Literate Environment

Analysis Presentation

Melissa LoflinWalden University

Phyllis MccullyAugust 6th, 2015

Part I: Getting to Know Emergent and Beginning Literacy Learners PreK-3

Janice Almasi (Laureate Education, 2012a) notes that it is important to look at the identity of students as

readers, writers, and thinkers.A literacy learning environment

includes cognitive and noncognitive factors.

Reading Comprehension

Linguistic Knowledge/ Background Knowledge

Decoding

Cipher Knowledge/ Lexical Knowledge

Language Comprehension

PhonologySyntax

Semantics

Letter Knowledge Alphabetic Principal

Concepts about print

Phonemic Awareness

Cognitive Factors of Literacy Learning

Literacy

Learner

Attributions

Self-Concept

Agency

Interest

Attitude

Motivation/

Engagement

Noncognitive Factors of Literacy Learning

Cognitive AssessmentsDonald Bear (Laureate Education,

2014) notes that assessment means to sit beside or watch.

• Student Oral Language Observation Matrix • Running Records• Reutzal-Cooter Auditory Discrimination Test (Reutzal and Cooter, 2016)• Metalinguistic interview • Beginning Consonant Oddity Task List (Reutzal and Cooter, 2015)

Noncognitive Assessments

Afflerbach (2012) notes that noncognitive factors can have a

large impact on a student. • Interest Surveys• Teacher Observations• Student Interviews

ReflectionAssessing emergent and beginning literacy

learners has been very beneficial for me. I was able to use new assessments effectively to get a clear picture of the development of learning in all aspects of literacy for emergent and beginning literacy learners. Some of the assessments I utilized were running records, oral language observation matrixes (Reutzal and Cooter, 2016), metalinguistic interviews, interest surveys and student interviews. With the assessment data I was able to create a better suited literacy learning environment for emergent and beginning literacy learners. I was also effective in understanding emergent and beginning literacy learners on a personal level.

Linguistic

(word oriente

d)

Inform-ational

Semiotic

(picture

based)

Narrative

Literacy

Matrix

Part II: Selecting Texts

Dr. Janice Almasi (Laureate Education, 2014a) notes that difficulty of text is determined by readability that pertains to sentence length, number of syllables, and concept density.

Dr. Hartman (Laureate Education, 2014a) notes that teachers must consider text, goals, and students when selecting texts.

When selecting text it is important to look at the

reader as well as the difficulty of the book. In addition, it is crucial to

understand where the text falls in the continua

between linguistic to semiotic and narrative to

informational.

Informational Text Informational TextNarrative E-bookDino-Store by Roger Sedarat falls into the narrative side of the continuum. The structure

of the story is narrative because there is a problem

to be solved and a beginning, middle, and end are clearly present. This book is also semiotic because meaning

can be conveyed through the pictures as well as the interactive elements.

Dinosaur’s Day, by Ruth Thomson and Dinosaur Time by Peggy Parish fall on the informational side of the Literacy Matrix because the purpose of these texts is not to tell a story but to inform the audience on facts and characteristics about dinosaurs. These books are also more linguistic because the pictures

are not directly correlated to the texts meaning. The illustrations convey meaning in terms of what

dinosaur the text is describing but that is all.

ReflectionAssessing text using the Literacy Matrix enabled

me to choose texts for specific literacy learner needs. The texts I chose relate to the cognitive and noncognitive needs of the students. I was able to evaluate, compare, and contrast three different books. Dr. Morrow and Dr. Neuman (Laureate Education, 2014a) stress the importance of introducing early readers to a wide variety of genres. I was able to choose texts that would provide a variety of genre. In addition, the texts I chose were thematic and cross-curricular.

Part III: Emergent Literacy Learner Lesson

In an effective literate environment emergent literacy students need to be challenged with rich opportunities to expand their reading skills, writing skills, and oral language skills. Students in a literate environment should feel comfortable to explore and expand their thinking in all aspects of literacy and teachers should foster this exploration by providing opportunities for students to use metacognitive and strategic thinking. In addition, teachers should aid students with modeling to become independent thinkers.

Emergent Literacy Learner InstructionOral Language:• Rog (2007) notes that one of the most important skills to build in the

emergent literacy stage is oral language. • Recio (Laureate Education, 2014b) notes that it is important to use time in

the classroom to have extended conversations using open-ended questions so that students are developing in their oral language skills.

Reading:• Dr. Katherine Stahl (Laureate Education, 2014f) notes that shared reading

through modeling is important for developing reading skills. • Reutzal and Cooter (2016) note that when teaching students reading

comprehension, it is important to be deliberate about the types of questions and answer relationships in regards to the text.

Writing:• Rog (2007) notes that students at the emergent literacy stage may be

“writing” by putting scribbles and marks on their paper. • Rog (2007) also notes that the main goal at this stage of writing

development is to put marks on a paper to communicate meaning

Part III: Emergent Literacy Learner Lesson

Lesson Outline

Instructed students to make their own informational books about what they had learned and create a picture that matched the text.

Skills Incorporated:Writing, recall of facts, orthographic knowledge, phonemic awareness.

Read Dinosaur Time by Ruth Thomson and Dino-Store by Roger Sedarat and had students think-pair-share what they had learned and the relationships between the

three texts.Skills Incorporated:critical thinking, oral language, cooperation, recall of facts, listening comprehension, compare and contrast

various genres of literature.

