letters. She mod-els writing through the daily message, as de-scribed above. When the children do their ownwriting, she provides them with scaffolding, or

the temporary support needed to complete atask. For example, if a child wants to spell theword sleeping, she might teach her how to saythe word slowly, listening for the sounds, or howto find the word on the chart posted at the frontof the room.

Studies conducted as early as the 1970s (e.g.,Barr, 1972) showed that children learn what theyare taught, making it clear that teachers mustcarefully consider the nature of the literacyinstruction and experiences young childrenreceive in the classroom. These considerationsare especially important if we want children ofdiverse backgrounds actually to apply skillswhen they read and write. Dahl and Freppon(1995) followed a group of African-Americanand white Appalachian children from low-income families during their kindergarten andfirst-grade years. Some of the children were inclassrooms with skills-based instruction, includ-ing a strong emphasis on letter-sound relation-ships and practice in workbooks. The otherchildren were in classes with whole-languageinstruction, including extended periods of read-ing and writing and individual and small-groupinstruction. Children in both approaches re-ceived instruction in letter-sound relationships,but they learned to apply this knowledge in dif-ferent ways. The children who received skills-based instruction applied their knowledge whencompleting workbook pages but not duringactual reading and writing. In contrast, the chil-dren who received whole-language instructionapplied their knowledge when they read andwrote, with coaching or scaffolding provided bythe teacher. The point is that any approach canbe strengthened if young children are encour-aged, through scaffolding, not just to practiceskills but also to put skills to work during realreading and writing.

Writers' WorkshopEach day, Jill follows the daily news with a writ-ers' workshop, in keeping with the process ap-proach to writing (Calkins, 1994; Graves, 1983).She uses this time to teach the children how toplan, draft, edit, and share their stories.

49

40 Kathryn H. Au

After the children have had a chance to thinkof their topics, Jill puts them in pairs to share thestories they plan to write. She reminds them thatit is "really important to share because"

"You can help each other make your storygood," says one of the children.

The children gather in pairs on the carpet totell each other their ideas. Sarah tells Kainoaher story: "I am popping firecrackers with myfriends."

"Good job," says Kainoa, leaning forward topat her on the shoulder. Jill has taught the chil-dren to praise and encourage one another, andthis is what Kainoa is attempting to do.

As writing time begins, Jill calls two childrento work with her at a table to the side of theroom. These are the children who most need herhelp to get their ideas down on paper. The otherchildren in the class begin writing on their own.Gradually, six children move to the front of theroom, where they refer to the name chart, thedaily news, and the list of action words. As chil-dren look for the words they want to spell, otherchildren come to their assistance. Children whoremain at their seats to write occasionally askothers for help in spelling words. A girl refers toher personal word chart, a small copy of the listof often used words posted at the front of theroom. A boy sitting next to her points out the, theword she is looking for. A few children approachJill with questions.

After about 15 minutes, children who havefinished drafting go over to read their stories toJill. Each child receives specific feedback. Jill tellsone boy, "You forgot something at the end ofyour story, very important." He goes back to hisseat to add a period.

A girl reads Jill her story: " I am playing withmy toys."

"With who?" Jill asks."With my mom," the girl replies."So you need to write that," Jill notes.After she completes a quick check of the

whole class, Jill pairs the children up again toread their stories to one another. She remindsthem to ask questions and then praise their part-ner. She asks, "When you're sharing, do you lookaway?"

"No," the children reply in chorus.

Jill reminds the children to look at their part-ners, so that their partners will know they arebeing considerate and paying attention.

Justin reads his story to Sarah: "I am playingwith my brother at the parkperiod! We areplaying on the swingsperiod!"

"Shake hands," Sarah instructs him.As they shake hands, Justin reminds Sarah,

"Ask questions!""Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah," says Sarah. She leans

over to get a close look at Justin's paper andpoints to his drawing.

"Who's this? What is this?" Sarah asks."That's not nothing," Justin replies.Meanwhile, Jill is coaching Lehua, Tyrone's

partner. Tyrone has written two pages, not onlyabout riding the roller-coaster but also abouthow he and Braden both won prizes at the car-nival. Part of his text reads:

AFTR BRADEN GOT A PRIS I GOT A PRIS.

Lehua points to a figure in Tyrone's drawing andasks him who it is. "Me!" answers Tyrone. In theafternoon, Tyrone and his classmates will havetime to revise and edit their drafts.

As you can see, Jill works with her students tobuild a sense of community in the classroom. Sheencourages the children to take every opportu-nity to help each other become better writers.They plan their writing with a partner, and theyseek help from and offer help to one anotherwhile writing. When they have finished theirdrafts, they read them aloud to a partner andrespond to questions.

Research suggests that building a sense ofcommunity in the classroom, creating a family-like atmosphere of mutual support, may be espe-cially beneficial to the literacy learning of manychildren of diverse backgrounds. For example, inmany Hawaiian families, children are taught toturn to sisters, brothers, and other peers for help,not just to rely on adults (Jordan, 1985). By thetime they enter school, children are well preparedto learn from and assist one another. Jill says thatshe deliberately promotes "a lot of communitybuilding within the classroom, because, as younotice, they help each other out a lot. Sometimeschildren are intimidated about coming up to mefor help, even at this point in the year. So I'll just


ask them to ask somebody else to help them orI'll have another child help them." Jill sees thatcommunity building results in benefits to thechildren's literacy learning: "Ever since we start-ed having peer sharing and peers helping eachother, they've gone a lot faster in their writing;they've progressed much better."

Jill has her students write from the first day ofschool. In September, the children tell their sto-ries by drawing pictures and make no attempt toform letters. She reads picture storybooks aloudto the children and asks them to discuss how thestory made them feel. They draw pictures toshow their feelings about the story. A few chil-dren in the class know some sounds and letters,but they have no idea how to use these soundsand letters to write a story. Jill works with a fewchildren at a time, showing them how to usesounds and letters to write their stories. Sheteaches the children that they can't just start writ-ing but must first think about what they want towrite.

Most important to Jill are modeling and con-sistent, daily opportunities to write: "It's model-ing every day, and it's faithfully every day writ-ing. Even if we have an assembly in the morning,and all I have is an hour in the afternoon, all Iwould do is tell them to write. That's somethingthat I did faithfully every day."

Readers' Workshop

The writers' workshop runs until morningrecess. Between recess and lunch time, Jill con-ducts a readers' workshop using literature-basedinstruction (Raphael & Au, 1998; Roser & Mar-tinez, 1995). During this time she has the chil-dren work with big books to develop their wordidentification and comprehension ability. Shestarts the workshop by having the children gath-er on the carpet for shared reading (Holdaway,1979). Today the children are rereading To Town,by Joy Cowley (1990). "I like this book," com-ments one of the children. Because the childrenare quite familiar with the text, Jill points silent-ly to the words and listens as the children readin chorus. She stops them only once, when theyread on for in.

Jill tells the children they will look for theword to in the story. They begin by finding to inthe title of the book and on the chart of oftenused words. Then Jill calls on volunteers to findto in the pages of the big book. When the childrenhave finished, Jill sends them to their seats. Thechildren are in the process of illustrating theirown pop-up books showing the different formsof transportation in To Town. Today Jill modelshow to draw a helicopter. They discuss the partsof the helicopter, such as its gas tank, and theshapes and colors they are using. When the chil-dren have completed their drawings, they cutout the helicopters and paste them carefully intheir books. They show pride in their work.When the books are finished, the children will beable to take them home to read.

Jill has different learning centers set uparound the room, and often before lunch the chil-dren have a chance to go to these centers. Liter-acy activities available to the children includewriting messages, reading a book alone or witha partner, or matching classmates' name cardswith their photographs. These activities givechildren the chance to explore and experimentwith reading and writing in ways they choose forthemselves. A combination of adult teaching andscaffolding, along with opportunities for inde-pendent exploration, may give children of di-verse backgrounds a good chance of becomingsuccessful readers and writers (Neuman &Roskos, 1993).

During the readers' workshop, one of Jill'sgoals is to help her students enjoy reading andstories. Some of the children have experiencedstorybook reading at home or at preschool,but others have not had these opportunities.Jill reads picture storybooks aloud, as well asbig books. Gradually, she builds her students'knowledge of books, including the parts of abook (such as its cover) and the language ofbooks ("once upon a time"). She makes the con-nection to writing by making sure the childrenknow what authors and illustrators do, and shepoints out that they themselves can be authorsand illustrators.

Jill views tracking print (being able to point toeach word as one pronounces it) as an importantskill for kindergarten children. This is one of the

51

42 Kathryn H. Au

reasons she emphasizes the shared reading ofbig books, especially during the first semester."I faithfully point to each word when we doshared reading," says Jill. She engages the chil-dren in a great deal of language play, such asusing the pattern of language in the big bookand thinking of rhyming words. She calls thechildren's attention to sight words, such as to,because she knows the children need a basicsight vocabulary in order to read the many irreg-ularly spelled, common words in the English lan-guage.

Supporting Emergent Literacy inChildren of Diverse Backgrounds

After I give a talk or workshop, one of the com-ments I often hear goes something like this:

Kathy, you've made a lot of points abouteffective literacy instruction for children ofdiverse backgrounds. But I think that every-thing you've said is just plain good teachingthat would help all children.

This same thought may have entered your mindas you read this chapter. I do agree with this sen-timent. I think it is fair to say that all the instruc-tional practices described in this chapter wouldalso be effective in many classrooms with main-stream students. The point I would like toemphasize is that these practices may be criticalto the literacy development of children of diversebackgrounds, who often need more school sup-port for learning to read and write in conven-tional ways than children of mainstream back-grounds. In fact, it may be the tendency ofschools to provide children of diverse back-grounds with less rich, less complex forms ofinstruction that contributes to the literacyachievement gap. Sadly, practices such as thoseseen in Jill's classroom appear to be less availableto children of diverse backgrounds than to chil-dren of mainstream backgrounds, for a numberof reasons. There is often a tendency in schoolswith many children of diverse backgrounds tooveremphasize basic skills rather than higher-level thinking with text (Darling-Hammond,1995). Furthermore, children of diverse back-

grounds generally attend schools in less affluentdistricts, which may not have the funds to pro-vide teachers with professional developmentcentered on newer forms of instruction. We mustbe vigilant, then, in seeing that children of di-verse backgrounds receive opportunities both forsystematic skill instruction and for higher-levelthinking with text.

An important starting point, I believe, is toprovide children with a print-rich literacy envi-ronment. Jill's classroom was filled with charts,books, and labels, so that the children were lit-erally surrounded by print. We have good evi-dence that many children of diverse back-grounds live in environments with a great dealof print (D. Taylor & Dorsey-Gaines, 1988). How-ever, we also know that some children have lit-tle access to print, few opportunities to interactwith print, and little chance to observe readingand writing (Purcell-Gates, 1995). Once print ismade available in the classroom environment, itneeds to be called to children's attention, andchildren should be encouraged to interact withit. For example, in Jill's classroom, the childrenworked with the print on charts, referring to itwhen they helped Jill with the daily news andwhen they wrote their own stories.

We should faithfully provide young childrenwith daily opportunities to read and write. Jillreported that she conducted a writers' workshopand had the children write, even on days whenthe schedule had to be adjusted for specialevents. A good number of Jill's students had notexperienced family storybook reading or hadmany opportunities to draw and write beforecoming to school, and this may be the case withother young children of diverse backgrounds aswell. In this situation, it is especially importantthat children build a rich background of readingand writing experiences in school every day.Allington's (1991) research suggests that schoolsserving large numbers of students of diversebackgrounds often allocate less time for readinginstruction than other schools. Clearly, childrenare more likely to make consistent progress asreaders and writers if they have ample time toread and write, each and every day. In class-rooms in the research project in which Jill par-ticipated, teachers allocated a minimum of

52



Using a Puppet to Encourage Literacy for Diverse Learners

In a classroom of learners from diverse backgrounds, it is imperative to consider the individ-ual nee& of each child. In my classroom, I find a wide spectrum of diversity, in regard toboth experience in using the English language for writing and speaking and exposure to liter-ary materials. I have found that many students are afraid or ashamed to ask for help duringreading and writing time or to request reading materials to take home. To encourage my classto make the most of the resources in our classroom and to assist them in developing confi-dence to question and clarify their learning, I use a puppet named Wolly Word.

Wolly is a life-size puppet who "is learning to read." Wolly is introduced as a fellow class-mate, and as the year progresses, he discusses with the class the many ways in which wordscan be used to read and write. Wolly also models ways of seeking help from the teacher,expressing feelings, and asking for and giving help. At the beginning of the year, to initiateconversation about learning differences, seeking help, and borrowing books, Wolly tells theclass a secret. His secret is that he has never read a book before and no one has ever read astory to him. He talks about not having any books at home, and hopes that in class he willlearn how to read. In response to Wolly sharing his feelings, students, are asked to suggestthings that Wolly can do..I prompfsuggestions such as "borrow books from our classroomlibrary," "ask a classmate to read with you," "collect words and stories in a notebook andpractice reading them," and "pay close attention to lessons and ask many questions." Wollythen responds to these suggestions by asking if other students will also ask for help and bor-row books. 4'.

Wolly is a model for action that I use on many occasions. Any puppet can be selected forthis purpose, but I suggest that the puppet be large and kept out of sight when not in use.Wolly is especially useful when I foresee or detect a problem or struggle for some of my stu-dents in any area of learning. I have Wolly express his concerns, and we help review a read-ing skill or confront a difficult issue. Many students are more comfortable asking questionsduring reading and writing instruction when Wolly is around, because they want to learnwith confidence, "just like he does."

Melissa Marley, First-Grade Teacher

45 minutes a day for the writers' workshop and60 minutes for the readers' workshop.

Another important practice is to emphasizechildren's engagement in literacy activities theyfind motivating and meaningful. I believe thatownership of literacy should be the overarchinggoal in the teaching of students of diverse back-

grounds (Au, 1997). Students with ownershiphave a positive attitude toward literacy and usereading and writing for their own purposes, athome as well as at school. This view of the impor-tance of ownership is consistent with researchconducted from the engagement perspective, inwhich reading is viewed as "motivated mental

rJ

44 Kathryn H. Au

activity" (Guthrie & Anderson, 1999, p. 18). It isvitally important during the primary grades forchildren to learn skills of word identification.However, instruction in phonics, sight vocabu-lary, and other word identification skills shouldalways be placed within the larger context ofpurposeful literacy activity. Jill's students, forexample, were taught letter-sound relationshipsthrough mini-lessons during the writers' work-shop, and they applied this knowledge whilewriting stories on topics of their own choosing.

We need to provide young children of diversebackgrounds with systematic instruction, includ-ing a great deal of modeling and scaffolding. Aswe have seen, Jill found such modeling to be thekey to her success. She told me, "If you wantthem to write, you have to show them how youwant them to write." In addition, recent researchsuggests that coaching or scaffolding is highlyrelated to young children's successful learning ofword identification skills (B. M. Taylor, 1999).That is, teachers should provide help thatenables young children to apply the word iden-tification skills they have been taught duringongoing reading and writing activity. Jill spendsa great deal of time providing such assistanceduring the writers' workshop, for example, byhaving children say words slowly and listen forsounds or by reminding them about punctua-tion. In other words, it is not enough simply tointroduce children to skills and strategies. It isalso essential to provide modeling and scaffold-ing that lead children to apply skills and strate-gies on their own and help them gain inde-pendence as readers and writers.

We must also seek a balance between teacher-directed and child-selected literacy learning op-portunities. Literacy educators often find them-selves caught in the battle between two camps:one advocating a code-emphasis approach, inwhich phonics is seen as the key to success inbeginning reading (Chall, 1967), and the otheradvocating a meaning-emphasis approach, inwhich comprehension, meaning making, andmotivation are seen as the keys to success(Weaver, 1990). The advocates of a code-empha-sis approach tend to stress the importance ofteacher-directed lessons, while the advocates ofa meaning-emphasis approach tend to stress the

importance of child-selected literacy learningopportunities. I believe that the answer liessomewhere in between, in achieving a balance,on the one hand, between systematic instructionthrough teacher-directed lessons, and on theother, motivating activities that allow childrenchoice and promote their ownership of literacy(Au, 1998). As we have seen, Jill devotes a con-siderable amount of time to teacher-directedinstruction, but this is followed by time for chil-dren to write on topics of their own choosing,and during centers time, children read books oftheir own choosing.

Finally, and perhaps most important, weshould connect instruction to the child ratherthan expect the child to connect to instruction.I have discussed research pointing to differencesin children's experiences with language and lit-eracy prior to entering school. These differencesshould be recognized and accepted, and litera-cy lessons planned accordingly. Jill uses a reper-toire of strategies when she teaches, sometimesproviding systematic instruction to the wholeclass, at other times having children teach andlearn from one another. She provides some chil-dren with more scaffolding, other children withless. Jill notes that she has to be "very positiveand very, very supportive of all [the children's]efforts, and each effort is different because eachchild puts out a different type of effort." I believethat the success of children of diverse back-grounds in learning to read and write in schooldepends on classroom teachers such as Jill, whohave the expertise to develop literacy curriculaaround and for their students and who canembrace the diversity among learners.

ReferencesAllington, R. L. (1991). Children who find learning to

read difficult: School responses to diversity. In E. H.Hiebert (Ed.), Literacy for a diverse society: Perspec-tives, practices, and policies (pp. 237-252). New York:Teachers College Press.

Au, K. H. (1993). Literacy instruction in multicultural set-tings. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Au, K. H. (1997). Ownership, literacy achievement,and students of diverse cultural backgrounds.In J. T. Guthrie & A. Wigfield (Eds.), Reading_

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engagement: Motivating readers through integratedinstruction (pp. 168-182). Newark, DE: Interna-tional Reading Association.

Au, K. H. (1998). Constructivist approaches, phonics,and the literacy learning of students of diversebackgrounds. In T. Shanahan & F. Rodriguez-Brown (Eds.), Forty-seventh yearbook of the NationalReading Conference (pp. 1-21). Chicago: NationalReading Conference.

Au, K. H., & Carroll, J. H. (1997). Improving literacyachievement through a constructivist approach:The KEEP Demonstration Classroom Project. Ele-mentary School journal, 97(3), 203-221.

Au, K. H., Carroll, J. H., & Scheu, J. A. (1997). Balancedliteracy instruction: A teacher's resource book. Nor-wood, MA: Christopher-Gordon.

Au, K. H., & Raphael, T. E. (1998). Curriculum andteaching in literature-based programs. In T. E.Raphael & K. H. Au (Eds.), Literature-based instruc-tion: Reshaping the curriculum (pp. 123-148). Nor-wood, MA: Christopher-Gordon.

Barr, R. (1972). The influence of instructional condi-tions on word recognition errors. Reading ResearchQuarterly, 7,509-529.

Calkins, L. M. (1994). The art of teaching writing (2nded.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Chall, J. (1967). Learning to read: The great debate. NewYork: McGraw-Hill.

Clay, M. M. (1991). Becoming literate: The constructionof inner control. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Cowley, J. (1990). To town. Bothell, WA: Wright Group.Crowell, D. C., Kawakami, A. J., & Wong, J. L. (1986).

Emerging literacy: Reading-writing experiences ina kindergarten classroom. The Reading Teacher,40(2), 144-149.

Dahl, K., & Freppon, P. (1995). A comparison of inner-city children's interpretations of reading and writ-ing instruction in the early grades in skills-basedand whole language classrooms. Reading ResearchQuarterly, 30, 50-74.

Darling-Hammond, L. (1995). Inequality and access toknowledge. In J. A. Banks & C. A. M. Banks (Eds.),Handbook of research on multicultural education (pp.465-483). New York: Macmillan.

Donahue, P. L., Voekl, K. E., Campbell, J. R., & Maz-zeo, J. (1999). NAEP 1998 reading report card for thenation. Washington, DC: National Center for Edu-cational Statistics.

Graves, D. (1983). Writing: Teachers and children at work.Exeter, NH: Heinemann.

Guerra, J. C. (1998). Close to home: Oral and literate prac-tices in a transnational Mexicano community. NewYork: Teachers College Press.

BEST COPY AVAILABL

Guthrie, J. T., & Anderson, E. (1999). Engagement inreading: Processes of motivated, strategic, knowl-edgeable, social readers. In J. T. Guthrie & D. E.Alvermann (Eds.), Engaged reading: Processes, prac-tices, and policy implications (pp. 17-45). New York:Teachers College Press.

Heath, S. B. (1982). What no bedtime story means:Narrative skills at home and school. Language inSociety, 11(2), 49-76.

Heath, S. B. (1983). Ways with words: Language, life, andwork in communities and classrooms. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.

Holdaway, D. (1979). The foundations of literacy. Syd-ney, Australia: Ashton Scholastic.

Jordan, C. (1985). Translating culture: From ethno-graphic information to educational program. An-thropology and Education Quarterly, 16,105-123.

Nettles, M. T., & Perna, L. W. (1997). The African Amer-ican data book: Vol. 2. Preschool through high schooleducation. Fairfax, VA: Frederick D. Patterson Re-search Institute.

Neuman, S. B., & Roskos, K. (1992). Literacy objectsas cultural tools: Effects on children's literacy be-haviors in play. Reading Research Quarterly, 27(3),203-225.

Neuman, S. B., & Roskos, K. (1993). Access to print forchildren of poverty: Differential effects of adultmediation and literacy-enriched play settings onenvironmental and functional print tasks. AmericanEducational Research journal, 30(1), 95-122.

Pearson, P. D., & Gallagher, M. C. (1983). The instruc-tion of reading comprehension. Contemporary Edu-cational Psychology, 8,317-344.

Purcell-Gates, V. (1995). Other people's words: Thecycle of low literacy. Cambridge: Harvard Univer-sity Press.

Raphael, T. E., & Au, K. H. (Eds.). (1998). Literature-based instruction: Reshaping the curriculum. Nor-wood, MA: Christopher-Gordon.

Roser, N. L., & Martinez, M. G. (Eds.). (1995). Booktalk and beyond: Children and teachers respond to lit-erature. Newark, DE: International Reading Asso-ciation.

Taylor, B. M. (1999). The impact of instructional scaf-folding on student achievement: An analysis of teach-ers in effective schools. Paper presented at the annu-al meeting of the National Reading Conference,Orlando, FL.

Taylor, D., & Dorsey-Gaines, C. (1988). Growing up lit-erate: Learning from inner-city families. Portsmouth,NH: Heinemann.

Weaver, C. (1990). Understanding whole language: Prin-ciples and practices. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

v .3 a,

CHAPTER FOUR

Enhancing Literacy GrowthThrough Home-School

ConnectionsDiane H. Tracey

Diane Tracey provides an overview of the issuesrelated to a supportive literacy environment inthe home and the need for strong and continu-ing alliances between school and home.

For Reflection and Action:Discuss the importance ofcongruent experiencesacross home and schoolenvironments and howsuch experiences affecta child's ability to takeadvantage of what theschool has to offer. In yourdiscussion, focus particularattention on the need forthe school to respect theculture of the home whilehelping families adapt tothe culture of the school.

Katie, age 21/2, is curled up on herliving room couch. In her lap she isholding a book and "reading" it to

her mother. "Ducklings love What doesthis say, Mommy?" questions Katie. Hermom answers, reading slowly as she pointsto each word, "Ducklings love to play in thewater." A few moments later Katie queries,"Why does the duckling call her mommy'mama'?" Katie's mother responds, "Well,

46 56

Enhancing Literacy Growth Through Home-School Connections

some children call their mothers 'mommy,'some call their mothers 'mom,' some calltheir mothers 'mother,' and some call theirmothers 'mama.' This duckling calls hermother 'mama."

This scene of a young child and her mothersharing literature together looks like an ordinary,everyday eventa normal part of life withyoung children. To those who study children'sliteracy development, however, the scene illus-trates the power of home literacy experiencesand offers a glimpse into the ways in which chil-dren's at-home literacy experiences can poten-tially affect their literacy learning in school. Thischapter looks at the relationship between chil-

- dren's home and school literacy experiences. Italso provides ideas for strengthening these con-nections in order to facilitate children's literacygrowth. The following topics are considered:

Framing the home-school connectionThe importance of the home literacy environ-mentParents as funds of knowledgeParents in the classroom

A Framework for ExaminingHome-School Connections

The connections that are established betweenstudents' home and school environments candramatically affect their literacy learning. AsMorrow and Paratore (1993) state, "[I]t is clearthat if we do not attend to the home when wediscuss literacy development, whatever strate-gies we carry out in school will never be com-pletely successful. Schools need to view familyliteracy as part of the curriculum" (p. 194).

The term family literacy has been applied tothe study of the relationships between familiesand the development of literacy (Tracey, 1995).Family literacy, therefore, is an umbrella termunder which are gathered numerous issues,ranging from the role of the family in the devel-opment of children's literacy to the design ofstructured programs to support this relationship.Educators interested in positively influencing thehome-school relationship in the area of literacy

47

can frame their initiatives in one of two ways(for a fuller description of these terms and relat-ed research, see Morrow, 1995; Morrow, Tracey,& Maxwell, 1995; Tracey, 1995). Parental involve-ment programs are those efforts that are narrow-est in scope and easiest for classroom teachers toimplement. These programs are designed towork with parents in an effort to positively influ-ence their abilities to support their children's lit-eracy development. For example, initiativesdesigned to improve the quality or frequency ofparent-child book sharing would fall into thiscategory. In contrast to parent involvement pro-grams, intergenerational family literacy programsare much more ambitious undertakings in whichdirect literacy instruction is given to more thanone generation of family members (e.g., a moth-er and her child both receive direct instruction toimprove their literacy skills [Tracey, 1995]). Suchinitiatives are usually created by school admin-istrators or specialized organizations in the com-munity or government. The general term familyliteracy program denotes a program that recog-nizes the influences of the family on the literacydevelopment of family members and tries tohave a positive effect on those influences (Tracey,1995). This term, therefore, is applicable to bothparental involvement programs and intergener-ational family literacy programs. Educators whoare striving to progress in the area of home-school connections should be clear about the sizeand scope of any initiative they attempt. Sortingout parental involvement from intergenerationalfamily literacy programs is the first step that edu-cators who are considering initiatives in this areaare recommended to take.

The second decision to be made is the style ofcommunication for the initiative. The home-school connection has traditionally been viewedas a process through which the school transmitsinformation to parents regarding how they canbest help their children at home to progress aca-demically (Auerbach, 1989, 1995). Examples ofthis type of communication are newsletters,workshops, and programs that dispense infor-mation about the importance of reading to chil-dren and regular study habits. Thus, in the past,home-school connections were grounded in one-way communications. Beginning in the 1980s,

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48 Diane H. Tracey

however, the importance of two-way communi-cations in home-school connections has beenrecognized (Auerbach, 1989, 1995; Baumann &Thomas, 1997; Lazar & Weisberg, 1996; Moll& Greenberg, 1990; Paratore, Meliz, & Krol-Sinclair, 1999; Shockley, 1994). This positionstresses the value of parents' knowledge abouttheir own childrenhow their children learnbest, the types of activities they engage in athome, their feelings about school and learning,and so on. As Neuman, Caperelli, and Kee(1998) note, "Parents come with rich historiesand experiences that should be honored andused in program development. Programs thatbuild on participants' already existing 'funds ofknowledge' or cultural capital (Moll & Green-berg, 1990) are far more likely to yield effectsthan those that approach parents as tabularasablank slates to be written upon with newknowledge" (p. 250). A perspective that viewsthe home-school connection as a vehicle for two-way communication sets the foundation for anegalitarian and true partnership between fami-lies and schools. In this perspective, both fami-lies and schools can be viewed as collaboratingpartners, each bringing its own area of expert-ise to facilitate the child's development. Thisperspective may be particularly relevant forfamilies from low socioeconomic backgroundswhose home literacy practices may be largelyincongruent with school-based literacy activi-ties but meaningful and significant to the child'sliteracy nonetheless (Auerbach, 1989, 1995; Tay-lor & Dorsey-Gaines, 1988).

The present chapter includes ideas based onboth one-way communications (transmissionmodel) and two-way communications betweenhome and school. It is important to note that theone-way transmission model has been shown tobe effective in improving many aspects of chil-dren's literacy development, but many educa-tors currently working in the field find programsbased on the two-way communication model tobe even more powerful. Educators seeking tostrengthen home-school literacy connections areurged to consider this important dimension ofthe program prior to designing their own initia-tive, and may also want to combine severalstrategies to maximize the effect of their efforts.

Both parental involvement and intergenerationalliteracy initiatives can be based on either thetransmission model or the two-way communi-cation model. Thus, the structural decisions tobe made are (1) parental involvement or inter-generational family literacy initiatives, and (2)one-way or two-way home-school communica-tions. Any combination can improve a child'shome literacy environment and increase parentalinvolvement in the classroom.

The Importance of Children'sHome Literacy Environments

Educators have become increasingly aware ofthe importance of children's home literacy envi-ronment to their school literacy performance.One of the most important areas of the home lit-eracy environment is the physical environment.

The Physical Environment

In her landmark research, Durkin (1966, 1974-75)discoVered that children who came to kinder-garten already reading shared a common back-ground, namely, all of their homes possessed richliteracy environments. In rich literacy home envi-ronments books are found everywhere through-out the house and even, if one peeks into thegarage, in the family car. Often books are piledthroughout the housenightstand stacks grow,bookshelves overflow, coffee tables abound. Inaddition to the large number of reading materi-als present, rich home literacy environments haveplentiful writing materials within easy access forchildren. Children, even very young ones, oftenhave their own desks equipped with severalkinds of paper and writing implements. Childrenwithout their own work space often have corners,storage boxes, or drawers that contain theseitems. Importantly, children can get to these writ-ing materials easily and independently, and areallowed to use them frequently. Other items fre-quently found in literacy-rich home environ-ments that support writing are computers, type-writers, chalkboards, and magnetic letters.

Teachers who wish to positively influence thephysical environment of their students' homes

58


need to find ways in which to communicate withparents about this important dimension of liter-acy acquisition. Newsletters, pamphlets, back-to-school nights, and workshops are all vehiclesthrough which information about home literacyenvironments can be shared. What needs to becommunicated is the importance of a print-richenvironment. Children need to have books, writ-ing materials, and, in general, extensive expo-sure to print in their lives. Children will greatlybenefit from having their own collection of well-cared-for books and other reading materials thatare developmentally appropriate and easilyaccessible. Some of these books should be per-manently owned by the child or family; otherscan be borrowed from the classroom, school, orpublic library. Children's reading materialsshould have a special place where they are safe-ly kept, and children should have at least onequiet place in the home where they can read.

Lending books from the classroom library isone way to strengthen children's physical homeenvironments by increasing the number of booksin the home. Morrow (1997) lists some guide-lines for creating classroom libraries and lit-eracy centers from which children can borrowbooks. Based on research showing that greateraccess to books corresponds positively with chil-dren's literacy development (Neuman, 1999),children are encouraged to borrow books fromthe classroom library using a structured but sim-ple check-out system. Some ideas for borrowingbooks include copying the titles and dates ontoindex cards and filing the cards under the chil-dren's names in a box or on a bulletin board, orusing a looseleaf notebook with a page for eachchild indicating books borrowed and returned(Morrow, 1997).

An alternative approach to increasing bookreading in the home is being pioneered throughthe use of audiotapes (Koskinen, Blum, Tennant,Parker, Straub, & Curry 1995). In this type of ini-tiative teachers create backpacks containing taperecorders, books, and read-along audiotapes forstudents to borrow throughout the school year.In-class activities precede the borrowing of mate-rials, and the books are previewed, read, andreread by the teacher. Thereafter the books andaccompanying tapes are available for students

49

to use in the classroom and to borrow to takehome using a check-out system. Although theidea is appropriate for children from a wide vari-ety of backgrounds, some educators find it espe-cially meaningful for second-language learners,since it gives these students an opportunity tohear English daily in their home environments.A similar idea that has also been shown to beeffective is to send home videotapes of teachersreading a storybook with a class or small group,along with the accompanying reading material(Enz & Searfoss, 1996).

Shared Book-Reading Experiences

One of the most informative areas of study inevaluating the effects of children's home envi-ronment on their literacy development is parent-child book reading. Investigations of naturallyoccurring interactions describe the types of inter-actions and types of learning that take placewhen parents read to their young children. Earlywork in this area suggests that parents playmany roles during shared storybook reading,elicit children's participation, and try to makesure that the storybook-reading sessions aremeaningful (Altwerger, Diehl-Faxon, & Dock-stader-Anderson, 1985; Roser & Martinez, 1985).For example, Taylor and Strickland (1986)observed that parents helped children learn newwords or concepts during reading, used theirintimate knowledge of their children's back-ground to connect what was in the text to reallife, scaffolded the text for their children to avoidconfusion, and expanded or extended the storybeing read. Additionally, Taylor and Stricklandnoted the genuine conversational aspect of thestorybook experience and the pleasure withwhich most families read. Taylor and Strick-land's observations are particularly noteworthybecause they studied families from a wide crosssection of socioeconomic and cultural back-grounds. Other researchers who have examinednaturally occurring interactions during parent-child book reading have determined that parentsfocus children's attention, check their compre-hension, and elicit labels for objects and descrip-tive attributes during reading (DeTemple &Beals, 1991).

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50 Diane H. Tracey

While some investigations of parent-childbook reading focus on describing naturallyoccurring interactions, as presented above, oth-ers try to relate the quality of the observed par-ent-child interactions to the level of the child'sliteracy development. For example, six factorshave been found to be positively related to chil-dren's literacy development: (1) the total numberof words spoken by the child during the story-book reading, (2) the total number of questionsanswered by the child, (3) the number of ques-tions asked by the child, (4) the number of warm-up, preparatory questions asked by the parent,(5) the number of postreading evaluative ques-tions asked by the parent, and (6) the amount ofpositive reinforcement provided by the parent(Flood, 1977). Studies such as this one show thatthe ways in which parents interact with theirchildren during storybook reading are related tochildren's performance on tasks related to read-ing. Such work also emphasizes the importanceof children's active involvement in parent-child sto-rybook reading and children's literacy growth.More recently, high-level conversation duringparent-child storybook reading has been foundto be positively associated with children's per-formance on a test of early print skills (Beals,DeTemple, & Dickinson, 1994). Classroom edu-cators can use these ideas to help their students'parents improve their shared storybook readingtime at home.

Parent-Child Interactions

children in control groups. Importantly, thesegains persisted in a follow-up assessment(Whitehurst et al., 1988). For example, mothersfrom a low socioeconomic status communitywere able to more than double their children'sproduction of elicited speech during storybookreading after being trained in a 7-week programdesigned to stimulate children's oral languagedevelopment (DeBaryshe, Daly, & Rodarmel,1992). These studies demonstrate the powerfuleffect that storybook reading can have on chil-dren's oral language development.

The following guidelines for reading withchildren are based on the research presentedabove. These ideas can be given to parents tohelp them maximize the benefits of their sharedliteracy experiences with their children. Al-though they are written here with parents inmind, the principles are also applicable to teach-ers sharing literature with students in the schoolsetting. Recommended literature to foster con-versation during parent-child storybook readingis listed in Appendix A.

Ten Ideas Parents Can Use toImprove the Quality of SharedLiteracy Experiences

1.

A third area of storybook reading research focus- 2.es on the relationship between parent-child inter-actions during storybook reading and children'soral language development. This type of research isbased on the hypothesis that storybook reading,which leads to gains in children's oral language,will also ultimately lead to gains in children's 3.reading ability. Studies in this area were pio-neered by Snow (1983), who suggested that sto-rybook reading might well be the ideal situationfor facilitating children's oral language develop-ment. Subsequent research has shown that teach- 4.ing parents specific strategies to use during sto-rybook reading (see below) results in significantgains in children's language ability, compared to

Get your children to talk! Children learn bytalking and asking questions. Encourageyour children to talk about what you arereading. One way to get them to talk is tohave them guess what will happen next inthe story.Help your children understand the story. Some-times children don't understand what is hap-pening in a book. Check regularly to seewhether your children understand the story.If they do not, try to explain what is hap-pening in your own words.Praise your children. Children love to be toldnice things by their parents. Let your chil-dren know that you are proud of them whenthey ask a good question, say somethinginteresting about a book, or read well.Relate the book to your life. Use the book as ajumping-off point to tell your children some-thing interesting about your life or an eventthe book reminds you of that really hap-

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pened. Ask your children to relate the bookto their lives as well.

5. Ask your children good questions during story-book reading. Questions that will help yourchildren the most are those that require themto talk a lot to answer. Why and how ques-tions are especially useful, such as "Why doyou think the Pokey Puppy was sad?" and"How else could the prince have found Cin-derella?"

6. Wait for answers. After you ask a question,give your children time to answer. Most chil-dren need time to think of good answers togood questions.

7. With younger children, point to words when youread. Pointing to words when you read toyoung "children will help them learn whatthe words are, that we read from left to right,and that we turn pages only after we havefinished reading all the words on a page.These ideas will help young children learnhow to read.

8. With older children, take turns reading. Yourchildren may find reading aloud to be diffi-cult. Support your children's efforts by tak-ing turns when reading.

9. Choose books carefully. Many books are enjoy-able, but to help your children the most it isimportant to choose books that are not tooeasy and not too difficult. If you are not sureabout the difficulty level of certain books,librarians can help.

10. Have fun! Above all, try to keep the book-sharing experience enjoyable! As long as youand your children are having fun togetherwith books, you will be helping them in agreat many ways.

Despite the abundance of studies suggestingthat storybook reading is positively related tochildren's language and literacy development, itis important to note that several studies on thetopic have urged educators to be wary of over-estimating the influence that storybook readinghas on children's ultimate literacy performance.For example, after investigating many aspects ofhome literacy related to storybook reading, Lese-man and DeJong (1998) reported that the quali-ty of parental storybook reading instruction was

51

largely determined by socioeconomic status.Despite these warnings, however, it appears thatsufficient support for the value of storybookreading exists to warrant its continued advoca-cy. Overall, research suggests that engaging thechild in verbal interaction during storybookreading is the most powerful key to facilitatinghis or her literacy growth (Arnold & Whitehurst,1994).

Based on such research findings, many pro-grams have been created to improve the qualitywith which parents read to children. The Parentsas Partners reading program (Edwards, 1995) isspecifically designed to help low-income parentsimprove the quality with which they share bookswith their children. Using both live modelingand videotapes, this program teaches parentshow to preview a book and how to relate storiesto children's lives, with the ultimate goal ofimproving the quality of parent-child conversa-tions during storybook sharing. One especiallyvaluable component of the program is that par-ent participants who successfully complete thecourse are eligible to become parent leaders infuture sessions. A similar program has been cre-ated by France and Hager (1993). Their programis based on six 1-hour workshops in which low-income parents and their children learn how tooptimize their interactions during the reading ofpredictable literature. Ideas presented during thesessions include echo reading, choral reading,paired reading, storytelling, readers' theatre, andchanting. Follow-up activities for home use areoffered to the parents after each session.

Storymates (Fox & Wright, 1997) is a family lit-eracy program that teaches school-age children,rather than parents, the nuances of high-qualityshared storybook reading. The program is builton the modeling of high-quality read-alouds ofbooks carefully chosen by teachers, followed bythe modeling of comprehension activities such ascompleting semantic maps, Venn diagrams, andstory frames. After teachers model the readingand follow-up activities, students participatingin the program practice the activities theyobserved with each other in pairs in the class-room. Finally, students take home the books theystudied in the classroom and share them withother children using the learned techniques.

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52 Diane H. Tracey

During the course of the 9-week program stu-dents share at least 18 books with younger sib-lings, relatives, and friends at home. An analy-sis of program effectiveness showed positiveoutcomes for students' comprehension achieve-ment as measured by a story retelling measure,and positive influences on the home literacyenvironment as measured by parent question-naires. This program was piloted in a rural lowsocioeconomic status, southeastern communitywhere one-third of the parents had less than ahigh school education; however, it can be adapt-ed for use in a wide variety of community set-tings.

The Three for the Road program (Richgels &Wold, 1998) is another approach that teachesactivities that can be used to extend storybookreading at home. The program is built on theuse of carefully chosen children's literacy mate-rials. Teachers weekly send home backpacks toeach child in the class containing three high-quality pieces of literature at increasing levelsof difficulty but all on a single theme or in thesame genre. Additional materials for each back-pack include a letter to parents with directionsfor using the materials, a response journal, writ-ing and drawing materials, hand puppets, alost-and-found tag, and a checklist of the back-pack's contents. After the backpacks have beenprepared, teachers demonstrate their use in anintroductory session with the students duringwhich books are previewed and ideas for usingthe response journal, writing and drawingmaterials, and puppets are discussed. Back-packs are then distributed and shared amongclass members, who are free to use whicheverbook from the pack they feel most comfortablewith. In-class follow-up occurs after a prede-termined amount of time has elapsed, duringwhich students meet in literature discussiongroups.

Parents as Funds of KnowledgeThe programs and activities suggested so farhave been grounded in the transmission model ofcommunication: home and school are connectedthrough a two-way flow of information from the

school to the home. However, many educatorsinvolved in promoting home-school connectionsemphasize the importance of programs built ontwo-way communication. For example, Neu-man (1995) writes, "We knew, as Delgado-Gaitan(1990) has suggested, that not only is the familyinfluenced by the school, but the school is influ-enced by the family. Successful programs areones that see children in the context of their fam-ilies and the families in the context of their sur-roundings" (p. 121). Thus, each of the followingdescriptions highlights an initiative that stressesthe value of acquiring information from parentsin order to help teachers enhance children'sschool literacy experiences.

In her article, "Forming a Parent Reading-Writing Class: Connecting Cultures One Parentat a Time," elementary school principal Akroyd(1995) described her experiences with familiesfrom 35 countries who spoke a total of 21 dif-ferent languages. With no formal translators onhand, parents met weekly for 10 weeks, with thesimple goal of writing something to their chil-dren. Forms of writing included diaries, memo-ry books, and photo journals. Parents wrote forabout 20 minutes each week and then sharedwhat they had written. At the end of the 10weeks, parents wrote about their experiences inthe program. One parent commented that al-though she had learned about writing, evenmore important, she had learned that "a par-ent's love is truly the same everywhere." Ak-royd was equally moved by the parent writingproject. She says, "I've thought about how oftenlarge sums of money are sought to create newprograms to improve student achievement andto encourage parental involvement, and abouthow this powerful experience cost nothing buttime willingly given" (p. 584). She concludes,"The parent-writing group turned out to bethe most memorable experience of my career"(p. 582).

Buchoff (1995) also encourages parents' tellingfamily stories as a way to enhance children's lit-eracy development. Using literature related tothe theme of families as a springboard, she hasstudents and parents explore different formatsfor the sharing of family experiences, includingoral retellings, audio- and videotaped recordings,

62


and written family stories. She also suggests pro-viding parents with story-starting prompts, suchas "Tell your child about the neighborhoodwhere you lived when you were a child," or "Tellabout a favorite relative when you were a child."These activities build shared literacy experiencesat home while at the same time providing theclassroom teacher with greater knowledge of thestudents' backgrounds.

Lazar and Weisberg (1996) also recommendeliciting information from parents to strengthenstudents' literacy skills, but rather than focusingon family stories, their solicitations are aimedspecifically at parents' perceptions of their chil-dren's literacy development. These authors notethat not only can parents convey critical contentthrough such communications, but "[h]ow par-ents structure, observe, and record family read-ing events tells much about their philosophies oflearning, teaching, and literacy" (p. 230). In thisapproach teachers hold interviews with parentsabout their children's literacy development andthen ask parents to keep a journal of home activ-ities related to literacy. Teachers respond to par-ents' journal entries on a weekly basis so that adialogue related to each student's literacy growthis established between parents and classroomteachers. In some cases students are also invitedto make entries in the journals. The end-of-the-year evaluations by parents and teachers haveindicated much support for the project. Otherideas for the use of parent-teacher journals tosupport children's literacy growth are describedby Morningstar (1999) and Shockley (1994).

Inviting Parents Intothe Classroom

A third form of connecting home and school lit-eracy environments entails placing parents in theclassroom. This form of parental involvementcompletes the home-school connection circle byinviting parents to participate in children's liter-acy learning at school.

Enz and Searfoss (1996) provide a variety ofideas for promoting parental involvement in theclassroom. They suggest inviting parents to readstories to children, assist with children's reading

53

and writing, take dictation, and provide super-vision at classroom centers. Parents can also beinvited to tell stories on topics ranging fromchildhood experiences to recent special occasionsto the ways in which they use reading and writ-ing in their jobs. Depending on the needs of theclass, these suggestions can be implementedwith the whole group, a small group, pairs, orindividual children.

In contrast to these relatively simple sugges-tions for parental involvement, Neuman (1995)describes a large-scale program devoted to get-ting parents involved in their children's class-rooms. Reading Together is a parental involve-ment literacy program that has been implementedin an impoverished urban community in theNortheast where many parents are not literatein their primary language. The central compo-nent of the program is the involvement of com-munity leaders in the school-based literacyinitiative. The program begins with trainingcommunity leaders in the importance of chil-dren's early literacy development. The trainingincludes high-quality storybook reading andinstilling phonemic awareness. Communityleaders are then introduced to prop boxes con-taining a variety of theme-related literacy itemssuch as books, play objects, chants, jingles, fin-gerplays, and blank writing books. The commu-nity leaders are taught how to share prop boxeswith small groups of children in the classroom.The community leaders then become the re-cruiters and trainers for the program, solicitingthe participation of parents from their commu-nity base. Using this system of training andrecruitment, Neuman has been able to substan-tially increase the number of parent volunteerswho participate and remain active in the class-room involvement program. Using the boxes,parent volunteers work with the same few chil-dren (not their own) for 30 to 45 minutes twicea week. Some parent volunteers eventually be-come recruiters and trainers for the programsthemselves. Neuman reports, "Two years ofimplementing Reading Together have demon-strated that, despite poor economic circum-stances, families in these communities continueto hold strong beliefs about the power of litera-cy and its importance in their lives" (p. 128).

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54 Diane H. Tracey


Word Cards for Home and School

At the beginning of the school year, I give each of my first graders 15 to 20 index cards. I askthem to think about people or things that are very important to them. When they have decid-ed on these words, I write each word on a card for them with a black magic marker. I alsogive each student a plastic baggie to hold their cards. I have the children read their cards toeach other, and they copy the words and write them in sentences. I also ask the students tolook for letter patterns or word families we have been studying, such as the an family or theat family, and to make new words by adding another initial sound at the beginning. In addi-tion, I send home an assignment for the family to extend this activity in the home. I indicatein my letter home that an important aspect of the child's learning to read is having "very ownwords" available both at school and at home. I ask that parents participate in helping chil-dren collect word cards at home as we do in school. Each night for many weeks, I send homefive index cards. The child works with a family member, writing words on cards at home,reading the words, and writing them in sentences. I also suggest looking for word patterns tomake new words. Each day the children are able to share the words they collected for theirhome with their family. We also talk about words children share in common, stories childrenhave written with their words, and letter patterns they have discovered in their words.

Bernardine A. Scholz, First-Grade Teacher

In Conclusion

Children are profoundly affected by their litera-cy experiences at home. These experiences can beshaped in positive ways by educators whounderstand the role of the home literacy envi-ronment in children's literacy development andwho strive to share valuable information aboutthe home literacy environment with parents. Forinstance, children's literacy development can besignificantly affected by the quality of at-homereading opportunities with parents. Informededucators can share information with parentsabout how best to optimize these shared litera-cy experiences.

The power of home-school relationships infacilitating children's literacy development is notlimited to a transmission model in which infor-mation regarding children's literacy flows in onedirection, from the school to the home. I have

suggested in this chapter that home-school rela-tionships will be most beneficial to children incases in which schools recognize and use two-way models of communication. To this end,I have described some strategies that stress thevalue of acquiring information from parents thatwill help teachers enhance children's school lit-eracy experiences. Parental involvement withtheir children's literacy learning in the classroommay be particularly helpful for families whosefirst language is not English or whose home lit-eracy environment does not include much print.

In sum, many kinds of home-school connec-tions can enhance children's literacy growth. Alleducators are encouraged to become more in-formed about these critical connections and strate-gies for implementing them. Finally, all are invit-ed to choose whatever ideas may work best tostrengthen the home-school connections as a partof the literacy program in their school district.

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Appendix A

Selected Literature to PromoteConversation During Parent-ChildStorybook ReadingAbercrombe, B. (1990). Charlie Anderson. New York:

Simon & Schuster.Girls of a divorced family have two homes. Sodoes the cat they find on their doorstep.

Baylor, B. (1994). The table where rich people sit. NewYork: Simon & Schuster.

A look at family values through a child's eyes.Brown, M. T., & Brown, L. K. (1988). Dinosaurs divorce:

A guide for changing families. Boston: Little, Brown.Understanding change and separation withinfamilies.

Bunting, E. Smoky night. (1994). New York: HarcourtBrace.

Because of danger, a young boy and his motherare forced to flee their home. A Caldecott Awardwinner.

Cameron, A. (1989). The stories Julian tells. New York:Knopf.

Julian is great at telling stories, but some get himinto trouble.

Curtis, J. L. (1998). Today I feel silly & other moods thatmake my day. New York: HarperCollins.

A little girl experiences 13 different moods in asingle day.

Eastman, P. D. (1988). Are you my mother? New York:Random House.

A little bird searches for his mother. A classic.Herron, C. (1997). Nappy hair. New York: Knopf.

Written in the African call-and-response tradi-tion. Issues of God, family, Africa, slavery, and,of course, hair are discussed among familymembers.

Hoban, R. (1995). Bedtime for Frances (new ed.). NewYork: Harper/Trophy.

Bedtime experiences familiar to many childrenand parents.

Milne, A. A. (1992). When we were very young (new ed.).New York: Puffin.

The life of a little boy growing up in the turn-of-the-century England, told through poetry.A classic.

Rathman, P. (1998). Ten minutes till bedtime. New York:Putnam.

Countdown of the last 10 minutes before bed-time, and all that can occur during that interval.

Rylant, C. (1985). The relatives came. New York: Simon& Schuster.

An extended family celebration grows large.

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Rylant, C. (1995). Dog heaven. New York: Scholastic.A comforting story for children or adults deal-ing with the loss of a pet.

Schlessinger, L. C. (1999). Why do you love me? NewYork: HarperCollins.

Understanding a mother's unconditional lovefor her child.

Selden, G. (1999). The cricket in Times Square. NewYork: Bantam.

A boy, his Italian family, and a cricket run aTimes Square newsstand. A Newberry AwardHonor Book.

Shannon, D. (1998). No, David! New York: Scholastic.The antics of a relentless troublemaker and hismother's responses. A Caldecott Award HonorBook.

Shriver, M. (1999). What's heaven? New York: GoldenBooks.

Conversations regarding the death of a belovedgreat-grandmother.

Steptoe, J. (1997). In Daddy's arms I am tall: African-Americans celebrating fathers. New York: Lee & Low.

Poems about fathers and their children.Stewart, S. (1997). The gardener. New York: Farrar,

Strauss & Giroux.When hard times hit a family, a child helps outby gardening. 1998 Caldecott Award winner.

Thompson, K. (1969). Eloise. New York: Simon &Schuster.

A little girl lives alone in the Plaza Hotel in NewYork. A classic.

Viorst, J. (1997). Absolutely, positively Alexander: thecomplete stories. New York: Simon & Schuster/Atheneum.

Three Alexander stories"Alexander and theTerrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day"(1972), "Alexander Who Used to Be Rich LastSunday" (1978), and "Alexander Who's Not (DoYou Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move"(1995)bound in a single volume.

Yolen, J. (1988). Owl moon. New York: Philomel.A father and daughter take a quiet walk in thesnow on a moonlit evening. A Caldecott Awardwinner.

ReferencesAkroyd, S. (1995). Forming a parent reading-writing

class: Connecting cultures, one pen at a time. TheReading Teacher, 48(7), 580-586.

Altwerger, B., Diehl-Faxon, J., & Dockstader-Ander-son, K. (1985). Read-aloud events as meaning con-struction. Language Arts, 62(5), 476-484.

56 Diane H. Tracey

Arnold, D. S., & Whitehurst, G. J. (1994). Acceleratinglanguage development through picture book read-ing: A summary of dialogic reading and its effects.In D. K. Dickinson (Ed.), Bridges to literacy: Chil-dren, families, and schools (pp. 103-128). Cambridge,England: Blackwell.

Auerbach, E. R. (1989). Toward a socio-contextualapproach to family literacy. Harvard EducationalReview, 59,165-181.

Auerbach, E. R. (1995). Which way for family litera-cy: intervention or empowerment? In L. M. Mor-row (Ed.), Family literacy: Connections in schools andcommunities (pp. 11-27). Newark, DE: Internation-al Reading Association.

Baumann, J. F., & Thomas, D. (1997). "If you can passMomma's tests, then she knows you're gettingyour education": A case study of support for liter-acy learning within an African American family.The Reading Teacher, 51(2), 108-120.

Beals, D. E., DeTemple, J. M., & Dickinson,, D. K.(1994). Talking and listening that support early lit-eracy development of children from low-incomefamilies. In D. K. Dickinson (Ed.), Bridges to litera-cy: Children, families, and schools (pp. 19-40). Cam-bridge, England: Blackwell.

Buchoff, R. (1995). Family stories. The Reading Teacher,49(3), 230-233.

DeBaryshe, B. D., Daly, B. A., & Rodarmel, S. L. (1992).Evaluation of a home read-aloud program for lowSES mothers and children. Unpublished manu-script.

Delgado-Gaitan, C. (1990). Literacy for empowerment.New York: Falmer Press.

DeTemple, J. M., & Beals, D. E. (1991). Family talk:Sources of support for the development of decon-textualized language skills. Journal of Research inChildhood Education, 6(1), 11-19.

Durkin, D. (1966). Children who read early. New York:Teachers College Press.

Durkin, D. (1974-75). A six year study of children wholearned to read in school at the age of four. Read-ing Research Quarterly, 10, 9-61.

Edwards, P. A. (1995). Combining parents' and teach-ers' thoughts about storybook reading at home andschool. In L. M. Morrow (Ed.), Family literacy: Con-nections in schools and communities (pp. 54-69).Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Enz, B. J., & Searfoss, L. W. (1996). Expanding ourviews of family literacy. The Reading Teacher, 49(7),576-579.

Flood, J. (1977). Parental styles in reading episodeswith young children. The Reading Teacher, 30,864-867.

Fox, B. J., & Wright, M. (1997). Connecting school andhome literacy experiences through cross-age read-ing. The Reading Teacher, 50(5), 396-403.

France, M. G., & Hager, J. M. (1993). Recruit, respect,respond: A model for working with low-incomefamilies and their preschoolers. The Reading Teacher,46(7), 568-572.

Koskinen, P. S., Blum, I. H., Tennant, N., Parker, E. M.,Straub, M. W., & Curry, C. (1995). Have you heardany good books lately? Encouraging shared read-ing at home with books and audiotapes. In L. M.Morrow (Ed.), Family literacy: Connections in schoolsand communities (pp. 87-103). Newark, DE: Inter-national Reading Association.

Lazar, A. M., & Weisberg, R. (1996). Inviting parents'perspectives: Building home-school partnershipsto support children who struggle with literacy. TheReading Teacher, 50(3), 228-237.

Leseman, P. P. M., & DeJong, P. F. (1998). Home liter-acy: Opportunity, instruction, cooperation, andsocial-emotional quality predicting early readingachievement. Reading Research Quarterly, 33(5),294-318.

Moll, L., & Greenberg, J. (1990). Creating zones of pos-sibilities: Combining social contexts for instruction.In L. C. Moll (Ed.), Vygotsky and education (pp.319-348). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Morningstar, J. W. (1999). Home response journals:Parents as informed contributors in the under-standing of their child's literacy development. TheReading Teacher, 52(7), 690-697.

Morrow, L. M. (Ed.). (1995). Family literacy: Connec-tions in schools and communities. Newark, DE: Inter-national Reading Association.

Morrow, L. M. (1997). Literacy development in the earlyyears: helping children read and write (3rd ed.). Bos-ton: Allyn and Bacon.

Morrow, L. M., & Paratore, J. (1993). Family literacy:Perspective and practices. The Reading Teacher,47(3), 194-200.

Morrow, L. M., Tracey, D. H., & Maxwell, C. M.(Eds.). (1995). A survey of family literacy in the Unit-ed States. Newark, DE: International Reading Asso-ciation.

Neuman, S. B. (1995). Reading together: A communi-ty-supported parent tutoring program. The Read-ing Teacher, 49(2), 120-129.

Neuman, S. B. (1999). Books make a difference: Astudy of access to literacy. Reading Research Quar-terly, 34(3), 286-311.

Neuman, S. B., Caperelli, B. J., & Kee, C. (1998). Lit-eracy learning, a family matter. The Reading Teacher,52(3), 244-252.

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Enhancing Literacy Growth Through Home-School Connections 57

Paratore, J. R., Meliz, G., & Krol-Sinclair, B. (1999).What should we expect of family literacy? Experiencesof Latino children whose parents participate in an inter-generational literacy project. Newark, DE: Interna-tional Reading Association.

Richgels, D. J., & Wold, L. S. (1998). Literacy on theroad: Backpacking partnerships between schooland home. The Reading Teacher, 52(1), 18-29.

Roser, N., & Martinez, M. (1985). Roles adults play inpreschoolers' responses to literature. Language Arts,62(5), 485-490.

Shockley, B. (1994). Extending the literate communi-ty: Home-to-school and school-to-home. The Read-ing Teacher, 47(6), 500-503.

Snow, C. E. (1983). Literacy and language: Relation-ships during the preschool years. Harvard Educa-tional Review, 53,165-189.

