2. Getting to Know Your Learner
Teachers know the standards their students are expected to meet, but
we cannot help our students succeed unless we understand them as a
learner.
We need to know their attitude towards reading, interests, and
reading abilities/habits.
It is a teacher’s job to locate where each child is in his or her
development to ffer appropriate instruction for growth, and to fill any
gaps (Reutzel, 2016, p. 11).
We can use this information to plan lessons that will appropriately
meet our learners at their individual levels. This can also be helpful in
planning scaffolding techniques to ensure student success.
To better understand your learner you can use both cognitive and non-
cognitive assessments.
3. Cognitive Vs Non-Cognitive Assessments
Cognitive Assessments
Can highlight students’
strengths and weaknesses
in literacy.
Can assess the students’
skills or habits in literacy
such as fluency,
vocabulary,
comprehension, decoding,
etc.
Non-Cognitive Assessments
Can measure attitude
towards reading, interests, or
motivation to read.
Can be both contributors to
and outcomes of reading
success (Afflerbach, 2012, p.
171).
4. Emergent and Beginning Literacy Learners
Focus for Emergent
Literacy Learners
Alphabetic principle
Concepts of print
Phonemic awareness
Phonics/decoding
Sentence patterns
High frequency words
Familiar concepts
Focus for Beginning
Literacy Learners
Richer vocabulary
Fluency
Comprehension
Greater variation in
sentence patterns
Longer sentences
Inventive spelling
5. Text Selection
It is important to focus on how these texts work with your students
and how they fit with your goals. You also want to find a balance
between narrative and informational texts as well as linguistic and
semiotic texts (Laureate Education, 2014a).
Texts must not only be informative, but also engaging and appropriate
for the learner or lesson format.
Narrative Text: Bye, Bye, Butterflies! by Andrew Larsen
Informational Text: Caterpillar to Butterfly by Laura Marsh
Digital Text: Butterfly Facts found at
https://kidskonnect.com/animals/butterfly/
6. Emergent Literacy Lesson
Focus: Butterflies, asking higher-level questions, vocabulary
Standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.1: With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details
in a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.4: With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about unknown
words in a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.2: Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented
orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting
clarification if something is not understood.
Learning Objectives: Student will be able to
Ask questions about a text based on pictures and background knowledge
Ask questions about a text for clarification if something is not understood
Infer the meaning of new vocabulary words based on context clues
Text: Caterpillar to Butterfly by Laura Marsh
This lesson was conducted one-on-one with a specific Emergent literacy learner. A KWL
chart was used to reference background knowledge and ask higher levels of questions.
Vocabuarly words were also highlighted with the student making inferences on their
meaning based on context clues.
7. Beginning Literacy Lesson
Focus: Butterflies, comprehension, compare and contrast
Standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.1: With prompting and support, ask and answer questions
about key details in a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.9: With prompting and support, compare and contrast the
adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories.
Learning Objectives: Student will be able to
Explain the main events and details from a story.
Compare the events in a story with personal experiences from the classroom.
Contrast the events in a story with personal experiences from the classroom.
Text: Bye, Bye, Butterflies! by Andrew Larsen
This lesson was conducted one-on-one with a specific Beginning literacy learner.
Using a venn diagram, the student compared the events from the story with the
experience our classroom had with raising caterpillars into butterflies.
8. Reflection
Both cognitive and non-cognitive assessments are crucial to guide your
instruction and provide valuable information about your learners.
Text selection is a vital step in planning your instruction. It is
important to have a balanced literacy program with informational,
narrative, and digital texts to introduce students to a wide variety of
text types.
As an educator it is important to have a wide knowledge base of all
developmental levels of literacy learners. Even as a Kindergarten
teacher, I must understand all developmental levels to best serve my
students.
Modeling and scaffolding are key to ensure student success.
9. References
Afflerbach, P. (2012). Understanding and using reading assessment: K–
12 (2nd ed.). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014a). Analyzing and selecting texts
[Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Reutzel, D. R., & Cooter, R. B., Jr. (2016). Strategies for reading
assessment and instruction: Helping every child succeed (5th ed.).
Boston, MA: Pearson.
