Literate Environment

EDUC-6706R C. Eastman

The Literate Environment

8/11/2011 Amy Jo Ray

Affective Assessment:

• Functional - 3 levels of reading ability

Independent – student can read on their own with great success

Instructional – student can read with the help of a teacher

Frustration – student will not experience success, even with teacher support

Cognitive Assessment:

• Developmental – determines which level of reading, writing, and spelling a student is currently operating in.




What Does the Research tell us?

Affective assessment includes:

Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (ERAS) gauges students’ affective attitude toward reading, the most important variable affecting reading performance.

McKenna, M.C., & Kear, D.J. (1990). Measuring attitude toward reading: A new tool for teachers. Reading Teacher, 43(9), 626-639.

Schema building allows us to use prior knowledge, interests, identities, and family backgrounds as resources to forward an academic agenda.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Changes in Literacy Education. [DVD]. Getting to know your students. Baltimore, MD: Author.




What Does the Research tell us?

Cognitive assessment includes:

Running records allow teachers to use everyday reading materials to gauge a student’s fluency.

Tompkins, G.E. (2010). Literature for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach. New York: Laureate Education, Inc.

Elementary Spelling Inventory (ESI) tests student word knowledge and spelling function.

Los Angelas County Office of Education. (2011, July 7). Kindergarten & Grade 1: Directions for administering the Primary & Elementary Spelling Inventories. Retrieved from http://teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/patti-k-1/teacher/assessment/primary.html.




What did these assessments tell me about my student(s)?Affectively:

Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (ERAS) told me that this student really enjoyed recreational reading but was less enthusiastic about the actual work related to the subject of reading.

Schema building showed me that she has a very supportive home-life and ample access to enrichment activities, internet, and books. In addition, she is highly interested in horses, nature, and gardening.




Cognitively:

Running Records told me that this student is reading at an independent level in her grade and is ready to move ahead of her peers in reading.

Elementary Spelling Inventory (ESI) showed me that this student is an accomplished speller who has a firm grip on all spelling conventions taught through fifth grade, and she is only in third!

What did these assessments tell me about my student(s)?




The Literacy Matrix

This tool is an aid for teachers to use to develop reading opportunities intended to move students along a continuum that ultimately leads to reading informational text successfully for the purpose of learning. It is comprised of four elements and range in difficulty from easy to hard.




The Literacy Matrix

Narrative text – tells a story in a logical, sequential way through an author.

Informational text – conveys information, facts, figures, etc. Educational by nature.

Linguistic – very wordy with little to no pictures.

Semiotic – communicates message through words, pictures, sound, images, icons, etc.

NOVELS

TEXTBOOKS

PICTURE BOOKS

INSTRUCTIONAL WEBSITES

ENCYCLOPEDIAS

EASY

DIFFICULT

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Changes in literacy Education [DVD]. Analyzing and Selecting Text. Baltimore, MD: Author.




The Literacy MatrixWhat Does the Research tell us?

Preparing students to be able to handle informational text is critical. If not adequately prepared, students can suffer from what has been coined, the fourth grade slump, an abrupt drop in reading skills that typically occurs in fourth grade when reading shifts from learning to read to reading to learn.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Changes in literacy Education [DVD]. Informational text in the early years. Baltimore, MD: Author.

One of the keys in combating this is building background knowledge in an attempt to boost world and word knowledge which can then be capitalized upon to cipher unknown words, thoughts, and ideas during independent reading.

Tompkins, G.E. (2010). Literature for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach. New York: Laureate Education, Inc.




How did this assessment tool help me choose appropriate texts for my student(s)?Upon examining the Literacy Matrix and placing age appropriate books along the continuum, I was able to choose texts that moved along the continuum from novels to picture books, narratives to informational text, semiotic to linguistic, and easy to difficult to gently move my students toward informational linguistic text on their instructional level. By doing this, I hope to help my students avoid the fourth grade slump altogether.




What does the research tell us? An interactive perspective of reading implies that students are meta-cognitive; they use strategies to attack text regarding the five pillars, fluency, and comprehension. Students are able to choose the best, most efficient strategy to fit the reading situation.

Students: --- use different strategies to process narrative & informational text

--- identify text structure

--- set a purpose for reading--- make predictions --- visualize--- make sense of text--- self-regulatory on their own--- reflect

Students must have

a risk-free, safe

environment where

they are unafraid to

make mistakes!

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Changes in literacy Education [DVD]. Interactive Perspective: Strategic Processing. Baltimore, MD: Author.




How did this information help me help my student(s)?This research keeps focus on the needs of the students. It reminds us that students need meta-cognitive and strategic processing skills to improve their reading ability. Fluency is more than an ability to read aloud well; it also includes reading with purpose and using reading strategies. Fluency is not more valuable than comprehension. Students need to be taught skills to process what they have read.

Who cares if a student can read aloud accurately, with fluency, and expression if he does not understand a single word he said???




What does the research tell us?Critical Perspective – places focus on text that encourages analytical thinking and critical evaluation.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Changes in literacy Education [DVD]. Critical Perspective. Baltimore, MD: Author.

It allows students to examine text from multiple perspectives and evaluate it with a critical eye. Things in print tend to assume an air of authority. If students fail to learn how , they will fall for anything…

including




Without a critical perspective on text, what would keep a student from believing this really exists??? After all, it looks so professional and scientific; plus it was found on the internet…




What does the research tell us?Response Perspective – aims to see readers transformed and changed in some deep, personal way through the process of reading.

--- Children’s literature can be used as a vehicle to encourage deeper conversations, interpret meaning, analyze author’s intentions, and connect stories to personal lives (Serafini, 2003).

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Changes in literacy Education [DVD]. Response Perspective. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Serafini, F. (2003). Informing our practice: Modernist, transactional, and critical perspectives on children’s literature and reading instruction. Reading Online, 6(6). Retrieved from http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=serafini/index.html

--- It has the potential to guide students through adolescence and change them into well-rounded, compassionate, empathetic, young adults. Teachers need to be sure to cultivate an atmosphere that encourages risk-taking through the thinking process (Laureate Education Inc., 2010).

http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=serafini/index.html




“Everybody deserves to be treated with dignity.”

“What doesn’t kill us can only make us stronger.”

“Don’t blow things out of proportion.”

“Ignorance is not bliss.”

“I’m a survivor.”




How did this information help me help my student(s)?It helped me put into perspective, the great importance of creating a literate environment that will guide students to think more critically about print, and use quality literature as a means to change students from the inside out. Students need to be guided to transform their thinking, and an excellent story has the potential to do just that. I need to be cognizant of the stories I choose for my classroom. Ask…

Does this story have the potential to challenge my students thinking?

?Can this story get them to think critically and question what they know?

Will this story bring about an internal change in attitude, belief, or mindset?? ??




It’s your turn. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to participate in this project. Will you please take a little more time to answer some questions for me? Just copy and paste the following questions into an e-mail, then add your responses. Then send them to me at [email protected]. Thanks again for participating in my education!

4.What insights did you gain about literacy and literacy instruction from viewing this presentation?5.How might the information presented change your literacy practices and/or your literacy interactions with students?6.In what ways can I support you in the literacy development of your students or your children?7.What questions do you have?

Literate Environment

Education

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