Taylor, D., & Dorsey-Gaines, C. (1988). Growing up lit-erate: Learning from inner-city families. Portsmouth,NH: Heinemann.

Taylor, D., & Strickland, D. S. (1986). Family storybookreading. Exeter, NH: Heinemann.

Tracey, D. H. (1995). Family literacy: Overview andsynthesis of an ERIC search. In K. A. Hinchman, D.J. Leu, & C. K. Kinzer (Eds.), Perspectives on litera-cy research and practice: Forty-fourth yearbook of theNational Reading Conference (pp. 280-288). Chicago:National Reading Conference.

Whitehurst, G. J., Falco, F. L., Lonigan, C. J., Fischel,J. E., DeBaryshe, B. D., Valdez-Menchaca, M. C., &Caulfield, M. (1988). Accelerating language devel-opment through picture book reading. Develop-mental Psychology, 24(4), 552-559.

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CHAPTER FIVE

Children's Pretend Playand Literacy

Anthony D. Pellegrini and Lee Galda

Anthony Pellegrini and Lee Galda address theimportance of play in the child's literacy de-velopment and as a means of fostering well-balanced, engaged learners.

58

For Reflection andAction: Think aboutthe increasing demandsfor higher standardsof achievement in theschools. Deliberate on thetensions that can emergeas educators attempt topromote higher achieve-ment while maintaining adevelopmentally appropri-ate environment in whichplay is valued as animportant part of learning.

play is an important part of children'sschooling. It is a vital part of young chil-dren's lives and offers many opportunities

to make classroom learning fun and relativelyeasy. One kind of play, pretend play, is observedmost frequently during the preschool and earlyprimary school years (Fein, 1981). Thus, pretendplay can be used most effectively in teachingduring the early years (Pellegrini & Galda, 1991).

This chapter considers some of the ways inwhich the classroom environment can bearranged to facilitate children's pretend play and"literate language." (Generally, literate language

Children's Pretend Play and Literacy 59

is a variant of language that is often used inschool-based literacy events by teachers and lit-erate students and is encountered in texts.) Afterbriefly defining pretend play, we discuss itsimportance to the development of children'searly literacy. We then outline ways in whichphysical and social aspects of the classroomenvironment influence play and literate lan-guage.

The following list summarizes the main ideaspresented in this chapter:

Pretend play begins in the second year of life,peaks in the preschool years, and then declines.The features of social pretend play importantfor early literacy include the use of explicitlanguage, the use of metalanguage, and theuse of narrative language.Most children are capable of sustaining playwith their peers by age 3 years.Children's play is more sophisticated in thepresence of peers than in the presence ofadults, and more complex with friends thanwith acquaintances.Functionally ambiguous props (e.g., blocks)elicit children's use of explicit language, whileexplicit props (e.g., doctor props) elicit theconstruction of complex narratives.

What Is Pretend Play?Pretend play is a form of play in which childrenuse one thing to represent something else. Pre-tend play has also been labeled symbolic play,because the process of allowing one thing to rep-resent another entails symbolization (Fein, 1981;Heath, 1983). For example, a child may pick upa banana, hold it like a telephone, and then starttalking into it. In this case the child has "trans-formed" one object (a banana) into another object(a telephone). As the child holds the banana, heor she has a mental representation, or picture, ofa telephone. Other, more abstract sorts of pre-tend play transformations are not dependent onobjects. An example is role transformation, inwhich a child proclaims himself to be, say, John-ny Quest. With age and social and verbal facili-ty, children weave individual transformations

together into longer story-like episodes (Heath,1983).

Pretend play is first observed in childrenaround 2 years of age, peaks during the pre-school and kindergarten years, and then declinesrapidly during the primary school grades (Fein,1981). Girls tend to engage in pretend play morethan boys, and their pretend play also tends tobe more sophisticated (Fein, 1982). Boys' pretendplay is usually more physically vigorous thangirls' pretend play and often has a "superhero"theme, whereas girls' play themes more fre-quently revolve around familiar social roles andconstructs. For example, boys are more likely topretend to be some kind of superhero, jumpingoff walls and play fighting, while girls are morelikely to play school or doctor. It would be inter-esting, however, to examine the impact of tele-vision shows that portray female superheroes ongirls' pretend play.

So, from a developmental perspective, wesuggest that pretend play is an excellent andappropriate instructional medium for childrenin preschool and the early primary grades, whenchildren's spontaneous interest in it is at its peak.As they get older, other strategies may be moreappropriate (Pellegrini, 1984; Pellegrini & Galda,1982). Beginning around 3 years of age, childrenfrom very diverse social circumstances are capa-ble of initiating and maintaining social pretendplay with minimal adult support (Fein, Moorin,& Enslein, 1982; McLoyd, 1982). What they needis a social environment that supports and en-courages this type of play. As we will see, thepresence of too many adults can inhibit chil-dren's pretend play.

Features of Social Pretend PlayImportant in Early Literacy Learning

When children are engaged in pretend play witha peer (as opposed to solitary pretend play), theymust communicate clearly the meaning of theirplayful transformations (in which they changethe meaning of one thing into its playful mean-ing) if they want their playmates to join in andsustain the play episode ("I'll be Johnny Quest,"or "This will be the castle"). Without this sort oflanguage, pretend play transformations can be

t) .69

60 Anthony D. Pellegrini and Lee Galda

ambiguous, as there is often little correspon-dence between the "real" meaning or functionof an object, such as a banana, and its pretendmeaning, a telephone. As a result, clarificationsand definitions of play themes take a fair amountof negotiation between peers. In most cases,children stop the pretend mode and negotiatethe meaning of the "play frame" (Sachs, Gold-man, & Chaille, 1984). These negotiations occurwhenever there is a "fracture" or ambiguity inthe flow of play. And the fractures are frequent:it is probably the case that children spend moretime negotiating the meaning of play than in theplay frame per se (Garvey, 1990).

Explication of Meaning: As children learn toread and write they move away from reliance oncontext, such as pictures and gestures, to conveymeaning and learn to use language as the pri-mary vehicle for meaning conveyance. This isalso what they are learning to do in social pre-tend play.

Children from the early preschool yearsonward routinely interrupt their play partnersto ask for a clarification of meaning or to dis-agree with the course of the play theme (Pelle-grini, 1982). For very young children, the inter-ruption for clarification often takes the form ofrepeating a partner's ambiguous transforma-tion, adding a questioning intonation: "A cas-tle?" Older children might simply ask, "Whatcastle?" These interruptions generally result inthe play theme being clarified so that play cancontinue.

Negotiation of meaning in pretend play alsooccurs when children disagree with their peers'interpretations of roles and events being enact-ed. There are numerous observations of pre-schoolers telling their playmates that roles arebeing enacted inappropriately: "Doctors can'tsay that!" Interpretive negotiations typicallyinvolve reflecting on the nature of the languagea character has used and making alternative sug-gestions. In other words, the process of negotia-tion during social pretend play results in chil-dren reflecting metacognitively on the social andlinguistic processes of their interactions, as evi-denced by their use of such meta-terms as say,think, talk, and words.

The process of meaning clarification andexplication is very important in children's schoolperformance generally and in school-based lit-eracy specifically. In school, children are expect-ed to use language that is clear and explicatesmeaning, not ambiguous and reliant on implicitmeanings. They are expected to use and under-stand language that conveys meaning throughwords and syntax, not through gestures orshared information (Bernstein, 1971; Cook-Gumperz, 1982; Heath, 1993). Simply put, chil-dren are expected to say what they mean andnot to rely on others gathering meaning fromshared implicit assumptions. Children should besaying "I mean this," not "You know what Imean?"

Reflection on Meaning: When children clarifyand renegotiate the meaning of their play themesand transformations, they introduce a metacog-nitive perspective into the language of their play.They think and talk about the language they areusing. Children's talk about the language of theirplay is indicative of a more general metalinguis-tic awareness (Pellegrini, Galda, Shockley, &Stahl, 1995). The ability to use metalinguisticwords predicts performance on traditional meas-ures of school-based reading and writing (see,e.g., Pellegrini & Galda, 1991; Pellegrini, Galda,Bartini, & Charack, 1998), possibly because of theimportance of both metalinguistic and metacog-nitive processing in learning to read. In short,children's talk about talk is an indicator of theirmetalinguistic awareness, and metalinguisticawareness in turn is a powerful predictor of suc-cess in school-based reading (Adams, Treiman, &Pressley, 1998).

Narrative Structure: During children's pretendplay, individual transformations are often woventogether into longer and more involved story-like narratives. For example, most pretend playthemes have a clear beginning (e.g., "I'll be thedad and you be the mom") from which a narra-tive progresses temporally, with children addingto and changing the play themes.

Initially, young preschool children have aneasier time integrating individual play transfor-mation into an involved narrative when they

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have explicit play props, such as dolls, a doctor'skit, or kitchenware (Pellegrini, 1985). It takes afair amount of cognitive work to make playthemes understandable to peers. If the props arefunctionally ambiguoussuch as a piece ofpolyfoam or a towelchildren must redefinethese props so that they are understandable totheir peers and play can be sustained around theprops. With more realistic props, that work isalready done, and children can spend their cog-nitive resources weaving a narrative theme. Aschildren approach kindergarten age, they aremore capable of integrating functionally am-biguous props into a larger narrative frame.

Knowledge of narrative structures is particu-larly important in young children's learningschool-based literacy, as most of the texts theyare exposed to are stories (Galda, 1984). Devel-oping a narrative structure, or schema, in pre-tend play, then, should enable children to gen-erate narrative styles that are consistent withschool-based literacy (Michaels, 1981) and shouldallow them to more easily comprehend textsread in class (Galda, 1984).

In summary, we specify three dimensions ofsocial pretend play that are important for youngchildren's school-based literacy: explication ofmeaning, reflection on meaning, and buildingnarrative structure. These are important dimen-sions of a form of language we call literate lan-guage. Children as young as 3 years are capableof initiating and sustaining pretend play withtheir peers, if their environment affords thoseopportunities. What aspects of the classroomsupport social pretend play and the develop-ment of literate language?

Classroom Contextual Effects onPretend Play and Literate Language

In this section we discuss some of the ways inwhich children's play and language vary accord-ing to two general sets of classrooms variables:(1) play props/interest centers and (2) socialgroupings. Before we delve into the details, weprovide some principles that have guided ourwork in this area. First, we recognize that playprops and social groupings can independently

affect children's play. We also recognize, how-ever, that children will play with some props invery different ways, depending on their play-mates. Second, children's play with peers variesaccording to the relationship they have with eachother (i.e., whether they are friends or acquain-tances) and according to children's individualdifferences.

Effects of Props: The type of toys children inter-act with affects their play. Generally, the themeof the toy determines the theme of the play. Forexample, when preschool children are given doc-tor props, their play will relate to doctor themes.Similarly, housekeeping props elicit domesticthemes (Pellegrini, 1986; Pellegrini & Perlmut-ter, 1989). Although they do use elements of thelanguage of pretend play that we describedabove, the concreteness of theme toys minimizesambiguity and so minimizes the need to use lit-erate language. The thematic support providedby these toys does enable children to weave veryinvolved play themes, however (Pellegrini,1985), and so these explicit props tend to supportcomplex play narratives.

When preschool children are exposed to low-structure props, or props that do not have anexplicit theme, such as pieces of polyfoam orpipe cleaners, their play is less predictable and,because of the functional ambiguity, is also char-acterized by explicit language (Pellegrini, 1985).However, the cognitive demands associated withusing explicit language tend to limit the richnessof their narratives. When preschool children playwith ambiguous props, they spend considerableeffort verbally explicating the meaning of theseprops in play episodes. Consequently they donot have many cognitive resources to spend onembedding these individual transformations inlonger, more involved themes.

We have also examined the way in which dif-ferent types of play props affect the literate lan-guage of older children (first graders). In oneseries of settings, pairs of children were observedplaying with a same-sex peer with replica playfigures from popular narrative films, such asAladdin and The Lion King. In another series ofsettings, children were read a narrative text andthen given "literacy props," such as pens and

v 71


paper, and asked to talk, play, and write aboutthe stories.

We expected the play props to elicit more lit-erate language than the literacy center propssimply because in play, children disagree andnegotiate the meaning of the play themes. Thisconceptual conflict would in turn, we thought,prompt greater use of literate language. To oursurprise, this did not happen. Much more liter-ate language was observed with the literacyprops than with the play props. This observa-tion may have resulted from the fact that the playprops were in fact realistic and left little roomfor disagreement about theme. When interactingwith literacy props children talked about theirinteractions with them, and this talk reflected theliterate bias of the materials: write, talk, story,word, and so on. The use of literate language inturn related to children's performance on stan-dardized measures of reading (Pellegrini, Galda,Bartini, et al., 1998).

To summarize thus far, we find that children'sliterate language can be encouraged in settingswhere they are asked to talk and write about sto-ries. This type of language is linked to perform-ance on traditional measures of reading andwriting. Thus, an implication of our work is thatchildren's talk about language is important forearly literacy. We stress this basic finding, giventhe pressure in many classrooms to have chil-dren work alone and silently.

Effects of Different Peer Groupings

The field of early literacy is currently very muchconcerned with the role of social context in chil-dren's literacy learning. For the most part, workin this area has been concerned with adult-childinteractions, following variants of Vygotsky's(1978) idea of the zone of proximal develop-ment. According to this theory, children learnspecific skills by interacting in apprenticeshipfashion with a more competent member of theircommunity (see Reeder, Shapiro, Watson, &Goelman, 1996, for an example of this sort ofapproach to literacy learning). Here we examinethe role of peer interactions in children's use ofliterate language (see Pellegrini & Galda, 1998,for an extended discussion). According to

Piaget's (1983) equilibration theory, cognitivedevelopment begins from disequilibration, orwhen one set of ideas conflicts with another.Children reestablish cognitive balance, or equi-libration, through a complementary process ofassimilation and accommodation. The resolu-tion of conflict in peer interactions, we found,was associated with a greater use of literate lan-guage.

Peers or Adults? According to Piaget, peersocial groupings are reciprocal and maximize thepossibility of conceptual conflict and resolutionbecause peers are co-equals and are likely to dis-agree. Adult-child groupings, on the other hand,are complementary, and children have roles sub-ordinate to adults' roles; consequently there islittle likelihood of disagreement. At a globallevel, then, we would expect children to behavedifferently with adults than with age peers.Observations of preschool children in their class-rooms conform to these theoretical expectations.In two studies (Pellegrini, 1984; Pellegrini & Perl-mutter, 1989) we found that children's pretendplay was inhibited as the number of adults intheir presence increased but was stimulated asthe number of peers increased. Further, wefound that children used language in much morevaried and sophisticated ways when interactingwith peers than when interacting with adults(Pellegrini, 1984). It is likely that children took onmore roles when interacting with peers thanwhen adults were obviously present, and thatthe behavioral and linguistic variety associatedwith playing different roles was reflected in lan-guage use. When children are in the presence ofadults, they often follow the lead of the adults.They are less likely to try new things, challengethe existing order, or take on different roles.

Some qualification of these results is needed.First, the results apply to child behaviors, suchas pretend play, that require a fair amount ofchild initiative. In less open tasks, such as fol-lowing a specific order of steps, adult guidanceis probably more effective than peer interaction(e.g., Tudge & Rogoff, 1989). Additionally, theobservations were made in children age 31/2 to 5years. In younger children (2-year-olds) theopposite was observed: social behavior and play

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Using Prop Boxes to Encourage Literature-Based Play

I have limited space in my classroom, so it is difficult to have permanent centers set up toaccommodate all the areas of learning I would like. To make best use of available space,I store materials in boxes that are easily accessed during the class day. During center time.and free play time, I take out boxes of materials and place them in areas and on tablesaround the room.

To encourage dramatic play and literacy development, three of my stations are prop boxes.The first box has explicit props, such as dolls, doctor's kits, and costumes for occupationssuch as police officer and fire fighter. I include a short story for each prop in the box so thatthe children can look through the books and make connections between their play and thestories. The second box has puppets and a cardboard theater, so that children can retell sto-ries and create their own stories to perform. The third box has suggestive props that accom-pany popular stories. For example, a hat, basket, and silk flowers are accompanied by LittleRed Riding Hood.

Children in my class enjoy using the prop boxes during free time and center time. I seethem engage in writing activities and reading as a result of the available props. Many stu-dents choose to add their favorite stories to the boxes and create props and puppets to_assist them in retelling the stories.

Angela DeWitt, Kindergarten Teacher

were more sophisticated in the presence of adultsthan in the presence of peers.

Types of Peers: Just as not all adults are equal-ly supportive of children's social, emotional, andcognitive growth, so not all peer groups areequally supportive. In general, boys and girlstend to play in same-sex dyads with specific andpredictable types of toys (Pellegrini & Perlmut-ter, 1989). Preschool boys tend to play withblocks and large motor toys. They also enjoyphysically vigorous outdoor play. Girls prefer toplay with dramatic play props, such as those inthe housekeeping corner, and their play is gen-erally sedentary. When boys are forced to playwith female-preferred props, like dolls or inhousekeeping centers (as they sometimes are insome preschools), they suppress their exhibitionof competence, especially if they are made to

play with these props with girls. In such casesboys are often passive and nonresponsive to playinitiatives from girls. Further, the abstractness oftheir play is often lowered in such circumstances.Girls, on the other hand, seem to be more will-ing to play with males and male-preferred props.This difference probably reflects the higher sta-tus of male roles relative to female roles amongboth boys and girls. In short, the level of sophis-tication of children's play is affected by both theprops with which they play and the gendercomposition of the play group.

The quality of the social relationship of chil-dren interacting with each is also important.Children act differently with friends than withfamiliar peers who are not friends. Friendshipsare reciprocal relationships (in which each indi-vidual considers the other his or her friend)between two individuals that are typified by

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emotional investment and trust (Hartup, 1996).Given this trust and mutuality, friends are usu-ally more willing than nonfriends to disagreewith each other and then to resolve the dis-agreement (Hartup, 1996; Pellegrini, Galda, Flor,Bartini, & Charak, 1997). For these reasons,friendship groupings should, we thought, sup-port the sorts of disequilibration cycles that, fol-lowing Piaget, would be expected to supportchildren's use of literate language. Conflicts andresolutions should give rise to reflection on thelanguage and thought processes that occur in theinteractive process.

This expectation was borne out in a series ofexperiments with first graders. We found thatfriends engaged in more conflict resolution thannonfriends and that these negotiations led tofriends' use of literate language (Pellegrini,Galda, Bartini, et al., 1998). Especially interestingwas the finding that "difficult" children, or chil-dren who were either highly active and emo-tional or withdrawn, did particularly well withfriends compared to acquaintances. Active andemotional children, when paired with friends,tended to cool their emotions after conceptualconflicts by talking about the emotional events.At that point, they could then reflect on the lan-guage and thought process of the literacy events(Pellegrini, Galda, Flor, et al., 1997).

The instructional implications of these find-ings are quite important. Children's level of cog-nitive sophistication is increased when theyinteract with friends, compared to nonfriends.So, rather than separating friends in the class-room, it makes sense to put them together andencourage them to interact.

Summary

Social pretend play is important in children'searly literacy instruction because the sorts of lan-guage used in social pretend play are also usedin school-based literacy events. We have calledthis form of language literate language. Differentsocial groupings and play props affect play andliterate language, with friendly peers most like-ly to use the literate metalanguage, that is relat-ed to early literacy. Providing children in specif-

is social groupings with different types of propsalso influences the development of literate lan-guage. For example, giving first graders pens,papers, and books maximizes the use of literatelanguage. Play as an instructional strategy seemsparticularly useful during the preschool andvery early primary grades, a time when it is typ-ically observed in children's spontaneous behav-ior with peers.

ReferencesAdams, M. J., Treiman, R., & Pressley, G. M. (1998).

Reading, writing, and literacy. In I. E. Sigel & K. A.Renninger (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol.4. Child psychology in practice (pp. 275-356). NewYork: Wiley.

Bernstein, B. (1971). Class, codes, and control (Vol. 1).London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Cook-Gumperz, J. (1982). Situated instructions. In S.Ervin-Tripp & C. Mitchell-Kernan (Eds.), Child dis-course (pp. 103-124), New York: Academic Press.

Fein, G. G. (1981). Pretend play: An integrative review.Child Development, 52, 1095-1118.

Fein, G. G., Moorin, E., & Enslein, J. (1982). Pretenseand peer behavior. Human Development, 25, 392-406.

Galda, L. (1984). Play, story telling, and story com-prehension: Narrative competence. In A. D. Pelle-grini & T. D. Yawkey (Eds.), The development of oraland written language in social context (pp. 105-115).Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Garvey, C. (1990). Play. Cambridge: Harvard Univer-sity Press.

Hartup, W. W. (1996). The company they keep: Friend-ships and their developmental significance. ChildDevelopment, 67, 1-13.

Heath, S. B. (1983). Ways with words. New York: Cam-bridge University Press.

McLoyd, V. (1982). Social class differences in socialdramatic play. Developmental Review, 2, 1-30.

Michaels, S. (1981). Sharing time: Children's stylesand access to literacy. Language in Society, 10, 423-442.

Pellegrini, A. D. (1982). Explorations in preschoolers'construction of cohesive text. Discourse Processes, 5,101-108.

Pellegrini, A. D. (1984). Identifying causal elementsin the thematic fantasy play paradigm. AmericanEducational Research Journal, 21, 691-703.

Pellegrini, A. D. (1985). The narrative organization ofchildren's play. Educational Psychology, 5, 17-25.

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Pellegrini, A. D. (1986). Play centers and the produc-tion of imaginative language. Discourse Processes, 9,115-125.

Pellegrini, A. D., & Galda, L. (1982). The effects ofthematic fantasy play training on the developmentof story comprehension. American Educational Re-search Journal, 19,443-452.

Pellegrini, A. D., & Galda, L. (1991). Longitudinal rela-tions among preschoolers' symbolic play, linguis-tic verbs, and emergent literacy. In J. Christie (Ed.),Play and early literacy (pp. 47-68). Albany, NY:SUNY Press.

Pellegrini, A. D., & Galda, L. (1998). The developmentof school-based literacy: A social ecological approach.London: Rout ledge.

Pellegrini, A. D., Galda, L., Bartini, M., & Charak, D.(1998). Oral language and literacy learning in con-text: The role of social relationships. Merrill-PalmerQuarterly, 44, 38-54,

Pellegrini, A. D., Galda, L., Flor, D., Bartini, M., &Charak, D. (1997). Close relationships, individualdifferences, and early literacy learning. Journal ofExperimental Child Psychology, 67,409-422.

Pellegrini, A. D., Galda, L., Shockley, B., & Stahl, S.(1995). The nexus of social and literacy experiences

at home and at school: Implications for primaryschool oral language and literacy. British Journal ofEducational Psychology, 65,273-285.

Pellegrini, A. D., & Perlmutter, J. C. (1989). Classroomcontextual effects on children's play. DevelopmentalPsychology, 25, 289-296.

Piaget, J. (1983). Piaget's theory. In W. Kessen (Ed.),Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1 (pp. 103-128).New York: Wiley.

Reeder, K., Shapiro, J., Watson, R., & Goelman, H.(1996). Literate apprenticeships: The emergence of lan-guage and literacy in the preschool years. Norwood,NJ: Ablex.

Sachs, J., Goldman, J., & Chaille, C. (1984). Planningin pretend. In A. D. Pellegrini & T. D. Yawkey(Eds.), The development of oral and written languagein social context (pp. 119-128). Norwood, NJ:Ablex.

Tudge, J. R. H., & Rogoff, B. (1989). Peer influences oncognitive development. In M. Bornstein & J. S.Bruner (Eds.), Interactions in human development (pp.17-40). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge:Harvard University Press.

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CHAPTER SIX

Talking Their Way Into Print:English Language Learners in a

Prekindergarten ClassroomCelia Genishi, Donna Yung-Chan, and Susan Stires

Celia Genishi, Donna Yung-Chan, and SusanStires offer practical strategies for developing orallanguage and literacy among young learnerswhose first language is not English.

For Reflection andAction: Contemplate theparticular challengesfaced by teachers whowork with children whosefirst language is otherthan English. In whatways do the approachesdiscussed in preNiiouschapters need to beadapted for thesechildren?

Newcomers in countries around the worldface the challenges of learning a secondlanguage. Newcomers who are children

in classrooms in North America feel the chal-lenges most deeply as they discover that theylack a basic key to classroom learning: the abili-ty to communicate in English. In this chapter, welook at young children as they enter the worlds

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Talking Their Way Into Print: English Language Learners in a Prekindergarten Classroom 67

of spoken and written English in a prekinder-garten classroom. We include:

A description of the collaborative study weare engaged inDescriptions of activities that were especiallyhelpful to children as they learned EnglishTeaching strategies that promote languageand literacy learning, along with severalteaching tipsA review of recent research related to lan-guage and literacy learning

Although peers are crucial in both language-learning and socialization processes, our discus-sion focuses on the teacher's role in an earlychildhood classroom, for two reasons. First, look-ing at teacher-student interaction was a major,though not an exclusive, focus of our research.Second, we anticipate that many teachers wantto know what they can do in their classrooms toassist English language learners in effectiveways.

A Collaborative Look atDonna's Classroom

Example 1

Susan: Tommy, tell me about your pic-ture.

Tommy: I am doing something night.Susan: You're doing something light?Tommy: It's black. I want to do something

blue. Whoops, purple. (He continues to draw:stars, moon, and the beginning of a house.)

Donna: Good night, moon. It's nighttime.Oops! You forgot to close the marker. I dosee the moon, the sky.

"Tell me about your picture" is a familiarrequest in early childhood classrooms, includingDonna Yung-Chan's prekindergarten room in aNew York City public school. Donna is a gener-al education teacher, not officially designated asa bilingual teacher or a teacher of English as asecond language (ESL). Susan Stires, a staffdeveloper at Donna's school, has a dual rolethere. She supports teachers in their literacy pro-grams, and in the fall of 1997 she became a co-

researcher, with Donna and Celia Genishi, ateacher at Columbia University's Teachers Col-lege, as all three began a two-year study focus-ing on children learning English as a second lan-guage. Susan was a regular visitor in Donna'sclassroom, where she was comfortable askingchildren about their activities and listening aswell when Donna clarified things children said.In our example, Donna subtly lets Susan knowthat Tommy was depicting something night, asin nighttime, from the picture book Good Night,Moon (Brown, 1947/1991), which she had recent-ly read to the class.

We are able to study examples like this one asa result of Donna's formulation of her overallresearch question: How do children new to theEnglish language learn vocabulary? In 10 yearsof teaching children, primarily of Chinese back-ground,Donna had observed that word mean-ings are learned gradually. For example, likefirst-language learners (Clark, 1973), Donna'schildren might learn the word shoe, but not slip-per or sandal until quite a bit later. Donna becamecurious about how word learning occurred, andthis was a topic that interested Susan and Celiaas well. In 1997-1998 the three of us collectedand began to study many examples of languageuse by Donna's 16 children, through writtennotes, audiotapes, and videotapes. Some of thoseexamples were language experience stories,based on experiences like class trips, and writing,most often writing dictated to Donna or to RoseAnne Cipriano, the assistant teacher. We are cur-rently studying those examples, looking forwhich children learned what kinds of words andin what contexts. We are also learning at whatpoint in the school year they accomplished thelearning, and we are learning about the interac-tional configurations in which the learningoccurred: adult-child, child-child, adult-smallgroup, or adult-large group.

Learning EnglishThrough Experience

Donna believes strongly that children learn bestin an environment in which they can explore,listen to, and experiment with the English

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language. Singing songs, listening to books, col-laborating on projects, using the computer, andtalking to each other and to the adults aroundthem all contribute to language learning. It isimportant to Donna that children share theirideas about what they plan to do during worktime and later review how they carried out theirplans.

Most of the children start the school year asspeakers of a Chinese language, Cantonese,which Donna also speaks. (Two of the childrenare English dominant, two speak Fujianese, andone speaks Mandarin but has learned Can-tonese.) Visits to Donna's classroom demonstrateher belief that all these children are learners.Every morning the six girls and ten boys in herclass begin the day by having a school-providedbreakfast together, while some parents lingerand talk with the teacher. A short transition timefollows, which some children use to finish break-fast while others leaf through and talk aboutbooks, alone or in pairs or clusters, as they waitfor the class to assemble. Often these are booksthat Donna has read to them multiple times, andthe children role-play reading or discuss infor-mation that they know the text provides. Theyuse either English or a Chinese language.

The beginning of group time is marked bysinging "There Are Seven Days in the Week," tothe tune of "My Darling Clementine." In song,Donna and the children repeat "There are sevendays in the week" several times and name thedays of the week, as a prelude to marking thedate on the calendar. A description of the day'sweather follows as Donna uses the class com-puter to ask and record whether it's sunny orcloudy, windy or not, and so on. (She uses thesoftware program called Weather Machine.) Asthe year has progressed, the words that the chil-dren use during morning meeting and for otherdaily routines, such as eating and makingrequests, have become a core vocabulary thateven the least sophisticated English speaker inthe class understands and employs.

What happens next varies. Donna may reada book or describe an activity that children willengage in later, such as using plastic cubes tomeasure the length of their hands, or she may


show the children a special choice activity forthe morning. The curriculum for the prekinder-gartens in Donna's school generally followsguidelines for High Scope (Hohmann, Banet, &Weikart, 1979), especially in the overall struc-ture of activities, which follow a plan-do-reviewformat. Children all plan at the end of grouptime by choosing an activity for activity or worktime. The choices are displayed on a board towhich the child attaches his or her name (seeFigures 6.1 and 6.2). In making the selectionsthe children state their intentions, as in thisexchange with Alice:

Example 2

Alice: Want to go to water table.Donna: You want to go to the water

table? Okay, what do you need to do firstbefore you go to water?

Alice: I do water.Donna: Okay, you go to the water table,

but what do you need to do first? What doyou need to put on?

Alice: Bubbles.Donna: You're going to the water table

and you're going to play with bubbles, butwhat do you need to wear? (Gently pullsAlice back as she starts to walk away.)

Tommy: Smock!Donna: We don't want to get this beauti-

ful dress wet. What do we need to wear? Doyou need to wear something?

Tommy: Smock!Alice: Jacket.Donna: Okay, we call that a smock. Can

you say smock?Alice: Smock.Donna: Okay, you need to sign your

name, right? (Alice nods.)

Learning/TeachingThrough Conferring"Doing" includes completing the chosen morn-ing activity, which in many cases is open-ended.During this time children work in twos andthrees, and Donna circulates, conferring with the


Y fi E

house Keep n !de toy.

Mocks

Sam

ffi

Jors

Figure 6.1. The activity board, showing children's choices.

children about their activities. She can occa-sionally be heard teaching English vocabulary,as she did in Example 2. Some of the time shecode-switches, or alternates between Englishand Cantonese, so that children will understandher. Unless she is setting up for something else,Rose Anne also circulates. This is in contrast tothe afternoon small-group activities, duringwhich teacher and assistant split the class intosmall groups and lead the children through anactivity.

In the morning, the teachers are following thechildren's lead yet still finding opportunities toteach, as Rose Anne does when she talks withAlice about creating a flower, starting with a cir-cle, to which she will attach colored feathers.After attempting unsuccessfully to cut a circle,Alice poses her problem to Rose Anne, whoresponds with specific help. She draws a circlethat Alice can follow with her scissors. WhenAlice finishes, Rose Anne celebrates Alice'saccomplishment. While engaging in a three-partconference with Alice, Rose Anne also engages inconversation at the art/writing area with Tiffany,who is also making a flower, and with Adam,who is writing about his father's work.

Donna's conferences range from a few inquirysentences to full conversational engagement inthe activity with the students. The conferences areoften one to one, but they may also engage sev-eral children at the same area. Children generallyrequest her attention when they have completedsomething; otherwise, Donna moves around theroom interacting with the students during theirselected activities. While Kevin and Kenneth arein the housekeeping area one morning, theyswitch from being doctors to domestic activitiesafter talking about sticky ears and juice (saliva)in the mouth. Donna had joined them a few min-utes earlier. With the mention of juice, Kennethstarts to cook, and Donna says, "We're not at thedoctor's office anymore?" After a short time ofcooking and serving, this sequence takes place:

Example 3

Kenneth: Drink it!Donna: You hand me a cup and say,

"Drink it!" What am I drinking?Kenneth: Drink it, drinking this one!Donna: I don't know what it is!Kenneth: It's thisthis one! (shows her the

box of butter).

79

70 Celia Genishi, Donna Yung-Chan, and Susan Stires

Figure 6.2. James (right) and Tommy choose at the computer.

Donna: I don't drink butter. It's too fat-tening.

Kevin: Orange, apple . . .

Kenneth: Squeezing out!Donna: That tastes like a fruit punch,

Kevin.Kevin (picking up a box of Jell-0): Jelly

jelly, jelly.Donna: Orange, apple?Kenneth: I'm going to cook something.

I don't think so... .Kevin: Smells good.

On another occasion Kenneth and Ashley aredrawing at the computer when Donna ap-proaches them. She asks Ashley, who is seatedbefore the screen with her hand on the com-puter's mouse, what she did. Referring to thescreen, Ashley replies that she made two housesand a car that is parked. Donna prints out Ash-ley's drawing, asking Kenneth to alert her to thefinished product, while she asks Ashley aboutwhat she used to make her drawing. Ashleyreplies that she used the mouse to make herdrawing. Donna accepts her response and alsoencourages her to think about the computeritself as the instrument, then has her write theword computer.

0

Reviewing the "Doing"

Reviewing occurs mainly during group time fol-lowing work time, when children volunteer orare asked to tell the class about what they did.Donna considers this review an importantopportunity for remembering and articulating inEnglish what was done. In other words, it is akey part of language learning.

The following two dialogues took place nearthe end of the year. Both children are Cantonesespeakers, but Brian is now a beginning Englishspeaker, whereas Tiffany is relatively advanced:

Example 4

Donna: I know that Brian did somethingvery, very special today. What did you dotoday, Brian? (translates into Cantonese andpoints at the art table). Art.

Brian: Art. Made worms.Donna: And you say you made worms?

Why don't you show everybody your artcollage? Go ahead. Look at Brian's art col-lage work. Isn't that nice? He used a lot ofstrips, glued them down, and he said hemade them worms. What color worms?(translates into Cantonese). Red and yellow.


Brian: Red, yellow (points to strips of paper).Donna: Okay! Now come back. Who else

wants to share what they did today?

Example 5

Tiffany: Ms. Yung, I want to do my but-terfly sharing.

Donna: You want to share your butterfly?Upstairs, we'll share [that] later [referring tothe class's butterfly display upstairs in thegym]. What did you do today at the watertable?

Tiffany: I made flowers with water andsoup with Alice. Washed the bowl, madesoup with it.

Donna: I remember. I saw you weregrowing flowers there and making soup.

Understanding the PhysicalWorld Through Language

During the year there are special things toobserve in the center of Donna's room, fromleaves and pumpkins in the fall to caterpillarsturning into butterflies in the spring. One daythe children were surrounding the box becauseall of the butterflies had emerged. When RoseAnne was about to check on one of the mostrecently hatched butterflies, she asked Donnahow to open the butterfly box, which elicited thisreaction from Andy and others:

Example 6

Andy: No! Don't open it. No open! Fly!(He motions excitedly with his hands, wavingthem above his head.)

Rose Anne: Where's it gonna go?Andy (shrugging his shoulders and throwing

up his hands in question): Don't know.Ashley: Went out!Kevin: Out the window!Andy: Out the window!Rose Anne: Out the window?Everybody (looking toward the window and

pointing): Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Experiential learning is combined with sociallearning during all parts of the day in Donna's

classroom. While engaged in work activities atthe centers, students often cooperate in the con-struction of something or respond to each other'sconstructions. There is similar interaction at thewhole-group level. During Donna's reading-aloud sessions, the students offer their predic-tions and connections to texts as Donna pausesfor them to do so, or she makes statements orasks questions such as "What do you think willhappen?" to which they respond. Snack time andlunchtime, as well as play and even rest time,may be occasions for conversation that generateword learning in the most conversational ways.In the following examples, the specific naming ofan item comes into play during lunch and againafter a snack at the end of the day:

Example 7

Adam: Ms. Yung!Donna: Yes, Adam?Adam: One, one, one One night when

my mom was taking me to the doctor'soffice, it was raining so hard.

Donna: Yesterday?Adam: Yeah.Donna: You know what? When I was

driving home yesterday, I felt something,like someone was throwing something hardonto my car

Tommy: What?Adam: Mine's too.Donna: but it wasn't someone throw-

ing something hard.Tiffany: It was aDonna: What? What did you see?Tiffany (making hand motions like the rain

coming out of the sky, but hard and fast): I see,I see like a rocks, like raining down

Julie (interrupts, pointing her finger atTiffany and Donna and speaking fast in Can-tonese, with Donna translating): It's not rain,not water, it's

Donna: If it's not water, what is it then?What was it then?

Tiffany: It's a ice!Julie: Ice!Tiffany: The white thing was the ice! Ice.Donna: The white thing was the ice. You

know what it's called?

81

72

Alice: I saw that too.Donna: You saw that too?Tommy: Me too, me too!!Tiffany: I saw a giant go boom! (She

stamps her foot and motions.)Donna: Yeah, like a giant, it makes giant

sounds.Julie: [Cantonese]Donna: And it hurt? You feel itdid it

hurt?Julie: N0000.Alice: [Cantonese]Adam: It's cold.Donna: You know what? When I saw the

ice coming down, I thought someone wasthrowing something at my car, but it wasn't.It was hail. You know that? What we call icecoming down from the sky. Hail. We callthat hail. Can you say that?

Everyone: Hail.Adam: Mum and me stayed in the tunnel.

It was too scary. We stayed in the tunnelbecause

Ashley: Ms. Yung.Donna: What happened, Ashley?Ashley: Not dark. The tunnel's not dark.Donna: What? The tunnel's not dark?

Why isn't the tunnel dark?Ashley: Because of the lights.Donna: Lights!

Example 8

During snack time, Tiffany requestspaper, and Donna at first directs her to thewriting center, then realizes that isn't whatTiffany means.

Donna: You want a paper, Tiffany?Tiffany: Yeah. I wipe my hand!Donna: You want paper to wipe your

hands? What do you need?Tiffany: Tissue.Donna: Okay... . There are tissues behind

you. Or do you mean a napkin?Tiffany: Napkin!Susan: It's made of paper, though, isn't it,

Tiffany?Donna: Yes, it is. A different kind of

paper.


Tiffany (holding up her napkin): Tissue.Donna: The tissue's right behind you... .Tiffany: That is, urn, nose. This napkin is

wipe hands and that is for bathroom washhands (points to the roll of paper towels in thecorner).

Donna: Paper towels! All different typesof paper, right?

Tiffany: Yup.

Examples 7 and 8 illustrate well how Donnais able to engage children in talk about wordsand their properties. The extended conversationabout hail is talk about science, which embeds anew vocabulary word and the qualities thatdefine it (what it is made of, where it appears tocome from, what sound it makes, and how it wasexperienced). Much narrower in focus is Donna'sconversation with Tiffany about kinds of paper,defined by their functions. Donna makes visibleand audible the thinkingcategorizingthatlearners must experience in order to understandand internalize the words they hear and repeat.

Tommy and Andy: Making theTransition to EnglishIn September, when the school year began, Tom-my was a monolingual speaker of Cantonese. Helives with his mother and grandmother, also bothCantonese speakers. By the end of the yearTommy speaks English almost all the time, andhe speaks it eagerly as he participates in the fullrange of activities that Donna provides. Thevideotapes that we collected in the last threemonths of the year demonstrate that Tommy is afrequent contributor to group times, that he ofteninitiates conversations with adults, and that he isenthusiastic about early literacy activities.

Two examples focusing on Tommy illustratehow he engages with the curriculum. Here heresponds to Donna's questions and suggestionsregarding a drawing of a building:

Example 9

Donna: That's a big building! Yeah, thatis a big housebuilding. You live in anapartment, right?

82


Tommy: Nope.Donna: That's called an apartment. When

you live in a building like that, its called anapartment. ... I like your building. Do youknow your address?

Tommy: I know.Donna: You know? What is your

address?Tommy: 9-D!Donna: 9-D? You live in apartment 9-D?

Can you write 9-D on your drawing some-where, so we know that is your apartment?(He writes it.)

The conversation continues, and in the courseof it, Donna asks Tommy what street he lives on.He says it's Madison Street, and knowing hisinterest in letters and sounds, she prompts himwith the sounds that make up Madison. Hewrites the letters M-R-D-S-N. After writing theN, he exclaims, "N, that's easy!" Donna re-sponds, "Very good." Tommy's interest is unusu-al in this class, but Donna is prepared to teach ifthe interest and ability are there. She is aware ofTommy's interest because of the responses he hasshown whenever she includes phonemic aware-ness activities in her teaching.

At the end of the conference Donna asks whatthe number of his building is, and Tommy doesnot know. She tells him to go home today andlook for it. The next day Tommy, withoutprompting from Donna, makes an elaborate con-struction in the block area, complete with writ-ten signs, that depicts his neighborhood:

Example 10

Donna: Why don't you talk about all thesigns that you have?

Tommy: This one's 9-D.Donna: Your house, yeah, andTommy: This one's STOP, 100, andDonna: Ten miles an hour, and what

aboutTommy: It's 100!Donna: One hundred miles! That's too

fast for cars, don't you think, Tommy? Andwhat do you have there?

Tommy: Um, Madison Street.

Donna: Oh, that's good. So when peoplego down the street, they know where they'regoing now. Down Madison Street

Tommy: Madison Street, New York.

In fact, Tommy does not mention the numberof his building on Madison Street, but he recre-ates the drawing he made the day before withblocks, cutting, writing, and taping signs ondifferent blocks to show 9-D, STOP, 100, andMadison Street, New York. He coordinates aninformal lesson learned with Donna with a self-initiated activity. Woven through both the lessonand the block building are information aboutTommy's experience of his neighborhood andhis growing interest in and abilities with print(see Brian and Jenny having a similar experiencein Figure 6.3).

Andy is learning English differently from theway Tommy is, but Andy too is strongly influ-enced by the curricular activities. Andy choosesthe block area frequently, but unlike Tommy, herarely chooses the writing center. It is more com-mon to find him at the computer or water table.He is highly engaged in books about science con-cepts and is excited by transformations in sci-ence. And whereas Tommy is able to code switcheasily, Andy often responds in Cantonese withattached English words for concepts known ornewly acquired.

One day, before reading a book on the life cycleof the butterfly, Donna engages the class in a con-versation about the caterpillars in the observa-tion tank in the center of the classroom. Andy hasjust said the word big and gestured with hishands opening wide to show his concept of bigwhen Donna says that the caterpillars will stay inthe container. Referring to the caterpillars and thelast observation charted, Donna asks, "Did theylook like this on Thursday?" Andy, Kenneth,Alice, and James respond, mostly by saying no,that the caterpillars do not look like an egg.

As Donna begins to read See How They Grow:Butterfly (Ling, 1992), Andy calls out "Butter-flies!" followed by some Cantonese. As she readsabout the egg and the hatching of a tiny cater-pillar, James and Andy both talked excitedly inCantonese in response to Donna's translationinto Cantonese. They both look intently at the

74 Celia Genishi, Donna Yung-Chan, and Susan Stires

ti

1!\

AtA

Figure 6.3. Brian and Jenny represent their experiences in the block area.

pictures Donna is showing the class. Once thecaterpillar in the book hatched, Andy began pre-dicting.

Example 11

Andy: [Cantonese] ... Gonna turn butter-fly!

Donna: Yes, it's going to turn into a but-terfly.

Kenneth: You, you, you gonna open itgonna open and let the butterfly, school ...out and fly!

Donna: Yeah, we are going to let the but-terfly out!

Andy: [Cantonese] .. . Butterfly! Big but-terfly!

Donna returns to the story and continuesreading about the caterpillar getting bigger andbigger. After reading about the caterpillar shed-ding its skin over and over in order to grow insize, she points to the book and says, "See thenew skin?" All the while Andy keeps up a run-ning monologue in Cantonese. After reading abit more Donna looks at him after she asks theclass in English and then Cantonese about thegrowing caterpillar, "How many legs?" Andyanswers in Cantonese, and Donna typically

.;

responds in English, "Ten legs, that's right."Andy repeats what she said, holding up ten fin-gers: "ten legs!" Then he repeats "ten legs" inCantonese and engages James in a brief dialoguein Cantonese. Donna re-engages the class withthe story by continuing to read about the cater-pillar eating the plant. She tries to calm Andy'sexcitement in his discussion with James whileallowing him to make meaning of the text.

Donna later reads about the chrysalis and themetamorphosis of the caterpillar to the butterfly(see Figure 6.4). Realizing the transformation,Tommy observes, "It is a butterfly. A butterflyturning! And it is pushing!" Andy also realizeswhat is happening and makes his own observa-tion, "Big, big, big!" While Donna reads aboutthe butterfly drying its wings and sipping nec-tar, Andy continues talking in Cantonese as heattends to the book and its closing:

Example 12

Donna: You become a wonderful butter-fly.

Andy: The end.

Andy, who looks intently at the pictures of thefeatured book, keeps up a stream of Cantonese,usually quietly and to himself, during the read-

84


111

r-7,0141VAINSOOMMIO.._

I 1 1,c ,eh

1-11.612:3 C

Figure 6.4. Donna reads to the class during morning meeting.

Mg of the story. However, he also makes ani-mated comments from time to time, and in addi-tion makes 15 utterances in English, some inresponse to questions. Most of the English utter-ances are spontaneous observations, connec-tions, or predictionsevidence of Andy's grow-ing interest in and understanding of his world.

Integrating the Curriculum inMultiple Contexts

Donna's classroom is seldom quiet, as it is usu-ally occupied by active and expressive childrenand adults. Although there are clearly separatespaces for such activities as art, block building,or tabletop activities, there is also movementbetween these areas as children seek out friendsor the teacher or assistant. Activities similarlyblend into each other. A math activity, for exam-ple, incorporates early reading after Jenny hasestimated how long her hand is, as measured byplastic cubes, then measures her hand:

Example 13

Donna: Can you read this with me?Jenny: (nods yes)

Donna: Or you want to read it yourself?Go ahead.

Jenny: (nods yes) My handDonna: hand is?Jenny: Seven cubes tall.Donna: Very good, let's try it again.Jenny: My hand is 7 cubes tall. (Donna

says it with her, holding her finger under thewords in the sentence.)

Embedded within an activity involving estima-tion and measurement is an early literacy lesson.

Categorizing is another important skill that islearned and reinforced while literacy is alsolearned, and it takes many forms. One day whileTiffany, Kevin, and Kenneth are together in theblock area, they begin to sort the rubber andplastic animals into zoo, farm, and sea animals.Since they have recently been on a field trip tothe aquarium, Donna has read a book entitledSea Animals (Royston, 1992). The companion text,Zoo Animals (Dowell, 1991), Donna has also read.When Donna asks Tiffany about a particulargroup of animals, she identifies them:

Example 14

Donna: Come here. You've got all the ani-mals. Come here, sweetheart. Where is the

85

76

title, zoo animals? Find zoo animals. (Tiffanypoints to the word animals on the front cover.)What's this? (Donna points to the word zoo.)

Tiffany: Z!Donna: Z. What's this? (Points to each let-

ter in the word zoo.)Tiffany: Zoo! Zoo animals....Donna: Okay. Can you take this and

write the words zoo animals? Take that andwrite zoo animals. Just like that. Go make asign.

Kenneth: Found it.Donna: You found a little zebra, right.Tiffany: Tiger! Tiger! (goes to make her sign,

cuts, tapes, and returns later).Kevin: Find the shark. Shark. Where's the

shark?Donna: What did you write, Tiffany?Tiffany: Zoo animals!Donna: Oh, you wrote it nicely, too!Tiffany: Look.

The sorting activity is based on what Tiffanyhas been learning about categorizing differentkinds of animals. Donna expects Tiffany not onlyto label or name the category "zoo animals" oral-ly in English but also to use her growing litera-cy skills to read it in the book title, then write it.Donna pushes Tiffany because she knows whatTiffany is capable of doing. For Jenny, the activ-ity entails saying, writing, and reading the Eng-lish words that represent the length of her hand.Jenny's participation in the mathematical activ-ity is on a different conceptual level from Tif-fany's more independent participation in thescience-oriented activity. However, each is anexample of the kind of student-teacher interac-tion that gives children greater and greater con-trol over spoken and written language in partic-ular content areas.

Investing in the Teaching andLearning of Language

By spring, many children, such as Tiffany, arespeaking English most of the time, switching toCantonese only occasionally. However, fourchildren, including Brian and Jenny, are still


more comfortable speaking Cantonese. Alice,Julie, and Andy mix Cantonese and English.Donna accepts the language they choose tospeak, and she helps them by translating andparaphrasing so that all children can hear howtheir ideas sound in English. Even if childrenare not yet fluent in English, Donna supportstheir participation with her own explanations.She knows each child well and holds highexpectations for each individual and for thegroup. Thus, although some would call the chil-dren "limited English proficient," Donna viewsthem first as learners who are all capable oflearning English and much more from a richcurriculum.

Donna expects her students to talk about theiractivities, whether those activities are group orindividual. She believes that consistent routinesand constant conferring help the children acquirevocabulary. Her children have definite routines,and they know what to expect in their well-struc-tured classroom. They know where to find mate-rials and have been taught how to take care ofthem. Donna expects them to explore and createwith the materials she provides. She providespossible projects, but she also encourages inven-tiveness and elaboration on ideas that she setsforth. Donna believes in the "talking" teachablemoment, and she pursues it mightily so that thechildren benefit.

In addition, Donna is a curriculum maker.Each year she finds a subject that the childrenshow a sustained interest in and pursues it in anintegrated manner. She writes,

As a teacher, I strongly believe I need to be able tocreate and offer a curriculum that is alive for thechildren. There are certain units I do with themthat are generally interesting to 4-year-oldssea-sons, animals, food, holidays, etc.; but I also createa theme after observing and listening to children intheir play. Last year it was cookies, this year it isinsects. I listen to what they know and then buildon that knowledge by reading books, finding mate-rials to use, introducing art and other activitiesabout the topic, setting up props in the centers forthe children to use to role-play, and going on fieldtrips associated with the topic.

Donna also finds that one group-generatedtopic will lead to another: a trip to a neighbor-

86


hood bakery during the cookie theme generatedintense interest in environmental print once thechildren started reading the signs. This year thestudy of insects led to an author study of EricCarle, since so many of his books contain insects.Increasing children's knowledge leads to ex-panded vocabulary as well as a greater knowl-edge base that will help children as they moveon in school.

Donna believes that her greatest resources forlanguage teaching and learning are the otherchildren who are English dominant or speaksome English. She observes, "I find that some ofthe children speak English to each other moreeasily than to me. I think this is because theydon't feel the pressure of an adult. A class as awhole learns to speak English faster when thereare a couple of English-speaking children inte-grated with the Chinese-speaking children."

To summarize, the following are strategiesthat Donna and Rose Anne use to create the mostfavorable environment for learning languageand learning through language:

Accept children's own ways of expressingthemselves, whether they speak English oranother language or use nonverbal forms ofcommunication.Approach every activity or interaction as apotential "teachable moment," whether chil-dren are role-playing reading or taking onroles in dramatic play.Think flexibly about the curriculum, within apredictable and repetitive structure. Althoughliteracy was strongly emphasized in herschool district and school, Donna implement-ed a broadly integrated curriculum. Her reg-ularly scheduled activities with the childrencould at any moment transform themselvesinto "literacy events," mini-lessons in math orhow to be a thoughtful student, or scienceexplorations.Be unafraid to use yourself as the children'smost important model for using English andfor being an active learner and thinker.(Donna and Rose Anne both spoke in highlyaudible voices and were often heard repeatingwords or explanations, expanding what chil-dren said into more elaborate utterances or

asking questions to which only the childrenknew the answers.)Be unafraid to translate for children if you arefortunate enough to -speak their home lan-guage.Be unafraid to use children's interest in eachother to encourage the use of language amongpeers; children can be both persistent learnersand teachers.

Relating Our Classroom Researchto Previous Work

In this section we ask how previous research onchildren's primary or second language is relatedto what we have found thus far in Donna's room.A number of principles come to light fromresearch on language and literacy learning andthe conditions that enhance it. We conclude bynoting some commonalities among teacherswhose students make the transition from ap-prentice to confident learner.

In her research on the development of lan-guage in children from birth to age 3 years, LoisBloom (1998) sees expression and interpretationof language as the motivation for learning lan-guage. She proposes an "intentionality" model,stating, "All the functions of language includingits personal, interpersonal, instrumental, regula-tory, problem-solving, and other functionsdepend on the power of language for expressionand interpretation" (p. 310). Specifically in rela-tion to vocabulary, Bloom demonstrates thatvocabulary growth is slow at first, then increas-es dramatically, but in a nonlinear, individualfashion.

Braided with language are cognition, affect,and social connectedness, which Bloom seesas developing together as transactions occurbetween children's internal intentional states andthe external social and physical world. This viewof development based on a child acting on his orher environment is the cornerstone of manyearly childhood teachers' conceptions of child-centered classrooms. Although Bloom proposesthat all functions of language stem from basicexpression, we cannot presume that they willnecessarily be fostered in an early childhood

8r


Donna's Teaching Tips

Introducing Reading with a Daily Agenda: In my classroom, an agenda is posted at the

children's eye level. I use it to transition from one activity to another, and I also encourage

them to become aware that a schedule can be read. During transition time, I ask them to

"read" the activity that is ending and the activity that will be beginning. They find and point

to the appropriate words and say them to me. For the most part, the schedule stays the same

and is posted as Breakfast, Circle Time, Planning Time, Activity Time, Recall Time, Outdoor

Time, Story Time, Lunch, Rest, Small Group Time, Quiet Activity Time, Circle Time, and

Snack. I often see the children referring to the agenda between activities and hear them

discussing what we will be doing next, throughout the day.

Taking Opportunities to Teach: During observations of their sprouting lima beans, my

children were very interested in comparing the size of the roots. I showed them how we can

use a ruler by putting its end at the beginning of the root and reading the number at the

root's end. When they wanted to use rulers at the writing center the next day, I decided to

make rulers the subject of a mini-lesson and introduced the tool. After the mini-lesson during

small-group time, I gave them each a ruler and asked them to find out what they could do

with it. They measured size and distance, did drawings, and read the numbers. They came

back together and shared their discoveries, which I recorded. Some of the vocabulary they

learned included measure, distance, line, straight, ruler, number, inches, and long.

Mlowing for Possibilities: After carefully cutting out their handprint butterflies, several

children discovered that they had created a cutoutof a butterfly on their original paper. After

finishing the designated activity, that of decorating the "positive space" butterflies, they glued

the cutouts, or "negative space" butterflies, to another piece of paper and decorated those as

well. I conferred with each of them about how they created the second butterfly, and they

shared their creations with the other children.

Schedule: Since the schedule is posted at the children's eye level, I use it to help them move

to the next activity. During a transition I ask them to read (find and point to) the activity that

is ending and the activity that will be beginning. For the most part the schedule stays the

same and is posted as: Breakfast, Circle Time, Planning Time, Activity, Recall Time, Outdoor

Time, Story Time, Lunch, Rest, Small Group Time, QuietActivity Time, Circle Time, and

Snack. I often hear the children discussing what we will be doing next.

Word Box: We have a word box on one of the writing center shelves. Words that are part of

our theme studies or words that the children often use are placed in the box. Usually I draw

a picture to illustrate the word. In addition to using the words to create their drawings and

stories, the children play together at reading the words.

Donna Yung-Chan, Kindergarten Teacher

788


classroom or center unless there is a conscious-ness about language use. Bloom proposes thatthe consciousness comes through frequent lan-guage-based interactions.

Agreeing that there is a need for conscious-ness about language use, Marie Clay (1991, p.27) writes, "The teacher's task is to help childrento make links between what they can already dowith language and the new challenges ofschool." Here she is inclusive of children with ahome language that is unlike the language of theschool, as well as other differences. She showshow the expansion of talk by an adultthat is,an adult's repeating what a child has said, as acheck on understandingprovides a model oflanguage in word, structure, and meaning. Sheexplains how language learning in this manneroccurs and is practiced at the preschool level andcontinues at home after the child has gone toschool. This language learning may or may notbe in standard ( "newscaster's ") English. If it isnot, the teacher must add standard English tothe child's linguistic resources. The teacher firstestablishes communication and then helps chil-dren express their intentions so that they caneventually function and flourish in the schoollanguage. Clay cautions, however, that stimulat-ing activities do not necessarily lead to languagelearning. We can evaluate activities by examin-ing how much they provoke conversation witha mature speaker. In the case of English languagelearners, the "mature" speaker may be anotherchild or children or peers to whom the childmight apprentice himself or herself.

Recent research on young English languagelearners supports Clay's suggestion, revealingthe importance of master conversationalists,whether adults and children. Fassler (1998), forexample, studied a public school kindergartenclassroom made up exclusively of children des-ignated as ESL learners. In this room, the teacher,Mrs. Barker, not only provided consistent andcontinual modeling of English, she also allowedchildren to talk whenever possible, whether theywere waiting in line for the bathroom or helpingeach other with an early literacy task. The chil-dren's languages represented nine different lan-guage groups, and so the children were oftenable to support each other's language growth in

both the home language (in this classroom, mostoften a Chinese language or Russian) and Eng-lish. Meyer, Klein, and Genishi (1994) report ona preschool classroom in which four childrenwere Korean speakers. Progress in their secondlanguage, English, became evident only after thefour had established communications and rela-tionships among themselves, building on theirshared linguistic and cultural knowledge.

