PRESCHOOL LITERACY

A Seminar for Preschool Teachers About Dialogic Reading

Presented By: Darlene Shank

Why is This Important?

The urgency of preschool literacy instruction

The opportunity of teaching preschoolers The solution to the problem

The Urgency Of Preschool Literacy

Instruction

In 1999, only 53 percent of children aged 3 to 5 were read to daily by a family member. Children in families with incomes below the poverty line

are less likely to be read aloud to everyday than are children in

families with incomes at or above the poverty line. - The National Center for

Education Statistics, NCES Fast Facts, Family Reading

Urgency

44 million adults in the U.S. can't read well enough to read a simple story to a child. - National Adult Literacy

Survey (1992) NCED, U.S. Department of Education

Urgency

Children who have not developed some basic literacy skills by the time they enter school are 3 - 4 times more likely to drop out in

later years. - National Adult Literacy Survey, (2002) NCES, U.S. Department of Education

InteractionsInteractionsHart & Risley compared the mean number of minutes of interaction per hour in the three groups.

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Welfare Working Professional

Cumulative Language Cumulative Language ExperiencesExperiences

Cumulative Words Per Hour

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Welfare Working Professional

Urgency

By the age of four, there is already a noticeable difference in children's

vocabulary, and it remains fairly fixed throughout a child's life.

Bortnem, 2008

Opportunity

The majority of the students who come from lower SES homes present larger

gaps in their reading abilities than other children.

Whitehurst et al., 1994

Opportunity

The most important period of life is not the age of university studies, but rather the first one, the period from birth to the age of six.

-Maria Montessori

Opportunity

The early childhood years-from birth through age eight-are the most important

period for literacy development.International Reading Association and the National

Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998

Opportunity

“Considerable literacy-related development occurs before children receive formal

reading instruction.”Dickinson and Smith,1994, p. 105

.

Reading Reading stimulates stimulates general general cognitive cognitive growth—growth—particularly particularly verbal skillsverbal skills

Solution

Quality preschool lays the foundation for future learning. Preschool teachers can

make impressive contributions in the lives of their students. Four-year olds

from lower SES homes made measurable gains one year after being

involved in interactive read-alouds.Dickinson and Smith, 1994

Solution

How can preschool teachers make those impressive gains in a child's vocabulary?

With a technique called dialogic reading.

Dialogic reading techniques guide the parent or teacher to engage in “dialogue” about the pictures and stories in books.

Let's Get Started

Prepare for read-alouds; don't just use them as time fillers.

Select appropriate books. Plan how to present the vocabulary

words.

Intentionality

Too often teachers use read-alouds as time fillers and don't give much thought to the content of the book. Plan times during the day to incorporate dialogic reading into your schedule. Ideally it

works best with small groups of about six children.

Appropriate Books

The books you choose should be “sophisticated” ones; that is they should

contain rich vocabulary, detailed pictures, and an interesting plot with good

characterization.

Learning to read is like learning to play the piano; one has to be

actively involved.Whitehurst, 1992

How we read to children is as important as how often we read to

them.

Dialogic Reading

One technique to guide children in a dialogic read-aloud is the acronym

PEER.

The teacher prompts the child with a question about the book or a picture in

the book.

P is for Prompt

E is for Evaluate

The teacher evaluates the response of the child.

E is for Expand

The adult rephrases the child's response and expands it with more information.

R is for Repeat

The teacher repeats the prompt to make sure the child understands the

expansion.

Types of Questions

The National Institute of Literacy (2008) provides the acronym

CROWD to help the adults know what type of questions to ask.

“CROWD” QuestionsCompletion questions: Encourage

children to complete a phrase or sentence from the story.

Recall questions: Check children's understanding of the story.

Open-ended questions: Ask children questions that require more than “yes” or “no”.

“Wh” questions: Who, what, when, where, why

Distancing questions: Encourage the children to relate the story to another story or to something in their own lives.

Three Different Readings

Day One: Enjoy the book for its meaning. The teacher should read expressively and use gestures and/or props to help with the

definition of unfamiliar words. Interject thoughts into the story to model good

reading skills. After reading use a “why” question to help the child infer information

from the story.

Three Different Readings

Day Two: One or two days later. Remind the children that they have already read this book and that they might remember some of the things about the book. Make sure you use the same vocabulary and verbally

define more words. Continue making comments and ask more questions. These may focus on the characters.

Ask a predicting question.

Three Different Readings

Day Three: A few days later. Prompt children to reconstruct information by asking for detail from the pictures. As

you show the picture, ask what will happen next. There is actually less

reading during this reading. The children are talking more and using the new vocabulary. Use the new words in

a context outside of the book.

Needs of Preschoolers

“Preschoolers need food, shelter, love; they also need the nourishment of books.”

Whitehurst, 1992

References

Bortnem, G. M. (2008). Teacher Use of Interactive Read Alouds Using Nonfiction in Early Childhood Classrooms. Journal

of College Teaching and Learning, 5(12), 29-43.

Dickinson, D. K., & Smith, M. W. (1994). Long term effects of preschool teachers' book readings on low income children's vocabulary and story comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 29(2), 104-122.

Iannucci, C. K. (2007, January 1). Reading rockets: Repeated interactive read alouds in preschool and kindergarten. Retrieved May 2, 2010, from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/16287

International Reading Assoc, & National Assoc For The Education Of Young Children (1998). Learning to read and write: Developmentally appropriate practices for young children. , , .

National Institute For Literacy (2008). Developing Early Literacy; Report of National Early Literacy Panel. A Scientific Synthesis of Early Literacy Development and Implications for Intervention, , 41-50.

Whitehurst, G. J. (1992). Dialogic reading: An effective way to read to preschoolers. Reading Rockets, , . Retrieved May 8, 2010, from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/400?theme=print

Whitehurst, G. J., Arnold, D. S., Epstein, J. N., Angell, A. L., Smith, M., & Fischel, J. E. (1994). A picture book reading intervention in day care and home for children from low-income families. Developmental Psychology, 30(5), 679-689.

Acknowledgments

Slides 6, 7, and 13 were prepared by Dr. Joseph Torgensen from Florida State University and The Florida Center for

Reading Research