Shared reading activity. I read the book Dinosaur’s Day by Peggy Parish while students followed along by pointing their fingers on the words I was reading in their own copy of the text .Used effective question-answer relationships about the text that can be found directly in the text or

inferred. In addition, I asked questions that used students schema and enabled students to connect to the text.

Skills Incorporated:one-to-one correspondence, comprehension, critical thinking, metacognitive thinking, schema, inferring,

vocabulary, concept of print.

ReflectionThis lesson was very fun to teach and overall a success . I

promoted the literacy learners strategic processing and metacognition in reading by having students follow along with me as I read Dinosaur Time by Peggy Parish. The students enjoyed being able to “read” with the teacher and it showed that most of the students were able to work independently on the skill while I read. In addition to the shared reading activity, having students pair-share showed that students could articulate what they had learned when looking at the group of informational and fictional text. The data that I collected throughout the lesson showed that the lesson was effective. As I was observing students, I could see that they were participating and really tapping into their higher-order thinking skills to answer different kinds of questions. Using the fiction and nonfiction text provided students with a rich language experience on the topic of dinosaurs. When looking at the books students created, I could see that students were connecting their knowledge and were able to take the knowledge they had learned and put it on the page

Part IV: Beginning Literacy Learner Lesson

As students move from emergent to beginning literacy learners it is imperative to create an environment that makes students feel comfortable and able to develop more challenging skills in terms of their literacy. Beginning literacy learners are making sense of reading and writing and taking their first steps toward true independence. Reading instruction time should focus on modeling specific skills that can be developed such as using schema, increasing accuracy, expanding vocabulary, summarizing, understanding text structure, increasing fluency, and specific writing strategies such as writing style, understanding revision, and using conventions.

Beginning Literacy Learner InstructionReading:• Leigh-Ann Hildreth (Laureate Education, 2014c) notes that

engaging prior knowledge helps students to connect what they already know to the new knowledge.

• Dr.Katherine Stahl (Laureate Education, 2014f) notes that providing a summary and reviewing vocabulary is key to the pre-reading step of the guided reading process.

• Dr. Katherine Stahl (Laureate Education, 2014f) notes that for guided reading groups to be effective the students in the group need to be able to read the text with 90-95% accuracy.

Writing:• National Project (2010) suggests that writing complements reading

instruction because each type of practice supports and strengthens the other.

• Rog (2007) notes that revision should be separate from editing and should be modeled so that students can comprehend that good writers make their writing even better through revision.

Part III: Emergent Literacy Learner Lesson

Lesson Outline

Students will write an informational or narrative paragraph about dinosaurs and use specific revision skills to make writing more effective

Skills Incorporated:Writing, recall of facts, orthographic knowledge, phonemic awareness, revision skills, strategic

thinking.

Students will use a graphic organizer to understand the author’s purpose in the set of texts related to dinosaurs. Students will work collaboratively to compare and contrast

the author’s purpose.Skills Incorporated:critical thinking, oral language, cooperation, recall of facts, listening comprehension, compare

and contrast various genres of literature.

Students will read informational and fictional text independently after a brief summary of the text and an introduction of the vocabulary.Skills Incorporated:

comprehension, critical thinking, metacognitive thinking, schema, inferring, vocabulary, decoding, independent thinking

ReflectionAs I reflect on the lesson, it was a success. I promoted the

students strategic processing and metacognition through the evaluation of informal and narrative texts as well as through revision strategies. Students read the texts and were able to answer specific questions about the texts. In addition, students deciphered what the author’s purpose was in each of the three texts and used what they knew about author’s purpose to write a paragraph that entertained or informed. In terms of students being strategic, going through the revision strategies and allowing students to use their own judgment on how to make their writing better required a lot of strategic and metacognitive thought. Beltran and Decker (2014) note that often students do not understand what effective editing and revision looks like in practice. By explicitly teaching the skill through modeling, the students were able to understand what revision looks like and how to apply it. The students were able to make smart revision choices that enhanced their writing.

ReferenceAfflerbach, P. (2012). Understanding and using reading assessments: K–12 (2nd ed.). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Beltran, V., & Decker, J. (2014). Beyond error correction: Modeling strategies for writing instruction. California English, 20(1), 18-19.

Camp, D. (2000). It takes two: Teaching with twin texts of fact and fiction. Reading Teacher, 53(5), 400–408. 

Laureate Education (Producer). (2014a). Analyzing and selecting text [Video file]. Baltimore,MD: author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2014b). Classroom demonstration: Emergent literacy. [Video Webcast]. Retrieved

from: https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_8625429_1&content_id=_25802082_1

Laureate Education (Producer). (2014c). Classroom demonstration: Strategic processing [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: author.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2014d). Getting to know your students [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: author.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2014e). Interactive Perspective: Guided Reading [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2014f). Interactive Perspective: Shared reading. [Video Webcast]. Retrieved

from:https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_8625429_1&content_id=_25802082_

 

Reference ContinuedNational Writing Project. (2010, April 14). New report finds that writing can be powerful driver for improving reading skills. Retrieved

from:http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3126

Reutzel, D. R., & Cooter, R. B. (2016). Strategies for reading assessment and instruction: Helping every child succeed (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Rog, L. J. (2007). Marvelous minilessons for teaching beginning writing, K–3. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Sedarat, R. (2015). Dino-Store. Retrieved July 28, 2015, from hhtp://bluemarker.com/dino-store/about-us/

Thomson, R. (2000). A Dinosaur’s Day. New York: DK Publishing.

Parish, P., & Lobel, A. (1974). Dinosaur time. New York: Harper & Row.