With the increasing heterogeneity of the NorthAmerican population, many children arrive inearly childhood classrooms speaking differentdialects of English or other languages, languagesthat may be as common as Spanish and as rareas Turkish (Genishi, Dyson, & Fassler, 1994).Many teachers must try to address the needs ofone or two English language learners who donot have a conversational partner with whom toexpress intentions or ideas (Genishi, 1989). Inthese classrooms, teachers whO speak only Eng-lish are especially dependent on their abilities toobserve nonverbal behaviors so that communi-cation through language later becomes possible.We believe that Donna's teaching strategieswould also be effective in these settings. Here,"translation" might take the form of exaggerat-ed gestures and nonverbal messages, and teach-ers might occasionally invite additional adultsor older students into the classroom to interactone on one with English learners.

Teachers increasingly confront the richnessand complexity of working with linguistic andcultural differences (Ballenger, 1999; Dyson,1993, 1997; Freeman & Freeman, 1999; Genesee,1994). Across the small number of studies thatdescribe what teachers like Mrs. Barker andDonna Yung-Chan do with their students, thereare at least three striking commonalities. First,the teachers who observe their children makinga transition from non-English speaker to begin-ning English speaker or from nonreader to read-er show flexibility within a predictable dailyschedule. They adapt the curriculum to allow forgroup preferences and for individual variation.They adjust to variation and do not require uni-formity. Second, these teachers have high expec-tations. They expect every apprentice eventual-ly to enter the community of speakers, listeners,readers, and writersin short, to become master

80

learners. Third, these teachers cherish commu-nication and connection. They accept, even cele-brate, everyone's need to be social, to have inten-tions and ideas and to communicate them freelyand often to others.

Acknowledgment: We are grateful to the Spen-cer Foundation Practitioner Research programfor the Communication and Mentoring Grantthat made this study possible. The data andinterpretations presented here are solely theresponsibility of the authors.

Children's Books andComputer SoftwareBrown, M. W. (1947/1991). Good night, moon. New

York: Harper Collins.Dowell, P. (1991). Zoo animals. New York: Macmillan,

Eye Openers/Aladdin Books.Ling, M. (1992). See how they grow: Butterfly. New York:

Dorling Kindersley.Royston, A. (1992). Sea animals. New York: Macmil-

lan, Eye Openers/Aladdin Books.Weather Machine. (1994). Sammy science house (com-

puter software). Redmond, WA: Edmark.

ReferencesBallenger, C. (1999). Teaching other people's children.

New York: Teachers College Press.Bloom, L. (1998). Language acquisition in its develop-

mental context. In D. Kuhn & R. Siegler (Eds.),Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 2. Cognition, per-ception, and language (pp. 309-370). New York: Wiley.


Clark, E. V. (1973). What's in a word? On the child'sacquisition of semantics in his first language. In T.E. Moore (Ed.), Cognitive development and the acqui-sition of language. New York: Academic Press.

Clay, M. M. (1991). Becoming literate: The constructionof inner control. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Dyson, A. H. (1993). Social worlds of children learning towrite in an urban primary school. New York: Teach-ers College Press.

Dyson, A. H. (with the San Francisco East Bay TeacherStudy Group). (1997). What difference does differencemake? Teacher reflections on diversity, literacy, and theurban primary school. Urbana, IL: National Councilof Teachers of English.

Fassler, R. (1998). Room for talk: Peer support for get-ting into English in an ESL kindergarten. EarlyChildhood Research Quarterly, /3,379-409.

Freeman, D., & Freeman, Y. S. (1999). The CaliforniaReading Initiative: A formula for failure for bilin-gual students? Language Arts, 76, Z41Z48.

Genesee, F. (Ed.). (1994). Educating second languagechildren: The whole child, the whole curriculum, thewhole community. New York: Cambridge Universi-ty Press.

Genishi, C. (1989). Observing the second languagelearner: An example of teacher's learning. Lan-guage Arts, 66,509515.

Genishi, C., Dyson, A. H., & Fassler, R. (1994). Lan-guage and diversity in early childhood: Whosevoices are appropriate? In B. L. Mallory & R. S.New (Eds.), Diversity and developmentally appropri-ate practices: Challenges in early childhood education(pp. 250-268). New York: Teachers College Press.

Hohmann, M., Banet, B., & Weikart, D. (1979). Youngchildren in action. Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Press.

Meyer, C., Klein, E., & Genishi, C. (1994). Peer rela-tionships among four preschool second languagelearners in "small group time." Early Childhood Re-search Quarterly, 9,61-85.

90

PART TWO

Instructional Strategies forBeginning Readers and

Writers

part Two deals with specific curricular issues related to beginning reading andwriting. A substantial amount of classroom-based research in the past decadefocused on determining the attributes of effective teachers and the teaching

strategies that represent best practice. Building on a firm knowledge base accruedthrough earlier studies, this research has further advanced our understanding ofwhat good teachers know and do to help children become successful learners. Thechapters in Part Two represent the current knowledge base in relation to organiz-ing and managing the classroom, working with struggling learners, promoting writ-ing development, fostering decoding and comprehension skills, using children's lit-erature, assessing students' progress, and making use of technology.

All learners, including adults, learn best when they are actively engaged in theprocess. With that in mind, we suggest that you continue to support your readingand thinking by keeping a response log in which you react to various ideas as theyare presented. Remember to explore the entire range of your responses, includingthe ideas with which you agree or disagree or find confusing, perplexing, or sur-prising, as well as those that prompt you to react in other ways. Your response notesrepresent your personal interactions with the text and provide the basis for inter-actions with others.

If you are reading this book with a number of others, it may be possible to shareyour notes with a small group or a partner before sharing them with the entiregroup. As you read and respond, try to link the material presented in Part Two withthe broader underlying foundations covered in Part One. For example, how doesplay or oral language development relate to organizing the classroom for literacy?What is the role of technology in literacy learning?

- 9181

CHAPTER SEVEN

Organizing and Managing aLanguage Arts Block


2011111----

N

Lesley Morrow provides a wealth of concretesuggestions for organizing and managing theclassroom environment for optimum literacylearning and teaching.

9283

^ Sit

-

For Reflection andAction: Consider theinstructional environmentand allocation of timein a classroom of yourchoice. How does it com-pare with the ideas sug-gested here? Is the envi-ronment organized andmanaged in a way that ismost conducive to learn-ing? What changes wouldyou make?

This chapter focuses on:

Research findings about exemplary practicesin the language artsEnvironmental factors in classrooms that en-hance literacy instruction

Print that counts on classroom wallsLearning centers in content areasThe literacy center

The outline of a well-organized and well-man-aged language arts blockDescriptions of activities within the languagearts block, including:

Morning meeting

84

Organizing and managing center timeGuided reading periodWriting workshops

Investigations into exemplary practices in earlyliteracy instruction attempt to capture as manydimensions as possible of expert performancesto describe teaching excellence. In this type ofresearch, investigators examine real-life situa-tions in which many variables are successfullyintegrated. The results of the research on effec-tive and exemplary teaching have many simi-larities. A list combining some findings abouteffective and exemplary teachers and their class-room practices includes the following character-istics (Morrow, Tracey, Woo, & Pressley, 1999;Pressley, Rankin, & Yokoi, 1996; Ruddell & Rud-dell, 1995):

1. Varied teaching strategies are used to moti-vate literacy learning.

2. Teachers create excitement about what isbeing taught.

3. There are high expectations for student ac-complishment.

4. Instruction is adjusted to meet the individualneeds of students.

5. Guidance is provided through structured les-sons for the acquisition of skills.

6. Extensive positive feedback is provided forstudents.

7. Children are treated with respect.8. Opportunities are provided for children to

practice the skills learned.9. Classrooms are rich literacy environments

with accessible materials.10. Varied structures for instruction are utilized,

including whole-group, small-group, andone-on-one settings with the teacher.

11. Opportunities exist for children to work in-dependently of the teacher, either alone orin social cooperative groups.

12. Emphasis is placed on careful organizationand management of strategies and structuresfor optimal literacy development to occur.

Of the items listed, the following are particu-larly relevant to this chapter:

Classrooms are rich literacy environmentswith accessible materials.

93


Varied teaching strategies are used to moti-vate.Varied structures for instruction are utilized,including whole-group, small-group, and one-on-one settings with the teacher.Emphasis is placed on careful organizationand management of strategies and structuresfor optimal literacy development to occur.Children are treated with respect.Extensive positive feedback is provided forstudents.

The purpose of this chapter is to describe anddemonstrate how the organization of the class-room environment and the management of thelanguage arts block with varied structures forlearning contribute to successful literacy instruc-tion. These environmental and organizationalfactors are often overlooked, while strategies forinstruction are emphasized. Without the supportof the classroom's physical environment and theorganization and management of instructionalstrategies, however, early literacy instruction isnot likely to be effective or exemplary.

With this background, I will take you on a jour-ney into an early childhood classroom. As yousee the teacher in action, keep in mind that thestory is based on a collective profile of six teach-ers identified as exemplary. I observed theseteachers for a year as part of a study on exem-plary literacy instruction in first grade. This in-vestigation took place in five states where super-visors nominated exemplary teachers. Theseteachers were deemed experts based on supervi-sory observations, the achievement of their stu-dents, and their reputations with their colleagues,parents, and children. By synthesizing my find-ings on these expert teachers, I will present acomposite sketch of exemplary classrooms thathighlights (1) the classroom's physical environ-ment and (2) the management of the languagearts block, including the morning meeting,assignment of independent work in centers, andsmall-group instruction for meeting students'individual needs. I will describe characteristicsin such classrooms and substantiate my descrip-tions by discussing research about classroomenvironments, classroom management, and thevalue of independent work and grouping to meet

Organizing and Managing a Language Arts Block 85

individual needs. Although the teacher portrayedis a composite of six teachers, for the purposes ofthis paper I shall call her Tracey Lyn Barclay.

The Physical Environment inMrs. Barclay's Classroom

Tracey Lyn Barclay's room exemplifies her ownphilosophies regarding the physical design of aclassroom. Tracey arranges her room so that it is"student-friendly." She stores materials so thatthey can be easily accessed, both visually andphysically. Tracey finds that a rich supply ofmaterials enables her to meet the differentabilities and interests of her children. Her class-room, located in the basement of an old inner-city school, is by no means picturesque; how-ever, it has adequate space for her 23 childrenand good lighting, and it is kept clean. The chil-dren's desks are arranged in groups of four toencourage social interaction. This arrangementalso saves spaces for other materials. The roomhas provisions for whole-group instruction withstudents sitting at their desks or on a rug in theliteracy center. The area for whole-group meet-ings has a chalkboard, a pocket chart, and aneasel with an experience chart. Tracey has a rock-ing chair that she uses when teaching mini-les-sons or reading stories to the children.

Tracey's morning meeting area includes func-tional print such as a calendar, a weather chart,a helper chart, and rules for the classroom. Signscommunicate information, such as Quiet, Pleaseand Please Put Materials Away After Using Them.A notice board is used to communicate with herchildren through writing. In addition, there is aword wall, and it is evident from the word wallthat the class is reviewing long and short vow-els. The featured words of the weekhigh-fre-quency wordsare posted, and a bulletin boarddisplays the thematic unit that is being studied,"People Around the World."

On one side of the room is a table whereTracey meets with small groups and individualchildren, based on need (see Figure 7.1). On thistable Tracey has all the materials she uses forskill instruction. These include leveled booksselected for the reading needs of children, a

pocket chart, an experience chart, individualwriting slates for work with word study andwriting, and folders for students to assess theirsuccess and needs. On the windowsill are cor-rugated cardboard book bins, labeled with chil-dren's names, where they store individual work,such as their writing journals, books they arereading, homework assignments, and so on.These materials are packaged in Zip-Lock bags.

Learning Centers

To accommodate small-group, independent work,there are learning centers, each labeled accordingto content areas. Although there is a separate lit-eracy center, all centers integrate literacy learn-ing into content areas by featuring reading andwriting activities. Tracey believes that literacyactivities have more meaning when integratedinto content areas. She uses themes for develop-ing new vocabulary, new ideas, and purposes forreading and writing. Each of her centers has gen-eral materials that are typical of the content theyrepresent, such as scissors, paste, crayons, andpaper in the art center, but also special materialsthat are linked to the current thematic topic ofstudy. For example, while the class is engaged inthe unit entitled "People Around the World:Multicultural Education" the centers are equip-ped as follows:

The dramatic play center is a Chinese restau-rant with play money, a cash register, a menu,recipes, costumes, and checks. After a whilethis will be changed to an Italian restaurant,with a new and appropriate menu.The music center includes instruments fromdifferent countries, such as maracas fromMexico and a Caribbean steel drum. Traceyprovides tapes and the sheet music for songsfrom the countries being discussed.The art center has blank flags for children todecorate to represent different countries, andthere is a special paper and directions for fold-ing Japanese origami figures.The social studies center features National Geo-graphic magazines, maps of countries aroundthe world, and foreign stamps.

94

86 Lesley Mandel Morrow

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Figure 7.1. The teacher meets with small groups for guided reading instruction.

The science center offers cookbooks from otherlands and the ingredients for making multi-cultural dishes.The math center has an abacus, foreign cur-rency, and English and metric rulers.

Tracey has an organizational chart for centerwork. When she makes the assignment for cen-ter use, children know where to go by consult-ing the chart.

The Literacy Center: Tracey's literacy center(see Figure 7.2) includes space and materials forwriting, reading, oral language, listening, com-prehension, and word-analysis skill develop-ment. In this area she has her rocking chair andrug, since many of the activities in this centertake place on the floor and it is where she holdsgroup meetings, lessons, and story time. Thereare pillows and stuffed animals to add an ele-ment of softness.

Books are stored in open-faced shelving fordisplaying titles about themes being studied.

as

These books are changed with the themes and tofeature special selections. Tracey stores somebooks in baskets which she labels by genre, suchas books about animals or seasons, poetry, biog-raphies, and so on. To aid selection, other booksare labeled with the letters A through E to rep-resent the approximate difficulty of the book, sothat children can read something easy for fun ordifficult for a challenge.

In her classroom Tracey has five to eight bookselections per child, or about 170 books. She haspicture storybooks, poetry, informational books,magazines, biographies, cookbooks, joke books,novels, and fairy tales. She has acquired thesebooks over the years by purchasing them at fleamarkets, through points gained from book clubsales, through donations from parents, by usingher allotted classroom budget, and by buyingsome herself. She rotates her books regularly tomaintain children's interest in them, and chil-dren can check books out of the classroom toread at home. Literacy manipulatives such aspuppets, taped stories with headsets, and felt


1111111111111111monniummuminAlfFigure 7.2. The literacy center.

boards with story characters are included in theliteracy center materials to reach childrenthrough different modalities for learning. The lit-eracy center includes foreign dictionaries andmany books related to the multicultural theme,such as Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes (Wyndham,1968).

There is a shelf of games that offer practice inword analysis. These materialsBingo, Lotto,and Concentration, to name a fewteach thealphabet, long and short vowels, sound-symbolassociation of consonants, digraphs, and so on.For enhancing reading comprehension, Traceycreates activities that address strategies, such asmapping stories, retelling stories, creating Venndiagrams, story structure maps, sequencingstory events, and predicting outcomes.

The Author's Spot: A portion of the literacy cen-ter called the author's spot is set aside andincludes a table, chairs, and writing materials

such as colored markers, crayons, pencils, paper,chalk, a chalkboard, and various types of paper.Index cards are used for recording words chil-dren request to read and write, called "Very OwnWords"; the cards are stored in index boxes. Fold-ers, one for each child, are used to collect writingsamples. Tracey has two computers with excel-lent software for writing and reading activities.

In the author's spot, Tracey has materials formaking books, including writing paper in manysizes, a stapler, construction paper, and a holepunch. Tracey prepares blank books keyed tothemes, such as a booklet in the shape of a coun-try studied. There is a place for children to dis-play their written work, a mailbox, stationery,envelopes, and stamps for children to write toeach other and to pen pals. Through the Internet,Tracey found a class in Mexico interested in cor-responding with her class by e-mail.

Everything in this room has a function, apurpose, and a place to be stored. The teacher

t,7. 96


models new materials, their purposes, how theyare used, and where they belong. Tracey startsthe school year with a few items in the centersand adds to them slowly as the class studies dif-ferent themes and skills.

The Research

Tracey's classroom organization and manage-ment practices echo findings from historical per-spectives and research that deal with the manip-ulation of the environment and its effects onlearning. The design of her classroom exhibitsthe characteristics described in research as ben-eficial for effective classroom instruction andmanagement.

Historically, theorists and philosophers haveemphasized the importance of the physical envi-ronment in early learning and literacy develop-ment. Pestalozzi (Rusk & Scotland, 1979) andFroebel (1974) described the preparation ofmanipulative materials that would foster litera-cy development in real-life environments. Montes-sori (1965) advocated a carefully prepared class-room environment to promote independentlearning and recommended that each kind ofmaterial in the environment have a specificlearning objective. She prepared her classroomwith materials that were accessible for children.

Research has shown ways in which the phys-ical design of the classroom affects the children'sbehavior (Loughlin & Martin, 1987; Morrow,1990; Rivlin & Weinstein, 1984). Rooms parti-tioned into smaller spaces such as centers facili-tate verbal interaction among peers and enhancecooperative and associative learning. Whenrooms are carefully designed for specific types ofinstruction, such as a table for meeting with asmall group of children, productivity is increasedand there is greater use of language than inrooms where no attention is given to setting(Moore, 1986).

Literacy-rich environments stimulate activi-ties that enhance literacy skill development(Morrow, 1997a; Neuman & Roskos, 1992). Storyprops such as puppets or a felt board with storycharacters improve story production and com-prehension, including recall of details and theability to interpret text (Morrow, 1997b). Re-

searchers have found that children like cozy cor-ners with pillows and rugs to retreat to whenthings get hectic, and opportunities for privacyare important for children who are distractibleand for those who have difficulty relating topeers (Weinstein & Mignano, 1996). Young chil-dren work best in rooms with variation; that is,they have warm and cool colors, some openareas and cozy spots, as well as hard and softsurfaces (Olds, 1987).

Organization and Managementof the Language Arts Block

From the classrooms observed in the study deal-ing with exemplary practices in first-grade liter-acy instruction, I was able to outline a languagearts block that was representative of all of theclassrooms. The schedule is as follows:

8:30 to 9:00: Children enter school andengage in independent work until the dayformally begins.

9:00 to 9:40: There is a whole-group morn-ing meeting that includes opening exercises,a discussion of the calendar and weather,sharing time, morning messages with someword-analysis skill development, and story-book reading with some comprehensiondevelopment. All of these activities aretheme-related when possible.

9:40 to 9:50: The teacher describes inde-pendent and cooperative activities at centersand provides time for children to get organ-ized to do this work productively. This isin preparation for the teacher to meet withindividuals and small groups for directinstruction in reading and writing.

9:50 to 11:40: The teacher meets with thefour or more groups of children she hasorganized based on similar needs for literacyinstruction. Each group meets for about 20minutes.

9.7

11:40: Writing workshop can occur duringthe language arts block. It can begin in themorning as part of the language arts block


and continue after lunch. The entire work-shop could also happen after lunch. Writingworkshop includes a whole-group skill les-son, a writing assignment, and conferencingwith peers and or the teacher for revisingand editing.

According to research, effective classroommanagers have clear rules, routines, and expec-tations for literacy goals. The rules are decidedon by the children and their teacher, are consis-tent on a day-to-day basis, are taught in the firstdays of school and are reviewed often (Weinstein& Mignano, 1996). The teacher communicatesthe rules and expectations in a supportive man-ner, showing respect for students at all times.

We will now visit Tracey from the time herchildren enter the classroom in the morning andobserve more closely the activities that occur ineach of the segments of the morning devoted tolanguage arts.

8:30 to 9:00: Beginning the School Day

When the children enter Tracey's room theyengage in literacy activities immediately. All chil-dren locate their names and photographs on theattendance chart and turn their pictures face-upto indicate they are in school. Children who arebuying lunch sign their names under their choic-es on the lunch chart. The children look for theirnames on a chart of daily jobs; Tracey changesthe assignments frequently, which requires thestudents to read the chart when they enter theclassroom. Those with jobs take care of theirresponsibilities. Kimberly and Dawn, for exam-ple, work on the calendar. Kim writes the date,and Dawn completes the days of the week. Jovan-na and Tyrone complete the weather graph. Rose-angela and Jordan are reporters and have towrite about some daily news. Since the class isstudying animals, Tracey borrowed a settinghen, which has laid several eggs. Charlene andAdalice have the job of reporting on what is hap-pening with the hen.

Once these morning jobs are completed, chil-dren perform their daily tasks. One activity is towrite an entry in their journals, which they dowith a partner. Children discuss what they are

writing about and offer each other input. Whenthey finish, they read their pieces to each otherand respond with comments. If there is still timebefore morning meeting, children can read inde-pendently or with a partner. At 8:55, Tracey ringsa bell, indicating to the children that they have5 minutes to finish what they are doing, cleanup, and meet her on the rug for the morningmeeting.

9:00 to 9:40: Morning Meeting

Tracey and the children gather for the morningmeeting on the rug in the literacy center. Thismeeting is always a whole-group experience.Math and language concepts are woven through-out a discussion of the calendar and the weath-er. The children count how many days are left inthe month and how many have passed. Thedaily reporters, who did their work when theygot to school, read their news aloud. Others addto it.

Tracey shares her previously written morningmessage, which is related to the theme "ManyKinds of Animals." The message is about theclass's upcoming visit to a zoo. Within this mes-sage, Tracey always misspells an occasionalhigh-frequency word or leaves out some punc-tuation; the children need to be detectives andfind the errors. She also tries to include newvocabulary or high-frequency words and someother word-analysis skill such as the sh digraph,or "chunk," as she calls it. Before asking the classto read the message, Tracey reminds them tolook for new vocabulary, high-frequency wordsof the week, errors she may have made, andwords containing the sh chunk. When childrennotice something, they come up and correct it orcircle the word or digraph. Tracey takes theopportunity to ask children for other words theyknow that include the sh chunk, and they listthose. She introduces a new digraph, eh (whichshe had purposefully used in the morning mes-sage), with a discussion about seeing chickens atthe zoo.

After the morning message and mini-skill les-son, four children have the opportunity to sharesomething brought from home related to thetheme. These four children sit on a little bench set

93


aside for them at the meeting area. The purposeof this activity is to promote language develop-ment and to encourage children to be responsi-ble about bringing things to share. Finally, Traceyreads a theme-related story, using a Directed Lis-tening and Thinking Activity format to teach askill. Today she reinforces the concept that sto-ries have a setting, theme, plot episodes, and aresolution. Children are to listen for all elementswhile the book is being read so that they canretell and then rewrite it during independentwork. She reads an old favorite, Ask Mr. Bear(Flack, 1932), about a little boy who consults ani-mals to find his mother a birthday gift. Traceystops at appropriate places to ask children to pre-dict what each animal might suggest as a gift forthe boy's mother. At the end of the story she asksfor volunteers to retell the story and to includethe elements of story structure discussed earlier.She also asks the children to think about whatthey might give to their mothers for a birthdaygift. She records their responses on an experi-ence chart.

Tracey follows this routine of activities dur-ing morning meeting each day. The routineincludes the discussion of the calendar, weather,and news. Then there is discussion of the morn-ing message, with skills to reinforce and learn.The message relates to the theme being studied.Next, four children share something from homerelated to the theme. Tracey reads a theme-relat-ed book, emphasizes a literacy skill, and pro-vides a mini-lesson for that skill. Children knowwhat to expect and are comfortable with this por-tion of the day.

9:40 to 9:50: Independent CenterActivities

Tracey now models independent activities forstudents to participate in alone or with a partner.Most activities are done at centers; some aredone at desks. After modeling, she has an orga-nizational chart with the activity options for chil-dren to select what they will do. SometimesTracey will assign jobs. The purpose of the inde-pendent work is to reinforce skills learned, helpchildren work independently of the teacher(alone and in collaboration with one another),

and engage the children in a productive mannerso that the teacher can work with small groupsof individuals to help with specific needs.

The activities that Tracey models are oftenskill- and theme-related. They are always infamiliar places in her room, and they are famil-iar types of activities. At the beginning of theschool year, Tracey spends time simply intro-ducing children to the centers and the types ofactivities they include. She has her class practiceworking on the different activities. She helps thechildren so that eventually they will be able towork independently.

The children have some tasks they must doand others from which they may select. The tasksengage the children in reading and writing,which will help with skill development. The firstfour activities must be done by all students. Chil-dren can select to do activities 5 and 6 after theyfinish the required tasks. They do not have to doall of the optional activities, since there probablywould not be time. These are the required activ-ities on this morning:

1. Partner reading. Children pair off and read thesame book together. They may also read sep-arate books and then tell each other about thestories they read. Since they are studying ani-mals, they are to select books from the open-faced bookshelves that include stories andexpository texts about animals. Discussionabout what is read is encouraged. Each childmust fill out an index card with the name ofthe book read and one sentence about thestory.

2. The writing activity. Children are to rewrite thestory Ask Mr. Bear that Tracey during themorning meeting. In their rewritings, the chil-dren are to include the story elements dis-cussed, such as setting, theme, plot episodes,and the resolution. They may consult copies ofthe book in the classroom if necessary. Eachday there is a writing activity related to thestory read earlier; however, the writing assign-ments vary.

3. Working with words. The children are to findwords around the room that have the sh or chdigraph in them. They then classify thesewords by writing them on a sheet of paper

c 9 9


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1/4.

Figure 7.3. Children need to be accountable for completing independent work theydo at centers.

under appropriate digraph headings. Chil-dren can look through books to find thesedigraphs as well.

4. Listening center. The children listen to tapedstories about animals. For each story there isa sheet of paper with a question to answerabout the story. Two titles on tape for this unitabout animals are Kellogg's Is Your Mama aLlama? (1989) and Brown's Arthur's Pet Busi-ness (1990).

The optional activities take place in the artcenter and computer center:

5. Art center. Tracey has provided magazineswith many photographs of animals; the chil-dren may create animal collages.

6. Computer center. Here the children may engagein a variety of math games and literacy activ-ities.

Tracey has an organizational chart that sheuses to assign children to centers. The rotationsare coordinated with the reading groups that

Tracey is meeting with for small-group instruc-tion. If children finish a center activity before thegroup rotates, they can start one of the optionalactivities or go on to the next task, if there isspace at the center. There is a basket for com-pleted work, and every center requires sometype of accountability: a sign-in sheet and a fin-ished product to be handed in (see Figure 7.3).

Management of Centers: Tracey's center man-agement is by no means the only course to fol-low. In fact, as many studies make clear, theorganization of center time varies from oneteacher to another. Some teachers assign childrento groups and decide what activities they willparticipate in; others allow children to select thecenters they will go to. In one classroom weobserved, children can work at a center if thereis a seat available for them. If there is no avail-able seat, students can select another center or doa writing activity at their desks.

At the beginning of the school year, someteachers start center time in a structured fashion.

100

92

Check Activities to Do During Literacy Center Time


Name Date

o

1. Read a book, magazine, or newspaper.

2. Read to a friend.

3. Listen to someone read to you.

4. Listen to a taped story and follow the words in the book.

5. Use the felt board with a storybook and felt characters.

6. Use the roll movie with its story book.

7. Write a story.

8. Draw a picture about a story you read.

9. Make a book for a story you wrote.ef

10. Make a felt story for a book you read or a story you wrote.

11. Write a puppet show and perform it for friends.

12. Make a tape for a story you read or a story you wrote.

13. Record activities completed in logs.

14. Check out books to take home and read.

15. Use activity cards with directions for activities you do.

Figure 7.4. Sample checklist of activities to do during a literacy center time.

They assign the groups and tasks. As childrenlearn to function independently, they are givenopportunities for decision making and selecttheir tasks or groups to work with. Figure 7.4shows a sample checklist of activities to do dur-ing a literacy center time.

The management of center time is crucial forits success. Students must know the choicesbefore them, the activities in which to partici-pate, the rules that guide participation concern-ing the selection of materials, and what is to hap-pen in groups or when working alone. Childrencan help with the guidelines. For example, inTracey's classroom the students generated thefollowing rules for working independently:

1011

1. Handle the materials carefully.2. Speak in soft voices.3. Put materials back in their place before taking

a new one.4. Record completed activities.

Rules formulated by Tracey's first gradersabout cooperating when working in groupsinclude the following suggestions:

1. Decide whom you will work with or if youwill work alone.

2. Make sure everyone in the group has a job.3. Take turns talking.4. Share materials.5. Listen to your friends when they talk.


6. Say helpful things to your group members,such as

"Can I help you?""I like your work.""You did a good job."

7. Evaluate your work when it is done.

The opportunity to work independently of theteacher allows children to use judgment and tomake decisions. It increases cooperation amongchildren and enhances their independence, self-control, and socially responsible behavior (Solo-mon, Watson, Delucchi, Schaps, & Battistich,1988).

Advantages of Cooperative Learning: Workduring center time involves opportunities forinteraction among students in collaborative set-tings. This brings children together so that theycan teach and learn from each other through dis-cussion and, often, debate. Social interaction andcollaboration within small groups of childrenpromotes achievement and productivity. Accord-ing to researchers, cooperative learning succeedsbecause it allows children to explain material toeach other, listen to each other's explanations,and arrive at a joint understanding of what hasbeen shared. In cooperative settings students canaccomplish together what they cannot do alone(Forman & Cazden, 1985).

In cooperative settings children form friend-ships and develop greater acceptance of differ-ences. High and low achievers work together, asdo children from varied racial and ethnic back-grounds. Children with special needs (physicaldisabilities, emotional handicaps, learning diffi-culties) and social isolates are more likely to beaccepted in cooperative learning settings than intraditional classroom structures (Augustine,Gruber, & Hanson, 1989; Johnson & Johnson,1987; Lew, Mesch, Johnson, & Johnson, 1986;Slavin, 1990).

From my observations in classrooms as wellas the existing research, it appears that studentsbenefit from the independent work they partic-ipate in during center time. The ability to self-direct, the time for practicing skills, and theopportunity to interact with peers should allbring positive outcomes.

9:50 to 11:40: Instruction Basedon Need

According to Vygotsky, intellectual growth is fos-tered through collaboration with more capablepeers and adults, who serve as coaches andtutors (Wertsch, 1985). Effective grouping occurswhen groups are formed for a variety of reasons.One of them is for the purpose of direct instruc-tion for students who need reinforcement of aparticular skill currently being taught or studiedduring whole-group instruction. In addition,groups can be formed based on friendships,interests, and cooperative projects. Meeting withthe whole class as well as in small groups isneeded. Groups can have varied numbers of chil-dren based on the reason for the group.

Although there is controversy about group-ing for ability, many have found that in the earlygrades, it is an effective means for buildingstrategies and fluency (Routman, 1991).

We now visit Tracey's class again. Althoughgrouping practices based on need and ability arecontroversial, Tracey believes it is the only wayshe can learn what individual children know andwhat they need to learn, and then design herinstruction based on that information. The nextsection describes meetings with groups for directinstruction based on need.

After children begin their independent workand Tracey feels they are working well, she callson her first group for reading instruction. Dur-ing this time she must work without interrup-tion. The strategy she uses to ensure that she isnot bothered by children's questions is called"Ask Three, Then Me." Before she assembles herreading group, Tracey identifies students otherscan consult to answer questions or resolve prob-lems. All children know that the rule means askthree students first if you need help; if they can'tsolve your problem, then ask the teacher.

The Shape of the Group Lesson: Tracey hasorganized the class into five groups of fourto five children apiece who have similar read-ing needs, are capable of similar reading skills,and are reading at about the same level. Chil-dren frequently move from group to group basedon Tracey's ongoing assessment of children's

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progress. She meets with each group four to fivetimes a week for about 20 minutes. A typical les-son includes (1) reading something familiar forfluency and success, (2) working on a skillinvolving word analysis, (3) introducing a newbook and the skills associated with it, whether itbe for decoding or comprehension, (4) readingthe new book with the support of the teacherand peers, (5) discussing the story after the read-ing, and (6) a writing activity. During these activ-ities Tracey assesses the reading development ofone or two children during each reading groupsession by making running records of their oralreading and recording errors and by listening tochildren's oral retellings of stories as a check ofcomprehension.

Tracey begins her small-group reading lessonwith a familiar text that each child has in a plas-tic bag. She calls this "a book in a bag," and everyday the children bring it to reading group. Thebook in the bag changes when the group is readyfor a new one. This could be every few days,depending on the difficulty. Other materials inthe bag could include skill-building and writingactivities. Tracey uses a familiar text for fluencyand to create a feeling of success. The childrenzip through the book and enjoy the ease withwhich they can read this old friend.

Next, Tracey engages the children in a mini-lesson, helping them with a skill she has foundthey need help with. She is interested in havingthe children use the text along with phonic cluesto decode unknown words. She writes a sentenceon a small white slate, leaving one word blank.She asks the children to predict what word mightmake sense in the blank. She then asks them towrite the word onto their white boards. Traceyhas prepared a practice sheet with three moresentences that are missing words but include thefirst letter of each of the missing words. She asksthe children to work in pairs to figure out themissing words. They discuss how they are usingthe meaning of the sentence and the first letterof the word to figure it out.

At this time a new book is introduced thatcomes from a set of leveled books selected for thereading ability of the children with whom Traceyis working. She is able to find one that matchesthe animal theme they are studying. Tracey

introduces some vocabulary words the childrenhave not experienced before. The words are on3 x 5-inch cards, and as the children recite thewords, Tracey places the cards in a pocket chart.The children copy the words on their whiteslates. Tracey has sentence strips prepared thatcome from the text of the new book, with thenew vocabulary words left out. She places thesentence strips in the pocket chart and the chil-dren fill in the blanks with the correct vocabularyword card.

For the first reading of the new book Traceyhas the entire group chant the book along withher. After the first reading she invites the chil-dren to read the book independently all the waythrough. Because the children are beginningreaders, they are to read aloud but in soft voic-es. Tracey pays close attention to one of the chil-dren beside her. This is her focus child of the dayand the one for whom she annotates a runningrecord, which is an assessment tool for deter-mining the types of errors made when reading.Tomorrow when she meets with this groupagain, another child will sit by her side and befocused on for assessment purposes.

After this second reading, the children partic-ipate in a brief discussion about the story thatincludes answering questions relating to detailsin the text and questions that require them toconnect the story to circumstances in their ownlives.

As the lesson ends, Tracey writes a short noteto all of the children's parents about the chil-dren's progress, what they were learning, whatthey needed help with, and what their home-work is. Homework always requires the readingof the new book with a parent and their signa-tures. When the group finishes its work for theday, all members put their books in their plasticbags with their homework notes. They placetheir materials in their own boxes or book binswhich sit on the windowsill for safe storage untilit is time to go home (see Figure 7.5).

Tracey meets with another group with booksselected for their reading instructional level andcarries out an appropriate lesson for them.Tracey meets with her three other groups, andthe morning ends at 11:45, when the childrenleave for lunch.


%.11.A:014e, Ryon Mt19 91e Lelia bavid

Figure 7.5. When guided reading is done, children place their work in their individ-ual book bins.

Writing workshop can occur during the lan-guage arts block, if there is time, or after lunch.It begins with a whole-group lesson that includesa writing skill. The entire class is given the samewriting assignment, and students meet with theteacher in one-on-one or small-group confer-ences to talk about their work. Children work inpairs to discuss and share their writing pieces.The conferences and pairs are different group-ings of children from those in the reading groupsor center groups.

The Pros and Cons of Grouping by Need: Asurvey of research on the possible benefits ofability-based grouping for reading instructionshows mixed results. There are achievement aswell as self-esteem issues to consider. On the onehand, students who are consistently groupedtogether based on their low ability may come toview themselves as failures and subsequentlylive up to that image. On the other hand, if chil-dren are grouped and regrouped often, based onprogress, shared interests, or other criteria, thestigma associated with grouping is less likely tooccur. Students in groups based on need shouldbe evaluated regularly and regrouped whenchange in student progress occurs (Anderson,Wilkinson, & Mason, 1991). Some group forma-tions should be based on friendships and inter-ests. These heterogeneous groups should exist

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

along with the groups based on skill needs. Withthis type of organization and management ofgroups, students are likely to make their primaryidentification with the larger heterogeneous classrather than with any one group in which theywork (Slavin, 1987). Small groups allow childrento be more active and attentive learners, sincethey are able to interact more closely with theirpeers and focus their attention (Anderson et al.,1991).

Concluding Remarks AboutOrganization and ManagementAs you can see from the profile presented, effec-tive management begins with the physicaldesign of the classrooms, which includes anenvironment rich with accessible materials. Earlyin the school year the children are introduced tothe design of the classroom and how the differ-ent materials and areas are used.

From the first day of school, the teacher helpschildren become independent learners, so thatthey can think for themselves. Early in the schoolyear, time is used to teach routines that includewhole-class instruction, the use of learning cen-ters, self-directed independent work, coopera-tive work, and behaviors in need-based groups.Children learn the protocols for sitting on the

r 1 o 4



Ideas for Accountability While Children Work Independently

While children are working independently at centers, it is important that the teacher be ableto quickly check the status of the class to ensure that everyone is being productive. I havefound two ideas that work extremely well for managing center time in my classroom.

First, I created an "In-and-Out" board for each center. I took two heavy pieces of construc-

tion paper (111/2 by 17 inches) and, using a marker, divided it into an appropriate numberof rows and columns based on the number of students in my class. (For example, I have 20

students, so I divided my board into two columns and ten rows.) In each box I write the stu-

dent's name. Next to the board I have a basket of clothespins. As children complete work at

each center, they put a clothespin next to their name.My second strategy is an effective way to collect finished center work. Rather than have a

single basket, or a basket at each center, I provide a cubby for each child to file his or her

work in. An inexpensive way to do this is to buy cardboard shoe holders. One holder folds

into nine cubbies. I label each cubby with a student's name. When it comes time to check

the class's status, it is much easier to look at each individual student's cubby than to sortthrough piles of work for each center. I just check each cubby for the appropriate number

of recording sheets.

Sarah Crane, First-Grade Teacher

rug during lessons and how to take turns. Rulesare discussed and created by the class, so thatchildren feel some responsibility to follow them.Children learn these rules and routines so thatthey can function much of the time without theteacher. Teachers are consistent in their routinesand the enforcement of rules.

One of the more difficult times to manage dur-ing the school day is when children work in cen-ters while teachers meet with small groups fordirect instruction. Students need to master thesystem for using the centers, which the teachersimultaneously organizes for them. For instance,they need to know the number of children whocan be at a center at one time and how many cen-ter activities need to be completed in a given day.Children have to account for work accomplishedat centers as well. When the children becomeself-regulated learners, teachers can devote at-tention to working with small groups.

Teachers need to be aware of what is happen-ing in their room all the time. They need to posi-tion themselves so they can see every child.Therefore, for small-group meetings the table isplaced so that other children can be observed asthey work.

In the classrooms I visited, the environmentwas designed to support the carefully plannedactivities that took place in whole-group, small-group, paired, and individual settings. Thesequence of events was well thought out. Forexample, if children were sitting and listeningduring a whole-group activity, the next lessonwould include some movement and smallgroupings. When interviewed, all of the teachersagreed that if children are actively involved ininteresting experiences that are challenging butcan bring success, they are likely to remainengaged in their work (Morrow, Strickland, &Woo, 1998).

1 0 5


The teachers observed always spoke to chil-dren in soft, pleasant voices. When a child wasoff task, the teachers used the same tone of voicethat was used when giving positive feedback.The teachers had a large vocabulary filled withencouraging expressions, such as "You really dounderstand that, and I'll bet you can get it rightif you try." If children were off task, teachershelped redirect their efforts. Teachers alwaysrespected their students, and the respect wasreciprocated by the children. As one teacher said,"I treat the children as I would like to be treat-ed. I never talk down to them. I address them ina manner that demonstrates respect since I thinkthey appreciate this. In turn, I have found theytreat me and each other similarly."

The teachers in the rooms we observed all cre-ated the routines, procedures, rules, and respect-ful atmosphere identified in the research onexemplary and effective teaching. These teachershad knowledge of literacy strategies and how toorganize and manage instruction, thus providingfor a productive instructional atmosphere forearly literacy development.

References

Anderson, R. C., Wilkinson, I. A. G., & Mason, J. M.(1991). A microanalysis of the small-group, guidedreading lessons: Effects of an emphasis on globalstory meaning. Reading Research Quarterly, 26,417-439.

Augustine, D., Gruber, K., & Hanson, L. (1989). Coop-eration works. Educational Leadership, 46, 4-7.

Brown, M. (1990). Arthur's pet business. New York:Little, Brown.

Flack, M. (1932). Ask Mr. Bear. New York: Macmil-lan.

Forman, E., & Cazden, C. (1985). Exploring Vygot-skian perspectives in education: The cognitivevalue of peer interaction. In J. Wertsch (Ed.), Cul-ture, communication, and cognition: Vygotskian per-spectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Froebel, F. (1974). The education of man. Clifton, NJ:August Kelly.

Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (1987). Learningtogether and alone (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ:Prentice Hall.

Kellogg, S. (1989). Is your mama a llama? New York:Scholastic.

Lew, M., Mesch, D., Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R.(1986). Positive interdependence, academic andcollaborative skills group contingencies, and iso-lated students. American Educational Research Jour-nal, 23, 476-88.

Loughlin, C. E., & Martin, M. D. (1987). Supporting lit-eracy: Developing effective learning environments.New York: Teachers College Press.

Montessori, M. (1965). Spontaneous activity in educa-tion. New York: Schocken Books.

Moore, G. (1986). Effects of the spatial definition ofbehavior settings on children's behavior: A quasi-experimental field study. Journal of EnvironmentalPsychology, 6,205-231.

Morrow, L. M. (1990). Preparing the classroom envi-ronment to promote literacy during play. EarlyChildhood Research Quarterly, 5,537-554.

Morrow, L. M. (1997a). Literacy development in the earlyyears: Helping children read and write (3rd ed.).Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Morrow, L. M. (1997b). The literacy center: Contexts forreading and writing. York, ME: Stenhouse.

Morrow, L. M., Strickland, D., & Woo, D. G. (1998). Lit-eracy instruction in half- and whole-day kindergarten:Research to practice. Newark, DE: InternationalReading Association.

Morrow, L. M., Tracey, D., Woo, D., & Pressley, M.(1999). Characteristics of exemplary first gradeinstruction. The Reading Teacher, 52, 462-476.

Neuman, S., & Roskos, K. (1992). Literacy objects ascultural tools: Effects on children's literacy behav-iors in play. Reading Research Quarterly, 27, 202-225.

Olds, A. R. (1987). Designing settings for infants andtoddlers. In C. S. Weinstein & T. G. David (Eds.),Spaces for children: The built environment and childdevelopment (pp. 117-138). New York: Plenum Press.

Pressley, M., Rankin, J., & Yokoi, L. (1996). A surveyof the instructional practices of outstanding pri-mary-level literacy teachers. Elementary School Jour-nal, 96,363-384.

Rivlin, L., & Weinstein, C. S. (1984). Educationalissues, school settings, and environmental psy-chology. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 4,347-364.

Routman, R. (1991). Invitations: Changing as teachersand learners K-12. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Ruddell, R., & Ruddell, M. R. (1995). Teaching childrento read and write: Becoming an influential teacher.Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Rusk, R., & Scotland, J. (1979). Doctrines of the greateducators. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Slavin, R. E. (1987). Ability grouping and studentachievement in elementary schools: A best-evidence

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synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 57, 293-336.

Slavin, R. E. (1990). Cooperative learning: Theory, research,and practice. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Solomon, D., Watson, M. S., Delucchi, K. L., Schaps,E., & Battistich, V. (1988). Enhancing children'sprosocial behavior in the classroom. American Edu-cational Research Journal, 25(4), 527-554.

Weinstein, C. S. (1991). The classroom as a social con-

10,E

text for learning. Journal of Environmental Psycholo-gy, 2, 23-25.

Weinstein, C. S., & Mignano, A. J., Jr. (1996). Elemen-tary classroom management. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Wertsch, J. V. (1985). Vygotsky and the societal formationof mind. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Wyndham, R. (1968). Chinese Mother Goose rhymes.New York: Philomel Books.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Classroom Intervention Strategies:Supporting the Literacy

Development of Young Learnersat Risk


Dorothy Strickland makes use of what has beenlearned from successful special intervention pro-grams for struggling learners to suggest strate-gies that might be applied in the regular class-room.

For Reflection and Action: Inquireabout the special programs or class-room interventions offered to childrenexperiencing difficulty in reading in aschool with which you are familiar.Do special programs replace the regu-lar classroom instruction? In the caseof pullout programs, what kind ofcommunication occurs about theinterventions and the progress of chil-dren, and how often do these commu-nications take place? What specialattention is offered to struggling learn-ers by the regular classroom teacher?

Addressing the needs of young learners atrisk for failure is one of the most perplex-ing problems teachers face. Low achievers

need extra time, materials with which they canfeel successful, and strategies that work for them.Several factors have caused educators to turn toearly intervention to help students who are expe-riericing difficulty learning to read and write.

99 ..9

100 Dorothy S. Strickland

The Case for Early InterventionResearch indicates that the cycle of failure oftenstarts early in a child's school career. Stanovich(1986) argues, with good evidence, that childrenwho encounter problems in the beginning stagesof learning to read fall farther and farther behindtheir peers. Longitudinal studies (Juel, 1988)reveal that there is a nearly 90% chance that achild who is a poor reader at the end of grade 1will remain a poor reader at the end of grade 4.As they move through the grades, poor readersare apt to experience continued failure anddefeat, which may account for the tendency oflow-achieving students to drop out of school.

Another compelling reason to promote earlyintervention is that supplementary remedial pro-grams such as those funded by Title I and"replacement" programs that substitute for reg-ular in-class instruction have had mixed results(Johnston, Allington, & Afflerbach, 1985). Someargue that such programs cause classroom teach-ers to rely too much on special help and neglecttheir responsibility toward less able students.Others suggest that where these programs exist,instruction within and outside the classroom areoften at odds with one another. Supplementalprograms appear to work best when there is astrong compatible instructional program in theregular classroom. Regardless of the supple-mental help offered, however, more attentionneeds to be given to incorporating the best pre-vention and intervention procedures into regu-lar classroom instructional practice (Allington &Walmsley, 1995).

Increased demands to make every child areader by the end of the primary grades havealso spurred early intervention efforts. National,state, and local school reform movements haveraised expectations of what young learnersshould know and be able to do, and they speci-fy the grade levels at which children should beable to reach these goals. Standards have beenraised for all students regardless of who they are,where they live, their linguistic backgrounds,and whether or not they have a learning dis-ability. The gradual trend away from long-termremedial programs at all levels and the growingemphasis on early intervention, prevention, and

409

good "first teaching" have made the early gradesa key focus of reform.

Those who have turned their attention toearly intervention state that it is ultimately lesscostly than years of remediation, less costly thanretention, and less costly to students' self-esteem(Barnett, 1998). Removing the onus on self-esteem may be the most compelling reason toinstitute early intervention: teachers in remedi-al programs often observe that students whofeel they are failures frequently give up and stoptrying to learn despite adequate instructionalopportunities.

At this point, it seems fair to state that eventhough the press for early intervention is a wor-thy effort, later intervention remains a viablesolution for some students who were not givenadequate help during the early grades. Krashenand McQuillan (1998) argue that people can anddo become good readers later, by reading a lotabout whatever interests them. They suggest thatthe repeated act of reading itself makes themgood readers. This is a good point. But poorreaders are often caught in a catch-22: poor read-ers find reading difficult and unrewarding andso they avoid reading; reading is what makesgood readers, but poor readers find reading dif-ficult and unrewarding. Krashen and McQuillancaution that their arguments for late interven-tion are not arguments against early interven-tion but rather are offered to counteract thedogma of "once a poor reader, always a poorreader" (p. 409).

Numerous early intervention programs thattarget struggling readers and writers have beenintroduced successfully into school literacy pro-grams (Pikulski, 1994). Analyses of these pro-grams suggest some principles of instruction thatmay be helpful to struggling readers in the reg-ular classroom. They also suggest ways in whichexternal programs and regular classroom in-struction might be made more compatible inorder to support the struggling reader better.Regardless of the help children receive throughspecial programs, ongoing attention to theselearners in the regular classroom remains key toany attempt at early intervention.

This chapter addresses what teachers ofyoung children should know about helping the

Classroom Intervention Strategies: Supporting the Literacy Development of Young Learners at Risk 101

struggling reader and writer within the regularclassroom. The discussion includes

What is known about the development of suc-cessful beginning readers and writersFactors that militate against success in learn-ing to read and writeWhat is known about successful interventionprograms, and the application to teaching andlearning in the regular classroom

Although this chapter places particular em-phasis on children who are experiencing diffi-culty learning to read and write, the backgroundinformation and specific strategies described areintended to improve the instructional programfor all learners.

Successful Readers and WritersFor most children, learning to read and write fol-lows a typical pattern and evolves in relativelypredictable and satisfactory ways. Such childrengenerally have average or above-average lan-guage skills and a fair amount of motivating andpleasurable early childhood experience withbooks and literacy. They are cared for by adultswho involve them in purposeful literacy experi-ences during the early childhood years and pro-vide them with opportunities to identify lettersand environmental print, including their ownnames. Through rhyming, singing, and languageplay, these children are given opportunities todevelop an awareness of the internal structureof spoken words. They also hear explanationsabout language from responsive adults who lis-ten to them, talk with them, and help them de-velop an awareness of the contrasting nature ofspoken and written language.

The schools these children attend offer expe-riences that help them understand and use read-ing to make meaning with print, give them fre-quent and intensive opportunities to read andwrite, and help them learn about the nature ofour alphabetic writing system, the structure ofspoken and written words, and the joys of liter-ature. Although some of these children mayhave episodic difficulties with specific aspects ofliteracy learning, their overall progress is steady

and sure. They build successfully on the infor-mal experiences with literacy from their earliestyears as they encounter the more formal andcomplex tasks involved in conventional readingand writing.

Young Learners at Riskfor Failure

Just as we know a great deal about the charac-teristics of children who learn to read adequate-ly through rather typical home and school expe-riences, so we also know a great deal about thosefor whom learning to read is a highly challeng-ing and difficult task. This discussion identifiesseveral factors that can place children at risk forfailure in learning to read and write. They arenot cited here to place blame on the child or thechild's circumstances but to alert teachers to cer-tain variables that may have an impact on thelearning situation. Knowing learners as individ-uals who come to the classroom with well-defined influences on their lives is equally asimportant as (if not more important than) poringover the results of paper-and-pencil screeninginstruments designed to yield information aboutchildren's knowledge of letters, sounds, andwords. It should be noted that some of the riskfactors refer to the child's personal developmentand others refer to the group or situation inwhich the child's learning takes place. Learningto read and write may be extremely challengingand difficult for any of the following:

1. Children with a history of preschool languageimpairment. Although children vary widely intheir early language development, there areindicators outside the normal range, such assevere delay in pronunciation accuracy and inthe use of complex sentences, that signal lan-guage delay to parents, pediatricians, andcaregivers (Scarborough, 1998). Languagedelay is often part of a broader condition suchas general developmental disability, hearingimpairment (Conrad, 1979), or a neurologicalcondition. Reading problems are most likelyto occur when the language impairment issevere, broad in scope, and persistent.

11 0


2. Children with limited proficiency in English.When a child's home language is other thanEnglish, the likelihood of reading difficulty isincreased. This is particularly true if readinginstruction in English begins before the childhas acquired oral proficiency in English (Au-gust & Hakuta, 1997).

Similarly, when a child's home language ordialect is other than standard English, the like-lihood of reading difficulty is increased. Aswith second language learners, this difficultyis not a result of any inherent deficiency in thedialect or in the child. Rather, it arises fromdifferences between the child's dialect and thedialect of instruction. Learning is impededwhen these differences are not taken into con-sideration during instruction or when thechild's language is viewed in a stereotypicalway to make negative judgments about his orher learning capacity (Labov, 1995; Smither-man, 1977).

3. Children whose parents had difficulty learning toread. If a child is diagnosed with a readingdisability, there is a higher than normal chancethat other family members also had difficultieswith reading (Gilger, Pennington, & De Fries,1991; Volger, De Fries, & Decker, 1985).

4. Children with attention deficit-hyperactivity dis-order. Long-term studies indicate that fromthe beginning of formal schooling, readingdisability is relatively common in childrenwith inattention problems (31% in first grade)and become even more frequent among thesechildren as they mature (Shaywitz, Fletcher,& Shaywitz, 1995).

5. Children who lack motivation to learn to read.Children who have never experienced pur-poseful and pleasurable experiences withbooks and literacy are apt to be unenthusias-tic about learning to read and write. Thosewho experience continued failure tend toavoid reading and thus deny themselves themost important means to improve their read-ing abilities (Snow, Barnes, Chandler, Good-man, & Hemphill, 1991).

6. Children from poor neighborhoods. Childrenwho attend schools and live in communitieswhere low socioeconomic status is widespreadare more likely to be at risk for failure in read-

.L- ,

ing. Families that lack sufficient resources toprovide adequate housing, health care, andnutrition for their children are less likely tofocus on their educational needs (Committeeon the Prevention of Reading Difficulties inYoung Children, 1998).

7. Children who attend schools in which the class-room practices are deemed ineffective. Classroompractices in ineffective schools (regardless ofcommunity socioeconomic status) are charac-terized by significantly lower rates of studenttime on task, less teacher presentation of newmaterial, lower rates of teacher communica-tion of high academic expectations, fewerinstances of positive reinforcement, moreclassroom interruptions, more discipline prob-lems, and classroom ambiance generally ratedas less friendly (Teddlie, Kirby, & Stringfield,1989).

Although classroom teachers need to be awareof the factors that often accompany low achieve-ment in reading, none of these factors is an auto-matic barrier to the attainment of literacy. Nor doindividual factors function alone as single causaldeterminants or predictors of an individualchild's reading problems. For example, althoughlow reading achievement is a widespread prob-lem among Latino students, linguistic differencesare not solely responsible for the high degree ofrisk faced by these children. Many children withlimited English proficiency come from homeswhere the parents are poorly educated and thefamily income is low. Similarly, African-Ameri-can students who speak a nonstandard dialect ofEnglish are apt to live in poor neighborhoodsand to attend schools in which achievement ischronically low. In such cases, co-occurringgroup risk factors such as the socioeconomic cir-cumstances of the child's family, the child'shome literacy background, the neighborhoodwhere the child lives, and the quality of theinstruction in the school the child attends mustbe taken into account to fully comprehend theproblem. A child from a low socioeconomic sta-tus background in a generally moderate- toupper-status school or community is at far lessrisk than that same child in a whole school orcommunity of low-socioeconomic-status children

.x.11


(Committee on the Prevention of Reading Diffi-culties in Young Children, 1998). Simply put, thefactors listed here are those most often associat-ed with reading difficulties and so must be con-sidered when decisions regarding policy andpractice are made for children who are experi-encing difficulty with reading and writing.

Successful Intervention inthe Regular Classroom

What can be done? Fortunately, the knowledgebase for improving literacy has never been rich-er. Researchers and practitioners have filled theliterature with an abundant research base as wellas practical suggestions for educators, policymakers, and others as they consider how theymight help all children meet today's higher liter-acy standards. Obviously, many children willneed help from specialists beyond that of the reg-ular classroom. Nevertheless, the instructionreceived in the regular classroom will remain atthe center of the child's literacy program. Suc-cessful early intervention programs suggest somekey areas requiring attention for students expe-riencing difficulty with reading (Pikulski, 1994):

Time and timingSchool and classroom instructional organiza-tion and managementInstructional experiences and materialsThe nature of the instructionMonitoring progressHome/school connectionsThe professional development of teachers

Many of these factors are examined in depth inother chapters of this book. The purpose here isto present them as the basis for planning a unifiedprogram of early intervention within the regularprogram. Following is a more detailed descrip-tion of these considerations with suggestions foraddressing each within the regular classroom,regardless of the support programs available.

Time and Timing

Not only is the timing of intervention important(i.e., extra support should be timed during the

early school years) for children who are experi-encing difficulty, struggling learners also needmore time on task. Pullout programs and othertypes of special intervention programs should beconsidered supplementary, not as replacementsfor the time spent in an instructional program thataddresses individual students' needs within theregular classroom. Children who are given extrasupport outside the classroom often need contin-ued support in the regular classroom even afterthey are released successfully from an externalsupport program. Large blocks of uninterruptedtime in which small-group, personalized instruc-tion is offered should be regularly scheduled forlearners who are experiencing difficulty. Fortu-nately, small-group instruction is beneficial for alllearners, whether or not they need extra support.

School and Classroom Organizationand Management

Issues related to classroom organization cannotbe addressed apart from a consideration of theschool's and the district's organizational struc-ture. A district-wide and schoolwide infrastruc-ture in which support services are identified andcoordinated is needed to provide a supportiveenvironment for what happens in the classroom.According to Crevola and Hill (1998), the expe-rience of two prominent early intervention pro-grams, described in Success for All: A Summary ofResearch (Slavin et al., 1996) and Reading Recov-ery: A Guidebook for Teachers in Training (Clay,1993), indicates that ensuring that all studentsmake satisfactory progress in early literacy istypically beyond the capacity of the individualclassroom teacher working in isolation. As Cre-ole and Hill put it, "Dramatic improvements areachievable within the context of a fully imple-mented, comprehensive program that involvesboth system- and school-wide commitment andcoordination" (p. 133). Their Early Literacy Re-search Project (ELRP), currently in operation inAustralia, makes use of some of the elementslimned in Success for All and Reading Recovery toprovide a comprehensive, schoolwide plan. Ele-ments of the ELRP include a balanced classroomliteracy program, in which children are involvedin a variety of experiences with oral and written

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language; daily assessment, including runningrecords; one-to-one tutoring using reading re-covery-trained teachers; a special emphasis onpreschool education; a home-school support pro-gram; ongoing professional development; addi-tional assistance in the form of a schoolwidecoordinator; and the fostering of high expecta-tions for students, along with targeted goals forachievement.

