Walden University

EDUC 6706R-5

April 15, 2011

Creating a Literate EnvironmentDawn Weststrate

Getting to know your literacy learners

The culture of the learning environment is a key factor in student success. It is important that teachers promote literacy learning by demonstrating the following characteristics in their classroom: Provide developmentally appropriate literacy activities Create a safe and collaborative environment where students take risks and share with others Design activities that engage student learning in a meaningful context Offer a balanced literacy program that combines explicit instruction, guided practice and

independent application of skills and knowledge Uses a variety of assessment strategies that target both cognitive and non-cognitive aspects

of learning (Laureate Education, 2008)

The quality of teaching and the learning experiences provided is one of the most significant factors of bringing 21st century knowledge and skills to students.

Teachers in the literacy classroom design activities that stretch their student’s thinking, build on one another, and are connected to the child’s world. It is through these type of learning experiences that knowledge is cemented in the minds of students.

“A teacher cannot build a community of learners unless the voices and

lives of the students are an integral part of the curriculum”

(Peterson, 1994). From: Rethinking Our Classrooms: Teaching for Equity and Social Justice.

Linguistic Informational

Narrative Semiotic

Literacy MatrixDr. Douglas Hartman (2008)

Linguistic word oriented texts

Narrative fiction or “story” texts

Informational non-fiction or informative

texts

Semiotic communicates through

information other than words (ie. icons or moving pictures)

Texts come in many forms and even young students should have experiences with all of them. The goal is for teachers to evenly distribute the teaching materials among the quadrants of this Literacy Matrix, in order to expose students to a variety of educational resources that support programming.

“We are surrounded by text whose primary purpose is to convey information about the natural or social world. Success in schooling, the workplace, and society depends on our ability to

comprehend this material” (Duke, 2004, p. 40).

The ultimate goal of text selection is to match readers to the materials while keeping curriculum goals at the forefront. Some considerations when choosing literacy materials are: Readability-instructional vs frustration level Length of text-match length to reader’s skill Structure-choose a variety of materials Print size-font size does not equal difficulty Visual supports-enhance vs distract

Text selection: Difficulty considerations

In this age of information, providing children with accurate and reliable content should be of utmost importance.

(Stephens, 2008, p.489)

Learners

Assessment: informal and formal to determine areas of

strength and needs

Understand the learning needs of each student.

Use student interest to promote engagement.

Texts

Text selection that meets student’s individual literacy

goals.

Material selection should promote critical thinking skills.

Text selection should provoke an emotional or personal

response in students.

Instructional Practices

Instructional strategies reflect both the cognitive and affective

needs of the students. Classroom activities promote

independence in reading.

Instructional strategies teach students to look beyond the

words.

Instructional strategies provide opportunities to respond to the

text in a variety of ways.

Framework for Literacy Instructi on

Response Perspective

Interactive Perspective

CriticalPerspective

From: “Perspectives in Literacy Learning” [DVD]. 2008, Laureate Education.

The Interactive Perspective“Learning to comprehend is an ongoing process, a thinking process that expands

across time as the individual encounters different texts, in different ways, for different purposes. Students do not learn to decode and then become readers; they must be

engaged in reading, thinking about, and discussing interesting texts from the beginning”.

Scharer, Pinnell, Lyons & Fountas, 2005, p.24The goal of the Interactive Perspective is to help the student develop cognitive and metacognitive strategies that will support them in comprehending the text. The most important comprehension strategies are:

Activate background knowledge

Connect Determine importance Draw

inferences

Evaluate

Monitor

PredictQuestion

Repair

Set a purpose

Summarize

Visualize

From: Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach, 2010.

The Critical Perspective

In order to transform children’s reading and

writing experiences, they have to do more than just bump into texts (like pool

balls banging against each other on a table) meaning

comes from the text leaving its mark on the student.

Dr. Janice Almasi, 2008

The reader takes a deeper look into the text to examine the author’s intent or purpose for writing. This process evaluates the validity, believability and view point of the author. For young readers, this can be a challenging skill to develop, but with thoughtful and intentional planning on the part of the teacher, early learners can build the foundational skills of the Critical Perspective.

THE RESPONSE PERSPECTIVE

Reading strengthens writing and writing strengthens reading. They are connected

processes and should be developed together.

Dr. Richard Vacca, Reading and Writing Connections. [DVD], 2008, Laureate Education

The Response Perspective focuses on responding to text in a variety of meaningful ways. Reading and writing helps students understand what they already know, construct new knowledge and make valuable connections between the literature and the world around them. Writing is a response activity that allows for individual text interpretations.

Examples of response activities include: Journal writing Learning logs Shared writing Research reports Literature circles Open mind portraits Story writing

ReferencesDuke, N. (2004). The case for informational text. Educational Leadership, 61(6), 40–44.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008) Critical Perspective. [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008) Analyzing and selecting text. [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). Informational text in the early years. [DVD] Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008) Strategic Processes: Interactive Perspective. [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). “Language Development”. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008) Reading and Writing Connections [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008) Response Perspective. [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Peterson, B. (1994). Teaching for social justice: One teacher's journey. In B. Bigelow, L. Christensen, S. Karp, B. Miner, & B. Peterson (Eds.), Rethinking our classrooms: Teaching for equity and social justice (pp. 30–38). Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools.

Scharer, P., Pinnell, G., Lyons, C., & Fountas, I. (2005, October). Becoming an engaged reader. Educational Leadership, 63 (2) 24-29.

Stephens, K. (2008). A quick guide to selecting great informational books for young children. The Reading Teacher, 61 (6), 488-490

Tompkins, G. (2010). Literacy for the 21st Century. Boston: Allyn & Bacon

Picture References

Title page image- http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Foundations_and_Assessment_of_Education/Edition_1/Foundations_Table_of_Contents/Chapter_10/Chapter_FAQ

Slide 2 image http://pbweb.arsc.k12.ar.us/vips.html

Slide 3 image http://www.leftyparent.com/blog/2011/02/05/my-take-on-learning-in-the-21st-century/

Slide 5 image http://www.ctccc.ca/tree.html

Slide 8 image http://mcgonnigle.wordpress.com/category/pocket-billiards/

Slide 9 image http://www.lenaroy.com/2010/05/thank-you-rebecca-and-dan.html