Creating a literate environment power point presentation
1. Creating a Literate
Environment
By: Grazia Dickinson
Walden University
Professor Gina Pink
October 19, 2014
EDUC 6706R-7 – The Beginning Reader
2. Getting to know Literacy
Learners, P-3:
It is important as educators, to get to know our
students, find out who they are, and what motivates
them.
In doing so, teachers will be better equipped to connect
with students and their literacy learning.
Teachers are too busy pushing the curriculum that they
forget to find out more about who our students are
(Laureate Education, Inc. 2008).
3. Three perspectives to keep in
mind when creating a literate
environment:
Interactive perspective: Deals with reading and writing,
accuracy, fluency and comprehension of a text. Informal
and formal assessments, teaching students how to read
appropriate level texts, and promoting independent reading.
Critical perspective: This perspective deals with judging and
evaluating and ideas, issues, and problems that matter to
students. Critically examine texts, who wrote a text and
why, teach students how to judge, evaluate, and think
critically.
Responsive perspective: This perspective deals with
reading, reacting and responding to text. Students should
be encouraged to explore and respond using their emotions,
read, react, and formulate response to text.
It is important to change the perspectives within our
teaching in order to create “well-rounded” readers who are
motivated to want to read (Laureate Education, Inc. 2008).
4. Assessing Students Literacy
Development:
Cognitive (formal)
assessments:
Reading Inventories
DRA/DWA
NWEA
DIBLES
Running Records
Checklists
*In understanding students
cognitively, reading inventories
is a necessary tool to
successfully achieve this goal.
Reading inventories provide
information of the 5 target
areas; phonemic awareness,
phonics, fluency, vocab, and
comprehension (Afflerbach,
2012).
Non-Cognitive (informal)
assessments:
Interest Games:
Me Stew
Student conferences/interviews
Teacher observations
Lit. Autobiographies
Interest surveys
-ERAS (Elementary Reading
attitude survey, McKenna & Kear,
1990).
-Multiple intelligence survey
*Improvements in student reading
skills are driven by motivation, self-concepts,
interests, and attitude
(Aflerbach, 2012).
5. Selecting Texts:
The matrix was created to help
educators make sure that they
have a balance among the texts
that are used in the classroom.
The oral and written language
experiences children have at
home, day care, preschool, and
kindergarten contribute to the
developing ability to
communicate in writing
(Reading Rockets, 2008).
In the video, Analyzing and
Selecting Texts, Dr. Douglas
Hartman discusses the Literacy
Matrix. The matrix deals with
texts falling in one or more of
the spots on the continuum
(Laureate Education, Inc.
2008a).
Linguistic
(through
words)
Informational
Semiotic (more
pictures than words
to tell story)
Narrative
Hard
Easy
6. Text difficulty to consider:
Readability
Size of print
Visual support (students do not always know how to read graphs &
charts)
Text length
Text structure
Informational
Cause/Effect
Poetry
It is important to know the supports various books have to offer as
we plan instruction for transitional readers, but unless we know our
students well, the match between book and reader will never be one
that moves them toward independence (Szymusiak, K. & Sibberson,
F, 2001).
7. Literacy Lesson: Interactive
Perspective
The primary goal of the interactive perspective is to
teach children how to be literate learners who can
independently navigate through the textual world
(Laureate Education, Inc. 2010).
A crucial part of reading development is the shifting of
control for using strategies – first in response to others
and later as self-initiated strategies (Afflerbach, 2007, p.
389).
It is important to create a “risk-free” environment and
teach children that it is ok to make mistakes and it is ok
if there was something that they did not understand.
Tools used to strengthen this perspective: K-W-L,
Learning logs, word walls, hot seat, and Discussions.
8. Interactive Perspective –
Strategic Processing:
Educators should foster growth in students as metacognitive, strategic,
and self-regulated literacy learners.
Metacognitive – thinking about your thinking
Strategic – Consciously monitor learning
Self-regulated – analyzing learning
Decoding strategies
Using different strategies for narrative vs. informational text
Being reflective and self-regulating
Making connections (text to text, text to world, or text to self)
Activating schema or prior knowledge
Strong readers are reminded of things when they read and make
connections (Collins, 2004).
Traditional definitions of literacy focused on the ability to read words, but
now literacy is considered a tool, a means to participate more fully in the
technological society of the 21st century (Tompkins, 2010).
9. Literacy Lesson: Critical &
Response Perspective
Critical Perspective:
Judge validity of a text
Think more deeply about a
text
Evaluate websites for
credibility
Viewing multiple perspectives
Response Perspective:
Connect personally &
emotionally with a text
Reader is transformed by a
text
More think time is needed
when thinking emotionally
about a text
Important to not fear taking
risks and sharing feelings and
emotions.
An added benefit is that students learn that stories rarely have only one
interpretation and that by reflecting on the characters and events, they usually
discover one or more themes (Tompkins, 2010). In doing so, students are presented
with differences of opinion and they are forced to respect individual differences of
their peers. Through this sharing, students gain insights about their classmates’
thinking and clarify their own understanding (Tompkins, 2010).
10. Feedback:
What insights did you gain about literacy and literacy
instruction from viewing this presentation?
How might the information presented change your
literacy practices and/or your literacy interactions with
students?
In what ways can I support you in the literacy
development of your students or children? How might
you support me in my work with students or your
children?
What questions do you have?
11. References:
Afflerbach, P. (2012). Understanding and using reading assessment, K–12 (2nd ed.).
Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Collins, K. (2004). Growing readers: Units of study in the primary classroom. Maine:
Stenhouse publishers.
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d). Getting to know your students. [video file]. Retrieved
from https://class.walden.edu
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d). Reading Inventories. [video file]. Retrieved from
https://class.walden.edu
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d). Literacy autobiographies. [video file]. Retrieved from
https://class.walden.edu
Lewis, R. & Doorlag, D. (2006). Teaching Special Students in General Education Classrooms
(7th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.
McKenna, M.C., & Kear, D.J. (1990). Measuring attitude toward reading: A new tool for
teachers. The Reading Teacher, 43 (9), 626-639.
Tompkins, G. E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.).
Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2008a). Analyzing & selecting texts. [video file]. Retrieved
from https://class.walden.edu
Laureate Education (Producer). (2008b). Informational text in early years. [video file].
Retrieved from https://class.walden.edu
Reading Rockets. (2008). Questions about writing instruction. Retrieved from
http://www.readingrockets.org/articles/3478
Szymusiak, K & Sibberson, F. (2001). Beyond Leveled Books: Supporting Transitional
Readers in Grades 2-5. Maine: Stenhouse Publishers