In the United States, the focus of many feder-ally funded educational programs has shiftedfrom the program to the school to avoid com-partmentalizing children's experiences as theyapproach literacy (Plunkett, 1998, p. 112). Theimportance of the classroom teacher workingcollaboratively with an entire instructional teamis further defined by Plunkett:

It is no longer acceptable for many at-risk chil-dren to be successful for only 10% to 20% of theirtime in school, during the "categorical" portion ofthe day. When 80% to 90% of the school time is notworking for a large number of children, a changein the allocation and use of resources is very muchin order. We must seek to generalize and exportthe practices and instructional strategies that areeffective with the categorical programs and chil-dren across the entire school day in order to gen-eralize the success of such children (p. 112).

One of the things that classroom teachers cando to provide an organizational structure thatattends to the needs of struggling studentsthroughout the day is to use flexible grouping fordifferentiated instruction. Flexible groupingaddresses student variability by providing forvaried grouping patterns, varied materials, andvaried instructional tasks.

Small-group instruction is particularly crucialfor the struggling reader, who often needs a sec-ond or third try at learning the reading strategiespreviously introduced to the entire class. Smallsimilar-ability or similar-needs groups allowteachers to tailor instruction. They offer oppor-tunities for guided practice under the watchfuleye of the teacher, who uses these opportunitiesto monitor children's reading behaviors andadjust instruction accordingly. Moreover, whenchildren work in small groups, the teacher ismore likely to hold their attention. Children who

are experiencing difficulty are likely to be theleast attentive and focused. Flexible groupingalso provides opportunities for children to workin pairs and in small groups with other childrenof different abilities and interests. Thus, the stig-ma long associated with long-term ability group-ing is eliminated. Struggling learners also needopportunities for planned, indirect instruction.It is here that skills and strategies can be appliedindependently without benefit of constant teachersupervision. Independent activities yield the gen-uine products of learning.

Instructional Experiences and Materials

Struggling readers and writers need opportuni-ties to work with a wide array of materials. Toooften whole-group activities use materials wellbeyond their reading levels, and their inde-pendent work consists of a steady diet of work-sheets and workbooks. Like all learners, thesereaders need materials that give them the confi-dence to take the necessary risks involved ingradually mastering harder and harder materi-al. Guided reading instruction should make useof texts that are suited to students' ability levelsand gradually increase in difficulty. Figure 8.1lists the kinds of instructional experiences andmaterials that all children need opportunities towork with on a regular basis. These include read-ing aloud to students, shared reading, guidedreading, and independent reading. The mainstrategies are further discussed below.

Reading aloud by the teacher is an importantcomponent of the struggling reader's literacyprogram. Teachers should select stories,poems, and informational texts to read aloudthat help expand and strengthen the back-ground knowledge of their students. Manypoor readers are unable to anticipate what aword might be simply because they lack back-ground knowledge about the world and thefamiliarity with varied text structures that arerequired to make reasonable predictions.Shared reading and writing makes use of textsthat an entire group of children can see andwork with at once. This is extremely valuablefor the child who is having trouble figuring

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SELECTING AND USING MATERIALS FOR READING

Children experiencing difficulty need daily opportunities to read a variety of meaningful texts.

Reading Aloud

Teacher models reading process, students listenand respond.

MATERIALS: Storybooks, content materials, poetry,charts.

CHOICE: Usually teacher's choice.GROUPING FORMAT. Usually whole group.PURPOSES:

To stretch students beyond their reading levels,particularly in content areas under study; expandvocabulary; develop conceptsTo expose students to varied forms of text (fiction,nonfiction, poetry)To enlist varied forms of response (discussion,writing, drama, art, movement, etc.)To study various genres, literary devices, writer'scraft

Struggling readers benefit from listening, respond-ing, and expanding their knowledge, vocabulary,and concepts.

Shared Reading

Teacher leads, students participate.

MATERIALS: Primarily enlarged texts visible to stu-dents; may include content materials, storybooks,charts, poems, songs.

cHacE: Usually teacher's choice.GROUPING FORMAT: Whole group or small group.PURPOSES:

To teach concepts about print and print conven-tionsTo teach comprehension and interpretationTo analyze textual features: word study (e.g.,phonics, word analogies, structural analysis)

Struggling readers benefit from highly visibledemonstrations of the reading process. Conceptsand conventions of print are made very accessiblefor them. Examination of textual features (letters,words, and parts of words) helps develop an under-standing of the alphabetic principle and the natureof written language.

Word Study

Teacher leads, students participate.

At prekindergarten level: Largely oral activities fos-tering phonemic awareness.At kindergarten level and above: phonics, structuralanalysis, and sight vocabulary.

MATERIALS: Core program, trade books, charts, envi-ronmental print.

cHoicE: Usually teacher's choice.GROUPING FORMAT: Small or whole group.PURPOSES:

To provide systematic, focused instruction at theword levelTo provide additional support for students whoneed it

Struggling readers benefit from focused instructionand direct experiences applying the alphabetic codeand sight vocabulary. The examination of textualfeatures and linguistic patterns helps to supportreading and spelling.

Guided Reading

Teacher monitors for application of strategies.

MATERIALS: Books or materials, that modestly chal-lenge the reader.

CHOICE: Usually teacher's choice.GROUPING FORMAT: Small group.PURPOSES:

To practice application of specific strategies/skillsin highly focused mannerTo provide opportunity for teacher-monitoring ofapplication of skills and strategiesTo provide instruction as close as possible to stu-dents' instructional levels while gradually increas-ing the difficulty of the material

Struggling readers benefit when they read materialswith which they can practice what they havelearned.

Independent Reading

Teacher monitors for time on task.

MATERIALS: Books or materials with minimal challenge; varied types.CHOICE: Usually student's choice; may be negotiated choice (teacher and

student agree).GROUPING FORMAT. Individual, pairs, small group (response circles).

Struggling readers develop fluency, automaticity, and confidence from frequent,intensive practice in reading familiar or new texts of minimal challenge.

BEST COPY MAILABLE

Figure 8.1

11ioq


out what reading is all about. During sharedreading and writing, students observe andparticipate as the teacher demonstrates theuse of reading and writing strategies such asusing initial and final sounds, looking at wordendings, breaking words into parts, and gen-erally using various conventions of print tomake meaning with text. All of this helpsmake the processes more transparent andaccessible to the learner, a critical element forthose children who need extraordinary assis-tance.Word study fosters recognition of the individ-ual sounds of words and an understanding ofthe alphabetic principle and its application toreading and spelling. Activities involvephonemic awareness, phonics, structural anal-ysis, and the development of sight vocabularyGuided reading involves teachers' structuring alearning situation in which children work insmall groups on material that is modestlychallenging to them. Children's abilities toapply and practice the strategies they havelearned are monitored by the teacher. Becausethe instructional material is tailored as close-ly as possible to learners' levels of achieve-ment and needs, guided reading allows allchildren to apply their developing abilities tomaterial they can handle.Independent reading is as important for low-achieving children as for any others. In fact,independent reading is what struggling read-ers most need to practice. Struggling readersand writers should be encouraged to selectbooks that match their interests and readingabilities. Teachers can assist them in findingappropriate books by designating certainareas or baskets of books for their use and bygiving them tips on how to select books ontheir own. Teachers should not feel reluctantto establish parameters for independent bookselection. This is not a negative practice. Strug-gling readers may have difficulty selectingappropriate books on their own and may feeloverwhelmed when there are too many booksto choose from. Obviously, if a child wants tostretch a bit and read something that may beconsidered too difficult, he or she should beallowed to give it a try. Children will often

stick with a difficult book if the content ap-peals to them.

Children should be allowed to reread familiarbooks. This helps build confidence and fluency,a skill that requires special attention for lesscapable readers. Opportunities for rereadingmay occur through choral reading, partner read-ing, reading selected parts aloud, and readingaloud at home.

Nature of the Instruction

All children need to be helped to become strate-gic readers who think with texts. This is no lesstrue for the struggling child. Too often teacherstreat these learners as if they were incapable ofhigher-level thinking. Skills should not be taughtto them in a manner suggesting they can learnonly by accumulating disparate pieces of infor-mation. Some instructional strategies that pro-mote thinking with text for all students are (1)the use of multilevel activities that allow teach-ers to give the same task to the entire group, withthe understanding that each child will respondto his or her best ability (2) specific instructionin self-monitoring and self-assessment, (3) in-struction that makes use of modeling anddemonstrations, and (4) linking reading andwriting instruction.

Documenting and Monitoring Learning

Keeping track of how well students are doing isat the heart of a successful program in whichinstruction is differentiated, and it is absolutelycrucial if teachers are to identify and address theneeds of children experiencing difficulty. Teach-ers who respect and respond to variability areconstantly alert to individual needs, whetherthey indicate long-term additional support orshort-term attention. But merely documentingprogress is not enough. The instructional deci-sions that are based on that documentation arewhat really count. Increasingly, teachers are inte-grating a system of ongoing, informal classroomassessment into their instructional programs.They have discovered that this type of docu-mentation reveals student needs more accurately

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SAMPLE INDEPENDENT READING CONFERENCE RECORD FORM

Student's Name

DATE BOOK COMMENTS

Grade 1

Feb. 3

Feb. 10

Feb. 17

Freight Train (Crews)

Fresh Fall Leaves (Franco)

Wheels on the Bus

Rereading of big book, largely memorized. Knows somecolor words and the word car in isolation. Gaining confi-dence. Very proud of skills.

Likes this book, though some words are very hard. Willreread with a buddy

Good for fluency, since student has sung this in kinder-garten and grade 1. Matched and read individual wordsquite well, indicating he's really reading.

Figure 8.2

than norm-referenced standardized tests or eventeacher-developed paper-and-pencil tests (Calfee& Hiebert, 1988).

Keeping district curriculum objectives inmind, teachers can engage students in literature-based activities and still chart progress on tar-geted strategies over time. Progress can be chart-ed in several ways:

as the progress of the individual learner inrelation to him- or herself,as the progress of the individual relative tothe group, andas the progress of the group as a whole.

All of these approaches offer insight into whatskills need extra emphasis. Teachers must decidewhere that emphasis should be placed: at thewhole-group level, at the level of small, needs-based groups, or at the level of individual con-ferences.

A variety of tools can be used to collect infor-mation about the progress of learners in theclassroom. Establishing an assessment plan isimportant. Assessment may occur informally,through large-group and small-group observa-tions and during one-on-one conferences. It mayinvolve the systematic collection of informationthrough the use of running records of students'oral reading, rubrics containing characteristicsof acceptable student writing, and checklists of

various performance indicators. Students shouldbe encouraged to participate in the assessmentprocess by commenting on their progress as theysee it and by expressing opinions about wherethey think they need to make special efforts. Theassessment methods should not be onerous oroverly time-consuming. They should be inte-grated into the instructional program, be rela-tively easy to manage, and provide useful infor-mation. Assessment should be deliberate andsystematic over time, not random or occasional.There should be some evidence that it is used toinform instruction. For example, observationsduring whole-group instruction may lead toshort-term skills-based grouping for childrenexperiencing similar difficulties. Learners shouldbe evaluated in terms of their personal growthfirst, then compared with the group.

Figure 8.2 shows a useful form for trackingindependent reading. Brief one-to-one confer-ences with children about their self-selectedreading go a long way toward giving this kindof activity the stature it deserves as the mostimportant practice for reading development(Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding, 1988). In the past,too often only those children who finished theirwork early had time for independent reading.Enlightened about its importance, today's teach-ers are more apt to make independent reading anintegral pirt of their reading programs. As a part

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FORM FOR BUDDY READING AT HOME

TO: AT-HOME READING BUDDY

FROM: (Teacher's name)

PLEASE READ THE ENCLOSED BOOK WITH YOUR READING BUDDY, DO AT LEAST ONE ACTIVITY,FILL OUT THE FORM, AND RETURN IT TOMORROW.

THANK YOU.

(Name of child)

We read (Name of book)

We also (Briefly tell what else you did)

together.

Below are some suggested activities that can be done with any book:

Discuss the story. Write a story like the one you read.

Read the story again with another reading buddy.Draw a picture to go with the book.Tape record a second reading at home.

Make a puppet of one of the story characters.Act out parts of the story.Write about your favorite part.

Signed by (Reading buddy) Date

Figure 8.3

of their language arts standards, some schooldistricts actually specify the number of books tobe read each year. Teachers are also aware thatindependent reading is an effective way to adjustmaterials to students' reading levels and inter-ests, an important goal for children experienc-ing difficulty.

Children can, of course, keep their own rec-ords of their personal reading. However, per-sonalized conferences take no more than 5 min-utes and allow the teacher to document andmonitoring progress. A three-ring binder withpages for each child provides a quick and easymethod for recording information. Pages shouldbe arranged alphabetically by last name for easyreference. Brief conferences of no more than 5minutes are scheduled for each child every week

and should employ the following format: (1) abrief discussion of the book, (2) the student'sreading aloud of selected parts, and (3) recordkeeping by the teacher. The independent readingconference, while not as specific or as detailed asrunning records (Clay, 1993) or miscue analysis(Goodman & Marek, 1996), is a quick way togather information on a regular basis within theframework of flexible grouping.

Home-School Connection

A systematic program of home support, with abuilt-in monitoring system, should be in place.This program keeps parents and other caregiversinformed of the school's expectations and theirchildren's progress. Parents of students who are

11



Connecting to the Classroom Teacher

One of the biggest challenges I have is finding time to share with classroom teachers boththe success stories and the concerns I have about students. This is important, since manystudents receive extra help from a variety of sourcesTitle I, in-school volunteer tutors, at-home tutors, and their classroom teacher. Although the variety of support seems on the sur-face helpful, a child's instruction can be fragmented if the help is not coordinated. For mypart, I try to meet with teachers, if only briefly, as often as I can. This includes arranging onceeach marking period to suspend classes with students for one day and schedule meetingswith teachers before, during, and after schoolwhenever they are available. I developed asimple system in which I provide a 5 x 8-inch card for each child and a package of perma-nent adhesive labels for myself. At the end of an instructional session I jot down a commentabout at least one or two children. The cards facilitate discussion during the very brief peri-odic meetings I manage with teachers and as documentation for my records that goes wellbeyond what standardized tests and inventories reveal.

Gladys Napoli, Title I Teacher

experiencing difficulty are particularly con-cerned about their children's progress. They usu-ally want to be involved and kept informed.Keeping them involved makes it less likely thatthey will be surprised about their children'sprogress. Home activities should emphasizeindependent reading and writing, should be eas-ily monitored by parent and teacher, and shouldnot be overly time-consuming. If the text is onethat the child is to read aloud, it should be afamiliar one that has been practiced at schooland allows the child to "show off." Figure 8.3 isan example of a reading activity form that can beused over and over again with different books.

Professional Development

A program of ongoing professional developmentthat stresses the responsibility of every staffmember for struggling readers and writers cango a long way toward improving the instruc-tional program for these students (Strickland,1995, 1998). Areas of focus that need to be ad-dressed include (1) how young children learn to

read and write, and the implications for instruc-tion, (2) instructional strategies that supportwhat is known about how young children learnliteracy, (3) merging instruction with assessmentin beginning reading programs, and (4) evaluat-ing the beginning reading program.

Early intervention is a concept whose time hascome. Teachers of beginning reading will beinvolved in efforts to reform early education inways that accelerate literacy learning for all chil-dren. Efforts to work with children experiencingdifficulty will be initiated through special pro-grams and in the regular classroom. It is impor-tant that these programs be coordinated so thatthe child experiences a unified approach toinstruction. Recognizing the reality of learnervariability and approaching it as a natural partof instruction rather than something to workaround, correct, or complain about is importantto the progress of every child. Providing quality,differentiated instruction and support so that allchildren have the opportunity to learn is the bestway to express one's belief that all children canlearn.

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ReferencesAllington, R. L., & Walmsley, S. A. (Eds.). (1995). No

quick fix. New York: Teachers College Press.Anderson, R., Wilson, P. T., & Fielding, L. (1988).

Growth in reading and how children spend theirtime outside of school. Reading Research Quarterly,23,285-303.

August, D. A., & Hakuta, K. (Eds.). (1997). Improvingschooling for language-minority children: A researchagenda. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Barnett, W. S. (1998). Long-term effects on cognitivedevelopment and school success. In W. S. Barnett& S. S. Boocock (Eds.), Early care and education forchildren in poverty (pp. 11-44). Albany, NY: SUNYPress.

Calfee, R., & Hiebert, E. (1988). The teacher's role inusing assessment to improve learning. In C. V. Bun-derson (Ed.), Assessment in the service of learning.Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.

Clay, M. (1993). Reading recovery: A guidebook for teach-ers in training. Auckland, New Zealand: Heine-mann.

Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficultiesin Young Children. (1998). Report. Washington, DC:National Academy Press.

Conrad, R. (1979). The deaf school child. London: Har-per & Row.

Crevola, C. A., & Hill, P. W. (1998). Evaluation of awhole-school approach to prevention and inter-vention in early literacy. Journal of Education for Stu-dents Placed at Risk, 3,133-158.

Gilger, J. W., Pennington, B. F., & DeFries, J. C. (1991).Risk for reading disability as a function of familyhistory in three family studies. Reading and Writing:An Interdisciplinary Journal, 3,205-217.

Goodman, K., & Marek, A. (1996). Retrospective miscueanalysis. Katonah, NY: Richard C. Owen.

Johnston, P. A., Allington, R. L., & Afflerbach, P. (1985).The congruence of classroom and remedial readinginstruction. Elementary School Journal, 85, 465-478.

Juel, C. (1988, April). Learning to read and write: A lon-gitudinal study of fifty -four children from first throughfourth grade. Paper presented at the annual meetingof the American Educational Research Association,New Orleans, LA.

Krashen, S., & McQuillan, J. (1998). The case for lateintervention: Once a good reader, always a goodreader. In C. Weaver (Ed.), Reconsidering a balancedapproach to reading. Urbana, IL: National Council ofTeachers of English.


Labov, W. (1995). Can reading failure be reversed? Alinguistic approach to the question. In V. L. Gads-den & D. A. Wagner (Eds.), Literacy among African-American youth. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Pikulski, J. (1994). Preventing reading failure: A re-view of five effective programs. Reading Teacher, 48,30-39.

Plunkett, V. R. (1998). A thoughtful look a resourcesand change through Title I schoolwide programs.Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 3,111-114.

Scarborough, H. H. (1998). Early identification of chil-dren at risk for reading disabilities: Phonologicalawareness and some other promising predictors. InK. Shapiro, P. J. Accardo, & A. J. Capute (Eds.), Spe-cific reading disability: A view of the spectrum (pp.77-121). Timonium, MD: York Press.

Shaywitz, B. A., Fletcher, J. M., & Shaywitz, S. E.(1995). Defining and classifying learning disabili-ties and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.Journal of Child Neurology, 10(Suppl. 1), S50-S57.

Slavin, R. E., Madden, N. A., Dolan, L. J., Wasik, B. A.,Ross, S. M., Smith, L., & Dianda, M. (1996). Successfor all: A summary of research: Journal of Educationfor Students Placed at Risk, 1,41-76.

Smitherman, G. (1977) Talkin' and testifyin': The lan-guage of black America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Snow, C. E., Barnes, W. S., Chandler, J., Goodman, I.F., & Hemphill, L. (1991). Unfulfilled expectations:Home and school influences on literacy. Cambridge:Harvard University Press.

Stanovich, K: E. (1986). Matthew effects in reading:Some consequences of individual differences in theacquisition of literacy. Reading Research Quarterly,21, 360-407.

Strickland, D. S. (1995). Pre-elementary programs: Amodel for professional development. In S. Wepn-er, J. Feeley, & D. Strickland (Eds.), The administra-tion and supervision of reading programs. New York:Teachers College Press.

Strickland, D. S. (1998). Professional developmentmodels for program implementation. In P. D. Pear-son (Ed.), Final report, New York State Reading Sym-posium. Albany, NY: State Education Department.

Teddlie, C., Kirby, P., & Stringfield, S. (1989). Effectivevs. ineffective schools: Observable differences inthe classroom. American Journal of Education, 97,221-236.

Volger, G. P., DeFries, J. C., & Decker, S. N. (1985). Fam-ily history as an indicator of risk for reading dis-ability. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 18, 419-421.

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CHAPTER NINE

Teaching Young Childrento Be Writers

Karen Bromley

1101111

Karen Bromley addresses what is known aboutyoung children's writing and offers strategies todevelop and encourage it.

11.1

For Reflection and Action: Reflect on thedramatic changes in writing instructionin kindergarten and primary grade class-rooms. What are the major developments?How is the new knowledge reflected inyour classroom or in those you haveobserved?

Most kindergarten and first- and second-grade classrooms look very differenttoday from the way they did a decade

ago. One difference is the huge increase in theamount and kind of writing that occurs. Researchon young children's language development andemergent literacy has changed teachers' under-standings, philosophies, and literacy practices(Butler & Clay, 1982; Holdaway, 1979; Tea le &Sulzby, 1989). Among the key ideas that haveemerged from this research are the following:

Children come to school knowing how to uselanguage.Reading and writing develop together, notseparately.Models, collaboration, and choices promotewriting.The intentional teaching of writing developsyoung writers.

This chapter provides vignettes of severalteachers who believe young children can be

120

112 Karen Bromley

writers and who teach writing in different ways.The instructional strategies they use are fineexamples of ways to promote writing develop-ment in young children.

Beth's First Grade:An IntroductionBeth Spiro teaches first grade in Benjamin Frank-lin Elementary School in Binghamton, New York.She considers many of her students to be at riskfor failure because they have had few experi-ences with books and print. So, Beth builds hercurriculum around writing. In September, stu-dents begin their careers as writers by scribbling,drawing, and experimenting with graphics. Howdoes this activity relate to writing? Just as bab-bling precedes talk, scribbling and drawing pic-tures precede writing because they emergebefore formal printed language develops. Formost children, talk is also fundamental to writ-ing. During "Share and Tell," young childrendelight in telling each other about their first writ-ing attempts.

When children begin formal writing, their orallanguage is the basis for much of what theywrite. They quickly realize that speech canbecome print and that what they say can be writ-ten down. Later, as writing proficiency develops,the vocabulary and language patterns used inwriting often become more sophisticated thanthe spoken language.

Years of teaching have shown Beth that forstudents to become literate, they need engage-ment with language through immersion in texts ofall kinds and demonstrations of how texts are con-structed and used (Cambourne, 1988). As a re-sult, she fills her classroom with all kinds of printand media that she and her students use, includ-ing books, magazines, newspapers, pamphlets,the Internet, stories, letters, lists, art, poetry,directions, and recipes. Beth models reading andwriting. She has high expectations of her stu-dents and communicates a "can-do" attitude tothem about their abilities.

Beth also believes that collaboration amongstudents and with colleagues enriches andstrengthens teaching and learning. She knows

the power of social interactions for learning andthat students need to have real purposes andaudiences for their work. She knows how impor-tant it is for students to receive appropriate andpositive feedback and to feel comfortable enoughto make mistakes as they try new strategies andideas. For these reasons, Beth and her studentscreate many collaborative books as a class. Howdoes she manage this with first graders, many ofwhom are struggling with literacy? First, shepromotes collaborative literacy learning, withlots of shared reading and intentional demon-strations and modeling of the writing processwith her students. Beth encourages students tocollaborate as they read and write by remindingthem that everyone in the class is a literacyteacher.

Shared ReadingShared reading stimulates language and conceptdevelopment in young learners and builds theirfamiliarity with and understanding of printedtexts (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996; Holdaway, 1979).Shared reading is a social activity in which chil-dren engage together in reading and listening tomeaningful, predictable stories. It is an enjoyableactivity through which children acquire reading-like behaviors as the teacher models the readingprocess, pointing to words as they are readaloud. Young students learn the concepts of print(e.g., letter, word, sentence, paragraph, punctu-ation marks). They learn book concepts (e.g.,title, author, illustrator, left-to-right progression,story grammar). When students are familiar withthe text they can fill in words or phrases theteacher leaves out, predict what might happennext, or read along with classmates.

Typically, shared reading is done with a "bigbook," an enlarged version of a children's book,that sits on an easel or chalkboard ledge and isbig enough for the entire class to see as they readtogether. The predictable books listed in Figure9.1 are characterized by simple language, rhyme,repetition, and a close relationship between textand illustrations, and many have a cumulativepattern or easily distinguished sequence ofevents.

12

Teaching Young Children to Be Writers 113

A SELECTED LIST OFPREDICTABLE STORIES

Carlstrom, N. (1986). Jesse Bear, what will youwear? New York: Macmillan.

Cade, E. (1981). The vety hungry caterpillar. NewYork: Putnam.

Carle, E. (1993). Today is Monday. New York:Philomel.

DeRegniers, B. (1995). What can you do with ashoe? New York: HarperCollins.

Hawkins, C., & Hawkins, J. (1987). / know an oldlady who swallowed a fly. New York: Putnam.

Hurd, T. (1984). Mama don't allow. New York:Harper.

London, J. (1997). I see the moon and the moonsees me. New York: Viking.

Martin, B. (1970). Brown bear, brown bear, whatdo you see? New York: Holt.

Neitzel, S. (1995). The bag I'm taking to Grand-ma's house. New York: Greenwillow.

Shaw, N. (1992). Sheep eat out. New York:Houghton Mifflin.

Weeks, S. (1994). Crocodile smile. New York:HarperCollins.

Figure 9.1

Big books are best used in a relaxed, cooper-ative, read-aloud environment in which childrencan make mistakes without fear of negative con-sequences (Morrow, 1997). Shared reading helpsmost readers, but it particularly helps emergentreaders, struggling readers, and those learningEnglish as a second language because they learnhow to read in an environment in which they cantake risks to successfully figure out what printsays.

Many companies publish big books, and sev-eral basal reader series include them with theirmaterials for early readers. In addition, teachersenlarge poems, songs, riddles, jingles, jump-roperhymes, and language experience stories to addto their collections of classroom reading materi-als (Slaughter, 1993). As well as published bigbooks, Beth also uses books created by previousstudents for shared reading. Often the children'sfriends or older siblings are the authors, and thisdelights them.

Interactive and CollaborativeWriting

How does shared reading relate to writing?Much as steel beams support an office building,so does reading support writing. Written textsdemonstrate standard form and spelling foryoung writers (Bean & Bouffler, 1997). Bethknows that as her students read, they learn thestructure of stories and the form of written lan-guage.

Beth guides her students in various forms ofinteractive writing (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996).They create large-print lists, charts, letters,poems, recipes, stories, and retold group experi-ences together. Each piece of writing is readtogether many times. Through these experiences,Beth models speech-to-print correspondence,left-to-right directionality, the concept of word,word analysis, sound-to-print matching, letterformations, spelling patterns, capitalization,punctuation, and self-correcting.

Beth uses all kinds of children's literaturethroughout the year, but in September she andher students read alphabet books and countingbooks, which become the stimulus for interac-tive writing and collaboration. Before expectingher students to draw and write, Beth models bydrawing a picture and creating letters andwords for a page in an alphabet or countingbook. Class books have titles like Our Book ofMm (Bb, Rr, Pp, . .) and Our Book of Five-5(Six-6, Seven-7, . ..).

To create an alphabet book, each child takes apiece of paper, chooses a letter, and draws objectsof his or her choicesuch as monkey, mailbox,mittenthat begin with the same letter. Bethmoves among the five large tables in her class-room where children sit in groups, and she printseach child's word on a label so the child can copyit onto his or her own page. As children becomemore capable, they write their own words.

In many classrooms, teachers set up writingcenters equipped with crayons, regular pencils,colored pencils, felt-tipped markers, correctiontape and fluid, erasers, stapler, scissors, holepunches, metal rings, and all kinds and colors ofpaper (e.g., plain white and colored, lined and

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unlined, colored construction, tagboard for bookcovers) where children can write. When thewriting center is close to the classroom library,children have books nearby to read and use asmodels. Beth encourages her ESL students andstruggling first language users to work in pairsin her writing center to support each other.

One special kind of book often found in writ-ing centers, the shape book, inspires young chil-dren to write. Beth makes blank books in shapeskeyed to the season or a special occasion andkeeps her writing center stocked with them. Inthe fall she makes stapled books with plainwhite paper pages and orange constructionpaper covers in pumpkin shapes. She makesapple-shaped books with red covers, valentinebooks with pink covers, dinosaur books withgreen covers, and so on.

These shape books work well for pattern poet-ry (see Figure 9.2). After the class chooses atopicsay, pumpkinsthe students examineseveral pumpkins, cut one open, taste cookedpumpkin, and read about the life cycle of apumpkin. Then Beth helps her children come upwith a list of words to describe pumpkins. Nextshe models how to write a poem in a pumpkinshape, for example, five lines of one, two, three,three, and one word per line:

AuthorsGood, creative.

Think, plan, write.Revise pumpkin poems.

Excellent!

Beth teaches her students to write this kind ofpoetry as a way to build vocabulary, increasespelling awareness, and develop early countingskills. For many children she focuses on punc-tuation and capital letters later, since choosingand copying words is challenging enough forsome.

Beth laminates each child's poem after thechild has made corrections and read it to herand the class. Then she punches holes in eachpoem and inserts rings to hold the book togeth-er. She leaves these books in the writing center.Her children enjoy reading them, and theybecome some of the most popular books in theclassroom.

1490,X-WI'

Figure 9.2. A shape book.

Modeling Mechanics

There are plenty of opportunities in a school dayto engage children in writing and to model stan-dard form for them. Beth and her children cre-ate a large-print "morning message" each daywhen she transcribes their discussion of the com-ing day's activities onto chart paper. As she doesthis, Beth demonstrates how oral language canbe written down. When children read and rereadthe message together, they begin to match spo-ken language with print. Beth uses this oppor-tunity to reinforce children's notions of lower-case and capital letters, words, paragraphs andpunctuation marks. She teaches them the impor-tance of a "finger space" between words andfocuses their attention on neatness. As well aslearning to sound out and spell words, childrenlearn left-to-right print progression and voiceinflections signaled by punctuation.

Before children write, many teachers focuschildren's attention on a particular skill andteach brief lessons. For example, Beth noticed anovergeneralization and use of the period in Ste-vie's work ("Leaves. Fall. In. October."). So,before making an October book, Beth taught alesson on how periods function. She read sever-al sentences with and without periods from a bigbook the class had recently finished.

Beth noted later that Stevie used periods moreappropriately when she wrote, "I can ride a

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Figure 9.3. Beth's students draw and write aboutwhat they know.

horse." (see Figure 9.3), "I love my family.", and"I can write. My mommy tought me." Beth'schildren often select book topics like these: "ICan . . . ," "I Love . . . ," "I Eat . . . , "ThanksgivingIs . ," and "Being a Good Friend Means. ..."For these books, children use 8 x 11-inch paperwith several lines along the 11-inch side and therest of the page blank for a picture. Childrenmake the cover from tagboard or a file folder anduse a three-hole punch and metal fasteners tomake the book. In some classrooms, teachers cutup brown paper bags to make pages for largeclass books.

To avoid anxiety over mistakes and holes inpaper when children erase unwanted pencilmarks, Beth provides fine felt-tipped markers towrite with because she feels they are easier tocontrol than pencils and they don't need sharp-ening, as pencils do when children apply toomuch pressure and the lead breaks. Plus, her chil-dren love writing with them. Beth also provideswhite correction tape, which she calls "boo-boo"tape. Stevie used correction tape to change her"kan" to "can" and to omit an inappropriate peri-od after "tought." The freedom to use this tape orwhite correction fluid may help focus the novicewriter's attention on the conventions of writtenlanguage and encourage the use of standard Eng-lish so that writing becomes more legible.

Beth models how to fix mistakes. She mightsay, "Oh, look what I did! Oh, well, I'll justchange it a little bit to make it right." Or "I'll usetape to fix that." Before long she finds her stu-dents pick up on this and say things to each otherlike "Just put a line through it and fix it" or"Make it into a worm that's coming out of yourapple." Beth encourages her students to use stan-dard spelling, especially when others will readtheir work. Her opinion makes good sense. Shesays, "For too long we've been too lax withmechanics, and I think children learn to repeattheir mistakes. Why not help them get it right thefirst time so they can practice it correctly?"

Songs as Writing Models

Songs are particularly effective for shared read-ing that leads to writing because children are nat-urally drawn to music. Once students havelearned to sing the song, matching the words tothe printed lyrics seems to come easily. One ofthe song picture books Beth uses is This Is theWay We Eat Our Lunch (see Figure 9.4 for a list-ing of song picture books).

First Beth reads the song, then she teaches thechildren how to sing it. Next, she writes the lyricson chart paper and points to the words as thechildren sing the song. When they can matchprint to the sung lyrics, Beth leads the childrento experiment with their own lyrics. She writeseach child's words at the bottom of unlined artpaper, and then the children draw pictures toillustrate their pages. Beth encourages studentsto focus on school behavior, and the completedbook becomes a record of their activities and rou-tines. For example, the children illustrate "Thisis the way we

come to schoolmake our bookslook at wordsread a booksit in a circleeat our snackeat our lunchdo our work

in Mrs. Spiro's class!"

e, 124

throw the koosh ballcut and pastetell the dategraph the weatherwrite the numbersstretch up highraise our handspick up stuff

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A SELECTED LIST OFSONG PICTURE BOOKS

Aliki. (1968). Hush little baby. Englewood Cliffs,NJ: Prentice Hall.

Allender, D. (1987). Shake my sillies out. NewYork: Crown.

Baer, E. (1995). This is the way we eat our lunch:A book about children around the world. NewYork: Scholastic.

Berry, H. (1994). Old Macdonald had a farm. NewYork: Morrow.

Hague, M. (1992). Twinkle, twinkle little star. NewYork: Morrow.

Krauss, L. (1993). The first song ever sung. NewYork: Lothrop Lee.

Slavin, B., & Tucker, K. (1992). The cat cameback. New York: Albert Whitman.

Trapani, I. (1993). The itsy bitsy spider. New York:Whispering Coyote.

Weiss, N. (1987). If you're happy and you know it.New York: Greenwillow.

Weiss, N., & Thiele, B. (1994). What a wonderfulworld. New York: Atheneum.

Figure 9.4

Children who are not yet familiar with thecomputer keyboard can use a word processor towrite these lyrics and other stories on the com-puter. For the story in Figure 9.5, the class readArnold Lobel's Frog and Toad Together and wroteabout their favorite parts. Beth encourages chil-dren to illustrate their work, and Courtney drewfour separate pictures of frog looking for spring"just around the corner." Beth puts everyone'sfinished work into a stapled book with a cover.These books are popular reading for her class allyear long.

The Writing Process

Teachers of young children recognize the powerof an experience, a concrete object, a discussion,a picture, or a drawing as a lead-in to writing.What happens during the prewriting or plan-ning stage of writing can be important in deter-mining what and how a child writes. Webs and

Karen Bromley

other graphic organizers also help children plantheir writing. Because organizers hold key ideasand vocabulary, they scaffold children's interac-tive and independent writing (Bromley, Irwin-DeVitis, & Modlo, 1995). They can be a way tolink visual and verbal language as the teacherwrites down key words from a class discussionor a child writes key words to show what he orshe is thinking.

Many children rely on the stimulation of aprewriting event or activity to carry themthrough the writing of a piece. For example, toprepare for writing a story about his father,7-year-old Ian created a web. Ian's notes showhis use of invented spelling and remind him toinclude "hokiey" (hockey), among things hisfather likes, "dert" (dirt), among things he does-n't like, and "herd" (beard) among other wordsto describe what his father looks like.

For beginning or struggling writers, connectorwords written on the spokes of a web often helpa child see how he or she can form complete sen-tences from the key words on a web. For exam-ple, with the addition of "says" on each of thespokes of Ian's web, he can create several sen-tences and write a story called "Things DadSays." But Ian may well not need this prescribedway of creating a story. With guidance from his

Figure 9.5. Courtney's story drafted on the com-puter and illustrated.

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teacher about how to introduce the story in afirst sentence, Ian may see that he can developthis three-part story about his father.

Many first-grade teachers post the steps inthe writing processPLAN, WRITE, REVISE,and PUBLISHon classroom wall charts andrefer to these often as they teach. Jan, a first-grade teacher, adds CONFERENCE, and man-ages her writing workshop with the help ofcolor: PLAN and WRITE are in green, CON-FERENCE is in yellow, and REVISE and PUB-LISH are in red (Bromley, 1998). When theybegin writing independently, she gives eachchild a set of 6-inch laminated colored construc-tion paper circles and a writing folder to holdtheir work. At the end of the writing time, eachchild clips a circle on the outside of the folder toshow what he or she will be doing the nextdaygreen for planning or writing, yellowwhen ready for a conference with Jan, and redfor revising and editing or ready to share. In thisway Jan can see at a glance where everyone isin the writing process and who is ready for aconference. Jan has a worktable at the back ofher room where she holds conferences with indi-viduals and small groups.

Collaboration withSecond Grade

Beth and her students collaborate with KayeDebnar's second graders down the hall because,Beth says, "Our kids learn so much from it andwe complement each other beautifully. I havelots of ideas, and Kaye makes me see an ideathrough to completion. She gives me the sup-port I need since when I work alone, I alwayswonder if what I'm doing is most effective."Kaye chooses collaboration with Beth because"it gives me a chance to talk about the hows andwhys of my teaching with another professional.And we end up doing exciting projects I mightnot ordinarily do on my own. It's good for thekids, too, because they learn from each otherand they learn to care about each other. I see col-laboration as a way to really move kids along intheir literacy."

To extend the literacy of both groups of stu-dents, Beth and Kaye pair children, a first grad-er with a second grader, and schedule timeswhen the two classes can socialize and get toknow one another. The classes meet togetherregularly for short sessions so buddies can sharetheir work with each other, read books togeth-er, and eat snacks together. Buddies could alsooccasionally sit together at lunch and playgames with each other at recess to cementfriendships.

One successful collaborative project entailedcreating an original three little pigs story. Bethand Kaye chose four different versions of the tra-ditional story, and each teacher read two ver-sions to the buddies and helped them compareand contrast the stories using data charts. Onanother day, the children created their own ver-sion of the story as the teachers transcribed. Itwas revised with the children's suggestions, andstudents typed the final version in a font largeenough to be used for a big book. Beth cut up thewords from each sentence and put the cut-upsentences into individual envelopes. Then eachbuddy pair took words from an envelope andarranged them to make a sentence. This requiredchildren to read and manipulate words, talktogether, and produce a meaningful sentencethat they practiced reading. Then everyonedecided on the proper order for all the sentencesand pasted these sentences onto 12 x 18-inchpaper, leaving space for their illustrations (seeFigure 9.6). Beth laminated the pages andpunched holes for metal rings to create "TheThree Little Pigs & the Big Bad Wolf," Written byGrade 1 & 2 Buddies.

Beth and Kaye realize the importance of a realaudience for written work, and they make timefor children to read their writing to each other.They both see remarkable improvement in chil-dren's attention to content and meaning as wellas to mechanics such as spelling, punctuation,and neatness when children know who will readtheir work. One end-of-year project that Beth'schildren find particularly satisfying is sharing abook called We Are Proud. Each child contributesa page like Melissa's (see Figure 9.7), whichshows her progress. At the beginning of the year,Melissa could not read her own name.

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118

Well, he huffed, and he Puffed

anehe huffed, and he puffed, and

huffed, and he puffed,

but he could not blow the house

in! JO A n ry d

Figure 9.6. John and Bryan manipulated 25 words.to make this sentence.

Beth and Kaye report that collaboration forthe purpose of reading and writing benefits theirfirst and second graders, who eagerly work to-gether and support each other's literacy growth.Collaboration provides rich opportunities for lis-tening, speaking, reading and writing abilities todevelop in an enjoyable setting. Both teacherssee children's confidence and ability to workindependently grow.

Writing Across the Curriculum

There are many ways to develop and nurture thelearning of young children through writing inmath, science, and social studies. Some exam-ples from classrooms where children are writingin a variety of ways across the curriculum follow.

In science, as part of Randy's kindergartennutrition unit, children write a letter to theschool's cafeteria staff. In the letter the chil-dren connect what they are learning about the

, .

Karen Bromley

four food groups with some of their favoritelunches. They also suggest ways the staff caninclude healthy snacks in their not-so-favoritelunches.Jennifer's kindergartners create a large-print,four-column, KWHL chart on a bulletin boardto begin a study of the rain forest in science.They fill the K column with what they knowand form questions about what they want toknow, which Jennifer writes in the W column.Then they fill the H column with how theywill find the answers. As the unit progresses,they fill the L column with what they havelearned.In math, children in Lisa's and Mary Jo's first-grade classrooms interview each other aboutsuch things as birthdays, favorite colors, andnumber of siblings. Then the classes create bargraphs and pictograms to show what theyhave learned about each other, and they writeabout what the graphs mean. Together, theclasses compare their data to see how they aresimilar and different.In Katy's library-media center, pairs of firstand second graders use a CD-ROM encyclo-pedia and nonfiction books to find informa-tion about specific animal behaviors, habitat,food, predators, and so forth to include in thefictional stories they are writing in science.Each story is word processed on the computerand revised after peer evaluation and teacher

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a 0_ .r_r_ol__0.01

AA/ lvt_n 1 iaoK_ Ol +1st

-Cc-4 Liriy:

coqi I fr

Figure 9.7. Melissa is a fluent writer with begin-ning knowledge of capitals and periods.

12!



Language Charts in Kindergarten

I first read about language charts in a chapter of a book entitled Booktalk and Beyond (Roser,Hoffman, Labbo, & Farest, 1995). I was especially interested in the idea of transcribing mykindergarten children's talk about stories they read, since some of them seemed ready todraw and write. The language chart, among other things, is a way to "display the oral to writ-ten language connection," and I believe this is critical to beginning writers. I wanted a way tovalue my children's drawings, encourage their writing, and make discussions more concrete.Since I taught both morning and afternoon classes, I wanted each group to be aware of whatthe other was learning. So I decided to adapt the idea to fit my needs.

First, my morning and afternoon classes chose three versions of "The Three Little Pigs"they wanted to read, out of five that I introduced. Then we created a huge chart on butcherpaper that I divided into four horizontal and four vertical sections. I divided each section onthe chart with a diagonal line, so that the morning class could use the top portion and theafternoon class the bottom portion. Each portion was large enough for me to transcribe asentence, with room left for children's drawings. I posted the chart on a bulletin board andexplained the title of each section"Title/Author," "Problem," "Ending," and "Vote"to mychildren. Over the next few days I read each story several times and invited children's oralresponses. I transcribed their ideas for the "problem" and "ending" of each story, and volun-teers added drawings. When both classes had heard the three books and the appropriateinformation was charted, they reviewed their work and what they enjoyed about each story.I had my children vote for the story they liked best by writing their name in the appropriatesection on the chart.

The language chart achieved my objectives and was an effective way to engage children inshared writing. It also helped develop their sense of story and of the similarities and differ-ences between like stories.

Renee Hare, Kindergarten Teacher

conference before becoming part of a classbook for the school library.In Carol's multi-age (6 to 8 years) classroom,children read an Iroquois Indian creation storyas part of a social studies unit. A small groupretold the story, drawing pictures on the com-puter using Kid Pix, a software program, andthen wrote text to accompany the pictures.Using their recorded text and the pictures,they created a movie retelling of the creationstory.

;

.1) -

In a social studies unit with the title "ChangesAll Around Us," Rebeccca's second-gradeclass in North Carolina and Natalie's class inNew York communicate on-line as electronic"key pals." They use e-mail to ask and answerquestions and compare themselves, their fam-ilies, schools, and communities.To develop math concepts, Venita's secondgraders write daily in journals, where theyalso make diagrams and drawings. Venita'spurpose is to encourage children to explain

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their thinking and the processes they use tosolve problems. She writes comments in thejournals and children often share entries inpairs or volunteers read entries to the class.

ConclusionThere are many ways to encourage young chil-dren to write, and several things to keep in mindas you nudge young writers toward becomingfluent and proficient language users. Like Bethand Kaye, many teachers are teaching youngchildren in ways that link reading and writing bymodeling and demonstrating literacy. Theseteachers provide direct instruction in the formof standard written language. They provideopportunities for children to interact and collab-orate as writers. They incorporate writing intoscience, social studies, and math. They give chil-dren a range of experiences writing in a varietyof forms. Above all, they believe young childrencan be writers, and they make time for writingin their classrooms every day.

ReferencesBean, W., & Bouffler, C. (1997). Read, write, spell. York,

ME: Stenhouse.Bromley, K. (1998). Language arts: Exploring connections.

Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Bromley, K., Irwin-DeVitis, L., & Modlo, M. (1995).Graphic organizers: Visual strategies for active learning.New York: Scholastic.

Butler, D., & Clay, M. (1982). Reading begins at home.Exeter, NH: Heinemann.

Cambourne, B. (1988). The whole story: Natural learn-ing and the acquisition of literacy in the classroom.Auckland, New Zealand: Scholastic.

Fountas, I., & Pinnell, G. S. (1996). Guided Reading.Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Holdaway, D. (1979). The foundations of literacy. Syd-ney, Australia: Ashton Scholastic.

Kid Pix. (1998). San Rafael, CA: Broderbund Soft-ware.

Lobel, A. (1972). Frog and toad together. New York:Harper & Row.

Morrow, L. M. (1997). Literacy development in the earlyyears: Helping children read and write (3rd ed.).Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Roser, N. L., Hoffman, J. V., Labbo, L. D., & Farest,C. (1995). Language charts: A record of storytimetalk. In N. L. Roser & M. G. Martinez (Eds.), Book-talk and beyond: Children and teachers respond to lit-erature (pp. 80-89). Newark, DE: InternationalReading Association.

Slaughter, J. P. (1993). Beyond storybooks: Young childrenand the shared book experience. Newark, DE: Inter-national Reading Association.

Teale, W. H., & Sulzby, E. (1989). Emergent literacy:New perspectives. In D. S. Strickland & L. M. Mor-row (Eds.), Emerging literacy: Young children learn toread and write (pp. 1-15). Newark, DE: Internation-al Reading Association.

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CHAPTER TEN

Phonics InstructionMargaret Moustafa

Margaret Moustafa discusses the roles of phone-mic awareness and phonics in children's litera-cy development, and some of the controversyand confusion surrounding these topics.

For Reflection andAction: Discuss tensionsin the field that you knowabout or have heardabout concerning theteaching of beginningreading, particularly ten-sions related to phonemicawareness and phonics.Using this book and otherresources, describe somestrategies that might beeffective in achieving abalanced approach.

We have a long tradition of teachingchildren letter-sound correspondenc-es and then giving them passages to

read that use those letter-sound correspondenc-es. This practice dates back to the first centuryA.D., when a Roman educator, Quintilian, usedtablets with letters on them to teach children toread (N. B. Smith, 1965).

Some of the earliest concerns with traditionalphonics instruction came from the empirical dis-covery that in English, the usual phonics gener-alizations are generally unreliable. For example,the popular "silent e" rule, which says that avowel followed by an e is long and the e is silent,works in only 63% of the words in which the

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122 Margaret Moustafa

vowel plus e combination appears (Bailey, 1967;Burmeister, 1968; Clymer, 1963; Emans, 1967).

The discovery that phonic generalizationswere unreliable was soon followed by the dis-covery that there are over 211 letter-phonemecorrespondences that apply to at least five of theone- and two-syllable words within the compre-hension vocabularies of children ages 6 to 9 years(Berdiansky, Cronnell, & Koehler, 1969; Venezky,1967). To illustrate the complexity of English let-ter-sound correspondences, in my dialect, in thelast sentence, when the letter o does not comeright before a w or r or another o (as in ow, or, oroo) and is not between ti and n (as in tion), it ispronounced one way in discovery, of, and one,another way in phonic, followed, and comprehen-sion, another way in over, phoneme, and vocabu-laries (which is the same as the ow in followed),and still another way in two and to (which is thesame as the oo in soon). The letters or are pro-nounced one way in correspondences and anoth-er way in word. The /w/ sound is written in wordbut not in one.

Today we know that reading programs thatemphasize meaning are more effective than tra-ditional parts-to-whole phonics instruction (An-derson, Wilkinson, & Mason, 1991; Cantrell,1999; Elly, 1991; Mullis, Campbell, & Farstrup,1993, p. 30; Reutzel & Cooter, 1990; Ribowsky,1986; Richek & McTague, 1988; Sacks & Mer-gendoller, 1997). We also know that childrentaught phonics in context are almost twice assuccessful in sounding out unfamiliar words aschildren taught traditional phonics (Freepon,1991).

In the following pages we will review researchunderlying contemporary phonics instructionand observe several teachers as they implementdifferent aspects of it. We will toggle back andforth between research and instruction, lookingat research, then looking at instruction consis-tent with the research, as follows:

Children's early readingTeaching a whole textChildren's phonological and cognitive pro-cessesTeaching letter-sound correspondences with-in the text

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Children's Early ReadingThe first print words children learn to read, suchas their names or the word stop on a stop sign,they learn to recognize holistically, not letter byletter (Ehri, 1994; K. Goodman & Goodman,1979; Gough & Hillinger, 1980; Perfetti, 1985; F.Smith, 1988). Early readers read better in contextthan outside of context (e.g., K. S. Goodman,1965; Nicholson, 1991; Nicholson, Lillas, & Rzos-ka, 1988; Stanovich, 1991, 1994) and comprehendprint written with familiar language better thanprint written with unfamiliar language (e.g.,Kucer, 1985; Rhodes, 1979; Ruddell, 1965; Tat-ham, 1970). Let's look in on Mrs. Jones, a kinder-garten teacher, and see how she builds on thesecompetencies of children.

Teaching the Whole TextIt's the third week of kindergarten. Mrs. Jones iscreating a context within which she will teachthe children letter-sound correspondences. She isin an instructional circle with her emergent read-ers. The children each have a copy of the wordsto the song "If You're Happy and You Know It."Mrs. Jones is asking the children their favoritewords in the song and writing each word theychoose on a specially prepared piece of cardstock (see Figure 10.1). As she writes each word,she holds it up for the children to see and says,"This word is . Can you put your fingerunder this word in our song?" The children pointto the words on their papers.

A child who is new to the class says hisfavorite word is "clap your hands." Smiling,Mrs. Jones responds "Yes, that's three words."She turns to the copy of the song on the chartrack beside her and points to each word as shereads "clap .. . your ... hands." "Which word doyou like best, clap or your or hands?" The childchooses clap, and Mrs. Jones writes clap on apiece of card stock. She asks the children to findclap on their papers.

Shared Reading

In a series of lessons, Mrs. Jones has brought thechildren to the point where they are able to locate

Phonics Instruction 123

PREPARING WORD CARDS FORPHONICS INSTRUCTION

1. Divide standard-size photocopy paper intoequal parts. (The number of parts depends onthe size you will want the word cards to be.)Copy a picture that represents the text to betaught and tape identical copies on the left-hand side of each section of the paper.

2. Photocopy onto paper or card stock.3. Cut the photocopies into equal parts so that

there is one picture on each part.4. Save the photocopy master for future use.

Cut here

-4- afterphotocopying

Figure 10.1

words in a text. She carefully selected the textshe would use for teaching the children to readby making sure that the language of the text wasthe type of language children use and are famil-iar with. The first day of school she sang "IfYou're Happy and You Know It" to and with thechildren, clapping her hands as she sang "clapyour hands" and stamping her feet as she sang"stamp your feet."

After the class had sung the song daily for sev-eral days, Mrs. Jones began to teach the childrento read the words in the song. She copied thewords onto chart paper, which she placed in thechart rack. Then she taught the children to readthe words of the song by shared reading, a tech-nique pioneered by Don Holdaway (1979) andused with great success by others (Eldredge,Reutzel, & Hollingsworth, 1996; Fayden, 1997;Heald-Taylor, 1987; Slaughter, 1983; Trachten-burg & Ferruggia, 1989). In shared reading, alsoknown as the shared book experience, theteacher points to the words in full view of thechildren as she or he reads to and with the chil-dren. Mrs. Jones read the words to the song to

and with the children twice the first day, twicethe next day, and so on, for several days. Thenshe used a doze procedure to ascertain whetherthe children had memorized the language of thetext: she began reading a sentence while point-ing to the text, but let the children complete thesentence as she continued pointing to the text.

Partner Reading

Once the children had memorized the languageof the text, Mrs. Jones taught them to partnerread, or to sit side by side taking turns readingand listening to each other. First she asked fortwo volunteers in her class to demonstrate forthe other children. She had the volunteers sit sideby side holding a copy of the words of the songand asked the volunteers, "Who will be the firstreader and who will be the first listener?" Oncethe children decided, she said to the first listen-er, "When Maria is reading, if she comes to aword she doesn't know, will you give her timeto think?" (The child nodded.) "Thank you.Then, if she wants help, she can ask you." Mariaread the text. Elijah listened attentively. Mrs.Jones said to the class, "Didn't Maria do a goodjob of reading? Didn't Elijah do a good job of lis-tening?" and led the group in applauding thetwo children. Mrs. Jones continued the demon-stration: "Now, Elijah, it's your turn to be thereader, and Maria, it's your turn to be the listen-er." Elijah read to Maria. Mrs. Jones again led thegroup in applauding the children.

Now the children were ready to begin partnerreading. Mrs. Jones asked them to line up withpartners. During the first week of school she hadassessed the reading proficiency of each child.She knew everyone in this group was an emer-gent reader. She also knows that learning to readis a social process. Therefore, she had the chil-dren choose their partners from among the chil-dren in the group. As the children lined up, twoby two, Mrs. Jones handed each pair of studentsa copy of the words to the song and the childrenwent to their seats or spots on the carpet to readto each other.

Once the children had settled down with read-ing partners, Mrs. Jones passed among the chil-dren listening to them read and coaching those

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who were sitting face to face to sit side by sideso that all the children would be looking at thetext right side up.

One-to-One Matching

The following day Mrs. Jones assessed eachchild's ability to match spoken words to printedwords. She gathered the children around thechart rack, did another shared reading, and againpassed out copies for the children to read to theirpartners. This time, as the children were reading,Mrs. Jones passed among the children andassessed the children. Choosing words past thefirst two-syllable word in the text, she asked eachchild to put a finger under such-and-such aword. She knew that those who perceived eachcluster of letters as a syllable would not be ableto track words past the first two-syllable word.She took notes on which children were able totrack print words and which were not yet able to.She found that many of her students did nothave one-to-one matching.

The following day, working with the wholegroup, Mrs. Jones began teaching one-to-onematching. She began with a "word hunt." Shegathered the children around the chart rack, didanother shared reading with the children, andthen asked the children, "Who can find the wordclap in our song?" Several children raised theirhands. Mrs. Jones invited one child to come upand point to the word, guiding her to stand bythe side of the chart rack so that all the childrencould see. When the child pointed to the wordclap, Mrs. Jones said, "That's right! Can you tellthe boys and girls how you found it?" The childexplained. If she had not been able to explain,Mrs. Jones would have said, "I bet I know howyou found it. I bet you started here at the begin-ning and said ..."pointing to the words as sheread" 'If you're happy and you know it,clap' Oh, here it is! Here's clap." This tech-nique guides the children to use their knowl-edge of language to find a print word in text.Mrs. Jones then asked the children to find sev-eral other words in the text, coaching them asneeded.

Every day over the next week Mrs. Jones pro-moted one-to-one matching through this activi-

ty and others. She invited the children to taketurns being teacher and pointing to the wordson the card stock in view of the other children;she passed out copies of the words to the songand asked the children to put their fingers undera particular word in the text; and she had thechildren cut one of the sentences of the song intoits constituent words, scramble the words, andreassemble them in the correct order. Throughfeedback in each of these activities the childrenlearned to match spoken words to printedwords. Each lesson on one-to-one matching waspreceded by shared reading and followed bypartner reading. Now when Mrs. Jones holds upthe children's favorite words on the card stock,the children can match the words to the text infront of them.

Mrs. Jones has been laying the foundation forcontemporary phonics instruction. Throughshared reading she has demonstrated the read-ing process to the children. Through partnerreading the children have engaged in readingand are coming to see themselves as readers.Now that the children have the concept of whata printed word is and can locate words in famil-iar text, Mrs. Jones can begin to teach letter-sound correspondences to foster eventual inde-pendent reading.

Children's Phonological andCognitive Processes

Phonemes, Onsets, and Rimes

Traditionally we have taught children learning toread letter-phoneme correspondences: for exam-ple, the letter 1 says /1/ (Balmuth, 1982; N. B.Smith, 1965; Venezky, 1967). Phonemes are thesmallest unit of speech that, if changed, changethe meaning of a word. The word smiles consistsof five phonemes: /s/, /m/, /i/, /1/, and /z/.

There is a body of research which concludesthat children's knowledge of letter-phoneme cor-respondences is the best predictor of children'searly reading proficiency (see Adams, 1990, fora review of this research). Adams and othershave interpreted this finding to mean that chil-dren need to know letter-phoneme correspon-


dences to become independent readers. How-ever, in statistics the word predicts means thattwo phenomena are highly correlated. It doesnot mean one phenomenon causes the other.

Children who have not yet learned to readhave difficulty consciously analyzing spokenwords into their constituent phonemes (Bruce,1964; Ehri & Wilce, 1980; Liberman, Shankweiler,Fischer, & Carter, 1974; Mann, 1986; Rosner, 1974;Treiman, 1983, 1985, 1986; Treiman & Baron,1981; Tunmer & Nesdale, 1985). That is, theyhave difficulty analyzing the spoken word smilesinto /s/, /m/, /i/, /1/, and /z/.

Some researchers (e.g., Foorman, Francis,Fletcher, Schatschneider, & Mehta, 1998; Lyon,1997; Stanovich, 1986) propose to address thisproblem by establishing phonemic awarenesstraining as part of the curriculumteachingchildren who do not yet read to consciouslyanalyze spoken words into their individualphonemes. However, if phonemic awareness isa consequence rather than a cause of becomingliterate, as a growing body of noncorrelationalresearch suggests (Bryant, 1993, p. 93; Goswa-mi, 1986, 1988; Moustafa, 1995, 1997; Scholes,1998; Treiman, 1983, 1985, 1986), then this is acart-before-the horse approach. Bus and vanIJzendoorn (1999) found that phonemic aware-ness in kindergarten accounts for 0.6% of thetotal variance in reading achievement in thelater primary grades. Troia (1999) reviewed 39studies of phonemic awareness training andfound no evidence to support its use in class-room instruction. Krashen (1999a, 1999b) con-ducted similar reviews and had similar find-ings. As Taylor (1998, p. 23) has said, "phonemicawareness research is based on the false as-sumption that children's early cognitive func-tions work from abstract exercises to meaning-ful activity" rather than vice versa, as in otherlearning.

Fortunately, children who have not yet learnedto read can and do analyze spoken words intoother, larger units of speech. In English, spokensyllables can be analyzed into phonemes or intoonsets and rimes (MacKay, 1972). Onsets are anyconsonants before a vowel in a syllable; rimesare the vowel and any consonants after it in asyllable. Onsets and rimes may have one, two, or

three phonemes. The spoken word smiles con-sists of a two-phoneme onset, /sm/, and a three-phoneme rime, /ilz/. Linguists consider onsetsand rimes the "psychological units" of spokenEnglish.

In poetics, when words begin with the sameonsets (e.g., phone andfix) it is called alliteration.When words have the same rime in the last syl-lable (e.g., rendezvous and Kalamazoo) they aresaid to rhyme.

Reading teachers have traditionally called let-ters that represent onsets with more than onephoneme (e.g., sm-) consonant clusters or con-sonant blends. They have called letters that rep-resent rimes with more than one phoneme (e.g.,-ile) phonograms or word families.

English-speaking children who have not yetlearned to read can and do analyze spoken Eng-lish into onsets and rimes (Calfee, 1977; Goswa-mi & Bryant, 1990). That is, they can analyzesmiles into its component onset, /sm/, and rime,/ilz/, without being taught to do so.

Treiman (1983) has suggested that develop-mentally, children first learn to divide syllablesinto onsets and rimes and only later learn to sub-divide them into phonemes. English-speakingchildren learning how to read make letter-onsetand letter-rime correspondences better than let-ter-phoneme correspondences (Goswami, 1986,1988; Goswami & Mead, 1992; Moustafa, 1995,1997; Wylie & Durrell, 1970).

In Spanish, syllables do not divide into onsetsand rimes. The psychological units of spokenSpanish words are syllables. Traditionally, in-struction in Spanish letter-sound correspon-dences has been syllabic: teachers teaching Span-ish-speaking children to read in Spanish teachsets of syllables that vary by one vowel, such assa, se, si, so, su, and/or teach children to breakprint words into syllables-for example, casa =ca + saand to recombine the syllables to makenew words (e.g., ca + ma = cama; sa + po = sapo)(Moustafa & Maldonado-Colon, 1999). Hence,while Mrs. Jones teaches her English-speakingstudents English letter-onset, letter-rime, and let-ter-syllable correspondences, Mr. Jimenez nextdoor, who teaches Spanish-speaking students toread in Spanish, teaches Spanish letter-syllablecorrespondences.

134


Analogy

Children who have begun to read make analo-gies between familiar and unfamiliar printedwords to pronounce unfamiliar printed words(Goswami, 1986, 1988; Goswami & Bryant, 1990;Goswami & Mead, 1992; Moustafa, 1995, 1997).That is, by learning to recognize the print wordssmall and smile, children figure out that sm- ispronounced /sm/. They then use their knowl-edge that sm- is pronounced /sm/ to pronouncesm- in other words they encounter with sm-. Sim-ilarly, by learning to recognize the print wordspart and cart, children figure out that -art is pro-nounced /art/. They then use that knowledge topronounce -art in other words they encounterwith -art. Once they know how to pronounce sm-and -art, they can independently pronouncesmart. By teaching children a part of each wordin whole words they have learned to recognize,where the parts represent familiar units ofsound, teachers facilitate children's future abili-ty to make analogies between familiar and unfa-miliar printed words to pronounce unfamiliarprinted words.

Teaching Letter-SoundCorrespondences

The First Story

School is over for the day. Mrs. Jones plans theletter-sound correspondences she will teach thechildren the next day. Taking the words the chil-dren have chosen as their favorite words, shelightly underlines a letter or string of letters rep-resenting an onset, a rime, or a syllable in eachword (see Figure 10.2).

Mrs. Jones lightly underlines the h in happyand hands, the fin feet and face, the y in you, your,and you're, and the ow in know and show. Thewords if, it, and and are all one-rime words, soshe underlines all the letters in each of thesewords. Choosing a letter or letter string in eachword the children have chosen from the song,she underlines the w in will, the s in surely, the c/in clap, and the st in stamp. She does not plan toteach every part in each word. Her objectives are

to help children understand the alphabetic prin-ciplethat letters represent sounds withinwordsin the context of printed words theyhave learned to recognize, and to help them seethe parts in the whole so that they can eventual-ly make analogies between familiar and unfa-miliar printed words to pronounce unfamiliarprinted words.

Mrs. Jones does not attempt to be sure that thechildren have chosen every word in the song. Sheknows that whatever letter-sound correspon-dences she would have taught in the words thechildren didn't choose will come up again in othertexts. She tapes the words in random order to anarea on the wall she has covered with vinyl. Sheplaces the transparent tape horizontally at the topof the pieces of card stock rather than vertically,to facilitate the later regrouping of the words.

The next day Mrs. Jones gathers her studentsaround the area where she has taped theirfavorite words and passes out copies of thewords to the song. She points to the word happyon the wall, saying, "Can you put your fingerunder this word in our song?" "What is it?" "Yes,that's right. It's happy, and"highlighting theletter h, which she has underlined"this letter ish. It says /h/. Can you say /h/?" Mrs. Jones con-tinues with other words.

After Mrs. Jones has highlighted and talkedabout the sound represented by a letter or letterstring in each word, she leads the children ingrouping words by like letters highlighted. Shebegins by modeling the process. She points tothe words happy and hands and says, "Oh, look!These words have a yellow square around thesame letters. I'm going to put them together."(She moves them to a clear place on the vinyl,placing one word under the other. The tape eas-ily detaches and re-adheres to the vinyl.) "Whocan find some other patterns?" She chooses achild from among the volunteers. The childgroups the words face and feet together. Mrs.Jones says, "That's right! Face and feet both havea yellow square around the f f says /f /." Anoth-er child groups you, your and you're. Still anoth-er child groups know and show. As the childrengroup these words, Mrs. Jones talks about thesounds the highlighted letters represent in thecontext of these words. Finally, there are four

1.35


HIGHLIGHTING, GROUPING, AND RE-HIGHLIGHTING LETTERS IN FAVORITE WORDS

1. Highlight letters representing onsets, rimes. syllables. words in compound words, or root words.

Correct examples:

Onsets: bloat Iamb :smile.._ . ._Rimes: sm__iile boat liamb.__ iis,._._Syllables: !unlock lovely jumpling'.._Words in compound words: !skateboard baseballRoot words: breakfast television.

. ....._

Incorrect examples (letters representing units of sound smaller than onsets or rimes):

smile smile bloat

2. Group words that have identical letters highlighted.

Correct examples:

ate!Tie

catwhat

Incorrect examples:

late (The sounds matchfreight but the letters don't.)

lamb iiis

hate (Only the first letters match.flail All the letters should match.)

3. After grouping words that have identical letters highlighted, check for multiple pronunciations of the high-lighted letters in each group. When identical letters have different pronunciations (e.g.. the -at in cat andwhat), use one color for each pronunciation (e.g.. color the -at in cat and bat one color and the -at in whatanother color).

Correct examples:

catbat

whti

breaksteak

strFirc

shiowkrfownow

isiun

isiome

Pure

411 low

shirtiyjou

happrleens

weens

Figure 10.2

words that do not group with the other words:will, surely, clap, and stamp. Pointing to thesewords, Mrs. Jones says, "These words don'tmake a pattern, but they will as we learn moreand more words."

Mrs. Jones shows the children how to put thewords on the word wall. Before the school yearbegan Mrs. Jones created a phonics word wall bysecuring two vinyl shower curtain liners to thewall and placing the letters of the alphabet acrossthe shower curtain liners. Since the beginning ofthe year she has sung the ABC song with the chil-

BEST COPY MAILABLE

dren while pointing to the letters as she sings.Now she will help the children use the wall tocreate their own phonics generalities. Pointing tothe h in happy and the h in hands, Mrs. Jones says,"Look, the letter in the yellow square in thesewords is h. I'm going to put these words underthe h on our word wall." She continues with thewords know and show, saying, "The letters in theyellow square in these words are ow. I'm going toput them under the o on our word wall." Thechildren take turns putting the other words onthe phonics word wall (see Figure 10.3).

- 13 6 BEST COPY MAILABLE

iirlied


A PHONICS WORD WALL IN PROGRESS

A a B b

'again

and

d

F t

ill

C c

(Came

© Pia P

D d E e

blown I

G g H h

C) ttiands

happy

C)

J j

0 o Pp Op R r S s T t

know [rain sun !title

shOW 0 ijurely

spiderspput

0 stamp

U u V v

4.;

W w

will

eensy

Water

mashed

Went

X x Y yC) You

[2:Your

You're

Figure 10.3

Subsequent Stories

The next day Mrs. Jones begins a shared readingwith The Eensy Weensy Spider. She has beensinging the song while doing the hand motionswith the children since the second week ofschool. Now she repeats the pattern of dailyshared reading and partner reading until the stu-dents can read it independently with one-to-onematching. Then she asks the children theirfavorite words in the story. This time Mrs. Jones

writes the children's favorite words on pieces ofcard stock that have a picture of a spider on theleft-hand side. A child chooses the word and.Although the children chose this word in the pre-vious text, she writes it again on a card stockwith a picture of a spider.

After school Mrs. Jones lightly underlines thew in weensy, water, washed, and went. She under-lines the d in down, the c in came, the r in rain, thes in sun, and the a in again. She underlines all ofthe letters in the one-rime words up, and, and all.

137



Spelling by Analogy

I teach children to spell by analogy. We use words they know how to spell to spell wordsthey don't yet know how to spell. During writing aloud (Dorn, French, & Jones, 1998) I divide

a chart tablet into two sections, one for the message and one for practice. As I compose themessage, I use the practice section to demonstrate spelling by analogy. For example, if I want

to write sock, I might say, "Let's see, sock sounds like rock. So I can use rock to spell sock."I write rock in the practice section, circle -ock, and say, "I can use the -o-c-k in rock towrite dock." I then write dock, first on the practice page beneath rock and then in the mes-sage section. During interactive writing, one child comes to the front of the instructionalgroup, and composes a message on a chart tablet while the other children write the samemessage on their wipe-off board. Again, I divide the chart tablets Into a practice section anda message section. When the children want to write a word they don't know how to spell,I guide them to make analogies using words they already know how to spell. For example,if a child wants to write pot, I say, " If you know how to spell got you can spell pot." I thenguide them to write got and then pot on the practice section, and then to write pot in the

message section, as I do in the writing aloud lesson.During daily journal writing I have the children use one page of their journal for practice

and the opposite page for their message. Then, as they are writing their individual messages,I guide them to use the practice page to work out spellings of unknown words using analo-

gous words they already know how to spell. Eventually they are able to make analogies intheir minds without the practice pages.

Rosalie Franzese, Second-Grade Teacher

She underlines the sp in spider and spout, the c/in climbed, the dr in dried, and the th in the. Eventhough she has underlined the ow in know andshow in the previous text, she does not underlinethe ow in down because it represents only part ofthe rime in down. Mrs. Jones tapes the words inrandom order on the area on the wall coveredwith vinyl.

The next day Mrs. Jones gathers her studentsaround the area where she has taped theirfavorite words from The Eensy Weensy Spider.She passes out copies of the song. She points tothe word water, saying, "Can you put your fin-ger under this word in the story?" "What is it?""Yes, that's right. It's water and"highlighting

\

the letter w"this letter is w. It says /w/. Canyou say /w / ?" Mrs. Jones continues with otherwords.

Then Mrs. Jones has the children group thewords by identical letters highlighted on thephonics word wall along with the words from IfYou're Happy and You Know It. The logo on theleft-hand side of each piece of card stock willhelp the children remember which text eachword came from.

As the children put the word and from TheEensy Weensy Spider on the phonics word wall,they see the word and from If You're Happy andYou Know It. Mrs. Jones and the children talkabout the word being the same in both songs.

138


Teaching Multiple Ways of Pronouncing theSame Letter or Groups of Letters: After thechildren finish putting all the words on the wordwall, Mrs. Jones points out the multiple pro-nunciations of the letter s within the context ofthe words the children are learning to recognize."Look, boys and girls. The s in surely says /sh/.The s in sun says /s/. Let's color the two s's dif-ferently. What color would you like to color thes in surely?" As words that begin with the letters come up within the context of the children'sreading in future texts, Mrs. Jones will lead thechildren in deciding whether the s represents /s/or /sh/, coloring s's that are pronounced /s/one color and s's that are pronounced /sh/another color. She will do the same for other let-ters and letter strings with multiple pronuncia-tions, such as the ow in show and know versus theow in cow and now, or the eak in steak versus theeak in beak. In this way the children learn aboutthe multiple pronunciations of letters and letterstrings within the context of their own literacyexperiences. This makes the learning meaningfuland avoids the problem of unreliability of tradi-tional phonics generalizations with which webegan the chapter.

Next Mrs. Jones begins a shared reading withBears in the Night (Berenstain & Berenstain, 1971).She has already used this book as a read-aloudwith the class, and the children have acted outthe story (going around a "lake" made of bluebutcher paper, and so on) as she read it. Sheplaces a big book version of the story on an easel.She repeats the pattern of daily shared readinguntil the children have memorized the story.Once the children have memorized the story, shehas them do partner reading. The routine ofshared reading followed by partner reading isrepeated over several days until the children canread the story independently. Then Mrs. Jonesasks the children their favorite words in thestory. This time she writes the children's favoritewords on pieces of card that which have a pic-ture of a bear from the story on the left-handside. The children choose, among other words,the words wall and window.

After school Mrs. Jones again plans which let-ter-sound correspondences she will teach the

children. Among other things, she underlines thew in wall and window. Then, making connectionsacross texts, Mrs. Jones writes the words again.This time she underlines the all in wall and theow in window so the children will be able to groupwall with all and group window with know andshow from their first text.

Teaching Letters That Represent Ideas RatherThan Sounds: Mrs. Jones decides to take advan-tage of the fact that regular noun plurals havecome up within the context of the children'slearning. She writes hands on a piece of cardstock with a smiley face on it and bears and rockson pieces of card stock with a picture of a bearon them and underlines the s in each of thesewords. Although the s in these words representsonly part of the rime, she knows that singularand plural forms of regular nouns are meaning-ful units of speech to the children. She is stillworking with units of language the childrenunderstand.

Again Mrs. Jones highlights the letters in frontof the children and has them group the words byidentical letters highlighted. This time as she ishighlighting she shows the children the differ-ence between hand and hands, bear and bears, androck and rocks. Although the s in hands and bearsis pronounced differently than the s in rocks, Mrs.Jones doesn't talk about the difference in soundbut only says that the s means there are two orthree or more. Again the children group thewords on the phonics word wall. Mrs. Jones cre-ates a special place beside the phonics word wallfor hands, bears, and rocks. Later in the year shewill use the same place for grouping regular pasttense verbs, such as jump[d] and pla , andcompound words, such as baseball

Clearing Space on the Phonics Word Wall:The phonics word wall is getting crowded. Thereare seven words on the wall where the w is high-lighted. To make room, Mrs. Jones explains tothe children, "We need more room on the wallfor our words. I'm going to put all these wordsthat begin with w except one in the literacy cen-ter. Which word would you like me to keep onthe wall?" The children choose a word, and Mrs.

1.39


Jones puts the others on a ring and places themin the children's literacy center.

Mrs. Jones continues the cycle of read-aloud,shared reading, partner reading, and whole-to-parts phonics instruction with more and moretexts throughout the year. As more and morewords the children have chosen go up on thephonics word wall, the children take ownershipof the wall. They also use the words on the wallfor reference for conventional spelling in theirwriting.

Addressing Children's Varying Proficiencies:Miss Jamal, who teaches first grade across thehall, also assessed her students' reading profi-ciency at the beginning of the year. Some of herstudents are emergent readers and others areearly readers. She uses shared reading with heremergent readers and guided reading with herearly readers. Therefore, she needs two phonicsword walls, one for words from the texts theemergent readers are reading and one for thewords from the texts the early readers are read-ing. To save space, Mrs. Jamal has lined twopresentation boards with shower curtain liners.She uses one for one group and the other for theother group. She and the children stand eachboard on the floor or a table when they are usingit and move it out of the way when they are notusing it. In a variation of Mrs. Jones's teachingstrategy, when Miss Jamal asks her childrentheir favorite words, she provides the childrenwith specially prepared pieces of paper similarto her specially prepared pieces of card stock (asin Figure 10.1) and has the children write thewords on their papers as she writes them on thecard stock.

Finally, Mrs. Jung, who teaches second gradedown the hall, has early readers and independ-ent readers. She has a phonics word wall for herearly readers but not for her independent read-ers. After two years of read-alouds, shared read-ing, guided reading, self-selected reading, homereading, reading-writing connections, and con-temporary phonics instruction, these childrenhave outgrown the need for phonics instruction,and Mrs. Jung wisely spends instructional timeaddressing other educational needs.

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142

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Reading Aloud from CulturallyDiverse Literature

Lee Galda and Bernice E. Cullinan

Lee Galda and Bernice Cullinan address theneed for literature in the lives of children and itsuse as a springboard to literacy.

4'

For Reflection and Action: Considerthe overwhelming evidence indicat-ing that reading aloud to children isimportant to their literacy develop-ment. Reflect on your own classroomor one with which you are familiar.What kinds of literature are availablefor children to have read to them orfor them to read on their own? Domost of the textbooks and story-books used reflect the reality of chil-dren's lives? List and share some ofthe things that teachers and parentsneed to know and do regarding chil-dren's literature and reading aloud.

Karen is sitting on a low chair in thefront of her room and every singleone of her kindergarten children is

watching her raptly. If you didn't spot thebook in her hand you might think she was asorceress. How else could one person com-mand the complete attention of 17 energeticbodies and minds? She's reading Jan Brett'sThe Mitten, and the children are followingthe cumulative plot in the illustrations asKaren reads the words. When she comes tothe last page, with the picture of a very puz-zled grandmother, they shout with laughter.

Reading Aloud from Culturally Diverse Literature 135

They know something she does not! Severalspontaneous dramatic reenactments follow,and then the children move into their ownwriting time. They know they will hearmore stories before the day is through.Karen reads to them frequently, from manydifferent kinds of books. It's difficult to tell ifthey love her because she reads to them or ifthey love the books because Karen readsthem. Probably both.

When you think back over your school years,which teachers do you remember with the great-est fondness? They are probably the ones whoread to you, as read-aloud time is often the mostmemorable experience for young children inschool. As you read aloud to your own students,don't they sit attentively, watching your face andthe book, edging ever closer until some arealmost sitting on your lap? It's almost as if byreading aloud you're weaving a magic spell,enticing children to enter the world of the bookin your hand, putting aside daily concerns for atrip to see the wild things, a chase to catch thegingerbread man, or a quiet moment looking atrain sparkling on a spider's web. You are creat-ing magic, with the help of that good book inyour hands.

In this chapter we will discuss the followingquestions:

Why read aloud?What are effective ways to read aloud?How do I select books to read aloud?How do I select books for a culturally diverseread-aloud program?

Why Read Aloud?

If reading aloud were merely this magicallyhappy experience, it would still be worth thetime you took to read aloud every day. The effectof reading aloudhaving positive experienceswith booksis worth the time and effort. Fromit, children learn that books can bring pleasure,relaxation, excitement, and knowledge. Theydevelop positive attitudes toward books and thepeople who read them (Hiebert, 1981). The bookexperience becomes familiar and comfortable.

This positive experience can help children ap-proach learning to read with the expectation ofpleasure and success. At the same time, childrenare learning about reading and language (Galda& Cullinan, 1991). Among its many benefits,reading aloud

provides opportunities for children to hearfluent reading. Often it is only through yourreading aloud that children are able to hearwhat fluent reading sounds like. Your read-ing aloud can provide your students withmodels for their own fluent reading.increases children's vocabulary (Anderson,Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985; Ninio &Bruner, 1978). As they listen to you read theyhear new and interesting words. These wordsbecome part of their receptive vocabulary andare then available for use in their reading andwriting.provides students with models and ideas fortheir own writing and storytelling (Dressel,1990; Lancia, 1997). As children listen to booksread, they experience a variety of structuresand techniques for telling stories and impart-ing information. Children can use these struc-tures and techniques in their own speakingand writing as they explore ways of sayingwhat they have to say (Harste, Woodward, &Burke, 1984).increases children's storehouse of experiences.Books offer children opportunities for experi-encing people, places, and events that are notpart of their actual lives as well as for gainingknowledge about things that interest them(Cullinan & Galda, 1998). The things theyexperience and learn through listening to thebook you read aloud become part of theirrepertoire of experiences that allow them tounderstand new experiences (Anderson et al.,1985). Children learn best when they canrelate new ideas to what they already know,and reading aloud increases what it is theyknow.allows children to begin to make connectionsamong books. Hearing many books readaloud provides opportunities for comparingbooks, for recognizing an author's style, andfor noticing what it is that writers do. Children

;IA 4

136 Lee Galda and Bernice E. Cullinan

come to recognize the patterns that mark lit-erature and begin to develop an understand-ing of what literature is and how it works(Hickman, 1981; Kiefer, 1988).whets children's appetites for books andexpands their interests. Reading aloud from aplanned variety of texts helps nudge childreninto trying different genres or topics or au-thors. It piques their interest (Cullinan & Gal-da, 1998).helps children learn how to handle books. Asthey watch you read they learn how to hold abook and how to turn pages.helps children develop many of the conceptsabout print that they need for their own read-ing and writing. If they can see the print theycome to understand directionality-that onereads from front to back, left to right, and topto bottom in English. They also come tounderstand that print and pictures worktogether to tell a story, but the print is what isread. They learn that the words are always thesame, no matter how many times a book isread.

Reading aloud introduces new words and pres-ents a variety of forms of language, styles of writ-ten language, and sentence patterns. It helps chil-dren develop a sense of story, provides ideas fortheir writing, and enriches their general knowl-edge. It models the sound of good reading, moti-vates children to read more, and adds pleasureto the school day. For all of these reasons, read-ing aloud to children is certainly an importantpart of the school day. Because it is such an effec-tive way of helping children develop their liter-acy skills, it is important to think carefully abouthow we read and what we read aloud.

What Are Effective Waysto Read Aloud?

One of the important skills that teachers devel-op is the ability to read aloud well. This is notsomething that we're born with but somethingthat comes over time, with practice. Readingwith the intonation, pacing, and tone that par-

ticular books require takes practice. Here aresome points to keep in mind as you prepare toread aloud:

Read the book ahead of time; be familiar withit. If you read ahead of time you have theopportunity to make decisions about how toread. Does the book require a happy, bounc-ing voice or a more serious, sedate tone? Howdo the characters sound? What words areimportant to emphasize? Where might youwant to pause for effect? These and other con-siderations can help you do justice to the bookyou've selected.Develop the quality of your oral interpreta-tion skills. Listen to professionals readingaloud on tape. Read aloud to yourself as aneffective way to judge the quality of your oralinterpretation. Practice until you can readusing a natural voice with inflections andmodulations befitting the story. Avoid greatlyexaggerated voice changes and overly dra-matic gestures. Read slowly, enunciate clear-ly, and project your voice so that your audi-ence can hear you. This helps them becomegood listeners.If you're reading a picture book, decidewhether or not you're going to show the pic-tures to your students. Sometimes it might beeffective to read the text without showing thepictures, to encourage your students to createtheir own images as they listen. Creatingimages is an important skill for developingreaders, so you might want to do this occa-sionally, even though the picture book formatrelies on illustrations and text working togeth-er to convey meaning. Some books rely soheavily on the illustrations to convey meaningthat reading the text alone would not work, soyou have to choose your books carefully.If you want to display the pictures as youread, make sure that the illustrations are largeenough for all to see. If the children can see thepictures and if they know that you will makethe book available to them when you have fin-ished reading aloud, they will be more willingto forgo the close exploration of illustrationsthat would occur if they were holding the


book themselves. Some teachers show thepictures and read the text simultaneously,holding the book to one side. This means thatyou have to know the text well and be able toread sideways and upside down. With prac-tice, it's possible, and it's a wonderful skill tohave. Others read the text and then show thepictures when they pause at the end of eachpage.As you are reading, look up from the book fre-quently to make eye contact with your audi-ence. If you never look at your audience youwill be sure to lose the attention of those chil-dren who are just learning to sit still and lis-ten to a book. At first you might want to planplaces where you can pause to glance aroundthe room, but as you get used to reading thiswill come naturally. When you are readingbrief texts it is very easy to scan ahead andread from memory as you are looking at thechildren.Introduce the book to your audience andexplore the parts of the book as you do. A verybrief comment about why you selected a par-ticular book will serve to capture children'sattention. Looking at the cover, end pages, andtitle page will teach children to notice thesethings, give them the vocabulary to talk aboutthem, and, again, draw their attention to thebook. Reading the dedication aloud is oftenan effective introduction and will encouragemany dedications in the children's own writ-ing as well.Begin reading slowly, with frequent pauses tolook at your audience, then quicken your paceas they enter the story world.Plan your time so that you can read the wholebook, or the whole chapter or section, in onesitting.Plan your seating. If you have the childrenstay at their desks, stand as you read to makesure that everyone can see you and the book.And don't allow them to do other work as youread. This devalues the read-aloud experienceby implying that it does not deserve full atten-tion. If you have the children move to a spe-cial area, make sure that they will be facingaway from distractions, such as an open door

or bright windows, that might interfere withtheir ability to see you and the book.

As you read aloud to your students you willbecome an increasingly skillful oral reader. Asyour own skill develops, so will the pleasure thatyou and your students experience.

How Do I Select Booksto Read Aloud?

There are several important guidelines to followwhen selecting books to read aloud. Most impor-tant is to select well-written stories, poems, andnonfiction. There are so many outstanding booksfor children that it is a waste of time to readsomething inferior; the benefits of reading aloudare not as great with second-rate texts. Anotherbasic principle to follow is to select books thatvary in genre, style, and content. You will wantto select books that capture your students' inter-ests, and also books that stretch them as readers.Finally, be sure to select literature that reflectsthe cultural diversity in our world (Cullinan &Galda, 1998).

Most of the books that teachers of young chil-dren select to read aloud are picture books, withsome transitional chapter books as well. Picturebooks can tell stories, elaborate concepts, orimpart informationall essential to the learning,growing child. Picture books are unique to chil-dren's literature, as they are defined by formatrather than content. That is, they are books inwhich the illustrations are of equal importanceas or more important than the text in the creationof meaning. Further, they span the other, moretraditional genres. They can be fantasy, folklore,contemporary realistic fiction, historical fiction,biography, science fiction, poetry, or nonfictionabout any topic appropriate for children. Thewide range of content available means that pic-ture books fit quite nicely into every aspect ofthe curriculum that you might teach. They arealso wonderful examples of visual and verbalartistry at its finest, and with careful selectionthey can represent many different cultures andexperiences.

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Selecting Quality: EvaluatingPicture StorybooksMany of the picture books that teachers readaloud are narratives, or books that tell a story.You will base your evaluation of these books onthe literary elements of setting, character, plot,theme, and style, in both text and illustrations.Look for the following characteristics as youchoose your books:

Setting, or the time and place of a story, is usu-ally presented quickly through the text andextended through the illustrations. The settingshould be appropriate to the story and de-tailed through the illustrations so that childrencan clearly identify the where and when.Detailed settings are particularly important infantasy and historical fiction.Characterization, or depicting characters, is acentral element in picture storybooks. Char-acters are usually children or childlike ani-mals, reflecting the actions, thoughts, andemotions of children in the narration, the dia-logue, and the art. Central characters shouldbe well-developed, multidimensional charac-ters who actively participate in the storyevents; they often grow and change over thecourse of the story. An exception to this is folk-lore, where characters are usually stock rep-resentations of particular types, like the beau-tiful princess.Plot, or the sequence of events, is usually pre-sented in a chronological manner, and ratherquickly. It often centers on a problem that chil-dren will recognize and understand: being toosmall, adjusting to a new sibling, and makingnew friends are some common problems.Good plots are clear in both text and illustra-tion, move forward logically, and contain arecognizable climax and a satisfying resolu-tion.Themes, or the major ideas in a story, shouldreflect children's worlds. Memorable booksusually do not blatantly state morals but cre-ate rather clear and important ideas for chil-dren to explore. We remember a theme longafter hearing a story.Style, the way in which a book is written, isessential to the quality of a picture storybook.

The language should be rich; interestingwords should be used in interesting ways tobuild excitement and thoughtfulness. Thereshould be a melodic quality to the language sothat when you read the book aloud, it soundsnatural.

Illustrations should enhance and extend the textin setting, characterization, plot, theme, style,and mood. In some books the illustrations veri-fy the text, co-telling the same story. In othersthey extend the text, adding visual informationor meaning not presented in language. Still otherillustrations might belie the text, presenting visu-al information that creates a story within a story.However the illustrations work with the text,they should be appropriate to that particular textand quality art, whatever the medium or tech-nique.

Selecting Quality: EvaluatingNonfiction Picture Books

Just as when you select picture storybooks, whenchoosing nonfiction picture books you will want ,to look for books that are wonderful examples ofboth language and art. They should be interest-ing, with content that is appropriate to the read-er's age and developmental level, accurate, andconsistent with current knowledge. As you arechoosing nonfiction picture books, keep the fol-lowing in mind:

Nonfiction picture books should have intrin-sically interesting content, be it spiders, trucks,the alphabet, or farms. Rather than just a dryaccounting of a particular concept or body ofknowledge, nonfiction picture books shouldapproach the content in unique ways. Interestis often engendered by directly addressing theaudience ("Look at a spider's web. What doyou see?") and by illustrations that captureinterest even while informing.Accuracy is essential in nonfiction. It is diffi-cult to be accurate while presenting complexconcepts for a young audience, but carefulattention to what information is presented andhow allows for both accuracy and simplicity.The text should be straightforward, plainlystating the information to be conveyed, and


the illustrations should extend that informa-tion, providing a visual representation of whatthe text is stating. Photographs can serve asauthentic and attractive sources of informa-tion. Children go to nonfiction to learn, andwhat they learn should be correct!The structure of a nonfiction picture bookshould support the content being conveyedand enable young readers to build conceptsrather than just learn isolated facts.

Far more than an extended encyclopedia entry,nonfiction picture books offer young readers theopportunity to learn about the world aroundthem.

Selecting Quality: EvaluatingPicture Books of Poetry and Song

Many memorable picture books present anartist's visual interpretation of a song, poem, orverse. Like other picture books, these should beinteresting to and understandable by the intend-ed audience. As you are selecting these books,think about the following:

A picture book of poetry or song should haveinteresting ideas presented in beautiful, lyri-cal language.The illustrations should interpret and extendboth the text and its emotional content.

Selecting Books to Enhancea Curriculum

One of the wonderful things about books foryoung readers is that they come in many shapes,sizes, levels, and structures. They also coveralmost any content or thematic area that youngchildren might be interested in, and they increas-ingly reflect the varied cultural heritage that ispresent in our classrooms and communities.Many teachers routinely select books for readingaloud that reflect the science, social studies, ormathematics material that they are covering inthe curriculum; books supplement content cur-riculum well. They provide more in-depth infor-mation, a wider scope, and a greater variabilityin reading levels because they are many, asopposed to one textbook. Other teachers select

picture books that might be good for reading tochildren in the hope the children will then readthe book themselves; thus their selection is basedon the words, sentence structures, or linguisticelements that are found in the books. Still otherteachers select picture books that supplementtheir language arts curriculum, looking for booksthat demonstrate a particular writing style orform, or books that are linked to the thematicunits in the basal reading materials. Sometimesteachers decide to study the work of a particu-lar author or illustrator and select books accord-ingly. There are many ways to organize yourread aloud curriculum!

The following brief outline of how a teachermight use picture books to study the environ-ment is but one example of the way picturebooks can be inserted into the curriculum.

Curriculum-Related Study: The Natural World:Children are interested in the natural world,and eager to know more. If you want to studynature with your students, helping them devel-op their appreciation for their environment, youcould try some of the following activities andbooks.

Activities

Take a nature walk. Collect leaves, twigs,flowers, stones, and so on.Create a display table to hold your collectedsigns of nature.Plant seeds in paper cups. Record how long ittakes them to sprout and grow. Replant inpots to take home.Look for places of beauty or interest aroundyou. Draw pictures. Label items.Read the following books and discuss them.

Read books, such as those in the following list,that explore different facets of the environmentand discuss them.

Book list for Nature StudyJ. Arnosky, I See Animals Hiding (Scholastic,

1995)Betsey Bowen, Tracks in the Wild (Little, Brown,

1993)Eve Bunting, Flower Garden (Harcourt, 1994)Henry Cole, I Took a Walk (Greenwillow, 1998)


Margery Facklam, Creepy, Crawly Caterpillars(Little, Brown, 1996)

Denise Fleming, In the Small, Small Pond (Holt,1993)

Denise Fleming, In the Tall, Tall Grass (Holt, 1991)Kristine O'Connell George, The Great Frog Race

(Clarion, 1997)Kristine O'Connell George, Old Elms Speaks

(Clarion, 1998)Patricia Kite, Down in the Sea: Jellyfish (Whit-

man, 1993)Mary Ling, Butterfly (Dorling Kindersley, 1997)Betsey Maestro, How Do Apples Grow? (Harper-

Collins, 1992)Joanne Ryder, My Father's Hands (Morrow,

1994)Millicent Selsam and Joyce Hunt, Keep Looking

(Macmillan, 1988)

Many teachers select books based on how theirthemes relate to the lives of the children in theirclassroom. For example, all children are engagedin the process of growing up and moving fromhome and family into school and community.Many picture storybooks and nonfiction picturebooks explore this process. By reading books chil-dren can relate to, teachers help children realizethat they are reflected in the books they read. It isimportant for children to see themselves mirroredin their books. It is also important that childrensee others. Characters from varied times andplaces, with beliefs, values, customs, and habitsthat may be different from those of the reader,can provide windows into the lives of others.Reading about people like and different fromthemselves helps children to value themselvesand others and to appreciate differences and sim-ilarities across cultures. This means, of course,that the books you choose to read aloud need torepresent the cultural diversity of today's world.

How Do I Select Books for aCulturally Diverse Read-AloudProgram?When you are selecting books that representdiverse cultures, you will want, first of all, toselect quality books, as discussed earlier. You

will also want to evaluate the books in terms ofthe authenticity and honesty of the cultural rep-resentation they convey. This isn't always easy,especially since it's hard to judge the authen-ticity of something you might never have expe-rienced. Although reviews and library pur-chases are often a good place to begin indetermining quality, screening books for cul-tural authenticity is difficult. It helps to havethe opinions of those who are representative ofvarious cultures and practiced in evaluatingculturally diverse literature. The MulticulturalBooklist Committee of the National Council ofTeachers of English prepared an annotated bib-liography of multicultural books publishedbetween 1990 and 1992 (Sims Bishop, 1994).Their criteria for selection included no stereo-typed images in either text or illustration, nodemeaning or inaccurate use of language, andno inaccuracies in text or illustration. Theirbooklist is a good place to start as you begin toselect books for your collection.

Look for books that

avoid stereotypes. Learn to be sensitive tostereotypes as you read.portray the cultural group in an authenticmanner.use natural language that reflects but does notstereotype a particular culture.validate the experiences of children from thatculture.broaden our vision and invite reflection (Cul-linan & Galda, 1998).

Following is a list of some authors and illus-trators from parallel cultures in America as wellas other countries who write for young children.An easy way to increase the diversity of yourclassroom or school collection is to make surethat these authors and illustrators are well rep-resented.

Culturally Diverse AuthorsAlma Flor AdaJohn AgardElaine Maria AlpinRudolfo AnayaJeannine AtkinsOlaf Baker

1. 4 9

Shonto BegayJohn BierhorstPura BelpreJoseph BruchacMaria Cristina BruscaAshley Bryan



A Multicultural "Me Museum"

In my classroom children are encouraged to learn about diversity and appreciate each other'scultural and personal experiences. In addition to reading multicultural literature each Fridayfor story time, I teach an extensive thematic unit that'focused on the child as the center ofrelationships. The theme is introduced as "A circle of family, friends, and people in a child'sworld." The goal in this unit is to teach children that they are surrounded by people who careabout them, and to help them appreciate their circle of family, friends, and caregivers. Activi-ties that foster this appreciation include team building in our class, letter writing to distantfamily members, reading aloud poetry and books about self, friends, and families, and shar-ing stories from the past during circle time about our families and friends.

Each year the favorite activity related to this unit is the "Me Museum." The Me Museum isa section of the room dedicated to learning about each member of class, one week at a time.Each child is in charge of the museum for a week. At that time, he or she displays items that

reflect who the child is personally, socially, ethnically, racially, religiously, and so on. Itemsfeatured often include photographs, special books, clothing, and autobiographical items fromearlier stages of life. On Friday, the child who has been "on display" is invited to tell abouthis selections and reads aloud one of his favorite books. This is an extremely rewarding expe-rience for each child, and it helps the class appreciate each other for both differences andsimilarities.

David Conway, Second-Grade Teacher

Omar S. Castaneda Ann Grifalconi Frane Lessac Ifeoma OnyefuluSook Nyul Choi Nikki Grimes Riki Levinson Shulamith Levy '

Sandra Cisneros Monica Gunning Ted Lewin OppenheimLucille Clifton Sheila Hamanaka E. B. Lewis Jose-Luis OrozcoFloyd Cooper Rosemarie Hausherr Myra Cohn Living- Jerrie OughtonMartel Cruz Gerald Hausman ston Argentina PalaciosPat Cummings Juanita Havill Gerald McDermott Brian PinkneyLulu Delacre Akiko Hayashi Patricia McKissack Gloria PinkneyNorah Dooley Daisaku Ikeda Jean Merrill Jerry PinkneyArthur Dorros Rachel Isadora Lauren Mills Patricia PolaccoMichelle Edwards Leland B. Jacobs Ken Mochizuki Charlotte PomerantzValerie Flournoy Nina Jaffe Tolowa M. Mollel James RansomeMem Fox Aylette Jenness Pat Mora Kristina RodnasIna Friedman Angela Johnson Ann Morris Eileen RoeSherry Garland Hettie Jones W. Niko la-Lisa Shelley RotnerJan Spivey Gilchrist Lynn Joseph Carmen Santiago Pam Munoz RyanNikki Giovanni Maria Kalman Nodar Allen SayEloise Greenfield Kathleen Drull Isaac Olaleye Robert D. San Souci


Culturally Diverse Authors (continued)David M. SchwartzCecile SchoberleIsabel ScholMarcia SewallVirginia Driving

Hawk SneveDavid SomanJohn SteptoeJenny StowDorothy StricklandMichael StricklandStephanie Stuve-

Bodeen

Chief Jake SwampRabindranath TagoreLuci TapahonsoJoyce Carol ThomasLey la TorresMartin WaddellKaren Lynn WilliamsJanet WongDouglas WoodLaurence YepJane YolenEd Young

All children need to find themselves andmeet new people in the books they read. Af-firming past experiences and participating innew ones through literature is one of the mostimportant reasons to read. We need to be surethat our students hear stories, poems, and non-fiction works that present life from multipleperspectives. By reading books about childrenfrom diverse cultures engaged in similar pro-cesses and facing similar problems, teachershelp children realize the bonds that we share ashuman beings, regardless of culture. And byreading books about children from diverse cul-tures, teachers also help children realize howthey are different, and special. It is crucial toselect books that represent well a variety of cul-tural experiences, and finally there are somewonderful books that do just that. Find themand read them to your students. We all needyou to do just that.

ReferencesAnderson, R. D., Hiebert, E. H., Scott, J. A., & Wilkin-

son, I.A. G. (1985). Becoming a nation of readers: Thereport of the commission on reading. Washington, DC:National Institute of Education.

Cullinan, B. E., & Galda, L. (1998). Literature and thechild (4th ed.). Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace.

Dressel, J. H. (1990). The effects of listening to anddiscussing different qualities of children's litera-ture on the narrative writing of fifth graders.Research in the Teaching of English, 24(11), 397 444.

Galda, L. & Cullinan, B. E. (1991). Literature for liter-acy: What research says about the benefits of usingtrade books in the classroom. In J. Flood, J. M.Jensen, D. Lapp, & J. R. Squire (Eds.), Handbook ofresearch on teaching the English language arts (pp.529-535). New York: Macmillan.

Harste, J., Woodward, V., & Burke, C. (1984). Languagestories and literacy lessons. Portsmouth, NH: Heine-mann.

Hickman, J. (1981). A new perspective on response toliterature: Research in an elementary school setting.Research in the Teaching of English, 15(4), 343-354.

Hiebert, E. (1981). Developmental patterns and inter-relationships of preschool children's print aware-ness. Reading Research Quarterly, 16,236-260.

Kiefer, B. (1988). Picture books as contexts for literary,aesthetic, and real world understandings. LanguageArts, 65(3), 260-271.

Lancia, P. J. (1997). Literary borrowing: The effects ofliterature on children's writing. The Reading Teacher,50, 470-475.

Ninio, A., & Bruner, J. (1978). The achievement andantecedents of labeling. Journal of Child Language, 5,5-15.

Sims Bishop, R. (Ed.). (1994). Kaleidoscope. Urbana, IL:National Council of Teachers of English.

111

CHAPTER TWELVE

Fostering ReadingComprehension


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Linda Gambrell and Ann Dromsky focus on chil-dren's acquisition of comprehension skills andstrategies as perhaps the most basic and criticalcomponent of literacy.

For Reflection and Action: Discuss theimportance of understanding and makinguse of what one reads. Collect and shareeffective strategies for promoting readingcomprehension that you have used orknow about.

This chapter focuses on ways to fosteryoung children's reading comprehension.The following topics are discussed:

Using narrative and expository textStrategies that foster reading comprehension

KWLRetellingText cluesText frames

Guidelines for effective comprehension in-struction

Young children are natural comprehenders.Perhaps at no other time is the need to generatemeaning more fervently experienced than inearly childhood. Even before children learn toread, they communicate on many levels and seekto make meaning of their surroundings. This nat-ural curiosity heightens as children learn to readand share literature.

The sophisticated process of gaining meaningfrom print begins early in literacy development.Educators have moved away from viewing

_,...1.135

144 Linda B. Gambrell and Ann Dromsky

reading comprehension as a set of late-develop-ing, fragmented skills to viewing it as a moreinteractive and sociocognitive activity. Researchhas revealed that young children are quite capa-ble of complex thinking, and comprehension isnow considered an integral component of earlyliteracy instruction (Applebee, Langer, & Mullis,1988; Morrow, 1997).

For many years, the literature on the readingprocess centered on the scope and sequence ofskills (Dole, Duffy, Roehler, & Pearson, 1991;Fielding & Pearson, 1994). In general, studentswere taught how to read before being introducedto more cognitively challenging tasks. Commonpractice included teaching the alphabet and acore set of sight words, and following a pre-scriptive program of phonics and basal readingseries in the primary grades. The emphasis onteaching basic literacy elements before high-levelskills such as comprehension sparked greatdebate over what constituted developmentallyappropriate practice. The last two decades, how-ever, have seen a marked increase in researchinto and knowledge about emergent literacy anddevelopmentally appropriate approaches foryoung learners. Today, we know that young chil-dren are capable of higher-level comprehensionand can respond capably to literature in waysthat go far beyond mere literal interpretations oftext. In fact, engaging children in thinking criti-cally and solving problems prepares them for the.challenges of reading more complex text.

Constructivism andReading ComprehensionConstructivism is a theory about knowledge andlearning. Constructivist theory posits that weconstruct our own understanding of the world inwhich we live. We make sense of our world bysynthesizing our prior knowledge with newexperiences. With respect to reading compre-hension, new learning is generated not by thereader alone or from the text alone, but ratherfrom the unity of the two (Piaget & Inhelder,1971). According to Brooks and Brooks (1993),our perceptions and understandings "are con-stantly engaged in a grand dance that shapes ourunderstandings" (p. 4).

Constructivism suggests that for reading com-prehension to occur, the learner must activelyconstruct relationships between what is knownand the information in the text. This model oflearning suggests that teachers can play animportant role in fostering reading comprehen-sion by providing strategy instruction thatengages readers in actively making connectionsbetween their prior knowledge and the text'sinformation.

From the perspective of both constructivismand sociocognitive and interactive learningtheories, reading is viewed as an interactionbetween and among the reader, the text, andother individuals. The dynamic process of thisinteraction builds children's background knowl-edge, concepts about books, language facility,and vocabulary through scaffolded experienceswith a wide range of reading materials. Thisactive participation in literacy events improveschildren's language structures and ability tocomprehend text (Dole et al., 1991; Morrow,1997).

Prior knowledge has long been recognized asthe most significant predictor of comprehension;consequently, young children who actively par-ticipate in literacy experiences are better pre-pared to comprehend a greater variety of texts.A student's prior knowledge is continuouslymodified and enhanced through reading. Stu-dents who have prior knowledge about a topicare better prepared to read about that topic anddetermine whether the new information fitsor alters existing prior knowledge (Fielding &Pearson, 1994; Morrow, 1997; Pressley, Symons,McGoldrick, & Snyder, 1995). Improved com-prehension then leads to more reading, which inturn expands a child's background knowledge.This reciprocal relationship highlights the criti-cal role of comprehension in proficient readingdevelopment (Fielding & Pearson, 1994).

Using Narrative andExpository TextThe ultimate goal of reading is to understand atext written by someone else (Pressley et al.,1995). In the primary grades, children typicallyread narrative texts (Trabasso, 1994). Teachers

Fostering Reading Comprehension 145

also choose narrative texts for most teacherread-alouds, and most of the books in primarygrade classroom libraries are narrative texts(Chasen & Gambrell, 1992). Although access tomany books is important, access to a wide vari-ety of genres also positively influences the liter-acy development of young readers (Guillaume,1998).

Length, cohesion, and grammatical structuresvary with different texts. It is important in theearly years to demonstrate the rich nature oftext, as research suggests that even young chil-dren are highly interested in and capable ofunderstanding exposition (Moss, 1997). Expos-ing children only to certain genres limits theirinteraction and engagement with various textstructures (Dreher, 1998/1999). Exposure to awide variety of texts improves children's com-prehension of a broad range of materials andexpands their background knowledge. A class-room library with a broad range of genres,teacher read-alouds from different genres, andcomprehension instruction using both narrativeand informational texts will strengthen andbuild children's background knowledge andcomprehension skills.

Strategies That FosterReading ComprehensionStrategies are plans that engage the reader ingathering, monitoring, evaluating, and using textinformation to construct meaning (Reutzel &Cooter, 1993). Teachers can support children indeveloping and using effective reading strate-gies in two important ways: through modelingand demonstrating strategy use, and by creatinga classroom environment that encourages wideand varied opportunities to read. KWL, retelling,text clues, and text frames, described in the fol-lowing sections, are examples of techniques thatfoster increased understanding of text. Thesefour strategic reading activities share some fea-tures: they engage children in making personalconnections between the text and their priorknowledge, support the development of higher-level thinking skills, and can be used effectivelyto develop an awareness of narrative and expos-itory text structures.

KWL

KWL is a strategy that encourages children toactivate their prior knowledge as they engagein answering the following questions about aparticular story or topic: What do I know (K),what do I want to learn (W), and what haveI learned (L). This strategy, developed by Ogle(1986), can be used with both narrative andinformational text; however, it is particularlyeffective with informational text. It can by usedwith whole classes, small groups, or by indi-vidual students once they are familiar withthe procedure (Tierney, Readence, & Dishner,1995).

What Do I Know (K): The first step of the KWLstrategy, what do I know, is a prereading activi-ty in which the students engage in two levels ofaccessing prior knowledge: (1) brainstormingwhat they already know, and (2) categorizinginformation. Before the students read the text,the teacher prompts the children to brainstormwhat they already know about the story (basedon title and pictures) or the topic of the infor-mational text. For example, the teacher might askthe children, "What do you already know aboutspiders?" Then the teacher creates a simple chart,and a list is made in the "What I Know" columnas children contribute their ideas (see Figure12.1). To stimulate higher-order thinking, Ogle(1986) suggests asking children where or howthey got their information.

In the next phase of the "what do I know"step, the teacher helps students identify ways inwhich the ideas on the list can be reorganizedinto categories of information. For example, thelist in Figure 12.1 shows three items related tothings that spiders eat. These items could bereorganized under the heading of "SpiderFood" or "Things Spiders Eat." The remainingitems on the list, "have 8 legs" and "use spin-nerets to make webs," might be listed under theheading "Spider Body Parts." This step involvescomplex thinking and may initially be difficultfor young children. The teacher may need toscaffold instruction by modeling how categoriesare developed and may need to provide cate-gories during the initial teaching of this phaseof KWL.

1 5 4

146

Topic:

AN EXAMPLE OF A KWL CHART

K W L

What I What Do I What Have IKnow Want To Learn Learned

Spiders:eat flieseat bugseat mothshave 8 legsuse spinneretsto make webs

Figure 12.1

What Do I Want To Learn (W): During the Wstep of the KWL strategy, the students are en-couraged to identify gaps, inaccuracies, andinconsistencies in their prior knowledge of thetopic. This step provides children with a purposeor reason for reading as they develop questionsabout what they want to learn. The teacher canplay an important role by pointing out gaps inknowledge and helping children pose questionsabout things they would like to know. Reutzeland Cooter (1993) suggest having young stu-dents use the question stem, "I wonder." Aftergroup questions have been generated, childrencan write down any personal questions forwhich they would like answers.

What Have I Learned (L): This step takes placeas a postreading activity. After reading the text,the students can discuss or write down whatthey learned. This activity can take a variety offorms. For example, the student might writeanswers to the questions posed during the Wphase of KWL, or they might tell or write a con-cise summary of their learning. The questionsand answers might be shared as a group, or chil-dren might share their ideas with a partner. Shar-ing knowledge learned is important because itallows children to learn from their peers as wellas assess their own learning.

KWL is a highly motivating strategy that sup-ports students in making personal connections

rat:


between their prior knowledge and the text. Asa result, students are prepared to think at high-er levels as well as to organize many of the factsand ideas represented in the text. Research sug-gests that KWL increases reading comprehen-sion and helps students learn to activate andorganize their prior knowledge (Carr & Ogle,1987; Dewitz & Carr, 1987).

Retelling

Another approach to fostering reading compre-hension is to have children engage in retellingstories or information they have either listenedto or read. Retelling is an effective comprehen-sion strategy because children use their priorknowledge of story and information structuresfor remembering text. Retelling also helps stu-dents focus on the most relevant information,supporting details, and sequence of events.

Early studies revealed that having childrenretell a story after teacher read-aloud eventsfacilitated story recall (Zimiles & Kuhns, 1976).Morrow (1984) expanded this research to ana-lyze how retelling affected comprehension andrelated skills. Results suggested that some youngchildren (kindergartners) did not seem to under-stand how to approach the task of retelling.Teachers in Morrow's study provided scaffoldedinstruction to support kindergartners in retellingstories, resulting in a dramatic improvement inyoung children's ability to retell stories inde-pendently. Similar results were reported in astudy that provided scaffolded instruction tosupport children in retelling expository text(Gambrell, Kaskinen, & Kapinus, 1985). Thesefindings are consistent with the current view thatconsistent, frequent scaffolded practice leads toappropriate and effective strategy application.

Research also indicates that having childrenretell what they have read enhances readingcomprehension, as measured by literal andinterpretive questions (Gambrell, Pfeiffer, &Wilson, 1985). In addition, retelling appears toenhance reading comprehension for both pro-ficient and less proficient readers (Gambrell,Koskinen, & Kapinus, 1991). The research ofGambrell, Pfeiffer, and Wilson (1985) suggestedthat retelling improves reading comprehension

X55

Fostering Reading Comprehension

RETELLING PROMPTS FOR STORIES

Tell about:the main characterswhere the story took placewhen the story took placethe important event that started the story(initiating event)the other important events in the storyhow the story ended

Figure 12.2

because students engage in rehearsing the struc-ture and content of the text.

Some tips for helping students retell a text suc-cessfully include the following:

Model retelling by taking a few minutesto retell a portion of a story. The modelingshould include a good beginning, middle, andending for stories, accurate sequencing fornarrative text, and main ideas and support-ing details for informational text.Retell a portion of a text that children have lis-tened to or read and have them finish retellingthe story.Ask students to tell what they thought wasthe most important or interesting event orepisode in a text they have listened to or read.Pair students for retelling text. One partnercan retell from the beginning to a specifiedevent and the other partner can pick up theretelling at that point and retell to the end.During individual reading conferences, teach-ers can ask students to retell what they haveread as an assessment of reading comprehen-sion. Retellings can be scored for major ideas(informational text) or story grammar ele-ments (narrative text), such as setting, initiat-ing event, attempts, resolution, and so on.

Retelling with Partners: A typical retelling ac-tivity involves having children work togetherafter reading a story. Students first silently reada story or portion of text, and then work with apartner in retelling the text. One partner becomesthe "storyteller," who tries to retell everythingthat is important about the story, while the other

147

RETELLING PROMPTS FORINFORMATIONAL TEXT

Tell about:the topicmost important ideasupporting ideas

Figure 12.3

partner is the "listener." Partners can take turnsbeing storyteller and listener. A chart or handoutwith retelling prompts can support children inbeing successful (see Figures 12.2 and 12.3).

Students also benefit from receiving feedbackfrom a listener about their retelling. Providingfeedback gives the student who is serving asthe listener an important purpose for listening.An active listening role not only provides a pur-pose for listening, it helps the listener stay ontask. In addition, the listeners learn to noticefeature of retelling that can enhance their ownretelling, and retellers get to hear complimentsabout their work (Koskinen, Gambrell, Kapi-nus, & Heathington, 1988). Using a reactionsheet like the one in Figure 12.4 can providestudents with guidance in giving positive feed-back to their peers.

RETELLING REACTION SHEET

Name:

Date:

I listened to

retell the story

written by

One thing did well was:

tell about the characters

tell about the setting

tell a good beginning

tell about the events in the story

tell a good ending

.156Figure 12.4


Retelling is grounded in an understanding ofthe crucial role that oral language plays in boththe formation and sharing of meaning. Havingthe opportunity to talk about what they haveread appears to facilitate children's reading andlistening comprehension (Gambrell, Koskinen,& Kapinus, 1991; Gambrell, Pfeiffer, et al., 1985).It provides students with practice in compre-hension as they relate one part of the text toanother, draw on their prior knowledge in orderto determine what is worth retelling, and beginand end with logical chunks of information.

Using Text Clues to SupportStruggling Readers

Although many children come to school withexcellent retelling skills, some children, particu-larly those who have difficulty remembering,find retelling difficult and frustrating. Using textclues is one way to support struggling readers intheir efforts at retelling. Text clues are words andphrases selected from the text that "give away"or reveal the gist of the story or the most impor-tant aspects of an informational text. Teacherscan prepare text clues for stories or information-al text that children have either listened to orread.

After students have read a story, such as"Something from Nothing" (Gilman, 1992), theteacher prepares and then presents the studentswith a list of text clues. In the first part of thisstory a grandfather makes a baby blanket for hisgrandson, Joseph. The blanket gets old andworn, so Joseph's mother says, "It's time tothrow it out." Joseph says, "Grandpa can fix it."The grandfather then makes his grandson a won-derful jacket out of the old blanket. When thejacket gets too small for Joseph, his mother says,"It's time to throw it out." Joseph says, "Grand-pa can fix it." The grandfather then makes hisgrandson a vest from the old jacket. Finally, thegrandfather makes a tiny button for Joseph'spants, but the button is soon lost. Joseph's moth-er tells him, "Even your grandfather can't makesomething from nothing." Joseph then goes toschool, where he writes a story about his won-derful grandfather and the blanket.

After the children have listened to or read"Something from Nothing," the teacher provides

a list of text clues like the ones below to supportchildren in retelling the story:

JosephGrandfatherblanketthrow it outfix itjacketvesttiehandkerchiefbuttongonestory

Children are asked to use the text clues toretell the story to a partner. The list of text cluescan be divided in half, with child 1 retelling thefirst part of the story and child 2 retelling thesecond half. Children can also take the list of textclues home to retell the story to a family mem-ber. The scaffolding provided by the text cluessupports children in being successful in retellingtext and promotes the development of text struc-ture awareness.

It is best to begin using text clues with short,simple stories and informational text. Key wordsand phrases that reveal significant informationare selected as text clues. The text clues helpchildren reconstruct and sequence the events instories and the information in expository text.This technique is especially effective for childrenwho do not have well-developed story or expos-itory text structure awareness or do not havegood memory skills.

Text Frames

Text frames can be used to develop comprehen-sion and have been found to be effective withchildren as young as 5 and 6 years (Cudd &Roberts, 1987; Fowler, 1982). Text frames consistof key language structures. The key languagestructures or elements that are provided areoften transitional and reflect a particular line ofthought. Text frames can be used effectively withboth narrative and expository text to help chil-dren develop a sense of text structure.

Most basic text frames can be used in both pre-xepd,ing and postreading activities to promoteJ

Fostering Reading Comprehension

comprehension. As a prereading activity, textframes can be used to activate prior knowledgeand engage children in making predictions. Afterreading, children use the frame to reconstruct thetext. As a postreading activity text frames areespecially useful as a scaffold for retelling. Afterchildren have completed a text frame, they enjoyreading and sharing their work with peers, usingthe frame to support their retelling.

Narrative Text Frames: Although many chil-dren come to school with a well-developed senseof story, some children have great difficulty recon-structing stories they have listened to or read.Children develop an awareness of story structureby hearing stories read aloud and by reading sto-ries with more advanced readers. Through suchexposure children develop an awareness of char-acters and how they relate to plot and story out-comes. According to Ruddell and Ruddell (1995),basic to awareness of story structure are

an awareness that stories have characters, set-tings, an initiating event, plot episodes, and aresolution;a sense of sequence of events as the story un-folds;the ability to make simple inferences and pre-dictions about the story events and outcomes;andthe ability to retell and create stories in a vari-ety of ways, such as by drawing, writing, andorally sharing these stories with other children.

Teachers who decide to use narrative textframes as a prereading activity should selectappropriate stories. Stories should have a title,pictures, words, or charts that would stimulateprediction. The narrative text frame shown inFigure 12.5 is useful with stories that reflect thebasic story elements of character, setting, initiat-ing event, episodes, and resolution.

As a prereading activity children might beintroduced to a story such as "The Three LittlePigs. The teacher would provide the story titleand then introduce some words from the story,such as three, pigs, wolf, huff, puff, straw, twigs, andbricks. In the prereading activity, children mightmake predictions, as a group or individually,about what they think will happen in the story.The children would be encouraged to use as

149

Title:

NARRATIVE TEXT FRAME

In this story the problem begins when

After that,

Next,

Then,

The problem is solved when

The story ends when

Figure 12.5

many of the words as possible in their "predic-tion" story.

After reading the story, children could fill inthe narrative text frame, using their own wordsor referring to the text for clues. When used inpostreading activities, the narrative frame focus-es student attention on the major elements ofbasic stories and facilitates the recall of majorstory parts. This results in increased knowledgeof story structure, which in turn helps studentsprocess text more productively and with im-proved comprehension. Reutzel and Cooter (1993)suggest that the greatest benefit associated withusing text frames is that students begin to readmore like writers because they pay more atten-tion to structure, sequence, and meaning making.

There are a variety of narrative text framesthat are useful as both pre- and postreadingactivities. Following are just two examples.

Someone/WantsBut/So Frame: This frame isparticularly useful for problem-solution narra-tive stories. Figure 12.6 shows how this framewas used with the folktale, "The Turnip."

Story-Specific Frames: These frames can bedeveloped by the teacher to provide more struc-ture and scaffolding for the student (Cudd &

58


EXAMPLE OF A SOMEONE/WANTS/BUT/SO FRAME

Title: The Turnip

Someone Wants But So

The old man to pull the turnip up it won't budge he calls his wholefamily and all theanimals to help himpull up the turnip!

Figure 12.6

Roberts, 1987). The development of these textframes requires more time and effort on the partof the teacher; however, they provide addition-al support for the struggling learner. An exam-ple of a story-specific frame for "The City MouseComes to Visit" is shown in Figure 12.7.

Expository Text Frames: Young children typi-cally have more experience with narrative text

EXAMPLE OF A STORY-SPECIFIC FRAME

Title: The City Mouse Comes to Visit

The city mouse missed his brother. He decided

to go to the to visit his

brother. He loved the green

But he did not like the

They scared him. They had a loud

. They

him and he had to run very fast to get away. The

squirrels hit him with

The chickens him. The

city mouse could not understand why his brother

loved living in the . He

decided that he was a

mouse and his brother was a

mouse. He was so glad to get back

to the

Figure 12.7

15

than with expository text. Using expository textframes can support children in developing anawareness of the variety of expository text struc-tures. Expository text frames support children'sactivating prior knowledge, making predictions,and determining important ideas and support-ing facts.

Expository text frames help children under-stand and react to what they have learned. Fig-ures 12.8 and 12.9 show two frames that areespecially appropriate for activities requiringstudents to have read specific texts or to havestudied a particular topic using a range ofbooks and resources. Using expository textframes helps students activate their priorknowledge and attend to new information aswell as the most important or most interestinginformation. The expository frame shown inFigure 12.8 is appropriate for younger readers,while the frame in Figure 12.9 is more ad-vanced and requires elaboration of facts anddetails.

EXAMPLE OF A BASICI KNEW/I LEARNED FRAME

Topic: Snails

I learned many things about snails. I alreadyknew that they are slimy and slow, but I learned thesnails eat their shells. I also learned that they leavea slimy trail. I would like to learn more about howsnails move along on the slimy trail they make.

Figure 12.8



Extending Learning by Retelling Stories

After my second graders have become familiar with the process of retelling stories, I invitethem to retell the stories they have read into a tape recorder. The children listen to theirrecordings and assess the quality of their own retellings. In the beginning, the children followa simple checklist of story elements on a worksheet. The worksheet has spaces for theirname, the date, the title, and author of the story being told. There is the statement, "In myretelling I told about," followed by a checklist fOr the main characters, setting, beginning,middle, and end of the story. The children check off which parts of the story they remem-bered to retell. At the end of the worksheet, a space is provided for them to say what theyliked best about their retelling and how they could improve. They complete the statements"One thing I did well was ..." and "The next time I retell a story I will work on ..." with ourideas.

Involving students in self-evaluation increases metacognition and awareness of importantattributes in retelling. I even had one student tally the number of times he said "uhmm" and"and then." This student was learning to monitor and assess his retelling ability. This activitywill help develop good oral speaking, listening, and learning skills.

Ann Dromsky, Second-Grade Teacher

Guidelines for EffectiveComprehension Instruction

Comprehension is a complex topic for classroomteachers and researchers to address, in partbecause strategic readers do not use single

EXAMPLE OF AN ELABORATEDI KNEW/I LEARNED FRAME

Topic: Stars

Although I already knew that stars are hot, Ilearned some new things about stars. I learnedthat the coolest star is red, the warmest star isyellow, and the very, very hot stars are blue. I alsolearned that seven stars make the shape of a dip-per. However, the most interesting thing I learnedwas that the North Star stays in its place. That'swhy it's called the Pole Star.

Figure 12.9

approaches but orchestrate a number of ap-proaches (e.g., activating prior knowledge, pre-dicting, verbally rehearsing or retelling) whenreading. Thus, instruction to aid in comprehen-sion development is not a simple task. Althoughthere are multiple comprehension strategies thatspan developmental levels, the teaching of read-ing comprehension entails much more than sim-ply teaching a few strategies. The followingguidelines are associated with effective instruc-tion across a wide range of comprehension strat-egies and teaching techniques, such as KWL,retelling, text clues, and text frames.

1. Teach a limited number of strategies. Focuson one strategy at a time until children areable to use and understand the approach(Pressley et al., 1995).

2. As students construct meaning, scaffoldinstruction to support acquisition of the strat-egy. Modeling is extremely important to theyoung child just beginning to develop more

160


complex interactions with text (Fielding &Pearson, 1994).

3. Be explicit in explanations of when and whereto use strategies. It is important that youngchildren develop metacognitive awareness ofstrategy use (Durkin, 1978/1979; Pressley etal., 1995).

4. Practice, practice, practice. Here is where lit-eracy experts strongly agree. Proficiency incomprehension strategy use requires that stu-dents have ample opportunity to read andpractice strategies (Fielding & Pearson, 1994;Pressley et al., 1995).

5. Provide children with opportunities to choosereading materials. Choice fosters motivationand gives students a chance to practice strate-gies with meaningful texts (Fielding & Pear-son, 1994; Gambrell, 1996; Gambrell, Pfeiffer,et al., 1985).

6. Allow students to read, share, and activelydiscuss narrative and informational text. En-courage them to discuss their strategy use aswell. Peers can reinforce strategy use andcomprehension monitoring (Gambrell & Al-masi, 1996).

These guidelines only begin to tap the com-plexity of teaching comprehension. There is aplethora of comprehension approaches andstrategies that improve young children's cogni-tion and reading. For teachers, this creates adepth versus breadth dilemma. What type ofcomprehension strategy instruction is mostappropriate for young children? How does thisinstruction occur in the classroom? Clearly, ef-fective comprehension instruction is not thesame as teaching a predetermined list or num-ber of strategies. Rather, informed teachers arefamiliar with a range of theory- and research-based strategies and are able to determine whichstrategies are most appropriate for their stu-dents.

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B. L. (1995). Reading comprehension strategies. InM. Pressley & W. Woloshyn (Eds.), Cognitive strat-egy instruction that really improves children's academ-ic performance (pp. 57-100). Cambridge, MA: Brook-line Books.

Reutzel, R. E., & Cooter, R. B. (1993). Teaching childrento read: From basals to books. New York: Macmillan.

Ruddell, R. B., & Ruddell, M. R. (1995). Teaching chil-dren to read and write. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Tierney, R., Readence, J. E., & Dishner, E. K. (1995).Reading strategies and practices: A compendium.Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Trabasso, T. (1994). The power of the narrative. InF. Lehr & J. Osborne (Eds.), Reading, language, andliteracy: Instruction for the twenty first century (pp.187-200). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Walker, B. (1996). Diagnostic teaching of reading: Tech-niques for instruction and assessment. EnglewoodCliffs, NJ: Merrill.

Zimiles, H., & Kuhns, M. (1976). A developmental studyin the retention of narrative material. Final Report(Research Report 134), Banks Street College ofEducation. Washington, DC: National Institute ofEducation.

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CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Assessing Reading and Writingin the Early Years

Bill Harp and Jo Ann Brewer

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Bill Harp and Jo Ann Brewer offer an abundanceof practical suggestions as they stress the needfor classrooms where instruction and assessmentare highly interrelated.

154

'rit6 3

For Reflection andAction: Investigate andshare what you learnabout the major methodsnow used to assess litera-cy in your school or aschool with which you arefamiliar. What is meas-ured by each of theseassessments? How is theinformation used?

The year 1998 saw remarkable consensusaround important issues in bringing youngchildren to literacy. The National Research

Council (NRC) issued a landmark report enti-tled Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Chil-dren. The International Reading Association(IRA) and the National Association for the Edu-cation of Young Children (NAEYC) issued a jointposition statement entitled "Learning To Readand Write: Developmentally Appropriate Prac-tices for Young Children." Both of these impor-tant documents drew on years of research in

Assessing Reading and Writing in the Early Years 155

early literacy to make significant recommenda-tions (some controversial) for programs andpractices.

We begin this chapter by looking at the rec-ommendations in these reports that have impli-cations for assessment and evaluation withyoung readers and writers. By the end, we willhave addressed all of the following topics:

The assessment goals drawn from the NRCstudy and the IRA /NAEYC position state-mentHow to use anecdotal records, checklists, andrating scales to record growth in literacyHow to organize a literacy portfolio for ayoung childHow attitude and interest surveys can be usedin planning effective literacy instructionHow to assess a child's knowledge of printfeaturesHow to assess phonemic awarenessHow to assess a child's reading behavior andindividualize instructionHow to assess a child's writing behaviorHow to use reading and writing interviews asassessment proceduresHow to use a developmental continuum forassessing performance

The NRC Report

The NRC report recommends that attention bepaid in every primary grade classroom to the fullarray of early reading accomplishments that chil-dren must make in order to be successful read-ers. These accomplishments are the developmentof phonemic awareness, understanding thealphabetic principle, developing a sight vocabu-lary, reading words by mapping speech soundsto parts of words, achieving fluency, and com-prehension. The report further recommends thatcomprehension be enhanced by instructionaimed at developing background knowledge,concept and vocabulary growth, and knowledgeabout the syntax and rhetorical structures ofwritten language. The 17-member committeethat developed the NRC report also recommendsdirect instruction in comprehension strategies

such as summarizing, predicting, and monitor-ing. With regard to spelling and writing, thecommittee points out that instruction should bedesigned with the understanding that the use ofinvented spelling is not in conflict with teachingcorrect spelling. The writers note that beginningwriting with invented spelling can actually behelpful in developing an understanding of seg-mentation in speech sounds and of phonics.However, the report states that correct spellingshould be developed through careful instructionand practice, with final writing products cor-rectly spelled.

Before we examine the assessment and eval-uation implications of the NRC report, we shalllook at the recommendations in the IRA/NAEYCjoint position statement.

IRA/NAEYC JointPosition StatementThe instructional recommendations contained inthe IRA /NAEYC joint statement are remarkablylike those in the NRC report. Like the NRCreport, the joint statement underscores the valueof children developing phonemic awareness andunderstanding the alphabetic principle, the tem-porary use of invented spelling, the develop-ment of vocabulary and comprehension, andsystematic code instruction, along with the read-ing of meaningful texts. But unlike the NRCreport, the joint statement offers specific recom-mendations for assessment and evaluation. Thejoint statement calls for accurate assessment ofchildren's knowledge, skills, and dispositions inreading and writing. It cautions that reading andwriting cannot simply be measured as a set ofnarrowly defined skills on standardized tests.

The joint report makes the following state-ment about assessment:

[S]ound assessment should be anchored in real-lifewriting and reading tasks and continuously chron-icle a wide range of children's literacy activities indifferent situations. Good assessment is essential tohelp teachers tailor appropriate instruction toyoung children and to know when and how muchintensive instruction on any particular skill orstrategy might be needed (p. 206).

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156 Bill Harp and Jo Ann Brewer

The joint report calls for teachers to under-stand a developmental continuum of reading andwriting and to be skilled in a variety of strategiesto assess and support each child's developmentand learning across the continuum. In addition totracking children's progress across a develop-mental continuum, teachers are urged to regu-larly and systematically use multiple assessmentsof reading and writing growth, such as observa-tion of children's oral language, evaluation ofchildren's work, and evaluation of performanceon authentic reading and writing tasks.

The use of multiple-choice, standardized testsof reading and writing before third grade, andpreferably before fourth grade, is strongly dis-couraged by the IRA and NAEYC. The jointstatement offers the following argument againstsuch practice:

The younger the child, the more difficult it is toobtain valid and reliable indices of his or her devel-opment and learning using one-time test adminis-trations. Standardized testing has a legitimate func-tion, but on its own it tends to lead to standardizedteachingone approach fits allthe opposite ofthe kind of individualized diagnosis and teachingthat is needed to help young children continue toprogress in reading and writing (p. 210).

We can draw on both the NRC report and theIRA/NAEYC joint statement to guide us in plan-ning assessment and evaluation activities inkindergarten through second grade.

Report Implications forAssessment and Evaluation inKindergarten Through Grade 2

When we examine the instructional recommen-dations in both reports and the assessment rec-ommendations in the joint report, we are able tolist important areas in which kindergartenthrough grade 2 teachers should assess and eval-uate children's performance. By assess we meancollect data. By evaluate we mean interpret thatdata to make instructional decisions. Figure 13.1lists the assessment and evaluation goals forreading and writing in kindergarten through sec-ond grade culled from these reports.

With the assessment and evaluation goalsidentified, we now turn our attention to thetools we can use to meet these goals. Fortu-nately, several of the goals can be met throughthe use of a single tool. We will not need to use15 tools to meet our 15 goals. However, wemust keep one recommendation of the jointreport in mind: Sound assessment should beanchored in real-life writing and reading tasksand should continuously chronicle a widerange of children's literacy activities in differ-ent situations.

The Power of ObservationWe begin with a focus on observation becauseof the power it holds for us in understandingthe behavior, attitudes, and understandings ofour learners, both as readers and as writers.One of our most important goals in workingwith children is to deepen and extend ourknowledge base so that we can become increas-ingly more careful and analytical observers ofchildren.

When taken with care, informal observationscan be enormously helpful to teachers in plan-ning appropriate instruction for each youngchild. Learning to be a close observer of childrenis a skill that is valuable, and one that can belearned.

In addition to being an informed observer ofchildren, we need to develop efficient ways torecord our observations and analyze them forinstructional purposes. Observational recordingsystems include anecdotal records, checklists,and rating scales. Different kinds of observa-tions are recorded using each of these devices.

When making observations, you must firstdecide what kind of information is needed andwhat form of observation would be most effi-cient in obtaining that information. Anecdotalrecords have the advantage of providing moredetail for later use, while checklists and ratingscales are much quicker to use and do not re-quire as much skill on the part of the observer.In comparison with anecdotal records, howev-er, checklists and rating scales provide only lim-ited information.

L. 165


GOALS FOR READING AND WRITINGASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION, K-2

1. Continually expands oral vocabulary2. Has phonemic awareness3. Has knowledge of letter names4. Knows conventions of print (i.e., we read from

right to left and from top to bottom)5. Has knowledge of the alphabetic principle6. Matches spoken words to written ones .7. Increasingly develops sight vocabulary8. Uses invented spellings, moving toward con-

ventional spellings9. Decodes and blends sounds in words

10. Reads with increasing fluency11. Writes with increasing fluency12. Writes across genres and for varying audi-

ences13. Uses graphophonic, semantic, and syntactic

cues with increasing efficiency14. Uses strategies (predicting, confirming, sum-

marizing, monitoring) when comprehensionbreaks down

15. Reads with increasing comprehension

Figure 13.1

Anecdotal Records

An anecdotal record is a recording of factualinformation. Most anecdotal records are shortand record only one incident. Anecdotal recordscan be used to document behavior or social inter-actions as well as academic goals. Teacherschoosing to use anecdotal records must consid-er the limitations and possible biases that can beinvolved in teacher records. Bias may exist onthe part of the teacher or the child beingobserved. Teachers tend to see what they arelooking for in children. For example, if theteacher feels that a child is not learning, then heor she might be more likely to record incidentsfocusing on the child's needs and ignore inci-dents that might indicate strengths. We alsoknow that children are likely to change theirbehavior if they know they are being observed.We know that one anecdotal record is not veryhelpful, but a collection gathered over time mayreveal meaningful patterns that can guide theteacher's planning. Teachers who are aware ofthe possible limitations or biases of anecdotal

records will take records frequently and inter-pret these records with care.

An anecdotal record should be as objective aswe can make it. We try to record only what weobserve, and if we make interpretations of thoseobservations, we will make those interpretationsclear in the record. For example, if we see a childslap a book down on a table, we could recordthat the child slapped the book on the table, butif we decide that the slapping behavior was aresult of frustration on the child's part, that is aninterpretation. Only if the child tells us that he"cannot read that awful book" do we have assur-ance that the feeling was frustration. Perhaps itwas triumph over having finished his first bookthat led to slapping the book on the table.

We shall focus on the goals listed in Figure13.1 and describe some possibilities for makinguseful anecdotal records related to those goals.For example, phonemic awareness means that achild knows that words are made up of a seriesof sounds. Phonemic awareness can be observedas children attempt to sound out the words theyencounter in print. Children who have devel-oped phonemic awareness can also participateeasily in rhyming games or in activities in whichthey combine onsets with a variety of differentrimes and determine which ones can be words.

Children's knowledge of letter names can beobserved as a child plays with magnetic lettersor selects letters from a box as a teacher requeststhem. Children frequently comment on theirown knowledge by pointing out letters that arein their names or the names of their friends.While the teacher is reading a big book, somechildren will comment on the letters they are see-ing.

As we observe children writing, we can easi-ly record whether the child knows the principlesof directionality in written English. Children canalso make their knowledge of these principlesclear as they use the pointer to lead the readingof a big book, a poster, or a song chart.

Children who are writing letters to recordtheir messages have obviously learned the alpha-betic nature of English and that sounds arerecorded with letters. Even children who are inthe random letter stage of spelling developmentknow that it takes letters to record words and

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that words are not written with one letter usedover and over.

Children who can follow along with their fin-gers in a small book while the teacher reads theprint from a big book or who can follow thewords in a small song book while the class singsthe song are able to match spoken words to writ-ten ones. Children can also be observed trying tomatch the print to the words they know. Forexample, they may have memorized the text ofa simple book, but when they read it themselves,they may make no effort to match what they aresaying to the print. As children become moreaware of the print, they can be observedmatch-ing the print with the words they say or becom-ing confused if they are unable to make the printand their spoken words match.

As we observe children demonstrating vari-ous literacy abilities, we should date the recordand record briefly what was observed and underwhat circumstances. For example, a record mightread as follows:

11 /1/99 Juan was using the pointer to leadthe group in singing "Row, Row, Row YourBoat." He pointed to the correct word with100% accuracy.

Or a record might read:

10/2/99 Susie was playing with the alpha-bet letters and naming them as she placedthem on the magnetic board. She named allof the letters accurately except Q.

Because teachers make many observations inthe course of a day, there will never be time torewrite them in another form after school, so wesuggest that teachers keep anecdotal records oncomputer labels or some other self-sticking mate-rial that can be placed directly in the child's record.A loose-leaf binder with a page for each child isone way to store these records. If you completemore formal observation tasks, these records canalso be placed in the binder. Such records need tobe reviewed on a regular basis and evaluated.These observations guide daily planning as teach-ers think about what a child or children need to bebetter readers or writers. A summary statement ofall observations and indications for instruction canbe made every grading period or every month.

Anecdotal records can also be extremely use-ful in recording the child's attitudes toward read-ing and writing. For example, when choices areallowed in the classroom, how often does thechild choose to read or write? How excited is thechild to find a word that she recognizes in thenewspaper? Do the children bring to schooldrawings or writing they have done at home?How often does the child bring a book to schoolthat she is reading at home? Does the childchoose to participate in story sessions? Does thechild initiate literacy activities, such as makingsigns in the block areas or writing a prescriptionfor a patient in the doctor's office? It is importantfor us to know whether the child's interests inreading and writing are being strengthened orweakened.

Anecdotal records can provide informationthat we cannot access in other ways, but for someinformation, a quick check to show who can orcannot complete some tasks may be enough toaid classroom planning. One alternative to theanecdotal record is a checklist.

Checklists

A checklist is a list on which the teacher recordsan observation of a task being completed. Usu-ally a checklist is dated whenever a certain taskis observed, but the checklist does not indicatehow many trials were necessary or with whatlevel of skill the task was completed. For exam-ple, a checklist might have an item labeled"chooses a book," meaning that the child choos-es a book for sustained silent reading. It is datedwhenever the child is able to go to the book-shelves and choose a book without promptingfrom the teacher.

A checklist might also be used to record suchobservations as the use of various strategieswhen the child is reading. For example, thechecklist might be labeled "reads on," "checksillustrations," or "asks a friend," and when thechild is observed using these strategies, it can berecorded on a checklist. Checklists might bemore formal, such as the list in Figure 13.2,which helps teachers record reading behaviorsthat are important as children develop asreaders.

16.7


READING CHECKLIST

Emergent Reader BehaviorsEnjoys listening to stories, rhymes, songs and poemsEagerly participates in group stories, rhymes, songs, and poemsApproaches books with enthusiasmRevisits some booksKnows that his or her language'can be written and then readUnderstands how to handle books for readingIs able to make predictions and follow plotKnows some print conventions (period, question mark)Knows some book conventions (front cover, back cover, title page)Uses reading in play activitiesUses pictures to help create meaningIs developing finger, print, and voice matchingIdentifies some wordsIs beginning to use graphophonic cuesIs beginning to develop strategies to use when meaning fails

Developing Reader BehaviorsEagerly attends to long books in reading and listeningShows an interest in meeting challenges of textsDisplays confidence as a reader; is willing to take risks and make predictionsIs eager to share ideas with othersHas increasing knowledge of book and print conventionsUnderstands how background knowledge contributes to meaningAppreciates the value of predicting, confirming, and integratingHas several strategies to invoke when meaning failsIncreasingly makes more accurate predictionsReads increasingly more complicated texts across a range of genreChooses to read independently

Fluent Reader BehaviorsExpects books to offer a variety of meanings, some satisfying, some notIs confident as a readerEagerly participates in book discussions, author studies, and other forms ofresponse to literatureAppreciates the power of readingUses the cueing systems that best meet the reading needs and demands ofthe textUnderstands the role of purpose in readingKnows how to use the library to get information and meet needsKnows how to use electronic media to get information and meet needsDemonstrates increasing sophistication in prediction, sampling, confirming,and integrating as a readerIs developing study skills and can use textbook featuresIs able to summarize, outline and retell in detail (Harp, 1996)

Figure 13.2

You may find it useful to add columns to thechecklist so that you can record the dates of yourobservations or add qualifiers to your observa-tions. For example, if the checklist called for

:!t,J

observing whether a child chose a book that wasappropriate for independent reading, then a rat-ing scale might add "not yet," "some of thetime," or "most of the time."

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All of the observations you make and thematerials you select to illustrate those observa-tions can be stored in a portfolio. Portfolios canbe invaluable to a teacher in planning instruc-tion and conferencing with parents and learners.

Portfolios

Portfolios can be described as a systematicmeans of collecting information that will docu-ment the child's progress in the development ofliteracy and inform the planning for instruction.Examples of a child's work can be collected thatspecifically demonstrate a given skill or ability.For example, running records made on a regularbasis provide the teacher with knowledge of thechild's sight vocabulary, his ability to decodeunknown words, and his ability to apply read-ing strategies. These records can also indicate thefluency with which the child reads and the rich-ness of retellings. As children write, many of theother objectives of a good literacy program canbe observed. The writing piece through whichthe ability is demonstrated can be placed in theportfolio. For example, a child may leave a spacebetween words in her writing for the first time.This piece can be dated and placed in the port-folio with a short note explaining why it has beensaved. As children write more accurately (em-ploy more of the conventions of print), samplesof their writing are placed in their portfolios.

The danger of a portfolio is that it can easilybecome so unwieldy that the teacher cannotorganize it or make sense of it. One way to avoidthat pitfall is to keep a list of the objectives on thefront of the portfolio and mark each entry tomatch the objective. If the entry does not matchany of the objectives, perhaps it should be elim-inated. On the objective list, you can record atally mark when you have included a sample toillustrate one of the objectives. Objectives with-out tally marks should be readily apparent, andteachers can then pay attention to collecting sam-ples for those objectives.

The portfolio should be evaluated every fewweeks so that old examples can be removed andnew, up-to-date examples of abilities added. Ashort summary of the child's growth (with spe-cific references to pieces in the portfolio) can be

written every few weeks and new goals set forthe child. Even very young children should par-ticipate in setting the new learning goals. Forexample, with a kindergarten child, it would beappropriate to review with the child what he haslearned and talk about what he can learn next. IfRaymond has learned the directional principlesof print, then the teacher might help him plan tolearn to match spoken words'to print. Older chil-dren can see that they are using more conven-tional writing and set a goal to learn to write ina new genre or for a new audience.

All anecdotal records and checklist informa-tion can be placed in a portfolio. The goal ofkeeping all of these observations is to form anaccurate picture of the child and the child'sgrowth in literacy. Keeping careful records foreach child will help teachers know more aboutthe child's progress and ensure that no child slipsthrough the cracks and fails to make progress.

A final component of an effective portfolio isthe child's self-assessment. Children can eitherwrite or dictate what they have learned and whatthey are interested in learning. Such self-evalu-ations can be linked to attitude or interest sur-veys, which can be revisited so that the child canmake comments on any changes in them or linkan interest to an area of growth.

Attitude and Interest Surveys

Attitude surveys are sets of questions used byteachers to assess children's feelings toward par-ticular subjects. A number of attitude surveyshave been published. Surveys that assess atti-tude typically make statements to which chil-dren respond indicating the strength of their feel-ings in response to given statements. Statementson reading attitude surveys typically include:I like to read at home; Reading is fun at school;I like reading more than watching TV; I enjoygoing to the library; I like to get books as gifts.Writing attitude surveys typically include suchstatements as "I am a good writer," "I like towrite," "I like it when other people read my writ-ing," "I like to get help when I am writing,""I like to write at home." Other surveys includeopen-ended questions to which children areasked to respond. They might ask "What do you

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like to read most?" or "What kinds of writing doyou like to do?"

Interest inventories are questionnaires aimedat tapping into each child's interests so that theteacher can choose materials or activities thatwould engage the child. Interest inventories inreading and writing could ask "What are yourfavorite books?" "Where do you like to read?""What do you think you should do to become abetter reader?" "What do you like to write?""Where do you like to write?" "What should youdo to become a better writer?" Such inventoriescould also ask what the child likes to read about,what parts of school he or she likes best, and anyother questions that might aid the planning ofinstruction. If the child likes books about dogs orfantasy books, then the teacher makes suchbooks available. If the child likes to write athome more than at school, then the teachermight try to determine how to make the schoolenvironment more conducive to writing.

Putting Research Into Practice:Assessing and Evaluating Reading

In this section we offer suggestions about how tomeet some of the assessment goals listed in Fig-ure 13.1. Each assessment strategy or tool islinked to specific goals.

Concepts About Print(Goals 4 and 6 in Figure 13.1)

Children come to us in kindergarten and firstgrade with widely varying experiences andunderstandings about print and how it works.Some have benefited from many hours of beingread to at home and have had many experienceswith paper and writing instruments. Others,unfortunately, have had very limited experienceswith print. One early assessment and evaluationtask is to learn what these children understandabout print and how it functions.

One way to assess children's concepts aboutprint is to perform a series of tasks designed byMarie Clay, using either of two small paperbackbooks, Stones (Clay, 1979) or Sand (Clay, 1972).The tasks, done one-on-one with a child, take

about 10 minutes to complete. The purpose ofthe tasks is to help you understand what thechild knows about print and how it is used inbooks. You hand the child the book and thenobserve his or her behavior as you ask a seriesof questions. You will be able to determine whatthe child knows about how to hold books,whether the child knows that print, not pictures,carries the meaning, what the child knows aboutdirectionality with print, and the child's conceptsof letters and words, as well as other importantinformation. Complete instructions for adminis-tration and scoring are found in Marie Clay's AnObservation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement(1993).

This assessment and evaluation tool is onlyone in an array of tools you can use to learn moreabout children as readers. In New Zealand,Clay's surveys on print tasks are used as oneway to obtain information about each 5-year-oldas he or she enters school. When you discoverthat a child does not know how to orient a bookfor reading, does not know that we read fromleft to right and from top to bottom, or does notknow the difference between words and letters,you can use this information to structure lessonsusing big books and shared reading. After intro-ducing these understandings in shared reading,you can then reinforce them when working one-on-one with children.

Phonemic Awareness(Goal 2 in Figure 13.1)

In addition to children's concepts about print,research supports the importance of phonemicawareness in beginning reading. We must care-fully assess and evaluate children's growth inthis important aspect of learning to read. Boththe NRC report and the IRA /NAEYC jointstatement underscore the importance of phone-mic awareness in learning to read. The NRCreport (1998) defines phonemic awareness as"the insight that every spoken word can be con-ceived as a sequence of phonemes. Becausephonemes are the units of sound that are rep-resented by the letters of an alphabet, an aware-ness of phonemes is key to understanding thelogic of the alphabetic principles and thus to

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the learnability of phonics and spelling" (p. 52).

Cunningham (1988) defined phonemic aware-ness as the ability to manipulate the sounds oflanguage independent of meaning. Phonemicawareness is not one skill that a child has ordoes not have; it is a cluster of skills. For exam-ple, a child may be able to recognize rhymingwords, then be able to manipulate the beginningsounds of words, and finally to segment allthe phonemes in a given word. The researchevidence suggests that phonemic awarenessis strongly related to success in reading andspelling acquisition.

Hal lie Kay Yopp has developed the Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation, first intro-duced in the September 1995 issue of The Read-ing Teacher (pp. 20-29). It measures a child'sability to separately articulate the sounds of aspoken word in order. For example, when youpronounce the word dig, the child should re-spond with three separate sounds: /d/-/i/-/g/.To get credit for the item the child must pro-duce the individual sounds, not the letternames. The test has 22 items and takes about 10minutes to administer. The items are shown inFigure 13.3.

The Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmenta-tion may be used to give you an idea of howphonemically aware your learners have become.Performance on this test will likely vary greatlyacross a group of 5- or 6-year-olds. A child whocorrectly responds to all or nearly all of the itemsis demonstrating considerable phonemic aware-ness. The child who correctly segments some ofthe items is demonstrating emerging phonemicawareness. There are many instructional activi-ties you can provide for children who need todevelop phonemic awareness. Following aresome examples.

Song Charts: Children learn to sing a song byrote and then to follow the lyrics as they are pre-sented on a chart and subsequently in individ-ual copies. Once the children have mastered theone-to-one matching of words to print, theteacher can manipulate the print by changing thebeginning sounds to create new words to sing.If the children learned "Row, row, row your

YOPP-SINGER TEST OFPHONEME SEGMENTATION

Student's Name:

Date:

Score (number correct):

Directions: Today we're going to play a wordgame. I'm going to say a word and I want you tobreak the word apart. You are going to tell meeach sound in the word in order. For example, ifI say "old," you should say "kV - /di." (Adminis-trator: Be sure to say the sounds, not the lettersin the word.) Let's try a few together.

Practice items: (Assist the child in segmentingthese items as necessary.) ride, go, man

Test items: (Circle those items that the studentcorrectly segments; incorrect responses may berecorded on the blank line following the item.)

1. dog 12. lay

2. keep 13. race

3. fine 14. zoo

4. no 15. three

5. she 16. job

6. wave 17. in

7. grew 18. ice

8. that 19. at

9. red 20. top

10. me 21. by

11. sat 22. do

Figure 13.3

boat," then the manipulation might be to singfloat, coat, moat, goat, and so on (emphasizing thefact that some inventions are nonsense).

Rhyming Books: After reading books withrhyming texts, the children can fill in therhyming words as teachers read the book, stop-ping before the rhyming words. A chart of otherwords that rhyme with each of the words in thestory could be created. For example, after read-ing In the Tall, Tall Grass (Fleming,1991), a chart

171


of the words to rhyme with lunch, sip, hum, flap,and so on could be created. As the teacher readsthe lists of rhyming words, the children can beasked to identify the beginnings of the words aswell as the rhymes.

Environmental Print: Children can bring labelsfrom items they eat or use at home and a largebulletin board can be created with a section foreach letter of the alphabet. The words can bereviewed whenever a new label is brought toschool so that the children can decide where itshould be placed. Children who indicate thatthey understand the first letters could be askedto arrange items into sections that end with thesame sound (not all 26 letters, since Englishwords do not end in vowels except silent e andy or w when they represent vowel sounds, nor dothey end with the consonants q, v, or j).

Taking Dictation: As teachers record words orsentences dictated by the children, they empha-size each of the phonemes as they are recorded.Because it takes a few seconds to write each word,this exercise provides an opportunity for stretch-ing out the sounds in a more authentic use of lan-guage than drills conceived for this purpose.

Running Records (Goals 5, 6, 7,9, 10, and 14, in Figure 13.1)

When children begin reading connected text, weneed to carefully monitor their progress. We findrunning records a very useful tool for this pur-pose.

Marie Clay (1993) invented running recordsas a method for closely observing and recordingchildren's reading behavior. Running recordsare observations of a child's oral reading behav-ior. The markings follow a standard set of con-ventions so that any teacher familiar with run-ning records would be able to reconstructexactly what the child did while reading. Run-ning records are not tests in the usual sense ofthe word; they are used to plan instruction andto communicate to the child (and others) goalsfor an individual child. The analysis will recordwhat the child can do and what cueing systems

are used; evaluative words such as good andbad are not part of the running record.

Space limitations prevent us from offering adetailed discussion of how to make and analyzerunning records. However, we view runningrecords and their careful interpretation as a crit-ical part of good primary grade assessment andevaluation in reading. We refer teachers to AnObservation Survey of Early Literacy Behavior, byMarie Clay, for a detailed discussion of runningrecords.

For young children (kindergarten through sec-ond grade), running records should be madeevery 3 to 4 weeks. The child at this age is typi-cally making such rapid progress that a runningrecord is out-of-date in a short time.

Putting Research Into Practice:Strategies for Assessing andEvaluating WritingAs young children begin writing, the scribblesthey produce reflect their attempts to gain con-trol of the formto make the writing instrumentmake a line where they want it to mark. Mostchildren then begin to scribble in forms that looklike the writing of their communities. When achild is an English language community, thewriting often resembles wavy lines going acrossthe page. Next the child will begin to add letters,numerals, or 'symbols to his writing. With a lit-tle more experience, the child begins to writemostly letters and believes that the letters can beread. This stage, called random letter writing,leads to phonetic writing, in which the childrecords sounds with specific letters. In the nextstage, the child spells some words convention-ally and some words phonetically. Finally, thechild spells most words conventionally. As theyoung child is learning about how words arerecorded, he is also learning other writing rules.For example, children learn that English is writ-ten from left to right and top to bottom and thatsentences begin with capital letters and end withperiods. They continue to learn about the func-tions of print as they leave messages, writeexplanations, compose stories, and make lists.

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In assessing children's writing, the goal is touncover the child's knowledge about writtenlanguage, which will guide the teacher in plan-ning instruction for the child. Clay (1975, 1993)recommends that writing be evaluated in termsof the language the child uses, the conceptsabout the purposes of writing that are dis-played, and the directional principles that areevident. In terms of language, the rater deter-mines whether the child used letters, a word, aword group, a sentence, a punctuated story, ora paragraphed story. In trying to determine thechild's concept about the functions of print, therater determines if the child: conveys a message,copies a message, uses a sentence pattern repet-itively, attempts to write a message, or producesa complete composition. In examining direc-tional principles, the child is rated as exhibitingno evidence of directional knowledge, someknowledge of directional principles, correct useof directional principles, correct use of direc-tional principles and spacing between words,or having no difficulties arranging text on apage.

For more experienced first-grade writers andmost second-grade writers, we suggest thatteachers examine samples of the child's writingon three dimensionsmeaning, structure, andconventions. In meaning, we look for ideas, clar-ity, and relevance to form and the purposes ofwriting. In assessing structure, we look at orga-nization, unity, and sequence. As we look at con-ventions, we focus on spelling, vocabulary,usage, and punctuation. Teachers can determinewhich system of assessment best meets the needsof their students. Each of the assessments sug-gested will provide the teacher with specificinformation about the child's developing skill asa writer and will guide instructional planning.For example, if the child is using capital lettersat the beginning of sentences and periods at theend of the sentence, but not using the apostropheof possession, you can help the child learn to usethat mark. If the child is not aware of direction-al principles, you can model these principleswhile reading aloud and while demonstratingwriting. If the child does not sequence the ele-ments of his story properly, you could put thestory on sentence strips which are then cut apart,

,;*

and ask the child to reorganize the sentences.Good assessment leads to good instruction thatis useful to the learner.

Putting Research Into Practice:Strategies for Assessing andEvaluating Both Readingand WritingThere are some assessment and evaluationstrategies that apply equally well to both read-ing and writing. There is no point in discussingtheir applications in these two areas separately.Here we look at the power of reading and writ-ing interviews and a developmental continuumin reading and writing.

Reading and Writing Interviews(Goals 4, 5, 6, 7, and 14 in Figure 13.1)

Reading interviews are question-and-answersessions conducted one-on-one between you andyour students. The purpose of the interview is tolearn how children view reading and to gaininsight into their understanding of the readingprocess and how it operates. We suggest con-ducting these interviews as early in the schoolyear as possible and with each child who comesnew to your room during the year. Some teach-ers find it helpful to conduct reading interviewsperiodically throughout the year to track chil-dren's changing views as they learn more aboutreading and the reading process.

When interviewing children about reading,you may wish to ask some of the following ques-tions:

What is reading?What do you do when you read?If you wanted to help someone be a better

reader, how would you help that person?

For children who are beyond the emergentreader stage, you may wish to ask additionalquestions, such as:

What parts of the text you read were difficultfor you?

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What made them difficult?When you come to a difficult part, what do

you do?When you don't understand what you are

reading, what do you do?

Children's responses to questions like theabove can give you valuable insight into whatbeginning readers know or anticipate reading tobe, and what kinds of instruction developingreaders may have previously experienced. Forexample, if a beginning reader responds to"What is reading?" by saying, "Reading is say-ing words," you will know that you need towork on helping that child appreciate reading asa meaning-making process as you read to chil-dren and as you do shared reading. If a childnew to your second-grade room responds to thesame questions with "Reading is sounding outwords," you may suspect that he or she has hadintensive phonics instruction but does not appre-ciate the role phonics plays in helping readerscreate meaning with text.

Interviewing children about the views of writ-ing is easily done during writing conferences.Questions you may wish to ask about writinginclude:

What are you doing well as a writer?What is something new you have learned to do

as a writer?What would you like to be able to do better as

a writer?When you have trouble with your writing,

what do you do?If you were going to help someone become a

better writer, how would you do it? (Harp,1996)

A Developmental Continuum(All Goals Listed in Figure 13.1)

Learning to read and learning to write are bothhighly developmental processes. The use of adevelopmental continuum helps us maintain adevelopmental perspective and track the prog-ress our learners are making.

Developmental continua specify indicators atvarious stages of development that guide our

assessment and evaluation of children's progressin reading and writing. Developmental continuaare a resource to help us look at what children cando as readers and how they do it. In this way weare able to look at accomplishments and plan forinstruction that carries children further along thepath toward fluency. Some school systems havedeveloped their own continua as part of curricu-lum frameworks. There are commercially avail-able continua such as those in the Australianprogram, Reading Developmental Continuum andWriting Developmental Continuum (Education De-partment of Western Australia, 1997).

Space limitations preclude the inclusion ofa developmental continuum in this chapter.However, we recommend that you consider thecontinuum presented in the IRA /NAEYC's1998 joint position statement, "Learning toRead and Write." We recommend this particu-lar continuum because for each phase, exam-ples of what children can do are offered, as wellas examples of what teachers can do and whatparents and family members can do. This viewof reading and writing instruction as a collab-oration between learner, teacher, and family isalso consistent with the recommendations ofthe NRC.

We recommend that you make copies of thecontinuum so that you have one per student. Youcan then develop a schedule that will allow youto carefully observe each of your learners as read-ers and writers for the purpose of placing themon the continuum. For example, at the beginningof the year, you should make judgments as quick-ly as possible (in the first 2 weeks) about eachlearner. As you observe a behavior, note the dateon the continuum when you are confident thatbehavior is consistently exhibited. After you haveplaced each child on his or her continuum, cre-ate a schedule so that you deliberately reconsid-er each child in light of the continuum. If youhave 24 students, you might identify which sixthat you will carefully attend toin terms of thecontinuumeach week. That way, every 4 weeksyou will have reviewed each child's placement onthe continuum. Of course, whenever you see a"breakthrough," you will want to record it. Theitems on the continuum are not intended to beinclusive. You may find that you want to add

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Portfolio Friday

It is important to me to be consistent in collecting samples of students' work for evaluation.To maintain an accurate view of improvement in writing and reading, I set aside time each

week for assessment. Every Friday is Portfolio Friday. My students know that they will beassessed for learning during the course of the day, and that their work should be as neat and

creative as always. The students first receive a creative writing assignment and work inde-pendently, both writing and illustrating their work. During this time, I call up children tomake running records of their reading. When the children have finished working and I have

completed the running records, they place their work in a writing portfolio and I place theirrunning records in a separate folder for each of them. Then I read a passage from a book andask comprehension questions. Children write their responses on a piece of paper that I col-lect. This paper goes into yet another folder for each child. This routine is consistent and wellreceived. The children come to expect the portfolio performance challenge and enjoy reflect-ing on their improvement at the end of each marking period. At the same time. I am able to

take these folders home and browse each weekend to identify where children are strugglingin writing, reading, and comprehension, to target my instruction for the following week.The folders are also a wonderful resource for conferences throughout the year.

Alyson Crane, Second-Grade Teacher

items that fit your learners or that bring the con-tinuum in line with your curriculum.

We have presented an array of assessment andevaluation tools useful for monitoring the read-ing and writing achievement of young children.The most important use of this information is, ofcourse, in planning instruction that meets theindividual needs of each learner. A second, high-ly important use of these data is in communi-cating with significant audiences.

Communicating with Parents,Administrators, and the Publicin the Age of AccountabilityIn the not too distant past, our methods of com-municating children's progress in reading toparents, administrators, and the public were

archaic compared to the kind of information wecan share using today's assessment and evalua-tion tools. Instead of reporting that Nathan isreading "at the primer level" or that Estelle is"reading at the 2.1 level," we can be very specif-ic about how children are applying skills andstrategies to maximize the use of the readingprocess. We can share children's perceptions ofreading and writing from information gainedthrough interviews, and we can report which ofthe cueing systems the child is using from anno-tations in running records. We can be very spe-cific about the reading and writing behavior thechild is exhibiting since our last report by usinga developmental continuum. It is possible to con-fidently report a child's instructional readinglevel using the accuracy rate and retellings iden-tified in running records.

Although you will use the information youcollect on a daily basis to plan instruction, it is

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SUMMARY OF READING AND WRITINGDEVELOPMENT

Name:

Date:

Concepts About PrintOrientation of book Reordered lettersPrint carries meaning Question markDirectional rules PunctuationFirst and last Rev. wordsPicture inversion Letter conceptPrint inversion Word conceptLine sequence First, last letterLeft before right Capital letterLetter order

Impressions drawn from reading interview:

Impressions drawn from writing interview:

Running Record

Accuracy rate:Error ratio:Self-correction rate:

Current independent level:Current instructional level:

Adequacy of retellings:

Use of cueing systems:

Reading and Writing Developmental Continuum

Current phase:

Key indicators of placement in phase:

Writing Development

Major strengths:

Current goals:

Figure 13.4

important to organize the data in such a waythat it can be easily presented to parents andother audiences. Figure 13.4 shows an exampleof a summary sheet you might develop to or-ganize the information you have collected acrossan array of assessment and evaluation strate-gies. We hope you will modify it in ways thatmake it especially useful to you and your learn-ers, and we wish you the greatest success incoming to know your students as readers andwriters!

ReferencesClay, M. M. (1972). Sand. Auckland, New Zealand:

Heinemann.Clay, M. M. (1975). What did I write? Beginning writing

behaviour. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.Clay, M. M. (1979). Stones. Auckland, New Zealand:

Heinemann.Clay, M. M. (1993). An observation survey of early liter-

acy achievement. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.Cunningham, A. E. (1988). A developmental study of

instruction in phonemic awareness. Paper presentedat a meeting of the American Educational ResearchAssociation. New Orleans.

Education Department of Western Australia. (1997).Reading Developmental Continuum. Port Melbourne,Victoria, Australia.

Education Department of Western Australia. (1997).Writing Developmental Continuum. Port Melbourne,Victoria, Australia.

Fleming, D. (1991). In the tall, tall grass. New York:Henry Holt.

Harp, B. (1996). The handbook of literacy assessment andevaluation. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon.

International Reading Association & National Asso-ciation for the Education of Young Children. (1998).Learning to read and write: Developmentally ap-propriate practices for young children. The ReadingTeacher, 52, 193-216.

National Research Council. (1998). Preventing readingdifficulties in young children. Washington, DC:National Academy Press.

Yopp, H. K. (1995). A test for assessing phonemicawareness in young children. The Reading Teacher,49, 20-29.

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CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Sign of the Times:Technology and

Early Literacy LearningShelley B. Wepner and Lucinda C. Ray

Shelley B. Wepner and Lucinda C. Ray provideuseful information for classroom teachers on therole of technology in the classroom and itspotential as a powerful tool for literacy devel-opment.

For Reflection andAction: Reflect on theuse of technology in yourschool or one you knowabout. How much accessdo children have to theavailable technology, andhow is it integrated intothe curriculum? Howhave the teachers beentrained to use theseresources?

Remy is a freshman at a prestigious univer-sity in the United States. Atop her rathersmall wooden desk in her dorm room sits

a brand new computer that her university re-quired her to purchase before she began her firstyear. The first thing Remy does each day is turnon her computer, because it is her way of com-municating to her immediate world that she isavailable for a quick note or a brief conversation.Throughout the day, she lets the important peo-ple in her life know that she is "in class," "exer-

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Sign of the Times: Technology and Early Literacy Learning 169

cising," "taking a shower," or simply "unavail-able to talk." She rarely uses the telephone any-more. Rather, she uses her instant messaging sys-tem or e-mail to talk to her peers, her professors,and her family in the United States and Aus-tralia. She conducts all university business elec-tronically, from registering for classes to access-ing her grades after each examination. She doesthis through her self-created home page, whichlinks her automatically to the university's website. When she is concerned about any of herclasses, she contacts the professor, who invari-ably gets back to her electronically within hours.

Remy, who has been quite proficient at usingthe keyboard, the Internet, and a multitude ofsoftware programs since her high school years,uses the computer for studying, for research, andfor all of her written communication. Never com-pelled to become technically proficient with thecomputer's infrastructure, she has been a bonafide end user since her earliest memories. HoWand where did Remy begin to use computers?

Remy was one of those fortunate childrenwho live in homes where they can "play" andlearn with computers during the preschoolyears, and who go to schools where the teachersuse computers for instruction. Remy used thecomputer to develop her reading vocabulary, topractice reading, to learn about the solar system,and to learn about insects. She remembers vivid-ly some of the World War II atrocities she viewedon laser disk, which helped clarify her heritage.She also remembers a high school science teacherwho embraced the computer's ability to demon-strate concepts that he could not explain as wellwith words alone as with the graphic images onthe screen.

Remy began to acquire basic desktop pub-lishing skills in her primary years because of herteachers' and parents' willingness to help her"dress up" her reports. She learned to keyboardofficially in upper elementary school, learnedhow to use a database and spreadsheet in mid-dle school, and learned a bit of programmingduring high school.

Why do we introduce this chapter with a col-lege student's experiences with technology?Remy is one of the lucky students whose teach-ers were early adopters of technology. Their

interest in technology meant she was exposed toits possibilities during her early literacy acquisi-tion. All children deserve this opportunity. Eventhough schools and teachers cannot control whathappens at home, we can influence what ourchildren experience in the classroom. Integrat-ing technology with learning early in children'sliteracy development enables students to devel-op a sense of how it can be used for learning,discovering, and communicating.

Included in this chapter are the following:

A rationale for using technologyTypes of instructional software for skill devel-opment, reading development, and writingdevelopmentIdeas for selecting and using softwareIdeas and examples for using web sites asinstructional resourcesTwo instructional plans that use technology

Rationale for Using Technologyfor Early Literacy Development

We have come a long way since Remy first beganto use computers. Whereas Remy worked onmouseless computers with 48K that used 5.25inch disks and synthesized speech, childrentoday are using computers with 640 MB or moreof hard disk storage, CD-ROM drives, digitizedspeech, and Internet connections. Within the nextdecade, young children will have access to evenfaster computers equipped with writable DVD-ROM drives and digital camera devices thatallow visual "phone calls" to be made over theInternet (E. Balajthy, personal communication,January 15, 1999).

Research into the usefulness of technology forliteracy development has grown apace with therapid changes in technology in the past twodecades. We have learned that technology pro-vides opportunities for developing literacy thattypically are unavailable through other means.

Technology offers young children the oppor-tunity to engage in independent explorations, tosocially co-construct knowledge about symbolmaking and about literacy, to take part in inte-grated language arts experiences, and to engage

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170 Shelley B. Wepner and Lucinda C. Ray

in a variety of electronic symbol-making experi-ences (Labbo, 1996; Labbo & Ash, 1998; Labbo,Reinking, McKenna, Kuhn, & Phillips, 1996; Rein-king & Watkins, 1996).

Technology also serves as an effective meansof engaging and motivating children to want tosucceed (Casey, 1997, 1998; Fogarty, 1998; Kirk-patrick & Cuban, 1998). Children at the primarygrade level have shown achievement gains inword attack skills (Charles, 1991). Electronicbooks in particular strengthen reading skills andreading development (Fernandez, 1999; Mat-thew, 1995; McKenna, Reinking, Labbo, & Wat-kins, 1996; Stine, 1993). They improve sight vo-cabulary, concepts about print, and knowledgeabout story language and genre (Kinzer & McKen-na, 1999; Stine, 1993). Children who use elec-tronic books and spend time interacting with theanimated features demonstrate an ability torecount story events (Underwood & Under-wood, 1996).

Technology is valuable for literacy develop-ment because it offers (1) icons that can be acti-vated and animated to help a student more clear-ly visualize a concept; (2) infinite patience, whichallows children to take time figuring out a con-cept; (3) the possibility, with hypermedia, of theuser's navigating at will and gaining access tolayers of information that typically are not avail-able with other text; (4) access to huge databas-es of information; and (5) the opportunity tocommunicate with people across the world. Withits multisensory, multidimensional, and multi-personal characteristics, technology offers youngchildren an important communication mediumfor using their receptive and expressive skills todevelop as literacy learners. In sum, technologyoffers teachers unanticipated opportunities formotivating and sustaining productive learning.

Recommendations for ThreeTypes of Instructional SoftwareInstructional technology's potential for early lit-eracy learning owes in part to the extensiveresearch and development that goes into soft-ware production. Some of the best software pro-grams represent years of research by educators

before publishers bring in their teams to designand develop the concept. Children can only ben-efit from the flow of talent into a medium that isbecoming such an important part of their world.

This section describes some software pro-grams that develop, reinforce, and extend chil-dren's skill development, reading development,or writing development. The programs discussedrequire potential users to have at least one com-puter with CD-ROM and floppy drives, a print-er, an LCD projector or TV monitor for large-group use, and possibly Internet access.

Software for Skill Development

Well-designed software for skill development ischaracterized by unique features that aid chil-dren's skill development. Among these featuresare the following:

Immediacy and predictability of visual and audi-tory cues. The child does not have to wait forthe reinforcement or response of a teacherwho may have been distracted by anotherchild's question or who may have misunder-stood his or her attempt.Focused individual feedback. The child does nothave to wait in a group to take a turn. Eachattempt, action, or input is reinforced.Opportunity for multiple repetitions. Childrenneed different amounts of practice to achievemastery of specific skills. Software programsallows repetition as needed and can motivatechildren to stay engaged through multiplerepetitions.Introduction of skills in a predictable sequence.Children can continue to learn skills as need-ed, regardless of absence from school becauseof illness, religious observances, or otherunanticipated events.Development of concepts through visual, auditory,and kinesthetic modalities. Children with differ-ent learning styles can respond in a variety ofmodes.

Developing children's phonemic awareness(the understanding that spoken language con-sists of words, rhymes, syllables, and sounds)and phonics skills (an understanding of the rela-tionship between the sounds of spoken words

1:7, 9


and the letters of written words) (Fox, 2000) is acritical and ongoing responsibility for classroomteachers. Wall charts, songs, rhymes, chants,books, flash cards, and manipulatives are someof the resources and techniques good teachersuse. Software designed especially by educatorswith experience in the classroom is an ideal com-plement to existing resources.

Skill development software usually is createdto teach children new information and principlesthrough tutorial activities or to reinforce skillsalready taught through drill and practice activi-ties. Often these activities have gamelike formatsto capture children's interest. Some productsprovide a comprehensive and sequenced arrayof skill development activities that can takemonths to complete. Others offer a more limitedset of activities that are clustered to develop sev-eral different skill areas rather than a whole cur-riculum and can be completed in a few sessions.Teachers should study the available productscarefully before purchasing them to ensure theymatch the students' needs.

The Let's Go Read! series (Edmark, 1998) is acomprehensive and sequenced program thatuses the story motif of a squirrel-and-raccoonteam traveling across an island and an ocean todevelop phonemic awareness and phonics skills,respectively, in Let's Go Read!1 An Island Adven-ture and Let's Go Read!2 An Ocean Adventure. Theisland adventure focuses on letter recognitionand letter sounds in isolation and in words. Theocean adventure concentrates on phonics skills,such as short and long vowel sounds, consonantdigraphs, and consonant blends. Each programuses a sequenced series of tutorial and drill andpractice activities to develop children's successwith each skill. Original interactive books accom-pany each product so that children can practicetheir acquired skills in context. The speech recog-nition technology allows children to interactvocally with each of the activities.

The Reader Rabbit series, and particularly Read-er Rabbit's Learn to Read (The Learning Company,1999), is another carefully sequenced programthat introduces and provides practice withphonemes, blends, word families, and a corevocabulary to aid the development of bothphonemic awareness and phonics skills. The

sounds and simple vocabulary are always pre-sented in a rich context, reinforced with visualand auditory cues, and then cumulatively re-pre-sented in a series of specially designed electron-ic storybooks in which the sounds and wordsoccur in context. Because children are promptedto respond orally to the program and can recordand listen to their own voices as they read, theyare actively involved in both identifying and pro-ducing sounds and words.

Read, Write & Type! (The Learning Company,1995) is a comprehensive program for buildingphonics skills that is particularly effective forchildren who learn best through tactile or kines-thetic modes. Letter-sound correspondences arepresented and reinforced through letter locationson the keyboard. As children progress throughthe 10 levels of the program, they identify theappropriate sounds and select the correspondingletters by typing their responses to programprompts, rather than merely clicking the mouse.A careful sequence of activities presents initialsounds, final sounds, word families, and simplestories built from these combinations. This pro-gram combines the development of receptiveskills through phonics practice with the devel-opment of expressive skills through writing atthe keyboard. Sullivan and Sharp (2000) haveproposed that letter position on the keyboardshould be the emphasis in primary grades, withtouch typing introduced in the intermediategrades as students develop the needed dexteri-ty and finger span.

Bailey's Book House (Edmark, 1995) includes awide range of activities that can be randomlyselected to explore letters, words, sentences,rhyming, and stories. Each of the seven differentactivities has a different primary purpose foremerging literacy. Examples include LetterMachine for recognizing upper- and lowercaseletters, Three-Letter Carnival for spelling andsounding out three-letter words, Read-A-Rhymefor completing rhymes illustrated with anima-tion by choosing words, and Make-A-Story forcreating stories by choosing characters, settings,and actions.

Phonics programs use a variety of techniquessuch as songs, games, and adventures to engagestudents' interest. Examples include Curious

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George Learns Phonics (Houghton Mifflin Interac-tive, 1979), Kid Phonics and Kid Phonics 2 (David-son/Knowledge Adventure, 1994, 1996), ReadingMansion (Great Wave Software, 1998), Madeline1st and 2nd Grade Reading (The Learning Com-pany, 1998), and Reading Who? Reading You! (Sun-burst, 1996). Fox and Mitchell (2000) give espe-cially high marks to Reading Mansion because ofthe broad spectrum of skills developed as chil-dren go on a scavenger hunt through the roomsof a mansion.

Software for Reading Development

Software for reading development uses booksand passages to encourage children to read andinteract with both narrative and expository text.Questions and activities often are used to pro-mote and assess children's text comprehension.Two types of softwareelectronic books andreading passages and reading systemsaredescribed.

Electronic Books: Electronic books use popu-lar children's trade titles in a multimedia formatwith original illustrations. Sometimes referredto as a variation of lap reading, electronic booksare a powerful tool for introducing children tothe rich array of literature available and to theimaginative pleasure embedded in the readingprocess. Children can hear the book read aloud,have the text and graphics animated withsound and voice, and receive on-line help toenhance comprehension and recall. Electronicbooks usually focus on narrative text for emerg-ing and developing readers and on expositorytext for developing and independent readers(grades 3 and beyond). As animated versionsof narrative texts, electronic books heightenattention to plot, setting, and character. As nar-rated examples of expository text, electronicbooks broaden children's exposure to contentwith the layers of information accessed fromeach screen. Electronic books can be used forrecreational reading, thematic units, authorstudies, and topical studies with instructionalframeworks such as KWL, directed readingactivity, and directed reading-thinking activity(Wepner & Ray, 2000).

There are many variations of electronic books,ranging from those that simply put the book onthe screen with minimal animation to those thatexpand the book with an extensive array of ani-mated features. An example of the latter is MarcBrown's Arthur's Teacher Trouble (Broderbund/The Learning Company, 1993) with its 24 screenpages of the storybook. The story follows themain character, Arthur, through a school spellingcompetition. Underwood and Underwood (1996)describe this program as follows: Each screenpage has part of the text of the story displayedand read aloud. A rich illustration from the textalso is displayed. The user may then interactwith both words and illustrations with a mouseclick. Clicking on a word results in its pronunci-ation. Clicking on a feature of the illustrationresults in some type of animation. Charactersmay provide additional dialogue or performactions, and objects such as toys and cookiescome alive, adding songs or actions.

Other examples with a similar interface in-clude Mercer Mayer's Just Grandma and MeDeluxe and Little Monster at School, Marc Brown'sArthur's Reading Race and Arthur's BirthdayDeluxe, Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat and Dr.Seuss's ABC, Janell Cannon's Stellaluna, andKevin Henkes' Sheila Rae, the Brave (all fromBroderbund /The Learning Company).

Another electronic book format is The Art Les-son (MECC/The Learning Company, 1996). Con-taining a storybook, 14 art activities, and videointerviews, this software program showcases thelife of Tomie dePaola. In the interactive story-book, children learn about the young artistTomie at home and at school. With video inter-views, children learn about Tomie's life today,and his work as a writer and an illustrator ofbooks.

Inside Stories, produced by Mimosa Technolo-gy, in Australia, offers eight fairy tales, such asCinderella, The Three Little Pigs, and Goldilocks andthe Three Bears. These stories are told throughpuppetry, storytellers, a play, and a song. Dif-ferent activities accompany each story title todevelop children's comprehension, grammaticalawareness, and word recognition skills.

Troll Associates produces a series of CD-ROMelectronic books that includes biographies for

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young children. Even with its minimal anima-tion, this line of software defines highlightedwords, asks questions about each page, creates aphoto album for a sequencing activity, offers atime line of events, and enables children to writetheir own version of each page. Among the 10titles available are Young Harriet Tubman: FreedomFighter, Young Orville & Wilbur Wright: First to Fly,Young Abraham Lincoln: Log-Cabin President, andYoung Jackie Robinson: Baseball Hero.

Reading Passages and Reading Systems: Abalanced reading program includes focused skilldevelopment and immersion in whole works ofliterature. This category of reading softwarehelps children develop their literacy skills as asupplement to existing reading programs. Theseprograms typically have children read materialand answer questions or engage in activitiesrelated to the reading passages. Managementsystems often accompany these programs tomonitor children's progress.

Some examples of this genre were so popularin classrooms in the 1980s that their instruction-al frameworks were upgraded technologicallyfor CD-ROM versions. An example is Tiger's Tales(Sunburst), which was originally published in1986 and then revised in 1995. This program is acollection of seven stories about the adventuresof a cat named Tiger and his animal friends. Chil-dren make decisions throughout the stories. Thestories then adjust to the child's choices. Chil-dren actively participate in the story develop-ment while focusing on reading as a problem-solving activity.

Software developers also have designed morecomprehensive reading systems. Two examplesare Wiggle Works Plus (Scholastic) and the LittlePlanet's The Ribbit Collection (Houghton MifflinInteractive). These programs go beyond enrich-ment or supplementary activities and movetoward a central place in a teacher's reading cur-riculum.

WiggleWorks Plus is designed as a compre-hensive early literacy system for kindergartensecond grade. Two types of reading materialare used: (1) electronic storybooks, called Wig-gleWorks books, which are written specificallyfor the program, and (2) printed trade books

available in electronic form from the publish-er's anthology. Children hear the story textread aloud, record themselves reading thesame text, enter their own text, hear their owntext read aloud, develop word lists from thereading, and color and print their own versionsof the stories. Complete lesson plans and anassessment module for the teacher are also partof the system.

The Ribbit Collection, part of the Little PlanetLiteracy Series (Houghton Mifflin Interactive),offers a more multimedia-intensive approach toa comprehensive literacy system for kinder-garten through grade 2. This research-based pro-gram, developed in cooperation with VanderbiltUniversity, presents a series of video-style sto-ries. Children are asked to sequence story seg-ments and then retell the stories in their ownwords, both orally and in writing. Word attackactivities also are an integral part of the system,proving a balanced "anchored reading" ap-proach. Children's own retellings of the storiesare added to the electronic "library" within theprogram, where their retellings can be sharedelectronically and can be printed in book format.A web site enables children to post letters aboutcharacters and stories.

Software for Writing Development

Electronic writing tools offer several advantagesfor emergent writers that are not available withthe traditional paper-and-pencil approach:

Combination of drawing and text. Because chil-dren gradually make a transition from draw-ing to a combination of drawing and writing,good software for writing developmentenables students to work with multiple draw-ing tools and text at the same time. In addi-tion, the wide variety of graphics can inspirestudents to generate additional ideas andwrite about them.Support of student-generated text through text-to-speech capabilities. Most programs now includea text-to-speech feature that enables childrento hear their text read back to them, reinforc-ing the meaning they are striving to commu-nicate.

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Encouragement for students to expand, revise, andedit their work. Electronic text is much easierfor students to rearrange, add to, and revisethan the painstaking process of recopying orrewriting by hand. Tools such as dictionariesand spell checkers empower developing writ-ers to edit and prepare their pieces for publi-cation. As Kim Montano, a first-grade teacherin Lakeview Elementary School, says, "Chil-dren who don't like to write will write on theircomputer. Children in general will write more,and write stories that have more to them. Theylike to play [a story] back, and as they hear itread to them, they correct their writing."

Standard features of children's writing pro-grams include an ability to draw or manipulategraphics and create text. Each program describedbelow combines these features in a unique way.The programs are presented according by stageof writing fluency.

Paint, Write & Play! (The Learning Company,1996) is designed for emergent writers. Drawingtools, a collection of words and illustrations thatact as a simple picture dictionary, and invitingbackgrounds all provide support for early liter-acy. Children can create text by clicking on wordsrather than typing from the keyboard. Thesewords are accompanied by appropriate picturesand are also read aloud, assisting children in thebeginning stages of composing. Children candraw their own pictures or choose from a seriesof illustrated background scenes. Objects in thebackground scenes, such as a ball, an elephant,a playground slide, or a tree, say their namesaloud, encouraging children to incorporate theseitems into a story. Both the pictures and text printin storybook format, with the picture at the topof the page and the text at the bottom.

The Kid Pix family of products, including KidPix Studio Deluxe and Kid Pix Studio 3rd Edition(Broderbund / The Learning Company) aredrawing and creativity programs that are alsowidely used by teachers for early literacy activ-ities and for writing projects throughout the pri-mary and elementary grades. The Talking Alpha-bet Stamp tool enables children to hear the nameof each letter of the alphabet as they select it toconstruct a word. The text-to-speech feature

1,'8,

reads aloud all text entered from the keyboard.Both features are available in both Spanish andEnglish. The extensive Rubber Stamp collectionprovides easy-to-use graphics for rebus activi-ties and for the creation of picture dictionaries.The program also allows children to record theirown voices to accompany their pictures and text.Pages can be printed or presented as electronicstorybooks with the program's SlideShow com-ponent.

Fred Wellington, a first-grade teacher in theWallingford-Swarthmore School District, Penn-sylvania, has children design an ABC slide showwith Kid Pix Studio (Broderbund /The LearningCompany, 1993). His children design a card fora letter of the alphabet. They add graphics, ani-mation, and sound for each letter. They also addtheir own voices to read the card. Once all chil-dren have created their cards, he works withthem to create a slide show that he copies ontovideotape for presentations.

Sunbuddy Writer (Sunburst, 1996) is a wordprocessor designed for primary grade children.Features typically found in fully equipped wordprocessors are included, along with an ability torecord sounds or children's voices. A word find-er provides words and rebus pictures that areorganized alphabetically, topically, and in sur-prise order.

Storybook Weaver Deluxe (MECC /The Learn-ing Company, 1996) is a writing program thatsupports children's imaginations and story-telling. A rich array of graphics and backgroundsinvites story writing in a variety of subject areas,from castles, knights, princesses, and dragons tocontemporary city neighborhoods and sports.Text appears at the bottom of each page, follow-ing the journal paper model so common in theprimary grades. The same CD-ROM offers acomplete version of the program in Spanish,including a dictionary and the text-to-speech fea-ture.

Easybook Deluxe (Sunburst, 1998) is a programfor writing, illustrating, and printing children'swork in book form. Features include eight pos-sible page layouts, eight categories of stamps, sixcategories of backgrounds, and a magic wand tosprinkle the art work with a selected shape.Pages can be printed to become big books, back-


to-back full-page books (8 x 11 inches), greetingcard-size books, or minibooks.

Ultimate Writing & Creativity Center (TheLearning Company, 1995) offers special helpwith the writing process through oral and writ-ten prompts that are appropriate for the specifickind of writing activity in which the child isengaged. Children who use one of the four Writ-ing Lands to gather ideas are given prewritingsuggestions and tips. They can collect their ideasin a special notebook that they keep and add tothroughout a writing project. In the drafting area,Post-it notes can be placed on a student draft bythe teacher or by peer readers, asking questionsor commenting on the emerging piece of writing.An extensive collection of animations, sounds,music, photographs, and graphics is available toenhance students' texts. A dictionary, spelling-check program, and thesaurus are availablewhen students are ready to edit. When studentsprepare to publish, they can format their writingas reports, stories, or newsletters, or they caneven present them in a multimedia theater thatreads their text aloud.

The Amazing Writing Machine (Broderbund/The Learning Company, 1995) focuses on creativewriting with five genre and page formats: story,poetry, journal, letter, and essay. A Bright Ideasfeature provides hundreds of story starters, quo-tations, sayings, and even jokes, to spark students'imaginations for writing. A rhyming dictionary,text-to-speech feature, and a spelling-check fea-ture are also available. The Kid Pix (Broder-bund /The Learning Company, 1993) drawingtools enable students to illustrate their writingprojects, which can be printed in a variety of sizes.

Matching Software with YourInstructional NeedsLike other mediatrade books, basal readers,big books, worksheets, cassette tapes, dailynewspaperssoftware is an instructional tooland a resource. Software is valuable only whenit fits within the larger context of the curriculumand when it provides an experience or a way oflearning or interacting that is not already avail-able in other media.

Selecting Software

In selecting software, consider your teaching andlearning goals, which might include introducinga concept or skill, assessing children's under-standing of a concept or skill, or providingenrichment activities. Then consider your per-sonal philosophy of teaching and the needs ofthe children who will be interacting with thesoftware. Any software you select should have aphilosophy in its design that is comfortable foryou. Some fo the children in your classroom mayneed minimal distractions and a highly struc-tured learning environment. You may want chil-dren to respond to their reading activities bywriting. Or you may be looking for a way toincrease children's motivation during sustainedsilent reading time.

Figure 14.1 provides a checklist of softwaredesign features to consider in determiningwhether software fits your goals for its use. Itrepresents what we have observed and learnedfrom others about software design features(Bliss, 1998; Matthew, 1995, 1996).

Certain assumptions accompany this check-list:

The software offers something special thatyou cannot achieve with traditional means ofinstruction.The software accomplishes what it purports toaccomplish.The concepts and content are accurate, devel-opmentally appropriate, and considerate ofrace, age, sex, ethnicity, and disabilities.

Certain thought processes also need to go intoevaluating a software program's value for yourunique teaching environment. Look at both thecontent load and the skills needed to use the soft-ware. Even though students can read the con-tent, they may still find it difficult to process theconcepts or perform the tasks. Alternatively, ifthe children cannot read the content, there maybe enough reading assistance in the program(text that is read aloud, "help" characters thatgive prompts, an intuitive interface design) thatthey can process the content. Software programsalso may serve one type of population (urbanchildren learning about farm animals) and not

176

SOFTWARE FEATURES TO CONSIDER

The activities and tasks within the program arecompelling enough to hold the students' inter-est.The instructions to children are clear, concise,and easy to follow without significant adult help.The graphics and sound are of high quality, arean integral part of the concepts and contenttaught, and are appropriate for the age levelintended.The content fits into or expands beyond whatchildren are supposed to be learning.The text is narrated so that children can readthe material independently, and the text is high-lighted as it is read so that children can followalong.The program provides enough practice onimportant concepts, especially if you are lookingfor a program that builds skills.The publisher provides a teacher's guide withlessons, ways to introduce the program to yourchildren, and supplementary materials to assistyou.Record keeping or assessment features arebuilt into the program, especially if this is animportant issue providing accountability for youruse of technology.

Figure 14.1

another. Parts of the program may be useful forall children, or different parts may be useful fordifferent types of children. The best way to deter-mine a program's usefulness is to watch yourown students' responses to and involvementwith the program.

Using Software

As with other instructional resources, plan andmanage your use of software. Develop your ownskills and confidence in using the software sothat you know what you want to accomplish andcan answer children's questions confidently. Usethe manual and the publisher's web site to getassistance, ideas, and specific lesson plans. Onceyou are comfortable with the software, modelways in which children can use different parts ofthe program to get maximum use of its features.Make sure children are able to control the mouse.Fred Wellington's first-grade children use a


mouse practice program first so that they learnhow to navigate with the mouse before theyactually work with software. Create rules and acomputer schedule to assist with equitable andappropriate use. Pair children appropriately sothat at least one of the children is computer lit-erate. Monitor software use so that children donot overaccess animated graphics and underac-cess print (Kinzer & McKenna, 1999). Providetime for discussion of the software so that chil-dren can articulate what they are experiencing.

Using Web Sites asInstructional ResourcesThe Internet, especially the World Wide Web,provides a number of new resource opportuni-ties for your own preparation and for direct useby children. Publishers' sites and distributionsites, such as Amazon.com, provide opportuni-ties for visitors to review the books they offer.Children can read reviews submitted by otherreaders, and they can upload and post their ownreviews. Naturally, you will want to protect chil-dren's anonymity by posting reviews under theschool name.

Recommended Web Sites

The web sites identified below can be used toget assistance, to enrich instruction, and to shareideas. This list is by no means exhaustive. In fact,web sites are proliferating so rapidly that manynew and better sites will likely be available bythe time this book is published.

Sites to Review Software Programs: Four sitesthat review software and rate software by con-tent area and/or grade level are The ReviewZone (www.thereviewzone.com/reading-wrifing-index.html), the California Instructional Tech-nology Clearinghouse (www.clearinghouse.k12.ca.us), The BrainPlay (www.brainplay.com), andthe SuperKids Educational Software Review(www.superkids.com).

Sites That Contain Electronic Books: Althoughthey do not yet offer the high level of interactiv-

'185

Sign of the Times: Technology and Early Literacy Learning

ity that most CD-ROM versions do, these sitesnevertheless offer animated graphics, music, andsound. One site with electronic books (www.can-dlelightstories.com) offers stories such as Thum-belina and Rumpelstiltskin. This site links to addi-tional storybooks with titles such as The LionKing (disney.go.com /Kids /lkstory/ ) and Poca-hontas (disney.go.com/Kids/pocastory/). Chil-dren's stories from books by both well-knownauthors and newcomers to children's literatureare available at www.acs.ucalgaryca /- dkbrown/storcont.html. Storybook listings of nurseryrhymes, fairy tales, adventures, fables, andspooky tales are available at www.bconnex.net/-mbuchana /realms /page1/index.html. A di-rectory of sites for children up to age 12 thatincludes some stories already published isavailable at Berit's Best Sites for Children(www.cochran.com /theodore /beritsbest). Forquality control, we recommend that you use sitesthat have stories that have already been pub-lished, are current, and are created and main-tained by known publishers, authors, or aca-demic institutions.

Sites for Specific Authors: A number of au-thor sites exist, among them Dr. Seuss (www.randomhouse.com / seussville), Marc Brown(www.pbs.org/wgbh/arthur), and Jean Craig-head George (www.jeancraigheadgeorge.com).These sites provide additional author informa-tion, book summaries, photographs, or regularupdates about book-related activities or theauthor's speaking engagements. Children en-gaged in an author study may find these helpfulsources of information.

Teacher Sites: Teachers from around the coun-try are using the Internet to locate resources forplanning units and specific lesson plans. Con-necting Students Through Literacy (www.con-nectingstudents.com) provides resources andlesson plans. Sites such as the Scholastic Net-work (www.ScholasticNetwork.com) provide awealth of language arts lessons, activities, andresources. For example, there are regular guestappearances by authors, who answer questionssubmitted by students. In addition, some sitesact as matchmaking areas for teachers who wishto set up key pals or class exchanges for their

177

WEB SITE FEATURES TO CONSIDER

The entire web site loads quickly.The title page provides you with an overview ofthe content.The graphics and sound (when available) are ofhigh quality, are an integral part of the conceptsand content presented, and are appropriate forthe web site.The content fits with the web site's overall pur-pose and your overall purpose.Icons exist to link you to another page, andwhen you do link to another page, you canreturn easily to the first page.Language usage and spelling are correct.The author's or publisher's name and the dateof the page's creation or update are included.

Figure 14.2

children. Classroom Connect (www.classroom-connect.com) hosts a popular site that many edu-cators use to exchange lessons and contact oneanother to set up collaborative projects and class-room exchanges. Web66 (web66.coled.umn.edu)is a site open to any school in the United Statesthat wants to post a school web site. Visiting thisweb site may help you locate a school and class-room with which you could set up an e-mail rela-tionship for your children or an exchange of les-sons and projects with a teacher.

Many communities, cities, and states host websites that are rich with local photographs, maps,and historical information. All of these resourcescan be printed or downloaded to enrich the con-text for a particular reading activity or to supportchildren's projects and presentations. As withsoftware, evaluate a web site for its overall pur-pose, content, design, and features before decid-ing on its usefulness for your classroom. Figure14.2 provides a checklist for evaluating a web site.

Examples of Teachers' Uses ofWeb Sites

Diane Wenger, a first-grade inclusion teacher inChichester, Pennsylvania, uses a checklist likethe one in Figure 14.2 to assess sites for her4-week unit, "How Can We Help the OceanCommunity?" This unit helps children compare

41 536


their own community with the ocean communi-ty and learn about different animals and ways tosave them. Ms. Wenger found two web sites thatcomplement her collection of books, magazines,and audio- and videotapes. The first site offersinformation about different seals and sea lions(www.yahooligans.com/Science_and_Oddities/Animals!). After she and her children visit thissite together, she has children complete aframed paragraph to check their understand-ing of sea lions. The second site provides infor-mation about coral and coral reefs and howthey are being destroyed (www.blacktop.com/coralforest/). After she and her children visit thissite together, she asks a number of higher-levelquestions about coral reefs to check for under-standing. With both web sites, Ms. Wenger fol-lows a similar pattern for whole-class instruc-tion. Before the lesson, she calls up the web siteto be sure she can gain access. She uses a largetelevision monitor so that children can see thescreen from their seats. She then explains thepurpose of visiting each site and reviews variousareas of the sites with her children before givingthem a follow-up activity. This type of activity isan important first step in integrating the Internetinto the classroom (Kinzer & McKenna, 1999).

Reading consultant Maya Eagleton has herchildren retell stories by creating student-designed web pages. One of her second-gradechildren uses Halloween graphics to retell Good-night, Moon as "Nicholas's Scary Page" (www.azstarnet.com/ -khalsal /nicholas.html). Second-grade teacher Susan Silverman (www.kids-learn.org/), from Port Jefferson Station, New York, cre-ated a web site that includes and welcomesexamples of students' projects from around theworld about different thematic literary projects(Valmont, 2000). Tim Lauer, in Portland, Oregon,created a web site (buckman.pps.k12.or.us/room100/room100.html) for his kindergartenthrough second grade students that includes lit-eracy projects across content areas. For instance,his children created an alphabet book with aspace theme to support their learning aboutspace and the nine planets.

A great book for learning more about usingthe Internet and for identifying web sites specif-ically created for young children is 101 Best Web

Sites for Kids (Meers, 1999). It provides descrip-tions of web sites that are written "by kids, forkids," as well as web sites for exploring suchplaces as museums, zoos, safaris, volcanoes, rainforests, and oceans.

Instructional PlansWe offer two sample instructional plans that usethe software we described earlier in the chapter.In the first plan, software technology is used todevelop phonics skills, while in the second plantechnology is used to develop reading and writ-ing within a thematic framework.

Plan for Developing Phonics Skills

This instructional plan provides multiple waysfor kindergarten and beginning first-grade stu-dents to strengthen their phonics skills. It com-bines phonics activities with writing tools to cre-ate word family charts and stories (see Figure14.3 for plan).

As a beginning motivational activity, teacherscould ask children to identify objects in the roomthat have a certain letter sound, such as a (as inalphabet, tablet, and basket). For a whole-class, youcould work with the "a" page of Dr. Seuss's ABC(Broderbund /The Learning Company, 1995).Ask several children to click on the page andhear the many different words that begin witha. You might also use flash cards, pictures, orother resources to provide additional practice.Conclude this part of the lesson by having chil-dren practice saying the sounds and writing theletter a.

Provide time for children to use Reader Rabbit'sLearn to Read (The Learning Company, 1999).Instruct them to take paper and pencil with themto the computer. Instruct them choose the Pickand Play mode, which enables them to select aspecific practice area of the program: Letters andSounds. Then have them choose the letter a, andexplore. Have them draw at least four things thathave the a sound. Then, have them use the SorterMagic or Music Labeler activities, which providepractice with the a sound in words, particularlyat Level 1.

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PLAN FOR DEVELOPINGPHONICS SKILLS

Objectives

To provide multiple ways for students tostrengthen their phonics skills

Materials

Reader Rabbit's Learn to Read, Dr. Seuss'sABC, Kid Pix Studio Deluxe, paper

Activities

Motivational activity with classroom objects: useDr. Seuss's ABC to reinforce letter-sound rela-tionships; use Reader Rabbit's Learn to Readto practice letter-sound relationships; use KidPix Studio Deluxe to draw or locate stampsrepresenting words that fit in with word familieswith specified letter-sound relationship

AssessmentMastery of activities, as indicated on individualstudents' progress charts in Reader Rabbit'sLearn to Read, and writing samples from KidPix Studio Deluxe

Figure 14.3

Finally, direct the children to use Kid Pix Stu-dio Deluxe (Broderbund/The Learning Company,1998). Have them use the Talking AlphabetStamp tool to create words using a. They can usethe drawings they made while working withReader Rabbit's Learn to Read as a reference. Theycan illustrate these words by drawing or byselecting a Rubber Stamp that illustrates theword. They also can create word family lists thatcontain a, such as -at, -ap, and -an, illustratingeach of the words they create with an appropri-ate drawing or Rubber Stamp. These activitiescan be printed out, so that students can sharetheir words and illustrations. They also can cre-ate stories using as many words as possible withthe a sound.

Thematic Plan About Tolerance forReading and Writing

This unit helps children develop basic literacyskills while exploring the theme of tolerance.Unit concepts about tolerance provide the frame-

work for working with the unit activities andmaterials (see Figure 14.4 for plan). Two of theconcepts include "Each person has the opportu-nity to find and appreciate the specialness in oth-ers" and "The more accepting we are of others,the more accepting we are of ourselves."

As a beginning motivational activity, havechildren work as partners to interview each otherabout reasons why they might agree or disagreewith their siblings or other family members. Usechildren's ideas to help them think about waysto handle their differences to be more tolerantof the unique qualities of others. Introduce tothe entire class the software program, Arthur'sTeacher Trouble (Broderbund /The Learning Com-pany, 1993), by prompting children to look forthree things that Arthur needs to learn to toler-ate. (Marc Brown's web site can be shown tointroduce the author.) Ask follow-up questions

PLAN FOR DEVELOPINGREADING AND WRITING SKILLS

Theme

Tolerance of individual differences

ObjectivesTo use theme of tolerance to promote textcomprehension, sight vocabulary acquisition,spelling, and self-expression through art activi-ties and writing; to help students understand theconcepts of hard work and respect for othersthrough guided discussion and critical thinkingactivities

Materials

Arthur's Teacher Trouble, The Art Lesson, Sun-buddy Writer, comparison charts, toleranceawards, paper for drawing

ActivitiesMotivational activity about tolerance, whole-group reading and individual exploration of TheArt Lesson, follow-up questions and activitiesrelated to both stories, writing assignment

AssessmentResponses to follow-up questions and compari-son charts, written paragraph on tolerance

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Figure 14.4



All My Children's Stories Are Fit to Print

My classroom has five computers, one large screen monitor, and two printers, one with color.Each year, to facilitate interest in writing and promote computer literacy, I create a writingdisk for each student. I introduce children to the typing program Kid Keys. I have the childrenuse this program at least twice, so that they can find the letters and know the location of thepunctuation keys. Then I introduce children to The Amazing Writing Machine. I tell the stu-dents that they can collect as many stories on their writing disks as they can. I first have stu-dents start their writing collection by writing a story about themselves. Then I have themwrite a science story about the signs of fall, and a holiday story about Halloween. As the yearprogresses, the themes reflect what we are learning in class and children's personal choices.I set up flexible weekly grouping schedules so that children know when they might have freetime for writing on the computer. Children may choose to work independently or in pairs.Most children choose to write during their free time and to add stories to their story collec-tion. I have found that children who don't like to write will write using the computer. Thesechildren, in general, will write more, and write stories that have more substance, when theyare allowed to do their writing assignments on the computer. They like to look back throughand correct their writing, too. As a culminating activity, for the end of the year, I print outevery story that the children have written and illustrated, and they take the stories homein booklet form.

Kim Montano, First-Grade Teacher

such as "Describe how Arthur feels now that helearned to tolerate these things" or "Name threethings that you learned to tolerate this week."Create a Toleration Oscar award for childrenwho have shown tolerance for others.

Before introducing the second electronic book,The Art Lesson (MECC /The Learning Company,1996), have children draw a picture of someonethey would like to tolerate more. Introduce TheArt Lesson. Have children think about threethings that Tomie had to learn to tolerate at homeand at school. Follow up with questions such as,"If you were Tomie, what would you havedone?" and "What did you learn from Tomie'sexperience?" Have children work with two com-parison charts to compare Arthur's and Tomie'stolerance at the beginning, middle, and end ofthe stories and to compare their experiences with

yrL.

tolerance at home, at school, and with them-selves. Have them share their favorite character,and tell reasons for their selections. Allow timefor children to work independently or in pairswith each electronic book in your learning cen-ter or in a lab. Have children write independ-ently or in pairs with Sunbuddy Writer (Sunburst,1996) or another electronic writing tool.

Concluding Remarks

Technology in the primary grade classroom is asign of the times. It offers important opportuni-ties for emergent readers and writers. With theadvent of the World Wide Web and the devel-opment of software products representing mil-lions of dollars in research and development,

1 8 9


children now can learn by means heretoforeunavailable to them. Adjusting our instruction-al schemas to include these technological en-hancements is not always easy, but the rewardfor that adjustment is the knowledge that we arehelping children to develop literacy with today'stools for tomorrow's future.

Computer ProgramsCited in TextThe Amazing Writing Machine [Computer software].

(1995). Cambridge, MA: Broderbund/The Learn-ing Company.

The Art Lesson [Computer software]. (1996). MECC/The Learning Company.

Arthur's Birthday Deluxe [Computer software]. (1997).Cambridge, MA: Broderbund/The Learning Com-pany.

Arthur's Reading Race [Computer software]. (1996).Cambridge, MA: Broderbund /The Learning Com-pany.

Arthur's Teacher Trouble [Computer software]. (1993).Cambridge, MA: Broderbund/The Learning Com-pany.

Bailey's Book House [Computer software]. (1995). Red-mond, VA: Edmark.

The Cat in the Hat [Computer software]. (1997). Cam-bridge, MA: Broderbund /The Learning Company.

Cinderella [Computer software]. (1998). Trophy Club,TX: Mimosa Technology.

Curious George Learns Phonics [Computer software].(1997). Somerville, MA: Houghton Mifflin Interac-tive.

Dr. Seuss's ABC [Computer software]. (1995). Cam-bridge, MA: Broderbund/The Learning Company.

Easy Book Deluxe [Computer software]. (1998). Pleas-antville, NY: Sunburst.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears [Computer software].(1998). Trophy Club, TX: Mimosa Technology.

Just Grandma and Me Deluxe [Computer software].(1997). Cambridge, MA: Broderbund /The Learn-ing Company.

Kid Phonics [Computer software]. (1994). Torrance,CA: Davidson & Associates/Knowledge Adven-ture.

Kid Phonics 2 [Computer software]. (1996). Torrance,CA: Davidson & Associates/Knowledge Adven-ture.

Kid Pix Studio [Computer software]. (1993). Cam-bridge, MA: Broderbund/The Learning Company.

Kid Pix Studio Deluxe [Computer software]. (1998).Cambridge, MA: Broderbund /The Learning Com-pany.

Kid Pix Studio (3rd ed.) [Computer software]. (2000).Cambridge, MA: Broderbund /The Learning Com-pany.

Let's Go Read!1 An Island Adventure [Computer soft-ware]. (1998). Redmond, VA: Edmark.

Let's Go Read!2 An Ocean Adventure [Computer soft-ware]. (1998). Redmond, VA: Edmark.

Little Monster at School [Computer software]. (1995).Cambridge, MA: Broderbund /The Learning Com-pany.

Madeline 1st and 2nd Grade Reading [Computer soft-ware]. (1998). Cambridge, MA: The Learning Com-pany.

Paint, Write & Play! [Computer software]. (1996).Cambridge, MA: The Learning Company.

Reader Rabbit's Learn to Read [Computer software].(1999). Cambridge, MA: The Learning Company.

Reading Mansion [Computer software]. (1998). ScottsValley, CA: Great Wave Software.

Reading Who? Reading You![Computer software].(1996). Pleasantville, NY: Sunburst.

Read, Write & Type! [Computer software]. (1995). Cam-bridge, MA: The Learning Company.

Sheila Rae, the Brave [Computer software]. (1996).Cambridge, MA: Broderbund/The Learning Com-pany.

Stellaluna [Computer software]. (1996). Cambridge,MA: Broderbund /The Learning Company.

Storybook Weaver Deluxe [Computer software]. (1996).MECC /The Learning Company.

Sunbuddy Writer [Computer software]. (1996). Pleas-antville, NY: Sunburst.

The Ribbit Collection [Computer software]. (1996).Somerville, MA: Houghton Mifflin Interactive.

The Three Little Pigs [Computer software]. (1998). Tro-phy Club, TX: Mimosa Technology.

Tiger's Tales [Computer software]. (1986/1995). Pleas-antville, NY: Sunburst.

Ultimate Writing & Creativity Center [Computer soft-ware]. (1995). Cambridge, MA: The Learning Com-pany.

Young Abraham Lincoln: Log-Cabin President [Comput-er software]. (1996). Mahwah, NJ: Troll.

Young Harriet Tubman: Freedom Fighter [Computer soft-ware]. (1996). Mahwah, NJ: Troll.

Young Jackie Robinson: Baseball Hero [Computer soft-ware]. (1996). Mahwah, NJ: Troll.

Young Orville & Wilbur Wright: First to Fly [Computersoftware]. (1996). Mahwah, NJ: Troll.

WiggleWorks Plus [Computer software]. (1999). NewYork: Scholastic.

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storybooks on reading comprehension and attitude.Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University ofHouston.

Matthew, K. I. (1996, March). The promise and poten-tial of CD-ROM books. In B. Robin, J. D. Price, J.Willis, & D. A. Willis (Eds.), Technology and teachereducation annual, 1996: Proceedings of Seventh Inter-national Conference of the Society for Information Tech-nology and Teacher Education, Phoenix, AZ [On-line].Available: www/coe.uh.edu/insite/elec_pub/htm11996/03readin.htm

McKenna, M. C., Reinking, D., Labbo, L. D., &Watkins, J. H. (1996). Using electronic storybooks andbeginning readers (Instructional Resource No. 39).Athens: University of Georgia, National ReadingResearch Center. (ERIC Document ReproductionService No. ED 400 521)

Meers, T. B. (1999). 101 Best Web Sites for Kids. Lincol-nwood, IL: Publications International.

Reinking, D., & Watkins, J. (1996). A formative experi-ment investigating the use of multimedia book reviewsto increase elementary students' independent reading(Reading Research Report No. 55). Athens, GA:National Reading Research Center. (ERIC Docu-ment Reproduction Service No. ED 398 570)

Stine, H. A. (1993). The effects of CD-ROM interactivesoftware in reading skills instruction with second gradeChapter 1 students. Unpublished doctoral disserta-tion, George Washington University.

Sullivan, J., & Sharp, J. (2000). Using technology forwriting development. In S. B. Wepner, W. Valmont,& R. Thurlow (Eds.), Linking literacy and technology:A guide for K-8 classrooms Newark, DE: Interna-tional Reading Association.

Underwood, G., & Underwood, J. (1996, March). Gen-der differences in children's learning from interac-tive books. In B. Robin, J. D. Price, J. Willis, & D. A.Willis (Eds.), Technology and teacher education annu-al, 1996: Proceedings of Seventh International Confer-ence of the Society for Information Technology andTeacher Education, Phoenix, AZ [On-line]. Available:www /coe.uh.edu/insite/elec_pub/htm11996/03readin.htm

Valmont, W. J. (2000). What do teachers do in tech-nology-rich classrooms? In S. B. Wepner, W. Val-mont, & R. Thurlow (Eds.), Linking literacy and tech-nology: A guide for K-8 classrooms. Newark, DE:International Reading Association.

Wepner, S. B., & Ray, L. (2000). Using technology forreading development. In S. B. Wepner, W. Valmont,& R. Thurlow (Eds.), Linking literacy and technology:A guide for K-8 classrooms. Newark, DE: Interna-tional Reading Association.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Still Standing:Timeless Strategies for

Teaching the Language ArtsDiane Lapp, James Flood, and Nancy Roser

Diane Lapp, James Flood, and Nancy Roser pro-vide a wrap-up of the entire book with anextraordinary collection of strategies and usefulideas that reflect the thinking set forth in the pre-ceding chapters.

For Reflection and Action:As you complete this book,take time to look bothbackward and forward. If

--you are a practiCingteacher or administrator,list some of the most signif-icant changes youmake to your work. Orga -'nize them in threecolumns: practiCes you willadd, practices.you..will 'dis-,.card, and practices you willalter in some way. Keep inmind that teaching andlearning are lifelong pur-suits. We wish you well:

People often look at the limitations withinclassroomsthe lack of resources, equip-ment, and so on. But as long as you havechildren, you have everything you need.

Kentucky teacher on Nightline,July 6, 1999

184 Diane Lapp, James Flood, and Nancy Roser

With students as the focus, each of thestrands of the language artsreading,writing, speaking, listening, and

viewinghas been thoughtfully addressed inthis book. In this summary chapter we reiteratefive instructional strategies, each grounded in re-search, that reflect and underpin effective lan-guage arts teaching for young children. Al-though we separate the language arts for thesake of organizing our discussion, we recognizethat the arts of language are mutually enhancing,interwoven, interactive processes that studentsand teachers use in logically connected ways asthey explore and make meaning (Flood, Jensen,Lapp, & Squire, 1991). Our purpose, then, is tohighlight the recurring themes in this book bydescribing practices, listed in Figure 15.1, thathave both a past and a future in teaching the lan-guage arts to young children.

Focus on Reading

Strategy: Providing More Opportunities

Some of the most reassuring research (to educa-tors and parents) is the significant evidence ofthe value of time spent reading. For example,Cunningham and Stanovich (1990, 1991, 1997)showed that children who read just 15 minuteseach day at home consistently scored at the 80thpercentile or higher on standardized readingtests. In addition, these children scored higherthan their counterparts who did not read athome, both on literacy tests and on measures ofgeneral knowledge. The researchers suggest, forexample, that children who read more outsideof school are exposed to and learn more vocab-ulary words than children who read less fre-quently at home.

Because Cunningham and Stanovich focusedon adults and older children, they did not exam-ine the relationship between reading at homeand the reading ability of young children. In arecent study, we and our colleagues modifiedand replicated the study with kindergarten andfirst-grade children (Flood, Lapp, Goss, LeTour-neau, Moore, & Fisher, 1999). Our results showedthe same patterns Cunningham and Stanovich

had found: The most able readers read more athome and scored higher than their counterpartson all six measures of literacy and general knowl-edge.

More than two decades ago, Allington's (1977)findings on the dearth of opportunities for lowachievers to read led him to ask, "If they don'tread much, how they ever gonna get good?" Ear-lier, Dolores Durkin (1966) had shown that chil-dren who read early were those who had oppor-tunities to read. Among the most frequently citedstudies linking self-initiated reading and gains inreading achievement are those of Anderson, Wil-son, and Fielding (1988) and Taylor, Frye, andMaruyama (1990), both of which support theimportance of opportunity to read. More point-edly, through classroom accounts of what hap-pens when reading is valued and made time for,teacher researchers, whose voices are represent-ed and referenced in this volume, provide addi-

LANGUAGE ARTS FOCUS:INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

ReadingProviding increased opportunities to read(at home and at school)

Writing

Establishing classroom writing centers andwriting clubs to encourage collaborative writing

Providing guidance on how the written lan-guage system works, including instructionin phonemic awareness

SpeakingSupporting oral language development

Encouraging thoughtful, precise, and expres-sive book talk

ListeningGuiding active, purposeful listening duringsharing time

Viewing

Providing opportunities to comprehend andrepresent understanding through multiplemeans

193

Figure 15.1

Still Standing: Timeless Strategies for Teaching the Language Arts 185

tional evidence of the homely truth that practicemakes (almost) perfect.

Application: How the Strategy Looks

In the closing decades of the twentieth century,classrooms of young children offered moreopportunities than ever before for independent"just reading" of self-selected materials (cf.Austin & Morrison, 1963; Baumann, Hoffman,Moon, & Duffy-Hester, 1998). Despite wide-spread pressure for higher test scores, more testpractice, and more direct instruction, it appearsthat informed school leaders are protecting timefor sustained reading. In addition, teachers ofyoung children marshal resources to ensure thatbooks sit ever ready in baskets, stand invitinglyon open shelves, are read aloud during storytime, and travel home in plastic bags and onaudiotape, providing invitations to read (Mor-row, 1993).

Some of the most successful books-to-homeapproaches invite parents to listen in and talkover what children are reading in school, or tomarvel at their child's command of texts that arenew but within reach. Still other teachers sendbooks home with the expectation that parentswill read to their children. In yet other familyreading programs, parents agree to set aside spe-cific times of the afternoon or evening for "justreading" at home (Morrow, Tracey, & Maxwell,1995; Richgels & Wold, 1998). To monitor chil-dren's reading and keep in touch with home,some teachers ask parents to sign off on what isread or to write in a traveling journal what theyand their child thought about the story. In thatway, parents, children, and teachers converse ina triangulated fashion.

Library programs have also been a force indeveloping independent reading, both at homeand at school. Library programs provide accessto books that all children need. We found thatstudents whose teachers ensured they had avalid library card and who took them to the localpublic libraries at least once a week were moresuccessful readers than students who did notvisit the library regularly (Lapp, Flood, Fisher, &Van Dyke, 1999). We also discovered that the staffof the local library were eager to establish pro-

f.

grams with neighborhood schools. Many hadalready designed programs that matched chil-dren with appropriately leveled books and pro-vided encouragement for wider reading.

When other researchers have looked at class-room libraries, the results have again tended topoint to access. Morrow and Weinstein (1982)described the design features of classroomlibraries that encourage voluntary reading. Mar-tinez and Teale (1988) found that the books chil-dren selected most frequently from classroomlibraries were those that had been read aloud tothem. It seems important that young childrenhave choice in their reading. Early readers needaccess to a wide variety of materials that providefor both support practice and provide challenge(Fountas & Pinnell, 1996; Lysacker, 1997). Whenwe examined the free-reading book selections offour second-grade classes, we found that regard-less of the classroom library's organization, thechildren chose what they could manage (Mar-tinez, Roser, Worthy, Strecker, & Gough, 1997).

In some ways, this is indeed a new age forbeginning readers and writers. There is increasedinterest in early literacy and greater pressure onteachers of young children to produce readers(Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998), as well as wide-spread anxiety that children have not been get-ting what they need in reading instructionrecently (Strickland, 1998). When these concernsfor the rigor of the literacy curriculum are addedto the time demands of busy homes and eventhe demands of beginners' books on some lessskilled parent readers (Edwards, 1989, 1996), wecan only hope that time set aside for "just read-ing" is a practice still standing in the decades tocome.

Focus on Writing

Strategy: Making Writing a Daily,Collaborative, Purposeful Act

For nearly two decades, researchers and teachershave noted the importance of frequent writingthroughout the school day (Graves, 1994; Mor-row, 1997; Pierce, 1996). One first-grade teacherwho was asked to keep track of all of the forms

194


of writing his students engaged in in one dayand the reasons for the writing, surprised evenhimself with the following list (Roser, 1995):

JournalAttendance slipWeather chartTemperature graphMissing library booksBlackboard sentences"news" wordsWord-processed stories with self-selected top-ics, such as Ninja Turtles, rats, horses, pets,and "scaries"Drawing and writingart centerWord workerasable words/sentencesGraphs of eye colorslabels for columnsPaired writing of word problemsNumber sentencesWord and number puzzlesResponses to a story on group chartFree writing timeAnswers to questions in centersLabels for land formsSelf-evaluations

Dahl and Farnan (1998), summarizing the lit-erature on writing development among elemen-tary schoolchildren, reported that the craft andcontent improved in direct proportion to the fre-quency with which the children wrote during theschool day. Dyson (e.g., 1989) demonstrated someof the ways children work to make sense of theirworld through their writing. Many kindergartenand first-grade teachers have instituted innova-tive instruction practices, such as the travelingsuitcase that Kimberly Miller-Rodriguez (1998)uses to get children writing and parents involvedin the children's writing, or the gentle scaffoldingthat Karen Bromley proposes in this book.

Strategy: Using Writing to Give ChildrenInsights Into Phonemic Awareness

The work of Read (1971), Chomsky (1971), andHenderson and his colleagues (1972, 1980)stresses the value of children's writing as a routetoward understanding the alphabetic principleon which written language is based. These edu-cators early gave voice to the concept that phone-mic awarenessthe understanding that spoken

words are composed of soundsdevelops notjust in the periods and times devoted to itsinstruction, but also as children work to encodetheir language through writing.

The development of phonemic awarenessskills in young children has been demonstratedto be related to later reading achievement (e.g.,Foorman, Francis, Fletcher, Schatschneider, &Mehta, 1998). Cunningham and Stanovich (1997)argue that children who have little phonologicalawareness will have great difficulty acquiringalphabetic coding skills. Even as debate contin-ues over what kinds of instruction in phonemicawareness will help which children accomplishwhat (Strickland, 1998), teachers with writingcenters and writing clubs are helping childrenacquire the pieces of the literacy puzzle as theywrite.


In the same way that an everyday classroomactivity is elevated to special status by virtue ofits label, timing, and accorded significance, sothe notion of book clubs gave students andteachers license to explore meaning together. Thefirst two authors have been involved in a projectinstalling writing clubs in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms. In this project, thematic unitsprovide the context for the purposeful, all-dayuse of oral and written language. For example,in a unit called "All About Me," children wereencouraged to think about what made them spe-cial. As they read and discussed what madeother people importantboth those inside andthose outside the classroomthey were intro-duced to the concept of autobiography, a wordthey relished saying over and over. They wereinvited to think about their own lives as a poten-tial topic for their writing.

The children brainstormed ideas that theywanted to include in their own autobiographies:when and where they were born, what kind ofday it was, where they fit in their families, whatthey were interested in, and what and how theyexpected to change as they grew. They spenttime talking about audiences, including whatothers might want to hear about and how tomake sure that others would understand their

19 tj


ideas. They called their first attempts "sloppycopy"a label that allowed for getting ideas outand down on paper, for approximate spellings,and for understanding that both forgetting andincluding too much were both fixable.

Like the first graders in Carol Avery's (1993)writing workshops, these young members of thewriting club talked seriously about their writingin conferences with peers and adults, so that sec-ond drafts were constructed collaboratively aswell. By the time some children were at work ona third draft, many wanted to share their life sto-ries with some invited guests. A flurry of deci-sion making produced the format (a punchparty) and the special guest list (including boththe "boss" of the schoolsthe superintendentand their favorite student teacher from the pre-vious semester). Some children worked on alarge-scale public proclamation to be mountedon construction paper and posted in the hall toannounce a benchmark day. Others, working insmall groups, painstakingly prepared invitations("I'm writing 'dear.' I say it real slow/d/Ihear d; deehr; I hear e; d-eeh-er, I hear r. D =e -r.Dear"). As Bear and Templeton (1998) caution,"Beginning writers make speed and accuracytrade-offs as they write. If they write too fast theymiss so many letters that the text is hard toreread; if they write too slowly ... they may losetrack of what they want to say" (p. 227).

Until the big day arrived, there was practiceon producing "audience-ready" drafts of publicwork ("Yes, we have to get a quiet a into thespelling of "der", but the pattern [-ear] will helpwrite hear, fear, near, and even year") (Lapp,Flood, & Goss, in press). In this classroom and inmany others, writing serves important purpos-es, feeds an understanding of how written lan-guage works, and delights audiences when readaloud (Martinez, Cheyney, McBroom, Hemme-ter, & Teale, 1989). The notion of a writers' clubwithin the language arts program establisheswriting as a priority rather than just an activityto do at a given time of day.

We have found that purposeful writing tasksgive children a reason to focus on the phonemesof spoken language. Further, children who arehelped to accomplish writing tasks that makesense to them have the impetus for successfully

decoding other people's writing on charts, signs,messages, and in songs and books.

Focus on Speaking

Strategy: Encouraging ExpressiveLanguage Through Book Conversations

Young children have enormous capacity for lan-guage learning. They delight in the sounds andmeanings of new words, rolling the names ofdinosaurs off their tongues, for example (Baker,1995). But oral language development is morethan facility with labels: it is coming to under-stand the need for precision, purpose, and audi-ence in using language. One of the best oppor-tunities for hearing language worth talkingaboutand for using language to say exactlywhat one meanscomes with sitting on thestory rug and talking about children's books(Strickland, Morrow, Feitelson, & Iraqi, 1990). Wefound first-language Spanish-speaking childrenin South Texas eager to talk about related sets ofbooks and to see their ideas recorded on "lan-guage charts" (Roser, Hoffman, & Farest, 1990).Eeds and Wells (1989) refer to the best of booktalk as "grand conversations," and Lea McGee(1992) found that even first graders were capa-ble of reflecting on stories from their ownperspectives while they shared personal experi-ences, made connections to other stories, specu-lated about events, and used text evidence tosupport ideasall activities requiring thoughtand language: When Jennifer Battle (1995)worked with kindergarten teacher Cris Contr-eras, they found that bilingual 5-year-olds, too,had "so much to notice and so much to say" onthe story rug:

[They talk about book features ... and even thebook's publication dates; they talk about book lan-guageits rhyme, lilt, and meanings; they talkabout illustrations; and they talk about literary ele-mentscharacters, setting, and plot (p. 160).

Perhaps most important of all, these kinder-garten children worked together to untangle sto-ries, providing living testament to meanings"socially constructed" (Lindfors, 1999; Vygotsky,1978).

196



It is no secret that children want to talk with oneanother about books (Morrow, 1988). As a moth-er of a kindergarten child wrote to us recently,"Naomi doesn't understand her computerteacher, and doesn't know which buttons topush. No wonder children talk to each other atschool. They are like natives of the same land ina foreign country."

Aiden Chambers (1985) offers help for gettingall of us talking together about books. Chambersproposes a general framework for guiding storydiscussion, and teachers have found it useful forencouraging children's thought and talk (see, e.g.,Martinez, Roser, Hoffman, & Battle, 1992). Cham-bers refers to the scheme as "the three sharings."Children are invited to share their observationsor "noticings" about books, their "puzzlements,"or wonderings, and their "connections" with thestory. When we work with children in literaturestudy, they are often invited to prepare for talk-ing by writing down one or two ideas they wouldmost like to talk about. The invitation to talk oftenbegins with "What do you most want to say?""What did you notice?" or "What are you think-ing or feeling about this story?"

In San Antonio, Ronnie Gonzalez's secondgraders are familiar with the framework, use itto shape the columns on their language charts,and "save" important parts of their discussionunder these categories. The three sharings creepinto their talk about books, as in the followingexcerpt from a discussion of The Quicksand Book,by Tomie dePaola:

C: It reminds me of The Cloud Book.C: It gets you information of how you can

fall into quicksand.C: I wonder why the jungle boy told the

jungle girl to float on her back and the jun-gle boy didn't float on his back.

T. Ummm. Good wondering. What doyou think? Just come on into the conversa-tion.

C: I think he did that because maybe hedidn't really know how to float on his back.

T: Ahhh! Maybe he told her, "This iswhat you should do," but maybe he himselfdidn't do it.

C: He didn't know how to do it.

C: It was all sticky on his back.C: But he slipped too fast on his back and

he couldn't turn over.T: He couldn't turn over fast enough to

float.C: I didn't even know where the quick-

sand was 'til she fell in. I would never go inquicksand in my whole life.

C: We stopped to have a picnic and Istepped in it, and I started to sink in it. Itwasn't a very big patch. It was a little patch.

C: I wonder why the girl didn't lookwhere she was going. You should alwayslook where you're swinging. You just mightend up in quicksand.

C: She might have just slipped off therope.

C: It did. It said the girl was swinging onthe rope and

C: the vine broke!C: I know, but she didn't slip off.C: She should have used a stronger

rope. .C: I wonder how Tomie dePaola knew

how to make quicksand. He must be smart.T: Any comment on what Kelly men-

tioned?C: He probably looked it up in the ency-

clopedia or something like that. He probablyjust didn't think if that would be correct.

C: I think he got it from his friends.T: What do you mean, Ben?C: He put most of his friends in books

that we have read .. . well, one of his friendsmight be like Encyclopedia Brown!

The conversation continued for another 10minutes, and the book was consulted to supportpoints. The author's rationale for making JungleBoy the authority on quicksand was discussed("He [dePaola] could have made the girl [know]because he was the one that wrote the story. Hecould make the girl know it if he wanted to").There was evidence of reasoning, literature com-parison, and awareness of the author as a crafterof materialone who makes decisions in hiswriting and acts on them. These second gradershave an open invitation to notice, to wonder, andto connect. As discussion leader, Ms. Gonzalezknows she has a role to play, but the use of lan-

1, 9Y


guage to express thought is becoming well estab-lished. She asks fewer questions now; she does-n't need to prompt as frequently as she once did;she waits her turn to talk. The three sharings havebecome embedded, and talk takes center stage.

Focus on Listening

Strategy: Guiding Active, PurposefulListening During Sharing Time

When language arts specialists talk about listen-ing, they often refer to it as the neglected lan-guage art. It is, many contend, what children areasked to do most and taught to do least (Devine,1978). Funk and Funk (1989) maintain that thereare a number of reasons for the neglect. Someteachers believe that listening develops natural-ly and so does not need to be taught. Othersbelieve it cannot be taught or evaluated. (Forexample, the new "essential knowledge andskills" for language arts in Texas include "lis-tening," leaving many teachers speculatingwhether there may eventually be a state "basicskills" test for listening.) And some teachers maynot have been taught to teach listening and sofeel diffident about teaching it.

Yet if we borrowed from the well-acceptedguidelines for teaching the other language arts,we could speculate that good listening instruc-tion would be meaningful to children, wouldoccur throughout the day, would sometimes bebrought to a conscious level with strategy help("What are some good ways we can show Felipewe're listening?"), and would be varied in pur-poses, setting, and tasks. We can assume itinvolves more than simply telling someone to doit (Watson, 1985). And, contrary to the tables ofcontents in the newest books on early literacy,the skills of listening are far more demandingthan hearing the separate sounds in spokenwords. Children may be phonemically awareand still not be good listeners.


Researcher Pat Edwards (1996) asked two kin-dergarten teachers in a school serving working-class families of varied income, ethnic, and edu-

cational backgrounds what they were least sat-isfied with in their instructional program. Bothteachers had the same immediate answer: shar-ing time. Sharing time in these classrooms, as inmany classrooms across the country, had come tomean one child holding up yet another Barbie ora new pair of tennis shoes while 17 others laycomatose on the rug. Edwards worked with theteachers and the children's parents to make shar-ing time a better language experience. As chil-dren became more aware of the audience fortheir speech, the listeners became more aware ofwhat the speaker was trying to do. For example,as speakers learned to make more interestingchoices about what to talk about and how to cap-ture attention, use eye contact, and make surethat listeners could see and hear, the listenerswere also learning to have expectations fromspeakersa step toward active listening.

"I can't hear what she is saying," piped a 5-year-old voice. "She does need to talk louder," Mrs.Bowker agreed, "but remember, you need to watchher very carefully" (p. 348).

In fact, both teachers came to believe that kinder-gartners "learned far more about listening insharing time now that their classmates hadsomething interesting to say" (p. 347). Each weekthe teachers saw evidence of learning by listen-ing. And, although the teachers did not focus onlistening instruction, they melded speaking andlistening instruction in sharing time. It is possi-ble to imagine the next steps: preparation forpurposefully listening to a visiting veterinarian,a demonstration of pinata making, a grand-mother's story, or a video on the water cycle.

Focus on Viewing

Strategy: Providing Opportunities toComprehend, Interpret and RepresentUnderstandings

Recently, literacy educators have been expand-ing their definitions of "ways of knowing" toinclude a wider variety of acceptable textsand sign systems that are not necessarily printor even language-based (Leland & Harste,1994). Including "viewing" as a language art

1



Using Buddies to Increase Voluntary Reading

I have a class of children with special needs. The children in my class are often discouraged

when it comes to reading and have low self-esteem in regard to making friends. To increase

voluntary reading both at home and during the school day and to build my students' self-

esteem, I invite children from other classes in the school to buddy read with my class. 1\vice

each week the buddy readers come to the room and bring their favorite easy reader books

from their home. (I tell the buddies ahead of time to select simpler texts, to facilitate sharing.)

Then the buddies lend the book they read to the children in my class. (I tell the buddies to

select books that could be replaced in case of damage or loss, although this has never been

necessary.) My students are then able to read the buddy's book during their free time and at

home. Each student is motivated to read because there is a sense of pride attached to having

been lent a book from a peer or older admired person. They share the books with each other,

and because they are familiar with the story, they can read or retell the story to their class-

mates and families at home.

Marta Ramos, First/Second -Grade Teacher

acknowledges that multiple sign systems andtools are available both to interpret and to repre-sent our understandings and perspectives. View-ing does not equate with technical prowess, eventhough media in many forms (computers, video,television, film) have come to be accepted asappropriate vehicles for literacy instruction(Flood, Heath, & Lapp, 1997; Labbo, Reinking,& McKenna, 1999). Nor does viewing equate justwith visual appreciation, although, for example,the potential of picture books to increase visualliteracy has not been fully exploited (Kiefer, 1995).Children at very young ages understand, inter-pret, and represent their interpretations of mean-ings in a variety of ways. Hubbard (1989), forexample, studied children's meaning makingwith drawings before and as they wrote. Saul(1989) prepares teachers to reach for the essenceof the literature they will share with children byrepresenting its meanings visually before theyintroduce and discuss it. Students who move,dance, compose, paint, film, draw, tape, graph, ormap their, interpretations or understandingsorinterpret others' representationsare demon-strating viewing and representing.


Ms. Frizzle of Joanna Cole's The Magic School Busseries renown is not the only teacher who pro-vides hands-on learning opportunities and en-courages her students to develop and show theirunderstanding in myriad ways. Leland andHarste (1994) describe a study by Berghoff offirst graders at work:

In the inquiry into Colonial America, childrenwere invited to be museum curators, inhabit anIndian wigwam, make quilts, read poetry rhythmi-cally to the beat of drums, hear Indian legends, tellmath stories using the flannel board cutouts of Pil-grims and the Mayflower, view art of the era, drawportraits of themselves and their friends, and paintwith dyes made from squash and berries (Berghoff,as cited by Leland & Harste, 1994, p. 341).

Whether children make character webs toextend understanding of a story (Bromley, 1995)or produce images of Sylvester and the MagicPebble from the vantage point of a mathemati-cian or artist (Leland & Harste, 1994) or com-pare a story with a video (Lapp, Flood, & Fish-er, 1999), they are engaged in viewing and

1 9


representing. Children view when they interpretthe graphics in their texts and newspapers; theyrepresent when they choose music and imagesto match the mood of a story or historical event.Critics fear that viewing means more televisionor video rolled into the classroom; instead, itmay mean more movement, tools of expression,and openings for students with particularstrengths.

Putting It All TogetherA wealth of instructional recommendations forteaching young children have been offered inthis book. Our intent was to focus on just a fewtime-honored and research-supported activitiesthat enrich and enliven language arts instruction.As was clearly pointed out by the InternationalReading Association in its 1998 position state-ment on beginning reading, "There is no singlemethod or single combination of methods thatcan successfully teach all children to read. There-fore, teachers must have a strong knowledge ofmultiple methods ... and a strong knowledge ofchildren." The same current flows through lis-tening, speaking, writing, and viewing.

Although each section of this chapter hashighlighted just one of the language arts, eachpractice still standing requires that children useall of their language facility productively andpurposefully. And, within each seeminglystraightforward practice, there are implicationsfor resources, teacher preparation, communityinvolvement, and for both change and refusal tochange. The common thread linking successfulteaching is trust in the capacity of children andthe infinite creativity of teachers to ensure thatbeginning reading and writing are just thatthebeginning.

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ABOUT THE EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS

Kathryn H. Au is a professor of education at theUniversity of Hawaii. She has taught kinder-garten through grade 2. Her research interestfocuses on the school literacy development ofstudents of diverse cultural and linguistic back-grounds, and she has published numerous arti-cles in this field. She serves on the board of direc-tors of the International Reading Association andis a past president of the National Reading Con-ference. She is a recipient of the Oscar S. CauseyAward for outstanding contributions to readingresearch and is a member of the Reading Hall ofFame.

Sue Bredekamp is director of research of theCouncil for Early Childhood Professional Recog-nition and a senior consultant to the Head StartBureau. Between 1984 and 1998, she served asdirector of professional development and accred-itation of the National Association for the Edu-cation of Young Children (NAEYC). She co-authored the 1998 joint position statement of theInternational Reading Association and theNAEYC. She is also the primary author of theNAEYC's Developmentally Appropriate Practice inEarly Childhood Programs (1987 and 1997 edi-tions). Dr. Bredekamp holds a doctorate in earlychildhood education from the University ofMaryland.

Jo Ann Brewer is associate professor of educa-tion at Salem State College, Salem, Massachu-setts. She teaches courses in reading, early child-hood education, and children's literature. Shewas a kindergarten teacher for many yearsbefore earning a doctorate in early childhoodeducation from Texas Tech University. She has

held several administrative positions in highereducation and served as an assistant superin-tendent for curriculum for a school system. Heruniversity experience includes positions at Ore-gon State University and Northern Arizona Uni-versity.

Karen Bromley is a professor at the State Uni-versity of New York at Binghamton. Formerlyshe taught third grade and was a K-6 readingspecialist in New York and Maryland. Sheobtained her doctorate from the University ofMaryland. Her research interests are classroomliteracy instruction and the writing process. Shehas written several books for teachers.

Bernice E. Cullinan is a professor of early child-hood and elementary education at New YorkUniversity, where she specializes in children'sliterature, language arts, and reading. She is amember of the editorial board of The New Advo-cate and a book reviewer for The Horn Book Guide.Dr. Cullinan taught elementary school for 15years before receiving her doctorate from OhioState University. She is past president of both theInternational Reading Association and the IRAReading Hall of Fame. She is a recipient of theArbuthnot Award for Outstanding Teacher ofChildren's Literature.

Ann Dromsky is a doctoral student and fellowat the University of Maryland at College Park.She has held both elementary and middleschool teaching positions. Her research inter-ests center on the use of expository readingtexts in primary grades and early literacy com-prehension. In addition to her academic work,

1950 3

196 About the Editors and Contributors

she is a consultant to the program Reading IsFundamental, in Washington, D.C., on literacyintervention projects. She has published sever-al chapters and contributes to the Maryland StateJournal of the International Reading Associa-tion.

James Flood, a professor of reading and lan-guage development at San Diego State Univer-sity has taught in preschool, elementary, and sec-ondary schools and has been a language artssupervisor and vice principal. He has also beena Fulbright scholar at the University of Lisbon inPortugal and president of the National ReadingConference. Dr. Flood has chaired and co-chairedmany IRA, NCTE, NCRE, and NRC committees.Currently he teaches preservice and graduatecourses at SDSU. He has co-authored and edit-ed many articles, columns, texts, and handbookson reading and language arts issues. His manyeducational awards include being named Out-standing Teacher Educator in the Department ofTeacher Education at SDSU, DistinguishedResearch Lecturer in SDSU's Graduate Divisionof Research, and a member of the CaliforniaReading Hall of Fame.

Lee Galda is a professor of children's literatureat the University of Minnesota. After receivingher doctorate from New York University, shetaught for many years at the University of Geor-gia. She has co-authored a book of literature forchildren and published numerous articles onreading. She also served as the children's bookscolumn editor for The Reading Teacher from 1989to 1993 and as co-editor of the "ProfessionalResources" column for The New Advocate from1996 to 1998. Dr. Galda has served on a numberof committees involving research and children'sliterature.

Linda B. Gambrell is professor and director ofthe School of Education at Clemson University.She received her doctorate from the Universityof Maryland in curriculum and instruction,reading education. Before assuming her posi-tion at Clemson University she was associatedean of research in the College of Education atthe University of Maryland. She began her

20

career as an elementary classroom teacher andreading specialist. She has co-authored books onreading instruction and published numerousarticles in research and practitioner journals. In1998 she was the recipient of the InternationalReading Association's Outstanding TeacherEducator in Reading award. In 1999 she servedas president of the National Reading Confer-ence. Her current interests are in the areas ofreading comprehension strategy instruction, lit-eracy motivation, and the role of discussion inteaching and learning.

Celia Genishi is a professor of education in theDepartment of Curriculum and Teaching, Teach-ers College, Columbia University. She is a for-mer secondary Spanish and preschool teacherand now teaches courses in early childhood edu-cation and qualitative research methods. Previ-ously she was on the faculty at the University ofTexas at Austin and Ohio State University. Shehas co-authored and edited books on the assess-ment of children's work. Her main interestsinclude collaborative research with teachers onalternative assessment, childhood bilingualism,and language use in classrooms.

Bill Harp is a professor of language arts and lit-eracy in the Graduate School of Education at theUniversity of MassachusettsLowell, where heteaches in the graduate program. His elemen-tary school teaching experience ranges fromHead Start through sixth grade, and he hasserved as an elementary school principal anddirector of programs for the gifted. Dr. Harpearned his doctorate in curriculum and instruc-tion, with an emphasis on reading, at the Uni-versity of Oregon, Eugene. His university expe-rience includes positions at the University ofDelaware, Oregon State University, and North-ern Arizona University.

Diane Lapp, professor of reading and languagein the Department of Education at San DiegoState University, has taught in elementary andmiddle schools. Dr. Lapp, who co-directs andteaches field-based preservice and graduatecourses, spent her recent sabbatical leave teamteaching in a public school first-grade classroom.

About the Editors and Contributors 197

Although her leave has been completed, she con-tinues to team teach in a first-grade classroomevery morning. Dr. Lapp has co-authored or edit-ed many articles and books on reading and lan-guage arts issues. She has also chaired and co-chaired several IRA and NRC committees. Hermany educational awards include being namedOutstanding Teacher Educator and FacultyMember in the Department of Teacher Educa-tion at SDSU, Distinguished Research Lecturer inSDSU's Graduate Division of Research, a mem-ber of the California Reading Hall of Fame, andIRA's 1996 Outstanding Teacher Educator of theYear.

Lesley Mandel Morrow is a professor in Rut-gers University's Graduate School of Educationand coordinator of the graduate literacy pro-grams. She began her career as a classroomteacher, became a reading specialist, and re-ceived her doctorate from Fordham University inNew York City. She has done extensive researchin the area of early literacy development and haspublished numerous books and journal articles.She has received awards for excellence in teach-ing and research from Rutgers University. Shewas an elected member of the board of directorsof the International Reading Association andreceived the IRA's Outstanding Teacher Educa-tor of Reading award. She has also served as aprincipal research investigator for the NationalReading Research Center. Dr. Morrow is present-ly serving as an elected member of the board ofdirectors of the National Reading Conference.She received Fordham University's AlumniAward for Outstanding Achievement.

Margaret Moustafa received her doctorate ineducation from the University of Southern Cali-fornia and is a professor of education at Califor-nia State University, Los Angeles. She is an expe-rienced elementary-grade teacher and teachereducator. Her publications include articles andbooks about the role of phonics in reading instruc-tion. The teacher portraits in Chapter 10 reflecther experiences as a researcher, teacher, andteacher educator working to create instruction inletter-sound correspondences compatible withchildren's cognitive and linguistic processes.

Susan B. Neuman is a professor in the Educa-tional Studies Department in the School of Edu-cation at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.She is Director of the Center for the Improve-ment of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA).Her interests include beginning reading andwriting, family literacy, and parental involve-ment. Dr. Neuman has been co-editor of the Jour-nal of Literacy Research and currently serves onseven editorial boards. She is chair of the Publi-cations Committee and a board member of theNational Reading Conference, and president ofthe Literacy Development for Young ChildrenSpecial Interest Group of the International Read-ing Association.

Anthony D. Pellegrini is a professor of educa-tional psychology at the University of Minnesota.He received his doctorate in 1978 from OhioState University. He has co-authored a book aboutschool literacy and play. His teaching and researchinterests are observational methods and play.

Lucinda C. Ray is the director of curriculumdevelopment at IntelliTools, Inc., in Petaluma,California. Previously she was group productmarketing manager of The Learning Company'sSchool Division and education product manag-er at Broderbund Software. She was an Englishteacher and drama director at the middle school,high school, and college levels in Massachusetts,Vermont, and Iowa; her master's degree is fromthe Bread Loaf School of English. Her researchinterests include multimedia in literacy devel-opment and instructional design in electroniclearning tools. Her publications include teacher'sguides for software and several book chapterson literacy and technology.

Nancy Roser is a professor of language and lit-eracy studies and the Flawn professor of earlychildhood education in the College of Educationat the University of Texas at Austin. A formerelementary schoolteacher, Dr. Roser now teach-es preservice and graduate classes in elementaryreading and language arts. She is co-editor oftwo books as well as chapters and articles relat-ed to the teaching of reading and language arts.She is a member of the IRA's Research Committee

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198 About the Editors and Contributors

and the Committee Against Censorship of theNational Council of Teachers of English. Sheserved as co-director of the project that helped toproduce the standards for the English languagearts in Texas. She received the Texas Outstand-ing College/University English Language ArtsAward from the Texas Council of Teachers ofEnglish for 2000.

Susan Stires taught for 30 years in rural andurban elementary schools, most recently as a pri-mary grade teacher at the Center for Teachingand Learning, a demonstration school in Maine.She now works as a consultant in literacy acqui-sition and development while pursuing anadvanced degree at Teachers College, ColumbiaUniversity. Her publications are about teachingreading and writing to elementary and specialstudents. She recently finished a book on teacherresearch in reading and writing with the supportof a Spencer grant.

Dorothy S. Strickland is the State of New Jer-sey Professor of Reading at Rutgers University.She is past president of both the InternationalReading Association and the IRA Reading Hallof Fame. Her publications include many books.She received the 1994 NCTE Rewey Belle InglisAward as Outstanding Woman in the Teachingof English, the National Council of Teachers ofEnglish 1998 Award as Outstanding Educator inthe Language Arts, and the IRA's OutstandingTeacher Educator of Reading award.

William H. Tea le is a professor of education atthe University of Illinois at Chicago, where healso serves as director of the UIC Reading Clin-ic. His research has focused mainly on earlyreading and writing development. His publica-tions include chapters in many books and arti-cles in a variety of reading, language arts, andearly childhood education journals; and he is co-editor of a book on emergent literacy that hasbecome a standard reference in the field.

Diane H. Tracey is an associate professor atKean University, Union, New Jersey, where she

206

teaches graduate and undergraduate courses inliteracy education. Her research interests includefamily literacy and the role of technology in lit-eracy education. Diane is a co-editor of a surveyof family literacy and is a former member of theInternational Reading Association's Family Lit-eracy Commission. Prior to her tenure at KeanUniversity, Dr. Tracey was a doctoral student andteaching assistant at Rutgers University.

Shelley B. Wepner is currently an associatedean of the School of Human Service Profes-sions, director of the Center for Education, anda professor of education at Widener Universityin Chester, Pennsylvania. She received her doc-torate from the University of Pennsylvania andhas been a supervisor of curriculum and instruc-tion and reading specialist in New Jersey. Herresearch interests include the use of technologyfor literacy development and teacher education,and the leadership qualities of reading special-ists and education deans. Her previous publica-tions include three award-winning softwarepackages and five co-edited or co-authoredbooks on literacy.

Junko Yokota is an associate professor in theReading and Language Department of National-Louis University, Chicago. Her work focuses onissues related to children's literature, the litera-cy development of culturally diverse students,and early literacy. She works with school dis-tricts in the Chicago area in staff developmentand curriculum development.

Donna Yung-Chan, an early childhood teacherat Public School 1 in New York City, has taughtprekindergarten for 13 years. In November 1998,she received the National Board for Profession-al Teaching Standards certification in EarlyChildhood (Generalist). She also was recentlyawarded the Title I Distinguished Educatoraward from the New York State EducationDepartment and New York City Board of Edu-cation. Ms. Yung-Chan holds a master's degreein education from Brooklyn College.

INDEXES

Author Index

Adams, M., 6, 14, 60, 124 Blachman, B. A., 14 Committee on the Prevention Duffy, G. G., 144Afflerbach, P., 100 Blachowicz, C., 9 of Reading Difficulties Duffy-Hester, A. M., 185Akroyd, S., 52 Bliss, J., 175 in Young Children, 102, Durkin, D., 48, 152, 184Allington, R., 42, 100, 184 Bloom, L., 77 103 Durrell, D. D., 125Almasi, J. F., 152 Blum, I. H., 49 Conrad, R., 101 Dykstra, R., 6Altwerger, B., 49 Bond, G. L., 6 Cook-Gumperz, J., 60 Dyson, A. H., 79, 186Anderson, E., 44Anderson, R., 107

Bouffler, C., 113Bromley, K., 116, 117, 190

Cooter, R. B., 122, 145, 146,149 Education Department of

Anderson, R. C., 12, 29, 95,122, 184

Brooks, J. G., 144Brooks, M., 144

Crevola, C. A., 103Cronnell, B., 122

Western Australia, 165Edwards, P. A., 51, 185, 189

Anderson, R. D., 135 Bruce, D. J., 125 Crowell, D., 17, 37 Eeds, M., 187Angell, A., 23, 30 Bruner, J., 135 Cuban, L., 170 Ehri, L. C., 122, 125Applebee, A., 12, 144 Bryant, P., 125, 126 Cudd, E. T., 148, 149 Eldredge, J. L., 123Arnold, D., 23, 30, 51 Buchoff, R., 52 Cullinan, B. E., 135, 136, 137, Elley, W., 19, 26, 30, 122Ash, G. E., 170 Burke, C., 135 140 Emans, R., 122Au, K. H., 36, 39, 41, 43, 44 Burmeister, L. E., 122 Cunningham, A. E., 162 Enslein, J., 59Auerbach, E. R., 47, 48 Bums, M. S., 7, 9, 185 Cunningham, P., 9, 184, 186 Enz, B. J., 49, 53August, D. A., 102 Bus, A. C., 125 Curry, C., 49 Epstein, J., 23, 30Augustine, D., 93 Butler, D., 111 Estes, T., 186Austin, M. C., 185 Dahl, K., 39, 186Avery, C., 187 Calfee, R., 107, 125 Daley, K., 23 Falco, F. L., 50

Calkins, L. M., 10, 39 Daly, B. A., 50 Farest, C., 119, 187Bailey, M. H., 122 Cambourne, B., 112 Daring-Hammond, L., 42 Faman, N., 186Baker, S., 187 Campbell, J., 122 Davis, C., 14 Farstrup, A., 122Balajthy, E., 169 Campbell, J. R., 11, 16, 36 DeBaryshe, B. D., 50 Fassler, R., 79Ball, E. W., 14 Cantrell, S. C., 122 Decker, S. N., 102 Fayden, T., 123Ballenger, C., 79 Caperelli, B. J., 48 DeFries, J. C., 102 Fein, G. G., 58, 59Balmuth, M., 124 Carr, E., 146 DeJong, P. F., 51 Feitelson, D., 187Banet, B., 68 Carroll, J. H., 36 Delgado-Gaitin, C., 52 Fernandez, M., 170Barnes, W. S., 102 Carter, B., 125 Delucchi, K. L., 93 Ferruggia, A., 123Barnett, W. S., 100 Casey, J., 170 DeTemple, J. M., 49, 50 Fielding, L., 12, 107, 144, 152,Baron, J., 125 Caulfield, M., 50 Devine, T. G., 189 184Barr, R., 39 Cazden, C., 93 Dewitz, P., 146 Fischel, J., 23, 30, 50Bartini, M., 60, 62, 64 Chaille, C., 60 Dianda, M., 103 Fischer, F. W., 125Battistich, V., 93 Chall, J., 6, 44 Diaz, R., 24 Fisher, D., 184, 185, 190Battle, J., 15, 187, 188 Chambers, A., 188 Dickinson, D. K., 15, 50 Fisher, P., 9Baumann, J. F., 48, 185 Chandler, J., 102 Diehl-Faxon, J., 49 Flesch, R., 6Beals, D. E., 49, 50 Charak, D., 60, 62, 64 Dishner, E. K., 145 Fletcher, J. M., 102, 186Bean, K., 12, 14 Charles, D. F., 170 Dockstader-Anderson, K., 49 Flood, J., 50, 184, 185, 190Bean, W., 113 Chasen, S. P., 145 Dolan, L. J., 103 Flor, D., 64Bear, D., 9, 187 Cheyney, M., 187 Dole, J. A., 144 Fogarty, R., 170Beatty, A. S., 11 Chomsky, C., 186 Donahue, P. L., 16, 36 Foorman, B. R., 186Beers, J. W., 186 Clark, E. V., 67 Dorsey-Gaines, C., 37, 42, 48 Forman, E., 93Berdiansky, B., 122 Clay, M., 38, 79, 103, 108, 111, Dowell, P., 75 Fountas, I., 112, 113, 185Bernstein, B., 60 161, 163, 164 Dreher, M. J., 145 Fowler, G. L., 148Bird, L. B., 11 Clymer, T., 122 Dressel, J. H., 135 Fox, B., 51, 171, 172

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200

France, M. G., 51Francis, D. J., 186Freeman, D., 79Freeman, Y. S., 79Freppon, P., 39, 122Froebel, F., 88Frost, J., 14Frye, B. J.., 184Funk, G. D., 189Funk, H. D., 189

Galda, L., 58, 59, 60, 61, 62,64, 135, 136, 137, 140

Gallagher, M. C., 39Gallimore, R., 25Gambrell, L. B., 145, 146, 147,

148, 152Garvey, C., 60Gaskins, I. W., 9Genesee, F., 79Genishi, C., 79Gilger, J. W., 102Gilman, P., 148Goelman, H., 62Goldman, J., 60Goncu, A., 24Goodman, I. F., 102Goodman, K., 108, 122Goodman, Y., 122Goss, K., 184Goswami, U., 125, 126Gough, P., 11, 14, 122, 185Graves, D., 10, 39, 185Greenberg, J., 48Griffin, P., 7, 9, 185Griffith, P. L., 14Gruber, K., 93Guerra, J. C., 37Guillaume, A. M., 145Guthrie, J. T., 44

Hager, J. M., 51Hakuta, K., 102Hansen, J., 10Hanson, L., 93Hao, Z., 15Harp, B., 159, 165Harste, C. H., 189, 190Harste, J., 135Hartup, W. W., 64He, W., 15Heald-Taylor, G., 123Heath, S. B., 37, 59, 60, 190Heathington, B. S., 147Hemmeter, A., 187Hemphill, L., 102Henderson, E. H., 186Herman, P., 29Hickman, J., 136Hiebert, E., 107, 135Hill, P. W., 103Hillinger, M. L., 122Hoffman, J. V., 11, 15, 119, 185,

187, 188Hohmann, M., 68

Holdaway, D., 41, 111, 112,123

Hollingsworth, P. M., 11, 123Hubbard, R., 190

Inhelder, B., 144International Reading Associ-

ation, vii, 8, 13, 23, 24Invemizzi, M., 9Iraqi, J., 187Irwin-DeVitis, L., 116

Jensen, J. M., 184Johnson, D. W., 93Johnson, J., 25Johnson, R. T., 93Johnston, F., 9Johnston, P. A., 100Jordan, C., 40Juel, C., 14, 100

Kapinus, B. A., 146, 147,148

Kawakami, A., 17, 37Kee, C., 48Kiefer, B., 136, 190Kinzer, C. K., 170, 176, 178Kirby, P., 102Kirkpatrick, H., 170Klein, E., 79Koehler, J., 122Koskinen, P. S., 49, 146, 147,

148Krashen, S., 100, 125Krol-Sinclair, B., 48Kucer, S. B., 122Kuhn, M., 170Kuhns, M., 146Kurland, B., 23

Labbo, L. D., 5, 8, 11, 14, 17,18, 119, 170, 190

LaBerge, D., 11Labov, W., 102Lancia, P. J., 135Langer, J., 12, 144Lapp, D., 184, 185, 190Lazar, A. M., 48, 53LeFevre, J., 23Leland, C. H., 189, 190Lemann, N., 7Leseman, P. P. M., 51LeTourneau, M., 184Leung, C. B., 26Lew, M., 93Liberman, I., 125Lidz, C., 24Lieb, E., 14Lillas, C., 122Lindfors, J., 187Linn, R. L., 14Lomangino, A. G., 19Lonigan, C. J., 50Loughlin, C. E., 88Lundberg, I., 14

08

Lyon, G. R., 6Lysacker, J., 185

MacKay, D. G., 125Madden, N. A., 103Maldonado-Colon, E., 125Mann, V. A., 125Marek, A., 108Martin, M. D., 88Martinez, M., 11, 15, 41, 49,

185, 187, 188Maruyama, G. M., 184Mason, J. M., 95, 122Matthew, K. I., 170, 175Maxwell, C. M., 47, 185Mazzeo, J., 16, 36McBroom, C., 187McGee, L. M., 187McGillicuddy-De Lisi, A., 25McGoldrick, J. A., 144, 151McKenna, M. C., 8, 17, 18,

170, 176, 178, 190McLoyd, V., 59McQiiillan, J., 100McTague, B. K., 122Mead, F., 125, 126Meers, T. B., 178Mehta, P., 186Meliz, G., 48Mergendoller, J. R., 122Mesch, D., 93Meyer, C., 79Meyer, L. A., 14Michaels, S., 61Mignano, A. J., Jr., 88, 89Miller, P. D., 8Miller-Rodriguez, K., 186Mistry, J., 24Mitchell, M. J., 172Modlo, M., 116Moll, L., 48Montessori, M., 88Moon, J., 185Moore, G., 88Moore, J., 184Moorin, E., 59Morgan, S., 14Morningstar, J. W., 53Morrison, C., 185Morrow, L. M., 4, 47, 49, 84,

88, 96, 113, 144, 146,185, 187, 188

Mosier, C., 24Moss, B., 145Moustafa, M., 125, 126Mullis, I., 122Mullis, I. V. S., 12Mullis, M., 144

Nagy, W., 29National Academy of Educa-

tion, 7National Association for the

Education of Young Chil-dren, 8, 13, 23, 24

Indexes

National Institute of ChildHealth and Human Devel-opment, 6

National Reading Panel, 11National Research Council,

161Neal, C., 24Nesdale, A. R., 125Nettles, M. T., 36Neuman, S. B., 25, 31, 37, 41,

49, 52, 53, 88Nicholson, J., 19Nicholson, P., 23Nicholson, T., 122Ninio, A., 15, 135

Ogle, D., 145, 146Olds, A. R., 88Opitz, M. F., 11

Pagnucco, J. R., 8Paratore, J., 47, 48Parker, E. M., 49Patterson, J., 14Pearson, P. D., 39, 144, 152Pellegrini, A. D., 58, 59, 60,

61, 62, 63, 64Pennington, B. F., 102Perfetti, C. A., 122Perlmutter, J. C., 61, 62, 63Perna, L. W., 36Petersen, 0. P., 14Pfeiffer, W. R., 146, 148, 152Phillips, M., 170Piaget, J., 62, 144Pierce, K. M., 185Pikulski, J., 11, 26, 100, 103Pinnell, G. S., 11, 112, 113, 185Plunkett, V. R., 104Pressley, G. M., 60Pressley, M., 84, 144, 151,

152Purcell-Gates, V., 37, 42

Rankin, J., 84Raphael, T. E., 39, 41Rasinski, T. V., 11Ray, L., 172Read, C., 186Readence, J. E., 145Reeder, K., 62Reinldng, D., 17, 18, 170, 190Reutzel, D. R., 11, 122, 123Reutzel, R. E., 145, 146, 149Rhodes, L. K., 122Ribowsky, H., 122Richek, M. A., 122Richgels, D. J., 52, 185Rivlin, L., 88Roberts, L. L., 148, 150Rodarmel, S. L., 50Roehler, L. R., 144Rogoff, B., 24, 25, 62Roser, N., 11, 15, 41, 49, 119,

185, 186, 187, 188

Indexes 201

Roskos, K., 31, 37, 41, 88 Slaughter, J. P., 113, 123 Teale, W. H., 4, 5, 8, 11, 12, Wasik, B. A., 103Rosner, J., 125 Slavin, R. E., 93, 95, 103 14, 15, 111, 185, 187 Watkins, J. H., 170Ross, S. M., 103 Smith, F., 122 Teddlie, C., 102 Watson, E. D., 189Routman, R., 93 Smith, L., 103 Templeton, S., 9, 187 Watson, M. S., 93Rubin, B. M., 7 Smith, M., 23, 30 Tennant, N., 49 Watson, R., 62Ruddell, M. R., 84, 149 Smith, M. W., 15 Tharp, R., 25 Weaver, C., 44Ruddell, R., 84 Smith, N. B., 121, 124 Thomas, D., 48 Weikart, D., 68Ruddell, R. B., 122, 149 Smitherman, G., 102 Thomas, E., 23 Weinstein, C., 88, 89, 185Rusk, R., 88 Snow, C. E., 7, 9, 23, 50, Tierney, R., 145 Weisberg, R., 48, 53Rzoska, M. A., 122 102, 185 Torgeson, J., 14 Wells, D., 187

Snyder, B. L., 144, 151, 152 Trabasso, T., 144 Wepner, S. B., 172Sachs, J., 60 Solomon, D., 93 Tracey, D. H., 47, 84, 185 Wertsch, J. V., 93Sacks, C. H., 122 Soundy, C., 31 Trachtenburg, P., 123 Whitehurst, G., 23, 30, 50, 51Samuels, S. J., 11 Squire, J., 184 Treiman, R., 60, 125 Wilce, L. S., 125Saul, E. W., 190 Stahl, S. A., 8, 14, 60 Troia, G. A., 125 Wilkinson, I. A. G., 95, 122, 135Scarborough, H. H., 101 Stanovich, K., 100, 122, Tudge, J. R. H., 62 Wilson, P., 12, 107, 184Schaps, E., 93 184, 186 Tunmer, W. E., 125 Wilson, R. M., 146, 148Schatschneider, C., 186 Stine, H. A., 170 Wixson, K. K., 11Scheu, J. A., 36 Stonecash, C., 186 Underwood, G., 170, 172 Wold, L. S., 52, 185Scholes, R. J., 125 Straub, M. W., 49 Underwood, J., 170, 172 Wolf, S. A., 11Scotland, J., 88 Strecker, S., 11, 185 Wong, J., 17, 38Scott, J. A., 135 Strickland, D. S., 4, 49, 96, Vachio, A., 24 Woo, D., 84, 96Searfoss, L. W., 49, 53 109, 185, 186, 187 Valdez-Menchaca, M. C., 50 Woodward, V., 135Senechal, M., 23 Stringfield, S., 102 Valmont, W. J., 178 Worthy, J., 185Shanahan, T., 10 Sullivan, J., 171 VanDyke, J., 185 Wright, M., 51Shankweiler, D., 125 Sulzby, E., 4, 14, 18, 19, 111 van ffzendoom, M. H., 125 Wylie, R. E., 125Shapiro, J., 62 Symons, S., 144, 151, 152 Venezky, R. L., 122, 124Sharp, J., 171 Voekl, K. E., 16, 36 Yokoi, L., 84Shaywitz, B. A., 102 Tabors, P., 23 Volger, G. P., 102 Yokota, J., 17Shaywitz, S. E., 102 Tatham, S., 122 Vygotsky, L. S., 62, 187 Yopp, H. K., 162Shockley, B., 48, 53, 60 Taylor, B. M., 44, 184 Young, S., 19Sigel, I., 25Sims Bishop, R., 140

Taylor, D., 37, 42, 48, 49,125

Walmsley, S. A., 100Wardrop, J. L., 14 Zimiles, B., 146

Ability grouping. See Grouping, by abilityAccountability

assessment and, 166-167in independent work, 96

Accuracy, in nonfiction books, 138-139Administrators, assessment and, 166-167Alphabet books, 113Analogies

in phonics, 126spelling and, 129

Anecdotal records, 157-158Apprentices, English-language learners

and, 79Art center, 85, 91Assessment, 106-108, 154-167

anecdotal records and, 157-158checklists and, 158-160, 159fcommunication of, 166-167observation and, 156-161portfolios and, 160of reading, 161-163, 164-166running records and, 163surveys and, 160-161of writing, 163-164, 164-166

Assisted instruction, 24-25

Subject Index

At-risk children. See Children at riskAttention deficit-hyperactivity disorder,

102Attention span, 26Attitude surveys, 160-161Audiences. See also Reading aloud

reading to, 11Audiotapes, 49Authentic literature, 15Author's spot, in literacy center, 87-88

Basal readers, 6, 32Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning

About Print (Adams), 6Big books, 30-31, 32-33, 112-113Book chats, 32Buddy readers, 190

Categorization, English-language learn-ers and, 75-76

CD-ROMs, 17Characterization, of storybooks, 138Checklists, 158-160, 159fChild-adult groupings, in pretend play,

62-63

Children at risk, 99-109assessment and, 106-108classroom management and, 103-

104early intervention for, 100-101factors affecting, 101-103group learning and, 104home-school connections and, 108f,

108-109instructional experiences and, 104-

106, 105finstructional strategies for, 106interventions for, 103-109

Children of diverse backgrounds,16-17, 35-44

emergent literacy and, 42-44parents of, 52reading aloud and, 140-142

Classroomculture of, 40-41, 61-62environment of, 42

in kindergarten, 36-37physical, 85research on, 88

intervention in, 103-109

202

Classroom (continued)learning centers in, 85-88library in, 28-29,49,86-87,185parents in, 53schedule in, 78,88-95

beginning of day, 89learning center activities, 90-93morning meeting, 89-90need-based instruction and, 93-95

Cloze procedure, 123Code-emphasis approach, to literacy

instruction, 6,44Collaborative writing, 113-114Communication

between home and school, 46-54with parents, 166-167

Community, literacy development and,37,53

Composition, 10Comprehension, 8-9Computer center, 91Computers. See also Software;

Technologyin literacy instruction, 17-19writing and, 116,118-119

Conferring, learning/teaching through,68-70

Connector webs, 116Constructivism, reading comprehension

and, 144Context

in literacy instruction, 122phonics instruction and, 122

Cooperative learningadvantages of, 93writing and, 116-118

Cultural diversity. See Children ofdiverse backgrounds

CurriculumEnglish-language learners and, 75-76,

76-77selection of books for, 139-140writing and, 118-120

Daily agenda, 78. See also Classroom,schedule in

Daily news, 37-39Decodable text, 16,32Decoding, in vocabulary develop-

ment, 9Decontextualized language, 25Development, literacy instruction

and, 12-13,22-23Developmental continuum, 165-166Dictation, 163Digraphs, 89Directed Listening and Thinking

Activity, 90Distancing, in assisted instruction, 25Documentation, 106-108,109Dramatic play center, 85

Early intervention, 100-101Early Literacy Research Project (ELRP),

103-104Electronic books, 172-173,176-177

Emergent literacy, 4-5children of diverse backgrounds and,

42-44research on, 8

English-language learners, 102apprentices and, 79conferring and, 68-70curriculum and, 75-76,76-77examples of, 72-75expectations for, 76experiential learning and, 67-68,71-72,

73-75modeling and, 79phonemic awareness and, 73prekindergarten, 66-79reading aloud and, 71,73-75research on, 77-79reviewing and, 70-71success with, 77

Environmentof classroom. See Classroom, environ-

ment ofof home, 48-52

Environmental print, 16,163. See alsoPrint-rich environment

Experiential learning, English-languagelearners and, 67-68,71-72,73-75

Expository textreading comprehension and, 144-145technology and, 172

Expository text frame, 150Eye contact, during reading aloud, 137

Family. See Home-school connectionsFamily literacy, 47Family stories, 52-53Flexible grouping, 104Fluency, in reading, 11Friendship, 63-64

Games, 87Gender, pretend play and, 63Grammar lessons, 114-115,130Graphic organizers, writing and, 116Grouping

by ability, 32,93-95advantages of, 93flexible, 104

Groupsin pretend play, 62-65reading aloud to, 25-26rules for, 92-93

Guided reading, 31-32at-risk children and, 105f, 106

High-frequency words, 16HighScope, 68Home

literacy development at, 37,185literacy environment of, 48-52

physical, 48-49shared reading in, 49-52

Home-school connections, 46-54at-risk children and, 108f, 108-109examination of, 47-48inviting parents into classroom and, 53

- 210

Indexes

I knew/I learned text frame, 150, 150f,151f

Incentive programs, 12Independent reading

at-risk children and, 105f, 106in kindergarten, 31tracking of, 107f, 107-108

Independent workaccountability in, 96rules for, 92

Integration of curriculum, English-language learners and, 75-76

Interactive learning theory, 144Interactive writing, 113-114Interest surveys, 160-161Intergenerational family literacy pro-

grams, 47International Reading Association (IRA),

154,155-156,161,165,191Intervention

early, 100-101late, 100in regular classrooms, 103-109timing of, 103

Interviewing, 38IRA. See International Reading Associa-

tion

Kindergartenbeginning literacy instruction in, 5classroom environment in, 36-37emergent literacy in, 8foundation of literacy instruction in, 4independent reading in, 31language charts in, 119reading aloud in, 29-31writing in, 10

KWHL, 118KWL, 145-146

Language, consciousness of, 79Language arts. See Literacy instructionLanguage charts, in kindergarten, 119Language delay, 101Language development, 77,79Language impairments, 101Late intervention, 100Learning centers, 85-88,90-93

literacy related, 31management of, 91-93,96research on, 88

Learning disabilities, computers and, 18Learning to Read: The Great Debate

(Chall), 6Letter-phoneme correspondences, 122,

124-125Letters, representing ideas, 130Library. See Classroom, library inLibrary-media, writing and, 118-119Library programs, 185Listening, teaching strategies for, 189Listening center, 91Literacy achievement gap, 36Literacy center, 86-87

activities in, 92fauthor's spot in, 87-88

Indexes 203

Literacy instructionbeginning of, 5challenges in, 13-19code-emphasis approach, 44contentions over, 4-7in context, 122developmental appropriateness of,

22-23developmental aspects of, 12-13foundation of, 4-5future of, 19management of, 95-97meaning-emphasis approach, 44nature of, 5-7organization and management of,

88-95. See also Classroom,schedule in

practice and, 11-12research on, 7-13successful, 7,84,101

Literary text, 16Literate language, 58-59Literature-based basal readers, 6

Math, writing and, 118,119-120Math center, 86Meaning, in pretend play, 60Meaning-emphasis approach, to literacy

instruction, 6,44Me Museum, 141Message boards, 18Meta linguistic awareness, 60Mistakes, in writing, 115Modeling, 12,44

English-language learners and, 79writing and, 114-115

Monitoring, 106-108Morning meeting, 68,89-90Morning message, 37-39,114Motivation, lack of, 102Multi-age classrooms, writing and, 119Multicultural Book list Committee, 140Multicultural education. See Children

of diverse backgroundsMulticultural literature, reading aloud

and, 15Music center, 85

NAEYC. See National Association forthe Education of Young Children

Narrative structure, of pretend play,60-61

Narrative textreading comprehension and, 144-

145technology and, 172

Narrative text frames, 149f, 149-150National Assessment of Educational

Progress, 6,11National Association for the Education

of Young Children (NAEYC), 154,155-156,161,165

National Council of Teachers of English,140

National Research Council (NRC), 154,155,161

Nature study, selection of books for,139-140

Need-based instruction, 93-95Nonfiction picture books, 138-139NRC. See National Research CouncilNursery rhymes, 24

Observation, assessment and, 156-161One-to-one matching, 124Onsets, 125Oral language development, 9-10,50

retelling and, 148teaching strategies for, 187-189

Ownership, of literacy, 43-44

Parental involvement programs, 47,185Parent-child interactions, 50Parents. See also Home-school connec-

tionsin classroom, 53communication with, 53,166-167as funds of knowledge, 52-53with learning disabilities, 102student diversity and, 17

Parent writing project, 52Partner reading, 90,190

in phonics instruction, 123-124retelling and, 147-148

Pattern poetry, 114Peer groupings, in pretend play, 62-64Phonemes, 124-125Phonemic awareness, 9,124-125

anecdotal records and, 157assessment of, 161-163debate over, 14English-language learners and, 73teaching strategies for, 186technology and, 170-172

Phonics instruction, 6-7,9,121-131analogies and, 126complexity of, 122in context, 122example of, 126 -131, 127ffuture of, 19generalizations in, 121-122partner reading in, 123-124reading proficiency and, 131shared reading and, 122-123technology and, 170-172,178-179,

179fword cards for, 122, 123f

Phonics word wall, 127, 128f, 130-131Picture books, 137

birth through preschool, 23-29nonfiction, 138-139of poetry and song, 139reading aloud of, 136-137selection of, 138

Play. See Pretend playPlay centers, literacy related, 31Plot, of storybooks, 138Plurals, 130Poetry, 139Pointing to words, during shared read-

ing, 51Population, diversity of, 36

211

Portfolio assessment, 160,166Praise, 50Predictable text, 15-16Preschool

English-language learners and, 66-79reading aloud and, 23-29

Preschool language impairment, 101Pretend play, 58-64

classroom culture and, 61-62definition of, 59explication of meaning in, 60gender and, 63groupings in, 62-65narrative structure of, 60-61props in, 61-62reflection on meaning in, 60socialization and, 59-61

Prewriting, 116Primary grades, reading aloud in, 8,

31-33Print, concepts about, 161Print-rich environment, 42,85,112,163.

See also Environmental printProcess writing, 10Professional development, 109Pronunciation, 130Prop boxes, 53,63Props, 43

in pretend play, 61-62reading aloud and, 29

Pullout programs, 103

Questions, during shared reading, 51

Readers' workshop, 41-42,43Reading

assessment of, 161-163,164-166to audiences, 11fluency in, 11integration with writing, 10-11phonics instruction and, 131practice in, 11-12teaching strategies for, 184-185technology and, 172 -173, 179f, 179-

180Reading aloud, 90,134-142. See also

Shared readingat-risk children and, 104, 105fbirth through preschool, 23-29culture diversity and, 140-142debate over, 14-15effectiveness of, 136-137English-language learners and, 71,

73-75example of, 26-27to groups, 25-26in kindergarten, 29-31materials for, 15in primary grades, 31-33reading comprehension and, 8reasons for, 135-136repetition in, 30selection of books for, 137-140story stretchers and, 28style of, 15writing and, 112-113

204

Reading comprehension, 8-9,143-151constructivism and, 144expository texts and, 144-145guidelines for, 151-152KWL and, 145-146narrative texts and, 144-145reading fluency and, 11retelling and, 146-148,151strategies for, 145-150text clues and, 148text frames and, 148-150

Reading groups, 93-94Reading incentive programs, 12Reading interviews, 164-165Reading material, appropriateness of,

15-16Reading passages, 173Reading readiness, 4Reading systems, 173Reading Together, 53Relevance of texts, 50-51Remedial programs, supplementary

100,103Responsibility

in independent work, 96transfer of, 39

in assisted instruction, 25Retelling, 30,146-148,151Reviewing, 70-71Rhyming, 162-163Rimes, 125Running records, 163

Scaffolding, 39,44School, quality of, 102Science

selection of books for, 139-140writing and, 118

Science center, 86Scribbling, 112Seating, during reading aloud, 137Selection of books, 137-140Self-assessment, portfolios and, 160Self-esteem, 100Setting, of storybooks, 138Shape books, 114, 114fShared reading, 30,32-33. See also Read-

ing aloudat home, 49-52improving quality of, 50-52phonics instruction and, 122-123at risk children and, 104-106,105fwriting and, 112-113

Show and tell, 33Silent reading, 12,32Singulars, 130Skill development, software for, 170-172Small-group instruction, 104Socialization

cooperative learning and, 93pretend play and, 59-61

Social studies, writing and, 119-120Social studies center, 85Sociocognitive learning theory 144Socioeconomic status, 102

reading aloud and, 51

Software. See also Computers; Technologyfamiliarity with, 176phonics and, 178 -179, 179ffor reading development, 172-173selection of, 175 -176, 176ffor skill development, 170-172web sites reviewing, 176for writing development, 173-175

Someone/wants/but/so text frame, 149,150f

Song charts, 162Song picture books, 115Songs, 115-116,139Spanish language, 125Speaking. See also Oral language devel-

opmentteaching strategies for, 187-189

Spelling, 129Storybook reading. See also Reading

aloudbirth through preschool, 23-29oral language development and, 50

Storymates, 51-52Story-specific text frame, 149 -150, 150fStory stretchers, 28Student-selected learning, 44Style, of storybooks, 138Supplementary remedial programs,

100,103Surveys, assessment and, 160-161Sustained silent reading, 12

Teacherscommunication with parents, 53as models, 12professional development and, 109web sites created by, 177web site use by, 177-178

Teacher-selected learning, 44Teaching strategies

for listening, 189for oral language development,

187-189for reading, 184-185for viewing, 189-191for writing, 185-187

Technology, 168-182. See also Computers;Software; Web sites

instructional plans with, 178-180rationale for use, 169-170student experience with, 168-169

Text clues, reading comprehension and,148

Text framesexpository, 150narrative, 149f, 149-150reading comprehension and, 148-150

Themesfor reading and writing tolerance, 179f,

179-180of storybooks, 138

Three for the Road, 52Time

on literacy instruction, 42-43spent reading, 11-12

Time on task, 103

21

Indexes

Timing, of intervention, 103Tone of voice, 97Tracking print, 41-42Transfer of responsibility, 25,39Translation, English-language learners

and, 79

United States, reading achievementin, 19

Viewing, teaching strategies for, 189-191Vocabulary development, 9-10,90-91

at-risk children and, 106English-language learners and, 67reading aloud and, 25-26,29-30at risk children and, 105f

Voice, tone of, 97

Webs, writing process and, 116Web sites

for electronic books, 176-177recommendations for, 176-177for software reviews, 176for specific authors, 177by teachers, 177use by teachers, 177-178

Whole language approach, 6-7Why Johnny Can't Read (Flesch), 6Wolly Word, 43Word cards, 54

for phonics instruction, 122, 123fWord box, 78Word hunt, 124Word matching, 124Word study programs, 9-10. See also

Vocabulary developmentWord wall, in phonics, 127, 128f, 130-131Writers' workshop, 39-41,42-43Writing, 10-11,90,111-120

across the curriculum, 118-120assessment of, 163-164,164-166collaborative, 113-114computers and, 116cooperative learning and, 116-118future of, 19integration with reading, 10-11interactive, 113-114materials for, 113-114,115mistakes and, 115'modeling and, 114-115by parents, 52process of, 116-117reading aloud and, 112-113shared reading and, 112-113songs and, 115-116teaching strategies for, 185-187technology and, 173 -175, 179f, 179-

180Writing centers, 113-114Writing interviews, 164-165Writing workshops, 95

Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmen-tation, 162,162f

Zone of proximal development, 62

Indexes

Abercrombe, B., 55Absolutely, Positively Alexander: The

plete Stories (Viorst), 55Ahlberg, A., 24Ahlberg, J., 24Aliki, 116Allender, D., 116Are You My Mother? (Eastman), 55Aronsky, J., 139Arthur's Pet Business (Brown), 91Ask Mr. Bear (Flack), 90

Index to Children's Literature

Facklam, M., 140Com- The First Song Ever Sung (Krauss), 116

Flack, M., 90Fleming, D., 140, 162Flower Garden (Bunting), 139Franco, 107Freight Train (Crews), 28, 107Fresh Fall Leaves (Franco), 107Frog and Toad Together (Lobel), 116

Baer, E., 116The Bag I'm Taking to Grandma's House

(Neitzel), 113Baylor, B., 55Bears in the Night (Berenstain & Beren-

stain), 130Bedtime for Francis (Hoban), 55Berenstain, J., 130Berenstain, S., 130Berry, H., 116Black on White, White on Black (Hoban), 23Bowen, B., 139Brett, Jan, 134Brown, L. K., 55Brown, M., 91Brown, M. T., 55Brown, M. W., 67Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

(Martin), 15, 30, 113Bunting, E., 55, 139Butterfly (Ling), 140

Cameron, A., 55Carle, E., 30, 113Carlstrom, N., 26, 113The Carrot Seed (Krauss), 26The Cat Came Back (Tucker), 116Charlie Anderson (Abercrombe), 55The Chick and the Duckling (Ginsburg), 15Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes (Wyndham),

87The City Mouse Comes to Visit, 150Clay, M. M., 161Cole, H., 139Cole, J., 190Cowley, J., 15, 30, 41Creepy, Crawly Caterpillars (Facklam), 140Crews, D., 28, 107The Cricket in Times Square (Selden), 55Crocodile Smile (Weeks), 113Curtis, J. L., 55

dePaola, T., 188DeRegniers, B., 113Dinosaurs Divorce: A Guide for Changing

Families (Brown and Brown), 55Dog Heaven (Rylant), 55Down in the Sea: Jellyfish (Kite), 140

Eastman, P. D., 55The Eensy Weensy Spider, 128Eloise (Thompson), 55

Galdone, P., 27, 28The Gardener (Stewart), 55Gesell, T. (Dr. Seuss), 24The Gingerbread Boy (Galdone), 28Ginsburg, M., 15Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Miles), 27Good Night Moon (Brown), 67The Great Frog Race (O'Connell George),

140

Hague, M., 116Hawkins, C., 113Hawkins, J., 113Herron, C., 55Hoban, R., 55Hoban, T., 23How Do Apples Grow? (Maestro), 140Hunt, J., 140Hurd, T., 113Hush Little Baby (Aliki), 116

If You're Happy and You Know It (Weiss),116

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly(Hawkins & Hawkins), 113

In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall: African Ameri-cans Celebrating Fathers (Steptoe), 55

In the Small, Small Pond (Fleming), 140In the Tall, Tall Grass (Fleming), 140, 162I See Animals Hiding (Aronsky), 139I See the Moon and the Moon Sees Me (Lon-

don), 113Is Your Mama a Llama? (Kellogg), 91I Took a Walk (Cole), 139The Itsy Bitsy Spider (Trapani), 116

Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? (Carl-strom), 26, 113

Keep Looking (Selsam & Hunt), 140Kellogg, S., 91Kite, P., 140Krauss, L., 116Krauss, R., 26

Ling, M., 73, 140The Little Red Hen (Galdone), 27Little Red Riding Hood, 63Lobel, A., 116London, J., 113

Maestro, B., 140The Magic School Bus (Cole), 190

205

Mama Don't Allow (Hurd), 113Martin, B., 15, 30, 113Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go

Now! (Seuss), 24Melser, J., 15Miles, B., 27Milne, A. A., 55The Mitten (Brett), 134Mouse Paint (Walsh), 28Mrs. Wishy-Washy (Cowley & Melser), 15Mrs. Wishy-Washy (Cowley), 30My Father's Hands (Ryder), 140

Nappy Hair (Herron), 55Neitzel, S., 113No, David! (Shannon), 55

O'Connell George, K., 140Old Elm Speaks (O'Connell George), 140Old MacDonald Had a Farm (Berry), 116Owl Moon (Yolen), 55

Peek-a-Boo (Ahlberg & Ahlberg), 24

The Quicksand Book (dePaola), 188

Rathman, P., 55The Relatives Come (Rylant), 55Royston, A., 75Ryder, J., 140Rylant, C., 55

Sand (Clay), 161Schlessinger, L. C., 55Sea Animals (Royston), 75See How They Grow: Butterfly (Ling), 73Selden, G., 55Selsam, M., 140Seuss, Dr. (T. Gesell), 24Shake My Sillies Out (Allender), 116Shannon, D., 55Shaw, N., 113Sheep Eat Out (Shaw), 113Shriver, M., 55Slavin, B., 116Smoky Night (Bunting), 55Snow White, 29Steptoe, J., 55Stewart, S., 55Stones (Clay), 161The Stories Julian Tells (Cameron), 55

The Table Where Rich People Sit (Baylor),55

Ten Minutes till Bedtime ( Rathman), 55Thiele, B., 116This Is the Way We Eat Our Lunch: A Book

About Children Around the World(Baer), 115, 116

Thompson, K., 55Today I Feel Silly & Other Moods That

Make My Day (Curtis), 55Today is Monday (Carle), 113

206 Indexes

To Town (Cowley), 41Tracks in the Wild (Bowen), 139Trapani, I., 116Tucker, K., 116Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (Hague), 116

The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Carle), 30, 113Viorst, J., 55

The Amazing Writing Machine (Broder-bund/The Learning Company), 175

Arthur's Birthday Deluxe (Broderbund/The Learning Company), 172

Arthur's Reading Race (Broderbund/The Learning Company), 172

Arthur's Teacher Trouble (Broderbund/The Learning Company), 172, 179

The Art Lesson (MECC/The LearningCompany), 172, 180

Bailey's Book House (Edmark), 171Broderbund/The Learning Company,

119, 172, 174, 175, 178, 179

The Cat in the Hat (Broderbund/The Learning Company), 172

Curious George Learns Phonics (HoughtonMifflin Interactive), 171-172

Davidson/Knowledge Adventure, 172Dr. Seuss's ABC (Broderbund/The Learn-

ing Company), 172, 178

Easybook Deluxe (Sunburst), 174-175Edmark, 171

Grandma and Me Deluxe (Broderbund/The Learning Company), 172

Great Wave Software, 172

Houghton Mifflin Interactive, 172, 173

Inside Stories (Mimosa Technology), 172

KidKeys, 180Kid Phonics (Davidson/Knowledge

Adventure), 172

Walsh, E., 28Weeks, S., 113Weiss, N., 116What a Wonderful World (Thiele), 116What Can You Do With a Shoe?

(DeRegniers), 113What's Heaven? (Shriver), 55Wheels on the Bus, 107

Index to Computer Software

Kid Phonics 2 (Davidson/KnowledgeAdventure), 172

Kid Pix (Broderbund /The LearningCompany), 119, 174, 175

Kid Pix Studio (Broderbund/The Learn-ing Company), 174

Kid Pix Studio Deluxe (Broderbund/The Learning Company), 174, 179

Kid Pix Studio 3rd Edition ( Broderbund/The Learning Company), 174

Knowledge Adventure, 172

The Learning Company, 119, 171, 172,174, 175, 178, 179, 180

Let's Go Read! (Edmark), 171Let's Go Read!1 An Island Adventure

(Edmark), 171Let's Go Read!2 An Ocean Adventure

( Edmark), 171Little Monster at School (Broderbund/

The Learning Company), 172Little Planet Literary Series (Houghton

Mifflin Interactive), 173

Madeline 1st and 2nd Grade Reading(The Leaning Company), 172

MECC/The Learning Company, 172,174, 180

Paint, Write & Play (The Learning Com-pany), 174

Read, Write & Type! (The Learning Com-pany), 171

Reader Rabbit (The Learning Company),171

Reader Rabbit's Learn to Read (The Learn-ing Company), 171, 178

214

When We Were Very Young (Milne), 55Why Do You Love Me? (Schlessinger), 55Wyndham, R., 87

Yolen, J., 55

Zoo Animals (Royston), 75

Reading Mansion (Great Wave Software),172

Reading Who? Reading You! (Sunburst),172

The Ribbit Collection (Houghton MifflinInteractive), 173

Scholastic, 173Sheila Rae, the Brave (Broderbund/

The Learning Company), 172Stellaluna (Broderbund/The Learning

Company), 172Storybook Weaver Deluxe (MECC/

The Learning Company), 174Sunbuddy Writer (Sunburst), 174, 180Sunburst, 173, 174, 180

Tiger's Tales (Sunburst), 173Troll Associates, 172-173

Ultimate Writing & Creativity Center(The Learning Company), 175

Weather Machine, 68Wiggle Works Plus (Scholastic), 173

Young Abraham Lincoln: Log-Cabin Presi-dent (Troll Associates), 173

Young Harriet Tubman: Freedom Fighter(Troll Associates), 173

Young Jackie Robinson: Baseball Hero (TrollAssociates), 173

Young Orville & Wilbur Wright: First to Fly(Troll Associates), 173

BEGINNING READDIG and WRITING

IN THIS LONG-AWAITED VOLUME, OUTSTANDINGscholars in the area of early literacyprovide concrete strategies for

achieving excellence in literacy instruction.In a teacher-friendly format, BeginningReading and Writing presents current,research-based information on theadvances and refinements in the areas ofemerging literacy and the early stages offormal instruction in reading and writing.Filled with suggestions for classroompractice, this book is a valuable resourcefor pre-service and ii service teachers ofpre-kindergarten through grade two. It isalso an excellent guide for policy makers,administrators, and supervisors as theyplan and implement State and local earlyliteracy initiatives.

Dorothy S. Strickland and Lesley MandelMorrow are Professors in the Graduate Schoolof Education at Rutgers University.

Contributors:William H. Tea leJunko YokotaSusan B. NeumanSue BredekampKathryn H. AuDiane H. TraceyAnthony D. PelligriniLee GaldaCelia GenishiDonna Yung-ChanSusan Stires

Karen BromleyMargaret MoustafaBernice E. CullinanLinda B. GambrellAnn DromskyBill HarpJo Ann BrewerShelley B. WepnerLucinda C. RayDiane LappJames FloodNancy Roser

International Reading Association800 Barksdale RoadNewark, DE 19714

215

"This book should be on every readingpPofesson' shelfnialsselad placed in the

hands of teachers in every communityand school district. It is a fine contributionboth to our knowledge base and toclassroom practice promoting effectiveearly reading and writing instruction."

From the Foreword byAlan Parstrup, Executive Director,International Reading Association

"How wonderful to find a professional bookthat is just right for teachers of youngchildren! Beginning Reading and writingis practical, insightful, up-to-date, andfocused on early childhood issues. Theauthors address a range of topics, reflecta sound knowledge base, and alwaysrespect the expertise and beliefs ofclassroom teachers."

Carol Avery, Former President of theNational Council of Teachers of English

"The authors writing for this volume com-prise a virtual 'Who's Who' of earlyliteracy acquisition. The collected papersrepresent a best-evidence synthesis ofwhat we know about crafting trulyeffective early literacy instructionalenvironments."

Mahar& L. Allington, Fien Professorof Education, University of Florida

mz

9 B(11°1181ciir

Teachers CollegeColumbia UniversityNew York, NY 10027

U.S. Dep &nerd of EducationOffice of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI)

National Library of Education (NLE)

Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)

N

REPRODUCTI N ASKS

This document is covered by a signed "Reproduction Release

(Blanket) form (on file within the ERIC system), encompassing all

or classes of documents from its source organization and, therefore,

does not require a "Specific Document" Release form.

This document is Federally-funded, or carries its own permission to

reproduce, or is otherwise in the public domain and, therefore, may

be reproduced by ERIC without a signed Reproduction Release form

(either "Specific Document" or "Blanket").

EFF-089 (9/97)

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